The draw for the last 16 of the UEFA Europa League has taken place as Man United and Wolves, the two remaining Premier League teams in the competition, found out who they will face.
[ MORE: Europa League schedule ]
Man United, the highest-ranked team left in the competition, were drawn against LASK from Austria, the lowest-ranked team remaining. Ole Gunnar Solskjaer sees the Europa League as a very important competition given the tight battle for Champions League qualification via the Premier League.
Winning the Europa League may be United’s best hope of being in the UCL next season.
Wolves will travel to Olympiacos for the first leg of their tie after the Greek giants knocked out Arsenal in dramatic fashion, with Nuno Espirito Santo’s side the darkhorses to win this competition.
Plenty of mouthwatering last 16 ties were set up as Steven Gerrard’s Glasgow Rangers face Bayer Leverkusen, Sevilla and Roma do battle and Inter Milan play against La Liga’s Getafe. Red Bull Salzburg need a miraculous second leg turnaround against Eintracht Frankfurt (they play on Friday after the game was postponed due to a storm in Salzburg, Frankfurt lead 4-1 on aggregate) to reach the last 16 as the winners of that tie face FC Basel.
Looking at these Europa League round of 16 matches, Wolves and Man United will be pretty happy with their draw, while the Bundesliga clubs will be confident of advancing. If you had to pick a couple of teams who are the favorites to reach the final in Gdansk, Poland, you’d have to say Man United, Inter Milan, Wolves and Roma are the frontrunners.
Below is the draw for the last 16 in full as the first legs will be played on Mar. 12 with the second legs on Mar. 19.
UEFA Europa League Round of 16 first leg schedule
Olympiacos v. Wolves
Sevilla v. Roma
Wolfsburg v. Shakhtar Donetsk
Istanbul Basaksehir v. FC Copenhagen
LASK v. Man United
Inter Milan v. Getafe
Red Bull Salzburg or Eintracht Frankfurt v. Basel
Glasgow Rangers v. Bayer Leverkusen
