Arsenal and Manchester United found out a little more about the size of the task they face in trying to win the Europa League, after Inter Milan and Ajax were dumped out of the Champions League and into Europe’s second-tier club competition.
United are already through to the last-32 of the tournament that they won under Jose Mourinho in 2017, while Arsenal, who were beaten finalists last year, are almost certain to confirm their own place on Thursday.
However, as is always the case, they will be joined after Christmas by the teams that finished third in their respective Champions League groups.
Ajax, who came within seconds of reaching the Champions League final last season, will be among them, after they were beaten 1-0 by Valencia on Tuesday to miss out on qualification from Group H.
Inter Milan, meanwhile, went down 2-1 at home to Barcelona, and that result, coupled with Borussia Dortmund’s win over Slavia Prague, sees them crash out, too.
RB Salzburg, fired by the goals of one of Europe’s hottest properties – teenager striker Erling Haaland – and Benfica are the other teams definitely dropping out of the Champions League and into the Europa, with the other four to be confirmed on Wednesday following the final round of games.
Arsenal in particular know only too well the challenge of facing such opposition.
En route to last year’s final they had to overcome Napoli and Valencia, both of whom had begun their season’s in the Champions League.
The year before that, in Arsene Wenger’s final season in charge, the Gunners were beaten in the semi-finals by eventual winners Atletico Madrid, who had followed the same path.
