Celtic face Milan while Rangers draw Benfica in Europa League

Celtic and Rangers have been handed tough opposition in the Europa League after the group stage draw took place in Nyon on Friday.

Neil Lennon’s team face Sparta Prague, AC Milan and Lille, while Rangers and Steven Gerrard are up against Benfica, Standard Liege and Lech Poznan.

Celtic are top seeds in their group and the toughest test on paper was against Sparta, who qualified as Czech cup winners and were in pot two. The Prague side have won only one game in Europe in the last three years.

However, Lennon’s side face arguably the toughest of the opponents they could have drawn from pot 3. Milan, who made their way through three qualifiers, count Zlatan Ibrahimovic among the stars in their squad.

Celtic also drew tough opposition from the bottom seeds, paired with French side Lille.

Lille were fourth in Ligue 1 when the championship was halted last season and have been big spenders this summer, adding Jonathan David in a reported €30m deal.

Rangers face Portuguese giants Benfica in their group, having played and beaten their rivals Porto and Braga in last year’s competition.

Gerrard’s side also face Standard Liege, who beat Bala Town and Vojvodina to reach the group.

The bottom seeds in Rangers’ group are Polish side Lech Poznan.

Fixtures will be confirmed later on Friday.