Europa Conference League draw LIVE: Aston Villa to face Ajax after learning last 16 fate
Unai Emery’s team hope to emulate West Ham and lift the trophy after making it through to the knockout rounds
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Your support makes all the difference.The Europa Conference League last 16 draw took place this afternoon with Unai Emery’s Aston Villa flying the flag as the lone British team in the competition.
Villa who qualified as one of the group winners alongside the likes of Club Brugge and Fiorentina where pulled out of the pot against Dutch side Ajax.
It is one of the more juicier ties for the next stage of the competition with Union Saint-Gilloise vs PAOK another potential eye opener.
Emery, who has plenty of success in European competition under his belt, will know that Villa have drawn one of the more dangerous teams but, combined with their impressive form in the Premier League this season, he will be confident about reaching the quarter-finals.
Relive the last 16 draw and reaction as Aston Villa seek to continue their European journey:
Europa Conference League draw LIVE
Servette are the first team drawn out of the pot...
... they’ll be playing Viktoria Plzen.
Europa Conference League draw LIVE
Here’s a reminder of the 16 teams in the draw:
Seeded teams:
- Aston Villa (ENG)
- Club Brugge (BEL)
- Fenerbahçe (TUR)
- Fiorentina (ITA)
- LOSC Lille (FRA)
- Maccabi Tel-Aviv (ISR)
- PAOK (GRE)
- Viktoria Plzeň (CZE)
Unseeded teams:
- Ajax (NED)
- Dinamo Zagreb (CRO)
- Maccabi Haifa (ISR)
- Molde (NOR)
- Olympiacos (GRE)
- Servette (SUI)
- Sturm Graz (AUT)
- Union SG (BEL)
Europa Conference League draw LIVE
Greek football legend and Euro 2004 winner Kostas Katsouranis will be drawing the balls out of the pots for this draw. He says that his only hope for the competition is that a Greek team reaches the final which will be played in Athens.
Europa Conference League draw LIVE
Giorgio Marchetti is back on the stage for this draw and once again recaps the previous rounds before congratulating the teams that progressed through the play off rounds.
Europa Conference League draw LIVE
And we’re back in Nyon.
This time for the Europa Conference League draw. The British interest here lies with Aston Villa but who will they be playing in the last-16?
We’re about to find out.
Europa Conference League draw LIVE
Viktoria Plzen defender Robin Hranac on the draw: “We will watch the draw together in the changing room and predict our opponent.
“I don’t have any preferences, we will put up a good fight no matter who we get.”
Europa Conference League draw LIVE
Martrin Baturina, Dinamo Zagreb midfielder said:“We already faced the most difficult opponent and we defeated them [Betis]. That’s why I don’t have any preferences for the draw.
“Whoever we get, we can play against them.”
Liverpool confirm key trio ruled out of potential Premier League title decider
Liverpool have confirmed Trent Alexander-Arnold, Alisson Becker and Curtis Jones will be out until after next month’s international break and will therefore miss the potential Premier League title decider against Manchester City.
Jurgen Klopp’s side host the champions at Anfield on 10 March but the key trio are set to be absent for the crucial fixture, as well as being unavailable against Chelsea in Sunday’s Carabao Cup final.
Liverpool confirm key trio ruled out of potential Premier League title decider
Trent Alexander-Arnold, Alisson Becker and Curtis Jones have been ruled out of the home clash against Manchester City next month, as well as Sunday’s Carabao Cup final
Europa League draw LIVE
The British teams will all be content with their opponents.
Rangers have undoubtably the most difficult tie against Benfica but the Portguese club bring weight and history to the fixture meaning a decent away trip for the fans and with the Scottish team top of the league at present they’ll take some confidence in the matches.
West Ham are well versed with SC Freiburg having beaten them twice in the Europa League group stages and they should prove no match for David Moyes’ side if he can get them back into form.
Liverpool, meanwhile, will be strong opponents for any of the teams left in the competition but a fixture against Sparta Prague could be the ideal scenario for Jurgen Klopp to rest a few players and allow his injury list to shorten.
Finally, Brighton face Roma. Tough test but much like Rangers they’ll be taking on a team with European pedigree and should they get through the tie then it’ll buoy them on to better things in the quarter-finals.
Europa League Conference draw LIVE
As we wait for some reaction to the Europa League last 16 draw, here’s what’s still to come this afternoon.
The Europa Conference League round of 16 draw takes place at Uefa’s headquarters in Nyon, Switzerland on Friday 23 February. The draw is set to commence at 12pm GMT.
It is a very similar draw to the previous one with seeded and unseeded teams drawn against each other. Aston Villa are the only British team in the competition.
The draw features 16 teams. The eight group stage winners from the Conference League group stage are seeded, and will face the knockout round play-off winners.
No side can face another team from the same national association.
Ties take place over two legs, with group winners at home in the second legs. Ties level after 180 minutes will go to extra time irrespective of the number of goals each team has scored at home and away.
If the teams still cannot be separated after the additional 30 minutes, the tie goes to a penalty shoot-out.
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