All the British teams in the Europa League topped their group but here’s why none of them will be in the next round of the Europa League.
Why British teams won’t be participating in the next round?
You may have forgotten that things have changed in the Europa League within the round of 32. Teams who finish in 1st place in their groups automatically move onto the round of 16. There is now a knockout round to qualify for the round of 16 where teams who finished in 2nd in their groups, play third-place teams who have come down from the Champions League. Winners in that round take on the group winners in the round of 16.
Last year, Manchester United played Barcelona in the knockout round. Barcelona dropped out of the Champions League but it was Manchester United who ended up progressing. Manchester United finished 4th in their group this year so they are out of Europe completely alongside Newcastle.
Who are the teams who are in the knockout round?
Liverpool, Brighton, West Ham and Rangers all skip the knockout round. Xabi Alonso’s Bayern Leverkusen will be a dark horse for the competition. They collected 18 points out of 18 in the group stage; the only team to do that.
They’re also top in the Bundesliga with a four point lead over Bayern Munich.
Teams qualified for last 16
- Atalanta
- Bayer Leverkusen
- Liverpool
- Villarreal
- Slavia Prague
- West Ham
- Brighton
- Rangers
Teams qualified for play-off round
- Sporting CP
- Toulouse
- Roma
- Qarabag
- Rennes
- Freiburg
- Marseille
- Sparta Prague
Teams entering play-off round via Champions League
- Feyenoord
- Young Boys
- Galatasaray
- RC Lens
- Braga
- Benfica
- AC Milan
- Shakhtar Donetsk
When is the draw for the knockout round?
The draw for the Europa League knockout round is on Monday 18th December with it beginning at 12pm BST.
How can I watch the draw?
TNT Sports 1 will broadcast the draw live on Monday. The draw will also be available to stream live on Uefa’s official website.
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