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Dundalk will play in the group stages for the first time. FotoOlimpik/Tomasz Jastrzebowski/INPHO

Dundalk and Man United discover their fate in the Europa League

The draw was made in Monaco this afternoon.

EUROPA LEAGUE FIRST-timers Dundalk will take on Zenit St Petersburg, AZ Alkmaar and Maccabi Tel-Aviv on their maiden voyage in the competition’s the group stages.

The SSE Airtricity League Premier Division champions went into this afternoon’s draw in Monaco having narrowly lost out to Legia Warsaw in the Champions League play-offs.

And Stephen Kenny’s side will travel to Russia, the Netherlands and Israel after being drawn in Group D.

Meanwhile, Manchester United face former striker Robin van Persie after being paired with Fenerbahce. Jose Mourinho’s side were drawn along with Fener, Feyenoord and Zorya in Group A.

United sold Van Persie to the Turkish side, who finished second in the Super Lig last season, in July 2015 after three years at Old Trafford.

Turkey Russia Soccer Europa League Robin van Persie will come up against two former clubs. AP / Press Association Images AP / Press Association Images / Press Association Images

It also saw Inter picked out to come up against Premier League outfit Southampton in Group K, which also consists of Sparta Prague and Hapoel Beer-Sheva.

Elsewhere, Roma will play Viktoria Plzen, Austria Vienna and Astra in Group E after losing out to Porto in the Champions League play-offs.

La Liga outfit Villarreal’s failure to make the Champions League group stage means they will play Steaua Bucharest, FC Zurich and Osmanlispor in Group L of UEFA’s second-tier tournament.

Here’s the draw in full:

EL final Twitter / EuropaLeague Twitter / EuropaLeague / EuropaLeague

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65 Comments
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    Mute smithers
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    Aug 26th 2016, 12:45 PM

    Trip to Israel sounds great can get a match in and go on a pilgrimage to Bethlehem

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    Mute Moser
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    Aug 26th 2016, 12:57 PM

    Ye, the trip should be the bomb!

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    Mute Augustus hoop
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    Aug 26th 2016, 4:47 PM

    You’d obviously have to leave Israel to get he Bethlehem……..

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    Mute Oisín O'Connor
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    Aug 26th 2016, 5:09 PM

    Strange to be travelling outside of Europe for a Europa League tie but sure that’s the way.

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    Mute Sloop John G
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    Aug 26th 2016, 8:06 PM

    Yes Oisín, it’s crazy when you see clubs and national teams from places like Kazakhstan playing in European competitions when it’s closer to China than Europe.

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    Mute Stuart Kelly
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    Aug 27th 2016, 2:24 AM

    Is Bethlehem not in the Palestinian territory?

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    Mute hard yaka
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    Aug 26th 2016, 12:44 PM

    There goes all the money made on travelling costs!

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    Mute Christy Nolan
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    Aug 26th 2016, 2:54 PM

    Why not travel via Rio and pick up cheap tickets.

    63
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    Mute An_Beal_Bocht
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    Aug 27th 2016, 12:09 AM

    A joke that Israel clubs are in European competitions

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    Mute Liam Mac Roibin
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    Aug 27th 2016, 8:13 AM

    Fenerbahce is Turkish, also not in Europe. But they’re not Jewish, are they?

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    Mute Ken GB
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    Aug 27th 2016, 12:16 PM

    Turkey is in Europe !

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    Mute john f
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    Aug 26th 2016, 12:55 PM

    And thankfully the aviva won’t be full of West brits cheering for United against our own club

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    Mute Luke McDermott
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    Aug 26th 2016, 12:58 PM

    West Brits…. Like Celtic fans.

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    Mute Sloop John G
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    Aug 26th 2016, 12:58 PM

    Says the Celtic fan :-)

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    Mute Declan McCabe
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    Aug 26th 2016, 1:01 PM

    Celtic fans are “West Brits” too sure.

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    Mute phil
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    Aug 26th 2016, 1:02 PM

    Yes a Celtic fan. How dare an Irishman support a club that was founded for the sole reason of providing food and shelter for those children fleeing Ireland due to British policy

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    Mute Declan McCabe
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    Aug 26th 2016, 1:11 PM

    And Barcelona were saved by an Irishman and Liverpool saw thousands of Irish immigrants. If you look hard enough, you can find a link to Ireland somewhere. You are still supporting a foreign club. Although I suppose in the case of Celtic the added hypocrisy is that you are probably inclined to sing the odd IRA song aswell? Curious enough how no one supports Hibs, given their Irish background. But I suppose being a crappy Scottish Championship team isn’t very appealing to Irish people…

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    Mute ktsiwot
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    Aug 26th 2016, 1:12 PM

    Glasgow Celtic are from Scotland which is part of Britain, It can be difficult to explain this concept, which is a geographical fact to many Celtic fans in Ireland. And many would still shout for Celtic over Dundalk who are Irish if they played, this I can not understand, and remember many of these same Celtic fans would come from a republican leaning.

