Europa League preview: Celtic head to Madrid

Celtic travel to Madrid to take on Atletico, while Italians Udinese meet Ligue 1 outfit Rennes in Europa League Group I on Thursday.

Celtic, runners-up to fierce rivals Rangers in the Scottish Premier League for the past two seasons, were handed a reprieve by UEFA following their 3-1 aggregate loss to Swiss outfit FC Sion in the final round of qualification for the tournament.

UEFA ruled that Sion had fielded ineligible players for the clash, and Celtic have taken their place in Group I.

But the Glasgow giants will have their work cut out to progress from the group stages, with Atletico the 2009/10 Europa League champions.

Udinese will also present a stern test for Neil Lennon’s men, with the Italians finishing fourth in Serie A last season and just missing out on Champions League qualification when they lost 3-1 on aggregate to Arsenal.

They welcome Rennes to the Friuli on Thursday, with the French club just two points off the Ligue 1 lead after five games.

Birmingham City face a tough introduction to Europa League football when they host last season’s runners-up Braga at St Andrews in Group H, while the group’s other game sees Belgians Club Brugge welcome Slovenians Maribor.

Spurs journey to Greece to tackle PAOK in Group A on the back of news their captain Michael Dawson will be sidelined for two months with an Achilles injury, while Irish side Shamrock Rovers play Russians Rubin Kazan in Dublin.

Fulham, the 2009/10 runners-up who qualified for the tournament as a result of their fair-play record, meet Dutch side Twente at Craven Cottage in Group K, with Poland’s Wisla Krakow meeting Denmark’s Odense BK in the group’s other game.

Stoke begin their Group E campaign in the Ukraine against Dynamo Kiev, and Turkish outfit Besiktas play host to Israel’s Maccabi Tel-Aviv.

Germany’s Hannover 96 meet Standard Liege and Danes FC Copenhagen take on Ukrainians Vorskla Poltava in Group B.

Group C pits Hapoel Tel-Aviv against Rapid Bucharest and PSV Eindhoven welcome Poles Legia Warsaw.

Italians Lazio meet Romania’s Vaslui in Rome in Group D, while Sporting Lisbon journey to FC Zurich.

Paris Saint Germain host Austrians Salzburg and Athletic Bilbao travel to Slovakia to meet Slovan Bratislava in Group F.

Sweden’s Malmo meet AZ Alkmaar at the AZ Stadion in Group G, while the group’s other match sees Austria Wien tackle Ukrainians FC Metalist Kharkiv.

Steaua Bucharest meet Germans Schalke at home, while Israel’s Maccabi Haifa take on Cypriots AEK Larnaca in Group J.

And in Group L, Austrians Sturm Graz welcome Lokomotiv Moscow and Anderlecht do battle with AEK Athens.