Manchester United‘s reward for knocking Barcelona out of the Europa League is a last-16 tie against another Spanish opponent in Real Betis, while Premier League leaders Arsenal will face Sporting Lisbon.
While a less formidable opponent than Barcelona, Betis will be a tricky opponent given they earned more points than any other club in the group stage, winning five and drawing one of their six games to pip Jose Mourinho’s Roma to top spot.
Betis, who are managed by former Manchester City and West Ham boss Manuel Pellegrini, are currently fifth in the Spanish top-flight and their squad features World Cup winner Nabil Fekir and Ayoze Perez, who joined on loan from Leicester in January.
Arsenal’s opponents Sporting Lisbon, meanwhile, thrashed Danish club FC Midtjylland 5-1 on aggregate in the play-off round after dropping out of the Champions League group stage, despite taking four points off Tottenham.
Mikel Arteta and his players will meet a familiar face in Hector Bellerin, who joined Sporting from Barcelona in January, six months after ending his decade-long association with the Gunners.
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Man Utd are officially back with Ten Hag’s team built differently after ousting Barcelona23 February, 2023The Red Devils will be confident of going all the way and winning the trophy for the second time in six years after sensationally progressing at Barcelona’s expense in a play-off with a 4-3 aggregate victory.
Second half goals from Fred and Antony at Old Trafford saw United overcome a 1-0 deficit to win 2-1 against the La Liga title favourites with Erik ten Hag heralding the result as his “biggest win” since taking charge last summer.
“When you can beat Barcelona, one of the best teams at this moment in Europe then your belief can be really strong then you are able to beat anyone,” Tan Hag said. “We’ve had some good wins, Liverpool and Arsenal at home, really good wins but I think this over two legs, one tie, Barcelona: it’s a big win.”
Arsenal avoided being dragged into a play-off tie with a Champions League dropout after topping a group containing PSV, Bodo/Glimt and FC Zurich, which meant they entered the last 16 draw as one of eight seeded teams.
They too will be confident of reaching the latter stages, although it remains to be seen how seriously Arteta takes the tournament given winning a first Premier League title since 2004 is the club’s principal aim for the campaign.
When will the last 16 games be played?
The last 16 matches will be played on Thursday 9 March and Thursday 16 March.
The quarter-final and semi-final draws will take place a day after the second legs have concluded on Friday 17 March.
Europa League last 16 draw in full
- Bayer Leverkusen vs Ferencvaros
- Juventus vs Freiburg
- Man Utd vs Real Betis
- Roma vs Real Sociedad
- Sevilla vs Fenerbahce
- Shakhtar Donetsk vs Feyenoord
- Sporting Lisbon vs Arsenal
- Union Berlin vs Union Saint-Gilloise
Arsenal and United are regarded as the top two favourites to win the trophy, but they will face stiff competition from other European heavyweights.
Juventus will surely prioritise this competition over Serie A given they are currently 30 points behind league leaders Napoli in the table and will fancy their chances against Freiburg who are newcomers to this stage.
The competition’s most successful club Sevilla are in action against Feyenoord, while Roma play Real Sociedad with Mourinho hoping to win the competition for the third time having already done so with United and FC Porto.
Bundesliga high-flyers Union Berlin will face Belgian side Union Saint-Gilloise for the third and fourth time this term after the pair faced off in the group stage, while Bayer Leverkusen are up against Ferencvaros.
United and Arsenal were kept apart in the draw as two clubs from the same national association cannot play each other at this stage of the competition. They could be drawn together from the quarter-finals onwards, however, as that rule no longer applies.
This year’s final will be held at the Puskas Arena in Budapest on Wednesday 31 May.
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