Omonia drawn with PSV Eindhoven, PAOK and Granada in Europa League group stage

The draw for the Europa League group stage took place on Friday at 2pm as Omonia Nicosia, the sole Cypriot survivor in European football for the upcoming season, found out who they will be competing with to qualify for the knockout stage.

Omonia were drawn in the same group as Spanish side Granada FC, Greek side PAOK FC, and Dutch giants PSV Eindhoven.

Omonia’s six fixtures in the Europa League group stage will take place on October 22 and 29, November 5 and 26, and December 3, and 10.

Defender Jan Lecjaks reacted to the draw with a post on his Instagram profile, showing the teams Omonia have been drawn with, alongside the caption “Here we go”.

Fellow defender Michael Lüftner also reacted with enthusiasm, posting the draw alongside a simple caption saying: “Let’s go.”

The Uefa Executive Committee has decided to allow the gradual return of the fans to the stadium for Champions League and Europa League games.

The number of fans will not have to surpass 30 per cent of the capacity of the stadium, so roughly 6,900 people will be allowed to watch Omonia’s European games at GSP Stadium in Nicosia.

Elsewhere, Seven-times European champions AC Milan, winners of a marathon 24-penalty shootout against Rio Ave on Thursday, were rewarded by being drawn against Celtic and Lille in their Europa League Group on Thursday.

Milan, banned from the competition last season for breaching UEFA’s break-even Financial Fair Play rule, scraped through 9-8 on penalties after snatching a last-gasp 2-2 draw with the Portuguese side.

They were drawn in Group F, one of the toughest of the 12 groups, which also features Sparta Prague.

Coppa Italia winners Napoli also had a tricky draw as they will face Real Sociedad, AZ Alkmaar and Rijeka in Group F while AS Roma, the third Serie A side in the hat, will meet Young Boys Bern, Cluj and CSKA Sofia in Group A.

English pair Arsenal and Tottenham Hotspur both appeared to be given straightforward draws, with Mikel Arteta’s side to face Rapid Vienna, Norway’s Molde and Ireland’s Dundalk in Group B.

Tottenham, Champions League runners-up two seasons ago, face Ludogorets Razgrad, LASK Linz and Royal Antwerp in Group J.

Leicester City, the other Premier League side among the 48 teams, will face Braga, AEK Athens and Ukrainian side Zorya Luhansk in Group G.

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