Rodgers' side handed tough tie
Celtic to face Valencia in last 32 of Europa League
Brendan Rodgers’ Celtic will take on Valencia in the last 32 of the Europa League (pic: SNS Group)
Celtic have been drawn against Spanish side Valencia in the round of 32 of the Europa League.
The Hoops made it through the group stages as runners-up behind Salzburg and as an unseeded team, will be at home for the first leg on Thursday, 14 February. The return leg against the La Liga outfit is seven days later.
Valencia dropped into the Europa League after finishing third in their Champions League group, behind Juventus and Manchester United.
Parkhead manager Brendan Rodgers will be hoping to improve on last season’s performance when Celtic were knocked out at this stage of the competition by Zenit St Petersburg.
“I’m delighted to be in the draw. It’s a game against one of the great Spanish teams,” he said.
“It will be a tough test. We’d like to take some sort of advantage into the second leg.”
Elsewhere in the draw, Chelsea will face Malmo of Sweden and Arsenal take on BATE Borisov.
Europa League last-32 draw in full
Viktoria Plzen v Dinamo Zagreb
Club Brugge v Red Bull Salzburg
Rapid Vienna v Inter Milan
Slavia Prague v Genk
Krasnodar v Bayer Leverkusen
FC Zurich v Napoli
Malmo v Chelsea
Shakhtar Donetsk v Eintracht Frankfurt
Celtic v Valencia
Rennes v Real Betis
Olympiakos v Dinamo Kiev
Lazio v Sevilla
Fenerbache v Zenit St Petersburg
Sporting Lisbon v Villarreal
Bate Borisov v Arsenal
Galatasaray v Benfica
In the Champions League last 16, Manchester United were paired with Paris St-Germain, Liverpool will take on Bayern Munich, Tottenham Hotspur face Borussia Dortmund and Manchester City go head to head with Germans Schalke
Champions League full draw
Schalke v Manchester City
Atletico Madrid v Juventus
Manchester United v Paris St-Germain
Tottenham v Borussia Dortmund
Lyon v Barcelona
Roma v Porto
Ajax v Real Madrid
Liverpool v Bayern Munich
