Nyon, Feb 23: Liverpool will play at Sparta Prague in the first leg of the Europa League pre-quarterfinals on March 7, three days before a huge Premier League match against Manchester City.
Jurgen Klopp’s team learned its opponent in Friday’s draw made at UEFA headquarters. Liverpool and the other seven teams that topped their groups will host the second-leg matches a week after their openers away from home.
Avoiding a long round-trip journey to Azerbaijan to face Qarabag in midweek will be a relief for Liverpool, which hosts City on Sunday, March 10. Instead, Bayer Leverkusen is paired with Qarabag.
At this stage, teams from the same national association cannot meet.
The Europa League final is on May 22 in Dublin.
ALONSO’S TRAVELS
The eight group-stage winners qualified directly for the pre-quarterfinals. The eight group-stage runners-up played the eight third-place teams from the Champions League group stage in the playoffs to get into Friday’s draw.
Bundesliga leader Leverkusen faces Qarabag in the knockout round after the two teams also met in the group stage – Leverkusen winning 5-1 at home and 1-0 in Baku. Qarabag bagged a stoppage-time goal in extra time Thursday against Braga to reach the round of 16 in a European competition for the first time.
Leverkusen coach Xabi Alonso is one of Europe’s most in-demand strategists with upcoming vacancies at Bayern Munich and Liverpool.
West Ham beat Freiburg home and away in the group stage. The two teams will meet again in the pre-quarterfinals.
Roma advanced Thursday with a penalty shootout victory over Feyenoord in their playoff, and next faces Brighton.
PRE-QUARTERFINALS DRAW
The pre-quarterfinals match-ups (group winners listed first, playing away on March 7):
Atalanta vs Sporting CP
Bayer Leverkusen vs Qarabag
Brighton & Hove Albion vs AS Roma
Liverpool vs Sparta Prague
Rangers vs Benfica
Slavia Prague vs AC Milan
Villarreal vs Olympique de Marseille
West Ham United vs Freiburg
EUROPA CONFERENCE LEAGUE
Dutch side Ajax was drawn to play Aston Villa in Europe’s third-tier competition. The Birmingham club topped its group to qualify directly for the pre-quarterfinals.
Ajax advanced Thursday when Kenneth Taylor scored the winner in extra time to defeat Norwegian host Bodø/Glimt 2-1 – and 4-3 on aggregate in their knockout playoff.
The pre-quarterfinals match-ups (group winners listed first, playing away on March 7):
Aston Villa vs Ajax
Club Brugge vs Molde
Fenerbahçe vs Union Saint-Gilloise
Fiorentina vs Maccabi Haifa
Lille vs Sturm Graz
Maccabi Tel Aviv vs Olympiacos
PAOK vs Dinamo Zagreb
Viktoria Plzen vs Servette (PTI)
