That’s it for the year.
No more European football until 2017 rears its head and what we know at this stage is that the Europa League is looking increasingly likely to be the best route towards the Champions League for Manchester United.
United qualified for the round of 32 on Thursday night with a relatively routine 2-0 victory over Zorya Luhansk in far from ideal conditions.
Henrikh Mkhitaryan scored his first goal for the club with a stunning solo run and cool finish before Zlatan Ibrahimovic put the game beyond the home side.
Jose Mourinho’s side finished second in Group A of the Europa League, one point behind winners Fenerbahce and that means they will be in the unseeded pot for Monday’s draw for the next round.
The 12 group winners have been placed in a seeded pot with the four best third-placed sides from the Champions League group stages while the runners-up are in the unseeded pot along with the the remaining four third-placed teams dropping down from the Champions League.
So, that leaves the following 14 teams – 11 Europa League group winners (group-mates Fenerbahce not included) and three seeded sides from the Champions League – as potential opponents for the Red Devils.
– APOEL Nicosia
– St Etienne
– Zenit St Petersburg
– Roma
– Athletic Bilbao/Genk
– Ajax
– Shakhtar Donetsk
– Schalke
– Fiorentina
– Sparta Prague
– Osmanlispor
– Lyon
– Besiktas
– Copenhagen
Diarmuid Connolly makes his long overdue GAA Hour debut and talks to Colm Parkinson about everything from the black card to his rivalry with Lee Keegan and how he honed the ability to kick accurately with either foot.
