Celtic drawn against Stuttgart in Europa League draw

MARTIN O’NEILL’S CELTIC will take on German giants Stuttgart, while Nottingham Forest face a daunting trip to Istanbul to play Fenerbahce in the knockout phase play-offs of the Europa League.

Forest, who sit just above the relegation zone in the Premier League, finished 13th out of 36 teams in the Europa League and so were seeded for the play-off draw.

However, Fenerbahce promise to be a tough test as they are unbeaten in the Turkish Super Lig this season, even if they sit three points behind leaders Galatasaray in the table.

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Their squad includes former Manchester City goalkeeper Ederson, Spain star Marco Asensio and France midfielder Matteo Guendouzi.

Forest, who will be hoping to return to the Turkish city for the final in May, will nevertheless draw encouragement from the fact Aston Villa beat Fenerbahce 1-0 at their Sukru Saracoglu stadium just last week.

The winner of that tie will play either Real Betis or Midtjylland in the last 16 — Forest lost at home to the Danes in the league phase in October.

Celtic secured qualification for the play-offs after beating Dutch side Utrecht 4-2 on Thursday to finish 21st. They will host Stuttgart, currently fifth in the Bundesliga, in the first leg on 19 February before the return in Germany on 26 February.

The winners will play Portuguese opposition in the last 16, with either Porto or Braga waiting for them.

Other ties in the play-offs include Bologna of Serie A playing Brann Bergen of Norway and Lille taking on Red Star Belgrade.

Aston Villa are among the eight teams straight through to the last 16, and will play one of Lille, Red Star Belgrade, PAOK or Celta Vigo in that round. 

Europa League play-off ties

• PAOK v Celta Vigo
• Lille v Red Star
• Panathinaikos v Viktoria Plzen
• Fenerbahce v Nottingham Forest
• Ludogorets v Ferencvaros
• Celtic v VfB Stuttgart
• Dinamo Zagreb v Genk
• Brann Bergen v Bologna