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    Mute john f
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    Aug 26th 2016, 1:15 PM

    Good lad sloop.yes a celtic fan but one who’d rather see any Irish club progress even at celtic’s expense.

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    Mute Daithí Ó Síocháin
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    Aug 26th 2016, 1:26 PM

    Surely the logical conclusion of that is to just support an Irish team then

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    Mute Darragh O'Connell
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    Aug 26th 2016, 1:30 PM

    Yes and you call them west Brits despite the fact that they are obviously Irish

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    Mute Cosmo Kramer
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    Aug 26th 2016, 1:34 PM

    Celtic fans born and raised in Glasgow consider themselves Irish. They carry Irish flags to all the games, they even sing Irish ballads at the games.. Every year the Football club have a special jersey commemorating the famine and the Irish tricolour is the biggest flag flying over Parkhead.. It is only Irish people who support English football teams who call Celtic British..

    29
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    Mute Declan McCabe
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    Aug 26th 2016, 1:35 PM

    Well as long as they refer to their English team as British as well as Celtic, then they are right.

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    Mute Darren Bates
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    Aug 26th 2016, 1:39 PM

    Cosmo, if they consider themselves Irish why not just move here, and y’know, pay tax here?

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    Mute Steven Pierce
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    Aug 26th 2016, 1:39 PM

    Celtic are an Irish club. I thought everyone knows that….

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    Mute Steven Pierce
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    Aug 26th 2016, 1:41 PM

    I sometimes wonder if some Celtic fans, like above, actually really think they are an Irish club and that Glasgow is somehow in Ireland

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    Mute Eamon
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    Aug 26th 2016, 1:51 PM

    Whats with all the hate for celtic. Its a great club

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    Mute Cosmo Kramer
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    Aug 26th 2016, 1:54 PM

    That’s it lads, support your English clubs who cities you’ve never set foot in.. Slag off Irish people for supporting a team stepped in Irishness while you support teams who’s actual fans hate the Irish..

    21
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    Mute Pauliebhoy
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    Aug 26th 2016, 1:54 PM

    Sure if we want to get down to the nitty gritty of it all, why are any of us supporting a foreign game.

    21
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    Mute john f
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    Aug 26th 2016, 2:30 PM

    Daithi i get to as many wexford youths games as i can and 3 or 4 bray wanderers games every season as i was a regular at the Carlisle grounds before league of Ireland came to wexford

    16
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    Mute Steven Pierce
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    Aug 26th 2016, 4:14 PM

    And Irish Celtic fans claim to hate everything British…

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    Mute Pauliebhoy
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    Aug 26th 2016, 7:32 PM

    Do they, I’m an Irish Celtic fan and don’t hate everything British. Sure Celtic are a Scottish therefore British club with strong Irish Links.

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    Mute Stuart Kelly
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    Aug 27th 2016, 2:27 AM

    They don’t hate the Irish apart from man city and Chelsea. They just call us caravan dwellers.

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    Mute Peter Murphy
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    Aug 27th 2016, 8:59 PM

    Yes couldn’t agree more well said

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    Mute Cathal Sheehan
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    Aug 26th 2016, 12:48 PM

    Zenit will walk the group but in Dundalk play like the did against Legia and BATE then they have a chance of at least troubling AZ and Maccabi.

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    Mute Daithí Ó Síocháin
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    Aug 26th 2016, 1:03 PM

    Russian clubs can sometimes not take this competition too seriously (AEK Larnaca already knocked out Spartak Moscow this year). That said, Zenit do tend to perform well in Europe.

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    Mute Cathal Sheehan
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    Aug 26th 2016, 1:42 PM

    Zenit along with CSKA are streets ahead of the other Russian clubs on paper and usually do perform in europe, the other though dont.

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    Mute Lorem Ipsum
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    Aug 26th 2016, 2:03 PM

    Also they’ll bribe the judges

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    Mute Cathal Sheehan
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    Aug 26th 2016, 2:21 PM

    Probably.

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    Mute Hoofedup Bravo
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    Aug 26th 2016, 2:25 PM

    Russian league is a summer league?

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    Mute Sean Healy
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    Aug 26th 2016, 2:54 PM

    Zenit take it seriously – they won it a few years back. With the tournament winners now getting automatic entry to the next years Champions League, I think they’ll be serious about it.

