Celtic face Benfica & Hearts meet Salah's Trabzonspor

What the report says

Celtic and Hearts have learned their league-phase opponents in this season’s European competitions, with the draws placing both Scottish clubs against high-profile opposition this autumn. BBC Sport Football reported that Celtic will face Benfica and Marseille in the Europa League, while Hearts will meet Monaco and Trabzonspor in the Conference League. The Edinburgh side’s tie with Trabzonspor is notable because it is the club of Mohamed Salah, though the article does not suggest the player will be involved.

Celtic’s Europa League schedule also includes matches against Ferencvaros, Union SG, Celta Vigo, Omonia, Besiktas and Torreense. The report said Celtic dropped into the Europa League after losing a four-goal advantage in their Champions League play-off against LASK earlier this week. Hearts reached the Conference League league phase after losing in Champions League and Europa League qualifying, then beating Rapid Vienna on penalties in the play-off round.

The BBC article said Celtic will begin their Europa League campaign next month, while Hearts start in October. It also outlined the new league-phase format: in the Europa League, 36 teams each play eight different opponents, with the top eight going straight to the last 16 and places ninth to 24th entering a knockout play-off. The Conference League uses a similar system but with six league-phase games instead of eight.