Gerrard excited by draw, while Celts face familiar foes

Rangers manager Steven Gerrard insists his team will enter their Europa League group campaign with the aim of progressing after being drawn against Villarreal, Spartak Moscow and Rapid Vienna.

Gerrard and his players discovered their reward for coming through four qualifying ties against teams from Macedonia, Croatia, Slovenia and Russia.

Rangers did it the hard way in the play-offs after red cards for Alfredo Morelos and Jon Flanagan forced them into a rearguard action during Thursday’s second leg against Russian side Ufa.

But they came away with a 1-1 draw and a 2-1 aggregate win to maintain Gerrard’s unbeaten start to management and allow them to look forward to at least six more European encounters this season.

“I’m very excited by it,” Gerrard said.

“It’s brilliant for the players. It’s reward for all the hard work and effort and the quality they have shown in the qualifying campaign.

“The three other teams are big names for us, great challenges, and we are really excited and looking forward to it.

“Being part of Rangers, it doesn’t matter who the opponents are, you are always going into the game to try and win.

“We feel we are building something special here and these are the type of games we feel we all want to be part of.

“It’s fantastic for the supporters and we’ll go into the games full of confidence and belief that we can go and get the right results to progress.

“That’s the way you have got to front it.”

Brendan Rodgers’ Celtic have been drawn alongside RB Leipzig and Salzburg – two clubs owned by energy drink firm Red Bull.

The German and Austrian clubs are both allowed to play in European competition after the Uefa Club Financial Control Body ruled last summer that they did not break rules on the integrity of Uefa competitions.

Rosenborg complete Group B and are a side Celtic know well having beat the Norwegian champions in a Champions League qualifier this summer.

Meanwhile, Henrikh Mkhitaryan’s availability for Arsenal’s Europa League trip to Qarabag is in doubt due to tensions between his homeland of Armenia and Azerbaijan.

The Gunners have been drawn with Sporting Lisbon, Ukrainian side Vorskla and Azeri champions Qarabag in Group E.

Some potentially tricky games are compounded by questions over Mkhitaryan’s availability for the trip to Azerbaijan, which is also hosting the Europa League final in the capital of Baku.

Tensions continue between Azerbaijan and Armenia over the Nagornokarabakh region, with a ceasefire declared in 1994 after fighting erupted several years earlier.

Those issues meant Mkhitaryan did not travel with Borussia Dortmund to a Europa League game against Gabala in October 2015, with the German club’s chief executive Hans-joachim Watzke citing “safety concerns”.

In relation to the situation surrounding Mkhitaryan, Uefa said in a statement to PA Sport: “It is a standard procedure for Uefa to send letters of support to associations, clubs or embassies in order to obtain visas for players in order to be able to travel to another country and play in Uefa competition matches.”

Arsenal were one of two English clubs in yesterday’s group stage draw at the Grimaldi Forum in Monaco.

Chelsea face tough assignments in Group L as they return to Europe’s second-tier competition for the first time since they lifted the trophy in 2013.

Greek Super League runners-up PAOK Salonika, BATE Borisov of Belarus and Hungarian side Vidi lie in wait.

The first round of group matches is on September 20.