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    Mute Eddie Sweeney
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    Aug 26th 2016, 4:59 PM

    I’ve seen them play on paper before and they weren’t great.

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    Mute Hoofedup Bravo
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    Aug 26th 2016, 5:26 PM

    That with pen or pencil?

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    Mute john f
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    Aug 26th 2016, 12:47 PM

    Good draw.could have been worse,at least they’ll have a good crack at it.

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    Mute Gerry with a J
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    Aug 26th 2016, 1:09 PM

    I’m not sure its a great draw. They had some unbelievable results getting here there;s no denying, but realistically they are not looking at getting out of the groups. I think they would have been better off getting at least one top club. Trips to Israel and Russia are probably not the glamour ties they had in mind. Still I hope I’m wrong and they can run it close, they’ve been unbelievable so far.

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    Mute Cathal Sheehan
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    Aug 26th 2016, 2:22 PM

    If getting out of the group isn’t what they are looking for than whats the point in qualifying? The aim should be go as far as you can go.

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    Mute Gerry with a J
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    Aug 26th 2016, 2:54 PM

    Jesus Cathal thats like saying Ireland are never winning the world cup, so whats the point in going? I doubt Dundalk are going to the Europa League for the craic, they’re going to try and win every game. Realistically though, that aint going to happen.

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    Mute Darren Sheils
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    Aug 26th 2016, 12:47 PM

    Alkmaar cheese heads!

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    Mute Keith Ryan
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    Aug 26th 2016, 12:55 PM

    Not to bad. Least they might be competitive

    33
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    Mute Michael O'Toole
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    Aug 26th 2016, 1:49 PM

    A nice set of Testimonial matches for Robin Van Persie.

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    Mute Tom Reilly
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    Aug 26th 2016, 1:45 PM

    Yes Dundalk have been unbelievable and there is every chance that they will remain so now that some injuries are clearing up and new players have been signed.

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    Mute Dave Murray
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    Aug 26th 2016, 1:17 PM

    Tasty group there for Utd. Fenerbace and Feyenoord we know about of course about but never even heard of that team from Ukraine but I’m sure an away trip there will be tricky. I think every team in that group are cursing their luck.

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    Mute Joe O
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    Aug 26th 2016, 4:41 PM

    You should be on the journal.co.uk Dave.

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    Mute Sloop John G
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    Aug 26th 2016, 8:14 PM

    Do Van Persie and Nani play for Fenerbache?

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    Mute Ronan McDermott
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    Aug 26th 2016, 3:14 PM

    Didn’t matter who they drew, was always gonna be a tough draw. Hopefully they can pick up a few points

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    Mute Harry Martin
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    Aug 26th 2016, 2:36 PM

    Do all our game’s have a 6.00 kick off as we’ve drawn group D ? Groups A-F 6.00 , groups G-L 8.05 ?

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    Mute ACturnbull
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    Aug 26th 2016, 1:21 PM

    Roll on the six defeats.

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    Mute Freddie Rincon
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    Aug 26th 2016, 5:56 PM

    What odds ? They will get at least 2 results I reckon. Pity there is no real glamour game but they will be no pushovers here and are already bringing in one or two players. Hats off to them from a Galway United Fan in exile. Liverpool are my telly team and as an emigrant I will not stoop to taking cheap shots at Glasgow Celtic – a great club respected the world over. When I lived in South America ,where people breath football , my futsal teammates all wanted my Celtic shirt when I was leaving- not any Liverpool or Ireland top I would have worn . If know their history….

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    Mute ACturnbull
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    Aug 27th 2016, 9:20 AM

    How many teams do you support? You seem to be collecting them all, like Pokemon. Pathetic.

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    Mute Alan Cooke
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    Aug 26th 2016, 1:57 PM

    Narrowly lost?
    Ben, were we watching the same games?
    They certainly played very well and stuck it to the poles but I would not describe it as narrowly missing out.

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    Mute Hoofedup Bravo
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    Aug 26th 2016, 2:24 PM

    Unlucky for West Ham, would have been a good group, now they will have to say the Europa never mattered anyways.

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    Mute Mark De Brún
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    Aug 26th 2016, 3:04 PM

    Get the Palestinian flags ready for the Aviva lads!

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    Mute Gerard Henry
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    Aug 26th 2016, 1:24 PM

    Easy group for dundalk they wil top that

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    Mute Padraigh Keogh
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    Aug 26th 2016, 1:37 PM

    1 pot too early for Fiorentina. 1 pot too late for Atletico Madrid and 2 pots too late for Inter Milan. That’s the luck of the draw. Zenit may do.

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    Mute KM TON
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    Aug 26th 2016, 2:22 PM

    Athletic Club**

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