By Chris Wright
The yawning, grotesquely over-inclusive draw (there’s a “Group L” for crying out loud!) for the 2013/14 Europa League group stages has finally finished taking place in the Grimaldi Forum in Monaco and the plastic balls of destiny have worked their magic; landing Tottenham in a group with Anzhi, Swansea with Valencia and FA Cup winners Wigan with Russian side Rubin Kazan.
We can only imagine how many fans that Latics are going to take with them to the Republic of Tatarstan as and when the time comes.
The massive Europa League Group Stage draw in full…
Group A: Valencia, Swansea, Kuban Krasnodar, St Gallen
Group B: PSV, Dinamo Zagreb, Chornomorets, Ludogorets
Group C: Standard Liege, Red Bull Salzburg, IF Elfsborg, Esbjerg
Group D: Rubin Kazan, Wigan, Maribor, Zulte Waregem
Group E: Fiorentina, Dnipro, Pacos Ferreira, Pandurii Targu Jiu
Group F: Bordeaux, Apoel Nicosia, Eintracht Frankfurt, Maccabi Tel-Aviv
Group G: Dynamo Kiev, Genk, Rapid Vienna, FC Thun
Group H: Sevilla, Freiburg, Estoril Praia, Liberec
Group I: Lyon, Real Betis, Guimaraes, Rijeka
Group J: Lazio, Trabzonspor, Legia Warsaw, Apollon Limassol
Group K: Tottenham, Anzhi, FC Sheriff, Tromso
Group L: AZ, PAOK Salonika, Maccabi Haifa, Shakhter Karagandy
Did you know that Shakhter Karagandy are based further east than Mumbai, India? True fact!
Anyway, don’t know about you lot, but Pies are firmly rooting for Pandurii Targu Jiu this year.