The Europa League round of 16 draw welcomes back group stage winners such as Liverpool, West Ham, Brighton and Bayer Leverkusen.
Round of 16 draw – who did the UK teams draw?
Favourites Liverpool will face Sparta Prague in the next round. Sparta Prague found themselves 3-2 down to Galatasaray after the first leg, but they breezed past them in a 4-1 win in the return fixture.
Sparta Prague are league leaders in the Czech first division, but they will find it difficult facing Premier League leaders Liverpool. The Reds have won the Europa league three times.
Brighton were pitted into the ‘group of death’ and managed to come out unscathed. Roberto De Zerbi’s side will have to endure another hard test as they were drawn with Italian giants Roma.
Roma had to get the job done on penalties in a tight contest against Feyenoord in the round of 32. Roma are being managed by Daniele De Rossi until the end of the season after Jose Mourinho was sacked.
West Ham draw Freiburg. The two were in the same group together and the Hammers won both of their games against the German side. David Moyes will be hoping for a repeat in order to save his job.
Freiburg’s first leg match against RC Lens ended 0-0. They were 2-0 down at half-time in the second leg but managed to pull off an amazing 3-2 comeback.
Finally, Rangers have perhaps been given the toughest tie. They will play Benfica who were knocked out of the Champions league group stage. Benfica beat French side Toulouse 2-1 on aggregate to book their place in the round of 16.
Rangers have recently leapfrogged Celtic into first place and Phillipe Clement’s side will be full of confidence.
When is the round of 16?
The first leg will be played on March 7th with the second leg being played on March 14th. The group stage winners will play the first leg away from home.
Sparta Prague v Liverpool
Marseille v Villarreal
Roma v Brighton
Benfica v Rangers
Freiburg v West Ham
Sporting Lisbon v Atalanta
AC Milan v Slavia Prague
Qarabag v Bayer Leverkusen
Where can I watch the round of 16 games?
Select matches will be broadcasted on TNT Sports and Discovery+. Times and coverage has yet to be announced.
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