On the evening of December 13, Beijing time, the Europa League knockout play-off draw was released, in which Barca, the champions of the Europa League, met Napoli, which has performed strongly in Serie A this season. Dort, from the Bundesliga, drew the lottery and met the wanderer of Su Chao. The two-legged knockout rounds of the Europa League play-offs will take place on 18 February and 25 February, with the winning team winning the Europa League round of 16.
This season, the Europa League has been reformed, and they have introduced a knockout play-off mechanism. Eight teams that finished second in the Europa League group became the first seeded teams: Rangers, Real Sociedad, Napoli, Olympiacos, Lazio, Braga, Betis and Dinamo Zagreb.
The eight teams that finished third in the Champions League group became unseeded, including Red Bull Leipzig, Porto, Borussia Dortmund, Sharif, Barca, Atlanta, Sevilla and Zenit.
According to the rules, teams from the same national football association will not become opponents. The game is divided into two rounds of the main and away games, the seed team will go first and then the host, and there will be no away goal rules in the game.
Compared to the seeded team's second place in the Europa League group, fans are more concerned about the game of 3rd place in the group that has failed to advance from the Champions League. Whether it is Barca or Borussia Dortmund, they are undoubtedly the biggest favourites to win the Europa League. La Liga giants, in particular, have not won the Europa League before.
Like Manchester United last season, Barca are seen as the number one favourite to win the Europa League this time. But from the actual situation, whether it is Dort in the Bundesliga, or Sevilla in La Liga, or Atalanta and Napoli in Serie A, they are currently in better shape than Xavi's team.
In the end, Xavi's luck was very bad, they met Napoli, the third most expensive in the Europa League, and it was too difficult for the La Liga giants to win the title. In contrast, Dortmund, from the Bundesliga, had very good luck. Losing Gerrard's Rangers will obviously not pose much of a threat to them, and Haaland's side will undoubtedly be the favourites to win this Europa League.
Europa League knockout play-offs are specifically matched
Sevilla vs Dinamo Zagreb
Atlanta vs Olympiacos
Red Bull Leipzig vs Royal Sociedad
Barca vs Napoli
Zenit vs. Betis
Dortmund vs Wanderers
Sharif vs Braga
Porto vs Lazio