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Europa League draw: Lazio, Galatasaray, Marseille in same group; Leicester to face Napoli

The Europa League draw brought up a number of intriguing ties with Lazio, Galatasaray and Marseille included in the same group.

Marseille and Lazio have been finalists of the competition in the past and will face each other in Group E as well as Lokomotiv Moscow.

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Marseille players recently clashed with the Nice crowd after supporters pelted them with missiles and stormed onto the pitch, which resulted in the Ligue 1 clash being abandoned.

Elsewhere, Premier League side Leicester City were drawn against Italian giants Napoli in Group C. The FA Cup holders have had to settle for Europa League football after missing out on the top four on the final day of the two previous league campaigns.

West Ham United return to European football under David Moyes for the first time since 2006 and were drawn in Group H with Dinamo Zagreb, Genk and Rapid Vienna.

Steven Gerrard will lead his Rangers side in Group A against Lyon, Sparta Prague and Brondby, while Old Firm rivals Celtic face a tough challenge against Bayer Leverkusen and Real Betis.

The competition involves 32 teams, down from 48 last season, but will have an extra knockout round before the round-of-16 stage.

UEFA has also scrapped the away goals rule, with the winners of each two-legged group tie to be decided by extra time and penalties if level on aggregate.

The first group stage matches will take place on Sept. 16 and Sevilla's Ramon Sanchez-Pizjuan Stadium will host the final on May 18 in Spain.

GROUP A: Lyon (France), Rangers (Scotland), Sparta Prague (Czech Republic), Brondby (Denmark)

GROUP B: Monaco (France), PSV Eindhoven (Netherlands), Real Sociedad (Spain), Sturm Graz (Austria)

GROUP C: Napoli (Italy), Leicester (England), Spartak Moscow (Russia), Legia Warsaw (Poland)

GROUP D: Olympiakos (Greece), Eintracht Frankfurt (Germany), Fenerbahce (Turkey), Antwerp (Belgium)

GROUP E: Lazio (Italy), Lokomotiv Moscow (Russia), Marseille (France), Galatasaray (Turkey)

GROUP F: Braga (Portugal), Red Star Belgrade (Serbia), Ludogorets (Bulgaria), Midtjylland (Denmark)

GROUP G: Bayer Leverkusen (Germany), Celtic (Scotland), Real Betis (Spain), Ferencvaros (Hungary)

GROUP H: Dinamo Zagreb (Croatia), Genk (Belgium), West Ham (England), Rapid Vienna (Austria)

Information from Reuters was included in this report.