City handed Greek battle in Europa League

Manchester City will take on Greek outfit Aris Thessaloniki in the Europa league round of 32, while Liverpool do battle with Sparta Prague.

Scottish champions Rangers – who qualified for the Europa League knockout stages by finishing third in their Champions League group – will meet Sporting Lisbon.

But perhaps the pick of the fixtures thrown up by Friday’s draw will be that of Italians Napoli against Spain’s Villareal, with the sides sitting in third place in Serie A and La Liga respectively.

Belgium’s Anderlecht will face Ajax, who like Rangers qualified through the Champions League, while Polish side Lech Poznan take on Portugal’s Braga.

Zenit St Petersburg, who won the UEFA Cup in 2008, take on Swiss side Young Boys and Dynamo Kiev meet Turkey’s Besiktas.

Spartak Moscow join their compatriots Zenit in being drawn against Swiss opposition, having being paired up with Basel, and CSKA Moscow take on Greek side PAOK.

Sevilla play Porto and Dutch champions Twente meet Russia’s Rubin Kazan.

French Ligue 1 leaders Lille will face Dutch outfit PSV Eindhoven, who are on top of the Eredivisie, in what is sure to be a high-quality tussle, while Stuttgart do battle with Benfica.

Paris St Germain meet Belarusians BATE Borisov and Bayer Leverkusen have been drawn to play the Ukraine’s Metalist Kharkiv.