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Arsenal and Manchester United now know the eight Champions League teams who have dropped into the Europa League.
At the beginning of Wednesday night, nine teams were in with a chance of featuring in the Europa League in the new year.
Inter Milan will be joining Arsenal, Man United and Wolves in the knockout stages competition (as long as the Gunners avoid a defeat by four or more goals on Thursday). Antonio Conte’s side were beaten 2-1 at home by a much-changed Barcelona side at the San Siro on Tuesday night.
That defeat allowed Borussia Dortmund to seal second spot as Jadon Sancho, who has been linked with a return to the Premier League in the near future, inspired his side to a 2-1 win over Slavia Prague.
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Lyon fought back from 2-0 down at home to secure a draw against already qualified RB Leipzig and that precious point was enough to send Benfica into the Europa League .
Red Bull Salzburg will be offering strong competition in the next round of the Europa League, with Erling Braut Haaland one of the top scorers in the Champions League despite his side’s third-placed finish behind Liverpool and Napoli.
And in arguably the biggest surprise across the group stage, last season’s semi-finalists Ajax finished third behind Valencia and Chelsea to ensure there will be no repeat of the heroics which earned them so many plaudits.
On Wednesday night the Gunners learned the other four teams to drop down from the Champions League.
Diego Simeone’s Atletico Madrid side were at risk of missing out on the next round of the Champions League, but quickly went ahead at home to Lokomotiv Moscow. That ensured that Bayer Leverkusen were the team headed into Europe’s secondary club competition after their loss to Juventus.
In Group A, Galatasaray would need at least a point against Paris Saint-Germain to stand a hope of reaching the Europa League, but the French side were out of sight before half-time. Club Brugge also lost against Real Madrid, but finished on three points to the Turkish side’s two.
In Manchester City’s group, Shakhtar had it all in their own hands to Seal qualification to the knockout round of the Champions League, but suffered a 3-0 home defeat against Atalanta that saw them drop into the Europa League.
And in Spurs ‘group, it was a straight fight for third place between Red Star Belgrade and Olympiacos, with the Greek side scoring a late penalty to claim a place in the Europa League.
The Gunners, United and Wolves will all be hopeful of topping their group and being seeded for the draw, and thus avoiding some of the stronger teams.
The Europa League group winners will be seeded for the draw, along with Ajax, Inter, Benfica and Salzburg .
However, the likes of Bayer Leverkusen and Skakhtar are both unse. eded, and could prove difficult opponents if they were drawn together.
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The eight Champions League teams to drop into the Europa League:
Group A: Club Brugge
(Group B:Olympiacos
Group C: Shakhtar Donetsk
(Group D:) Bayer Leverkusen
Group E) :Red Bull Salzburg
Group F:Inter Milan
Group G:Benfica
Group H:Ajax
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