Challenging Europa League draw for Manchester duo

Manchester City and Manchester United have both been given tough draws in the last 32 of the Europa League.

Premier League leaders City must tackle defending champions Porto, while crosstown rivals United have been paired with Ajax.

Both Manchester clubs found themselves in the Europa League after being surprisingly eliminated in the pool stages of the Champions League.

City bowed out after finishing third in Group A, behind Bayern Munich and Napoli, while United were sensationally pipped to second place in Group C by Swiss minnows Basel.

Should City go through, they will face either Sporting Lisbon or Legia Warsaw, while United would play the winners between Lokomotiv Moscow and Athletic Bilbao.

Meanwhile, Stoke, the only other English side still in the Europa League, have been drawn against Spanish club Valencia, who were denied a place in the knockout stages of the Champions League by Chelsea.

Elsewhere, Italian outfit Lazio will take on Spain’s Atletico Madrid in one of the ties of the round, while Athletic Bilbao must tackle Lokomotiv Moscow.

Udinese, who finished second to Atletico in Group I, will square up to Greece’s PAOK, who finished top of a pool which also featured Tottenham Hotspur.

The full draw:

Porto v Manchester City

Ajax v Manchester United

Lokomotiv Moscow v Athletic Bilbao

Salzburg v Metallist Kharkiv

Stoke v Valencia

Rubin Kazan v Olympiakos

AZ Alkmaar v Anderlecht

Lazio v Atletico Madrid

Steaua Bucharest v Twente

Viktoria Plzen v Schalke

Wisla Krakow v Standard Liege

Braga v Besiktas

Udinese v PAOK Salonika

Trabzonspor v PSV Eindhoven

Hannover v Brugge

Legia Warsaw v Sporting Lisbon