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Napoli draw winnable Europa League group

Club Brugge, Legia Warsaw, and FC Midtjylland don't represent the easiest group draw, but it's far from a bad one for Napoli.

Dean Mouhtaropoulos/Getty Images

The Europa League group stage draw was not as kind as it could have been to Napoli, but in the end they wound up with a group that they should win. Napoli were drawn into Group D, which also includes Belgium's Club Brugge, Legia Warsaw of Poland, and FC Midtjylland in Denmark.

One of those teams, Midtjylland, was on the "disaster draw" list from our preview, thanks to being an underrated team and an awfully long ways away. The others, though, may not have been on the "dream draw" list, but they're a far cry from nightmare status -- Club Brugge is a a solid side, but the Belgian team doesn't have Napoli's talent, and Legia Warsaw would need luck to finish above third in any of the groups.

How Napoli perform in this group depends on how they treat the competition. Taken seriously and featuring plenty of the club's top talent, Napoli can win the group with ease. Treat it as an unimportant second-rate competition, and that opens up Napoli to a few upsets, and would likely see Brugge finish first. Even in that scenario, though, the partenopei should still have more than enough firepower to finish second and reach the knockout rounds.

Two other Serie A teams were involved in the draw. Lazio ended up in a tough-looking Group G, with last season's finalists Dnipro Dnipropetrovsk from Ukraine, AS Saint-Etienne from France, and Rosenborg BK from Norway. Two tough teams and a long, long trip aren't something anyone wants. Fiorentina landed in Group I, a group they should qualify from, though Switzerland's FC Basel are the favorites to win it. That group is rounded our by Lech Poznan from Poland and Belenenses from Portugal.

The group stage matches will be played on September 17th, October 1st, October 22nd, November 5th, November 26th, and the last match will be on December 10th.