Europa League round of 16 draw
The last 16
Europa league draw threw up some interesting ties that certainly neutrals will
be happy with. The two stand out ties in my view are Dortmund v Spurs and of
course the old enemies Liverpool playing Manchester United. Another interesting
tie is an all-Spanish
Athletic Bilbao and Valencia, the two are also due to
meet this weekend in La Liga.
Fenerbache and
Braga will both feel they have a great opportunity of making the last 8 with
two of probably the weaker teams in the last 16 draw facing each other.
Villarreal who knocked out the tournament favourites Napoli last night have a
tricky couple of games against Bayern Leverkusen who will be a very tough test.
I expect some
really enjoyable games from these fixtures and perhaps even an upset or two. I
feel Spurs have a genuine chance against Dortmund in a fixture that wouldn’t look
out of place in the Champions league given the quality of the sides. Mo Po has
Spurs playing some great energetic high pressing football with a nucleus of
youth that seem to have no fear and are showing no signs of slowing down in
their busy fixture list.
So the sides I’m
tipping to progress to the quarter finals are Shakhtar Donesk, Seville,
Villarreal, Manchester United, Lazio, Spurs and Braga. As with all cup
competitions and especially tournaments with a format that include the away
goal rule, you just never know what might happen, I wouldn’t be at all
surprised to see this round producing extra time and penalty kicks considering
how closely matched some of the teams are.
Shaktar Donesk v Anderlecht
Basel v Sevilla
Villarreal v Bayern Leverkusen
Athletic Bilbao v Valencia
Liverpool v Manchester United
Sparta Prague v Lazio
Dortmund v Tottenham
Fenerbahche v Braga
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