Mourinho shrugs off Europa nightmare

MANCHESTER UNITED were handed a dreadful Europa League draw yesterday, ending with a trip deep into war-torn Ukraine in December. UEFA confirmed that United’s Group A opponents Zorya Luhansk will play their fixture against Jose Mourinho’s side 550 miles away in the Black Sea port of Odessa due to fighting between government troops and Russian-backed rebels in eastern Ukraine. United must also travel to Istanbul, which has been hit by terrorism and a failed military coup recently, to face Fenerbahce on November 3. Their opening game will be against Feyenoord in a half-empty stadium in Rotterdam after the Dutch team acted to prevent more bad behaviour by their fans. The Foreign Office advise UK travellers not to visit Luhansk but have also warned of incidents in Odessa where United play on December 8. In total, United must travel 7,500 miles in Europe. Mourinho said: ‘It’s quite far but it’s part of the competition.’ However, the United manager said that drawing Feyenoord and Fenerbahce will give their Europa League campaign the feeling of a Champions League group. ‘We think we are in the Champions League,’ he said. ‘I think it’s good for the fans and players because we will be much more motivated, and it’s good for the competition.’ Southampton, who face trips totalling more than 7,000 miles, have a glamour tie against Inter Milan and have also drawn Sparta Prague and Israel’s Hapoel Be’er Sheva, while League of Ireland’s Dundalk also have to go to Israel to face Maccabi Tel-Aviv, with Zenit St Petersburg and AZ Alkmaar their other opponents. THE Premier League will have four teams qualifying automatically for the Champions League group stage from 2018-19. Currently the fourth-placed club must qualify through a play-off but Europe’s top four leagues will now all get four slots — at the moment the others are Germany, Spain and Italy.