AC Milan have been pitted against Stade Rennais in the Europa League play-off round after the draw which took place in Nyon this afternoon.
Milan had to settle for third place in their Champions League group behind Borussia Dortmund and Paris Saint-Germain, which since the 1999-00 season has meant being ‘relegated’ into the Europa League.
The Rossoneri must play a play-off round in which they could draw one of seven opponents from the eight Europa League runners-up. The two legs will be played on February 15 and February 22, and will decide who makes the last 16.
The possible opponents were were SC Freiburg of Germany, Sparta Praha of the Czechia, Sporting CP of Portugal, French clubs Olympique Marseille, Toulouse and Stade Rennais, Roma of Italy and Qarabağ FK of Azerbaijan. No team can face one of the same national federation, therefore Milan were not be able to meet Roma.
Milan were drawn against Stade Rennais, who finished fourth in Ligue 1 last season but are struggling this time around having won just three of their opening 16 league games, putting them in a bit of relegation trouble.
They won four of their six UEL group. Stage games though, but they lost both times against the eventual group winners Villarreal.
At least not Marseille
Marseille is crap if we could handle PSG and Newcastle they shouldn’t be any problem
Could have been worse. Way worse.
Luckily a decent, could have been worse.
No excuses with this draw.
European experience is very valuable to young players, so I expect Milan will try to win this trophy and return to the CL next season with more experience and confidence
And IF we win the UEL, we’ll be going to the UCL as a Pot 1 team, not Pot 3. This is a big deal, because it’s the reason we’ve ended up in a group of death in 2/3 UCL seasons since our return to the competition because our club coefficient is so low.
So I guess we should do everything we can to win this competition (and to beat the dreaded Liverpool and Leverkusen)
is the road to the final also a draw everytime a each round ends? Im curious who we will encounter in the next stages. But playing Rennes for this playoff is a very doable win
A seeded draw again for round 16.
Then an open draw for final 8.
Which will determine your path all the way to the final.
Shouldn’t be s tough nut to crack imao
Good draw for us.
Sporting or Marseille would have been the toughest teams to draw.
Also good to avoid an away trip to Azerbaijan
For real, man feels bad for Braga ultras and players.
Yes should be very winnable ,,,great draw ,just hope we can do well in this competition.
You remind me of this kid I coached when I first started coaching.
Rec league so it was about having fun more than anything else. The kid was a little slow, thought he was super funny even if the most he got was a sympathy laugh, gave it his all even if he couldn’t play very well.
I gotta give it to you, you’re stupidity doesn’t let you give up does it?
We should be able to register players as well. Should alleviate so headaches!
With all due respect to Stade Rennais, the draw couldn’t have gone much better.
Just like Baresi said, can’t underestimate any opponent.
Their attack have some decent players. Haven’t checked out their midfield though. Let’s hope we beat them and go into the R16. Never underestimate your opponent
THese guys are a mid table team. Some times we struggle against….. you guessed it…… mid table teams. Hope we get our big boy briefs on.