Europa League last-16 draw: Manchester United to face AC Milan; Arsenal to play Olympiakos | Football News

Manchester United will face Italian giants AC Milan within the final 16 of the Europa League, whereas Arsenal have been drawn to play Olympiakos.

United will host the primary leg towards Milan, which is able to see their former striker Zlatan Ibrahimovic return to Outdated Trafford.

Arsenal will journey to Greece within the first leg of their tie with Olympiakos, who knocked them out of the Europa League within the spherical of 32 final season.

The Greek champions play their dwelling matches on the Karaiskakis Stadium, the venue for Arsenal’s dramatic victory over Benfica within the final 32 of the competitors on Thursday.

The Gunners’ north London rivals Tottenham will face Dinamo Zagreb, who progressed to the final 32 after beating Russian facet Krasnodar.

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Spurs received the UEFA Cup – the earlier incarnation of the Europa League – in 1972 and 1984, whereas their supervisor Jose Mourinho lifted the trophy with Porto in 2003 and Manchester United in 2017.

All 4 British groups left within the competitors have been saved aside after Rangers have been drawn to play Slavia Prague, who shocked Leicester within the earlier spherical.

Elsewhere within the draw, former Arsenal boss Unai Emery – probably the most profitable supervisor within the historical past of the Europa League – will see his present facet Villarreal tackle Dynamo Kiev.

Roma will play 2009 UEFA Cup winners Shakhtar Donetsk, whereas the 1992 champions Ajax will face Swiss facet Younger Boys.

Granada will proceed their spectacular marketing campaign towards Norwegian facet Molde. The Spanish membership are having fun with their first season in European competitors and surprised Italian giants Napoli within the earlier spherical.

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The primary legs of the last-16 ties will happen on March 11, with the return legs per week later.

The quarter-final and semi-final attracts will then be held on March 19 in Nyon, Switzerland.

Europa League last-16 draw

• Ajax vs Younger Boys
• Dynamo Kiev vs Villarreal
• Roma vs Shakhtar Donetsk
• Olympiakos vs Arsenal
• Dinamo Zagreb vs Tottenham
• Manchester United vs AC Milan
• Slavia Prague vs Rangers
• Granada vs Molde

Zlatan’s Man Utd date

Ibrahimovic’s reunion with Manchester United makes for a mouth-watering tie.

The 39-year-old striker established himself as a fan favorite throughout his brief spell at Outdated Trafford, scoring within the Neighborhood Defend and EFL Cup triumphs in 2016/17.

Ibrahimovic performed a key position in that season’s victorious Europa League run, however a critical knee damage within the quarter-final triumph towards Anderlecht dominated him out of the rest of the marketing campaign.

The veteran solely made seven extra United appearances after that and seemed set to wind down his profession when he moved to LA Galaxy in March 2018, however the striker has flourished since returning to Milan and handed a landmark 500 profession membership targets earlier in February.

Manchester United supervisor Ole Gunnar Solskjaer says he is been impressed by Ibrahimovic this season and is trying ahead to going through the veteran striker within the Europa League.

“It is a good birthday present, is not it? To observe that draw,” Solskjaer instructed Manchester United’s website.

“We do have the custom of constructing it exhausting for ourselves in attracts. It is a kind of attracts once more that you simply really feel might be a Champions League sport.

“It is good for us to have these video games to look ahead to. This staff wants challenges and we take pleasure in challenges and we embrace them.

“The custom and historical past of AC Milan, it is an ideal membership that we welcome and it is an ideal stadium that we go to there, and we’re trying ahead to it.

“Zlatan, after all, I have been so impressed, I’ve bought to say, by how his profession has gone.

“He had a career-threatening damage when he was right here however got here again from that and went to [the] MLS, then got here again to Milan and has actually lifted them. They’re on the up and have accomplished very well this season.”

Can Zlatan fire AC Milan to Serie A title? Read more…

Head-to-head: Brits sides vs last-16 opponents

Arsenal vs Olympiakos:

• Arsenal and Olympiakos have beforehand met on 10 events throughout all European competitions, with no encounter ending stage and each groups profitable 5 instances every.
• Olympiakos knocked out Arsenal within the final 32 of the UEFA Europa League final season; the Gunners final suffered back-to-back eliminations by the hands of the identical facet in 2012-13 & 2013-14 towards Bayern Munich within the Champions League.
• In opposition to sides from a selected nation they’ve confronted greater than 10 instances in main UEFA competitors, solely towards Italian (55%) and French (54%) opposition have Arsenal received the next share of their matches than towards Greek groups (10/20 – 50%).

Man Utd vs AC Milan:

• The primary leg would be the eleventh assembly between Manchester United and AC Milan in European competitors, with all 10 earlier conferences coming within the European Cup/Champions League.
• Manchester United have been eradicated from 4 of their 5 knockout ties with AC Milan, with no facet eliminating United extra typically in UEFA European competitors (additionally Actual Madrid, 4, excluding Tremendous Cups).
• Of their final assembly in March 2010, Manchester United received 4-0 towards AC Milan – it’s the Italians’ joint-heaviest defeat in main UEFA European competitors (excluding Tremendous Cups).

Tottenham vs Dinamo Zagreb:

• Tottenham Hotspur and Dinamo Zagreb have met solely as soon as earlier than in European competitors; Spurs beat Dinamo 4-0 at dwelling in the course of the group phases of the UEFA Cup in 2008-09, a sport through which Darren Bent scored a hat-trick.
• Tottenham Hotspur have performed Croatian opposition on seven earlier events, with six of these being towards Hajduk Cut up. They’ve received 5 instances and misplaced twice, with each of these losses away to Hajduk (1984 and 1991).
• Dinamo Zagreb have misplaced 9 of their final 10 matches towards English sides in European competitors, profitable the opposite sport 2-1 towards Arsenal within the Champions League group phases in 2015.

Rangers vs Slavia Prague

• This will probably be Rangers’ first assembly with Slavia Prague in European competitors; they final confronted Czech opposition within the 2002-03 UEFA Cup first spherical, going out on away targets to Viktoria Zizkov.
• Regardless of profitable all three of their dwelling video games towards Czech opponents in European competitors, Rangers have been eradicated in every such tie – to Dukla Prague within the 1981-82 Cup Winners’ Cup, Sparta Prague within the 1991-92 European Cup and Viktoria Zizkov within the 2002-03 UEFA Cup.
• Rangers would be the third Scottish membership to face Slavia Prague in main European competitors; each of the earlier two progressed – St. Mirren within the 1985-86 UEFA Cup first spherical and Hearts within the 1992-93 UEFA Cup first spherical.

Europa League 20/21: Key dates

• April 8 & 15: Quarter-finals
• April 29 & Could 6: Semi-finals
• Could 26: Closing (Gdansk, Poland)