The Turkish Süper Lig’s Galatasaray will play against Neftçi from Azerbaijan in the UEFA Europa League second qualifying round. The draw for the Europa League second qualifying round was made at the UEFA headquarters in Switzerland on Monday. Galatasaray will visit Neftçi in the first and only leg on Sept. 17. The tournament's second qualifying round will be a single leg. The winning team will advance to the Europa League's third qualifying round
Elsewhere, seven-time European champion AC Milan was drawn away to Shamrock Rovers of Ireland. The single-leg elimination game is scheduled on Sept. 17 without fans at Shamrock Rovers’ 8,000-capacity stadium in Dublin. Milan visited Ireland 45 years ago to draw 0-0 with Athlone Town in a UEFA Cup second round, first-leg game. Milan won the return game 3-0. Milan has not played in the Champions League since 2014 and returns to the second-tier competition after sitting out last season. Milan and UEFA agreed on a one-year suspension because of the club breaking financial monitoring rules.
Tottenham, a Champions League finalist 15 months ago, was also given an away game Monday in Bulgaria against Lokomotiv Plovdiv.
UEFA ordered all Europa League qualifying rounds to be single-leg games because of the tight schedule in a pandemic-delayed season. Milan and Tottenham must advance through three qualifying rounds to enter the 48-team group-stage draw scheduled on Oct. 2 in Athens.
