Manchester United, winners of the competition in 2017, will have a lot of travelling to do to Eastern Europe after being drawn alongside Kazakhstan side Astana, Serbia's Partizan Belgrade and Dutch side AZ Alkmaar.
The 24 sides through from the group phase join the eight third-placed finishers in the Champions League in Monday's draw, including Manchester United and Ajax Amsterdam.
Chelsea have completed the signing of World Cup-winning goalkeeper Emiliano 'Dibu' Martinez from Aston Villa on a three-year deal, strengthening their squad ahead of the new season.
Arsenal's young guns continued to shine as they dismantled Standard Liege 4-0 on a hectic night of Europa League action that produced a full house of Spanish victories on Thursday. A summary of the matches.
Summary of the Europa League semi-final matches played on Thursday.
Kazakhstan's Astana fought back to beat a youthful Manchester United side 2-1 at home, Arsenal's woes continued as Frankfurt's Daichi Kamada scored twice to secure a 2-1 win.
Olympique de Marseille were the fall guys on a hectic opening night of Europa League group stage action as German club Eintracht Frankfurt returned from the south of France with a surprise 2-1 victory on Thursday.
Arsenal and Chelsea were among seven teams to reach the Europa League knockout stage on Thursday, while last year's runners-up Olympique de Marseille were eliminated at the group phase.
Managerless Tottenham Hotspur face a long trip to Ukraine for a meeting with former boss Juande Ramos after being drawn against Dnipro Dnipropetrovsk in the last 32 of the Europa League.
Red Star, who won the European Cup in 1991 and reached the latter stages the following season, finished second in Group H behind Arsenal who crushed BATE Borisov 6-0.
Mouth-watering matches lined up as PSG to face Bayern and Barcelona in Champions League opening stage.
Arsenal are not only hoping to win a first European trophy since 1994, but know their hopes of qualifying for next year's Champions League depend on winning the Europa League in the French city of Lyon next month.
Real Madrid will play local rivals Atletico Madrid while Bayern Munich were drawn against Bundesliga title challengers Bayer Leverkusen on Friday.
Cristiano Ronaldo scored on his return to the starting line-up as Manchester United sealed a place in the Europa League knock-out rounds with a 3-0 victory over Sheriff Tiraspol at Old Trafford on Thursday.
Former Liverpool manager Brendan Rodgers believes lack of European football will be an advantage for the club in the Premier League and same will be the case for Chelsea.
On a good night for English clubs in the Europa League, Manchester United hammered AZ Alkmaar 4-0, while Wolverhampton Wanderers also thrashed Besiktas 4-0 in Group K, and Arsenal came from two goals down to draw 2-2 away to Standard Liege and finish first in their pool. The upset of the night came in Group J as Crivelli scored a 90th-minute winner against Borussia Moenchengladbach to send Basaksehir through and knock the Germans out, with AS Roma grabbing the runner-up spot thanks to a 2-2 home draw with Wolfsberger as the Europa League group stage concluded on Thursday.
'We've been talking during this week and now it's the right moment to announce it.'
Holders Manchester City will take on RB Leipzig, Red Star Belgrade and Young Boys in Group G.
Barcelona made a disappointing start to their Champions League campaign by losing 2-1 to AS Monaco on Thursday.
Barcelona bounced back from their painful Clasico loss in style as they cruised to a 3-0 home LaLiga win over Villarreal with a brace from Robert Lewandowski on Thursday.
Images from UEFA Champions League matches played on Wednesday.
Metalist Kharkiv, due to play Schalke 04 in the Champions League play-off round next week, has been kicked out of the competition over a domestic match-fixing case dating back to 2008, the UEFA said on Wednesday. The decision by UEFA's appeals committee came 10 days after Metalist lost an appeal at the Court of Arbitration for Sport.
Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger spoke last week of his desire to keep the 24-year-old Oxlade-Chamberlain, who was also a target for champions Chelsea.
Manchester City won an unprecedented fourth straight English top flight title with a 3-1 win over West Ham United.
Whatever happens in the title battle between Manchester City and Liverpool, which will go down to the final day of the season
Atletico Madrid substitute goalkeeper Antonio Adan saved three penalties before blasting home the winning spot-kick as the Europa League champions edged out Arsenal after the sides drew 1-1 in their International Champions Cup opener in Singapore on Thursday.
Manchester City made sure of third place in the Premier League when they romped to a 5-0 win at Watford on Sunday to ensure a Champions League berth for next season.
Arsenal enjoyed a 3-0 win in Azerbaijan against Qarabag in the Europa League on Thursday and AC Milan beat Greece's Olympiakos Piraeus 3-1 but Sevilla suffered a shock defeat by Russians Krasnodar.
Liverpool are champions and Norwich City, the side whom they beat on Aug. 9 to launch their title charge, are down and Manchester City are distant runners-up. After that everything is up for grabs.
A round-up of Wednesday's action in the UEFA Champions League.
The Champions League group stages took on a less predictable look after Thursday's draw, helped by UEFA's decision to tweak the seeding system.
Ahead of the UEFA Champions League proper, which kicks-off next month, Bikash Mohapatra/Rediff.com tells football fans what to expect in this year's competition.
Rediff.com brings a preview of the main matches coming up this weekend in the English Premier League.
Images from Sunday's English Premier League matches.
Coach Pep Guardiola was left thrilled after ManchesterCity revived their Champions League bid by beating his old club Barcelona 3-1 in a gloriously open Group C encounter at the Etihad Stadium on Tuesday.
A summary of sports events and sports persons, who made news on Tuesday
Man City set to release skipper Gundogan and Mendy
News of all that transpired on and off the football field.
Atletico Madrid sealed top spot in Champions League Group D after second half goals from Frenchmen Kevin Gameiro and Antoine Griezmann but Napoli were held to a 0-0 Champions League draw at home by Dynamo Kiev.
Chelsea moved within touching distance of a first Premier League title in five years with a 1-0 win over Manchester United while Lionel Messi reached a landmark with his 400th career goal for La Liga leaders Barcelona.
