Manchester United and Arsenal’s Europa League experiments can continue after kind draw

After one of the better Champions League last-16 draws in recent memory, perhaps it is unsurprising that the Europa League lacked the same lustre. Uefa’s second-tier competition is only at the round of 32 stage and just two of the eight drop-outs from the Champions League - Internazionale and Bayer Leverkusen - hail from one of the five major domestic leagues.

The British clubs largely landed safely. Manchester United and Arsenal will both play teams who were eliminated from the Champions League but, as group winners, they avoided the likes of Ajax and Red Bull Salzburg. United will instead face Club Brugge, who took the fewest group stage points of the eight drop-outs and who they beat in the 2015-16 Champions League play-offs.

Brugge were always unlikely to progress ahead of either Paris Saint-Germain or Real Madrid in Group A, but they picked up a commendable point at the Bernabeu having taken a 2-0 lead. After finishing as runners-up behind Genk in Belgian’s top flight, they now boast a commanding eight-point lead at the summit. Former Liverpool goalkeeper Simon Mignolet joined them during the summer.

Arsenal’s task is a little tougher. For the ninth and tenth times over the past decade, they meet Olympiakos, who travel back to north London after scaring Tottenham in the Champions League group stages. Pedro Martins’ side fought back to take a point against Spurs at home and led 2-0 away before capitulating to defeat and could cause Arsenal problems, particularly if Unai Emery’s successor is still yet to be found.

Ultimately though, both United and Arsenal’s draws are kind enough to keep their Europa League rotation policies in place. Neither Ole Gunnar Solskjaer nor Freddie Ljungberg - or Emery’s eventual successor - are likely to feel as though they have to name first-choice line-ups until at least the last-16 or quarter-finals. But still, if a top-four Premier League finish appears unlikely for either United or Arsenal come February, it may be time to redirect resources.

Celtic enjoyed their best European result in years by beating Lazio away from home during the group stages and their reward for topping Group E is a trip to Copenhagen. The Danish champions edged past Dynamo Kiev to finish as runners-up in Group B, where their only wins came against last-place Lugano. Neil Lennon will test his mettle against Stale Solbakken, while the familiar name of Niklas Bendtner is also on Copenhagen’s books.

Solbakken is of course a former manager of Wolves, who will play Espanyol in the last-32. Barcelona’s other club won Group H but are enduring a dismal season domestically and sit bottom of La Liga on goal difference. After finishing seventh under Rubi last year, Los Periquitos lost their manager and striker Borja Ingelsias to Real Betis. Even with the second leg away from home, Wolves will fancy themselves to progress.

Rangers have more of an uphill task. Steven Gerrard’s men meet Braga, who topped Wolves’ group with an unbeaten record of four wins and two draws. Braga’s domestic form is more mixed. Abel Ferreira, architect of last year’s fourth-place finish, left to join PAOK during the summer and Ricardo Sa Pinto struggling to replicate last season’s form. Yet Wolves’ failure to beat the Portuguese outfit either home or away does suggest Rangers will have to be at their best to reach the last-16.

Elsewhere Ajax, the surprise success story of last season’s Champions League, are paired with Getafe, the surprise success story of last year’s La Liga. Inter will be cautiously optimistic when travelling to Bulgaria to play Ludogorets and - in what could be the most evenly-matched tie of the round - Erling Braut Haaland’s Red Bull Salzburg play a talented Eintracht Frankfurt.

If Salzburg can keep Haaland and Takumi Minamino beyond January, they will stand an excellent chance of winning the Europa League. But it may well be that Haaland is a United player, by then while Minamino is pencilled in to join Liverpool. This season, the rise and expected disintegration of Salzburg offers an extreme example of the power dynamics at play in European football. This draw, good but nowhere near as glamorous as the Champions League offering, does much the same.