KEIR RADNEDGE in MONTE CARLO: Tottenham and Anderlecht will head together back down memory lane in the Europa League this season.

The London and Brussels clubs have been drawn together in Group J in a repeat of the two-leg of the UEFA Cup, the competition’s predecessor, in 1984.

Then Spurs beat the defending champions 4–3 on penalties after the tie finished 2–2 on aggregate.

Ongoing controversy has shrouded Anderlecht’s very presence in the final. Years later it emerged that the club’s president had paid off a blackmailer over an alleged £27,000 bribe to a referee in their semi-final defeat of Nottingham Forest.

The Europa League draw in Monte Carlo saw Tottenham and Anderlecht joined in Group J by Monaco and Qarabag of Azerbaijan.

Among the 48 contenders are five former European champions in Ajax, Celtic, Liverpool, Borussia Dortmund and Marseille.

Each group will send its top two teams into the knockout stage where they will be joined  by eight third-placed ‘relegated’ clubs out of the Champions League.

The final will be played in the St Jakob-Park in Basel next May 18.

Full draw

Group A: Ajax, Celtic, Fenerbahce, Molde.

Group B: Rubin Kazan, Liverpool, Bordeaux, Sion.

Group C: Borussia Dortmund, PAOK, Krasnodar, Gabala.

Group D: Napoli, Brugge, Legia, Midtjylland.

Group E: Villarreal, Viktoria Plzen, Rapid Vienna, Dinamo Minsk.

Group F: Marseille, Braga, Slovan Liberec, Groningen.

Group G: Dnipro, Lazio, Saint-Etienne, Rosenborg.

Group H: Sporting Clube, Besiktas, Lokomotiv Moscow, Skenderbeu.

Group I: Basel, Fiorentina, Lech Poznan, Belenenses.

Group J: Tottenham, Anderlecht, Monaco, Qarabag.

Group K: Schalke, APOEL, Sparta, Asteras Tripolis.

Group L: Bilbao, AZ Alkmaar, Augsburg, Partizan.

# # # #