MONACO – Tottenham and Lazio have been drawn into one of the toughest groups of the Europa League. The two teams will meet Panathinaikos and Maribor in Group J of the tournament. Liverpool was also handed a tough draw. The three-time champion faces Udinese, Young Boys and Anzhi Makhachkala, which is coached by Guus Hiddink and captained by former Inter Milan striker Samuel Eto'o. Inter is also bidding for a fourth title and it has been handed some tricky trips after being grouped with Rubin Kazan, Partizan Belgrade and Azerbaijani team Neftchi Baku. Defending champion Atletico Madrid is in a group with Hapoel Tel Aviv, Viktoria Plzen and Academica, while last year's runner-up Athletic Bilbao faces Lyon, Sparta Prague and Ironi Kiryat Shmona. Marseille will meet Fenerbahce, Borussia Moenchengladbach and AEL Limassol, while Bordeaux has been grouped with FC Brugge, Newcastle and Maritimo. Europa League debutants Levante and Genk avoided trips to far flung places. Levante will face FC Twente, Hannover and Helsingborgs, while Genk has been grouped with Sporting Lisbon, FC Basel and Videoton. PSV Eindhoven will face Napoli in another big clash. Dnipro Dnipropetrovsk and AIK are also in Group F. Meanwhile, top-seeded Stuttgart is grouped with FC Copenhagen, Steaua Bucharest and Molde, while Bayer Leverkusen faces Metalist, Rosenborg and Rapid Vienna. Reds, Inter through European heavyweights Liverpool and Inter Milan qualified for the Europa League group stage after coming through their respective play-off ties Thursday. Luis Suarez's goal sent Liverpool into the knock-out phase with a 1-1 draw against Scottish Premier League side Hearts. Brendan Rodgers' team had a 1-0 advantage from last week's first leg at Tynecastle but despite dominating for long periods at Anfield, it failed to put the visitors out of reach. David Templeton looked set to make them pay for their wastefulness when his weak shot was allowed into the net by Pepe Reina with six minutes left. But four minutes later Suarez burst away down the left and managed to find the net from close-range. At the San Siro, Inter made life complicated for itself with the 33rd minute sending off of Luca Castellazzi. Unheralded Romanian visitors Vaslui converted the subsequent penalty to take a shock lead. Inter's Rodrigo Palaccio levelled but Vaslui regained the advantage only for Fredy Guarin to grab an injury time equaliser to put the Serie A giant through 4-2 on aggregate. Liverpool has Premier League company in the knockout stages as Newcastle edged Greek side Atromitos 1-0 at St James' Park, the goal coming from substitute Haris Vuckic, to qualify 2-1 and join compatriots Tottenham Hotspur in Friday's draw in Monaco. Last season's Europea League runner-up Athletic Bilbao was held 3-3 in Finland by HJK but coasted through with a 9-3 aggregate win. The main upset of the evening came in Russia where heavyweights CSKA Moscow succumbed 2-0 to Swedish outfit AIK to crash out 3-0 on aggregate. In contrast CSKA's ambitious compatruiots Anzhi Makhachkala meted out a 5-0 drubbing to AZ Alkmaar, with Samuel Eto'o on the scoresheet. But Serie A's Lazio and French duo Marseille and Bordeaux all go through to the knockout stages after wins respectively over Mura of Slovenia, Sheriff Tiraspol of Moldova and Red Star Belgrade. — Agencies
