Mixed luck for the Spanish teams in the playoff draw for the second round of the Europa League. Barcelona could not avoid Naples, the toughest rival that could touch him, and will have to play the pass to the second round against a team that this year is fighting for the title of Serie A. Sevilla, which like Barça comes back from the Champions League, will have to overcome Dinamo Zagreb, a more than affordable rival for Sevilla fans to continue their journey in their fetish competition, the final of which is also being held this year at their stadium. On the other hand, Betis and Real Sociedad managed to avoid Haaland’s Dortmund, the most feared rival. Those of Pellegrini will face Zenit while the San Sebastian will face each other with a Leipzig that has fallen short this season.
For Barcelona, Murphy’s law has become their usual day to day. If something can go wrong, it will go wrong. The continuous injuries and poor results are now joined by bad luck. Spalletti’s Napoli was the most difficult rival that could touch him and he did. The Neapolitan team is this year fighting for Serie A together with Inter and Milan and had a truly thunderous start to the season. In the last days of the Italian league he has hit a small drop, especially after the injury of Osihmen, his great scorer, who has been out for three months and will arrive very right to the confrontation. In addition, Barça will play first at the Camp Nou and the tie will be decided at the Maradona Stadium. Things have to change a lot in these months for Barcelona to arrive as favorites to the duel.
Real Sociedad and Betis managed to avoid Haaland’s Dortmund, but it will not be easy for them to be in the second round. Imanol’s team will have to eliminate Leipzig, which this year has decreased its performance compared to previous seasons after the departure of its coach Nagelsmann to Bayern. His replacement Jesse Marsh was fired just over a week ago and the Red Bull team has almost two months to regenerate.. Dani Olmo and Szoboszlai are his most dangerous players. For its part, Betis, who are euphoric in LaLiga, will face a Zenit that one more year is the leader of the Russian Premier League and that has top quality players such as Malcom and Dzyuba, among others.
The best stopped was undoubtedly Sevilla. Lopetegui’s men will play Dinamo Zagreb, one of the weakest teams left in the tournament. Undoubtedly a good omen for a team that dreams of winning its seventh Europa League at their stadium on May 18. Among the rest of the crosses, Porto-Lazio stands out. Haaland’s Dortmund shouldn’t have much trouble beating Rangers while Atalanta will face Olympiacos and Sheriff Tiraspol, one of the revelation clubs of the season, will play the round of 16 with Sporting Braga.
The first leg matches will be played on Thursday, February 17 at the stadium of the teams that come from the Champions League, that is, Barça and Sevlla will play first at home, while the second leg will be played a week later, on February 24.. The eight clubs that pass this phase will meet those that are already in the next round of 16, that is, those that won their group in the Europa League: Lyon, Monaco, Spartak, Eintracht, Galatasaray, Red Star, Bayer Leverkusen and West Ham. The crosses of this round will be drawn on Friday, February 25.
This is the playoff for the eighth
Sevilla-Dinamo Zagreb
Atalanta-Olympiacos
Leipzig-Real society
Barcelona-Naples
Zenit-Betis
Dortmund-Rangers
Sheriff-Sporting Braga
Porto-Lazio
Teams qualified for eighth
Lyon
Monaco
Spartak Moscow
Eintracht
Galatasaray
Red Star
Leverkusen
West Ham