Europa League Bracket 2013-14: Fixtures and Predictions for Rounds of 32 and 16

The Europa League Round of 32 marks the point when the quality of football on display begins to match the quantity.

After months of toiling around Europe for points, 24 clubs emerged from the Group Stages to take their place in Monday’s draw (Dec. 16), alongside the eight teams dropping down from the Champions League.

Both the Round of 32 and 16 were drawn in Nyon, producing some mouth-watering contests to look forward to early next year. 

The Round of 32 kicks off Feb. 20 before the return fixture one week later, while the Round of 16 will take place on March 13 and 20.

Here’s a look at some early predictions before we delve a little deeper into the draw.

1st Leg Date, K/O	Fixture	Team Advancing
Feb. 20, 17:00 GMT	Anzhi vs. Genk	Genk
Feb. 20, 18:00 GMT	Dynamo Kiev vs. Valencia	Valencia
Feb. 20, 18:00 GMT	PAOK vs. Benfica	Benfica
Feb. 20, 18:00 GMT	Liberec vs. AZ	AZ
Feb. 20, 18:00 GMT	Chornomorets Odesa vs. Lyon	Lyon
Feb. 20, 18:00 GMT	Dnipro vs. Tottenham	Tottenham
Feb. 20, 18:00 GMT	Juventus vs. Trabzonspor	Juventus
Feb. 20, 18:00 GMT	Esbjerg vs. Fiorentina	Fiorentina
Feb. 20, 20:05 GMT	Ajax vs. Salzburg	Ajax
Feb. 20, 20:05 GMT	Maccabi Tel-Aviv vs. Basel	Basel
Feb. 20, 20:05 GMT	Porto vs. Eintracht Frankfurt	Porto
Feb. 20, 20:05 GMT	Maribor vs. Sevilla	Sevilla
Feb. 20, 20:05 GMT	Plzen vs. Shakhtar Donetsk	Shakhtar Donetsk
Feb. 20, 20:05 GMT	Real Betis vs. Rubin Kazan	Rubin Kazan
Feb. 20, 20:05 GMT	Swansea vs. Napoli	Napoli
Feb. 20, 20:05 GMT	Lazio vs. Ludogorets	Ludogorets

Fixture	Team Advancing
Liberec/AZ vs. Anzhi/Genk	AZ
Lazio/Ludogorets vs. Dynamo Kiev/Valencia	Valencia
Porto/Eintracht Frankfurt vs. Swansea/Napoli	Napoli
Chornomorets Odesa/Lyon vs. Plzen/Shakhtar Donetsk	Shakhtar Donetsk
Maribor/Sevilla vs. Real Betis/Rubin Kazan	Sevilla
Dnipro/Tottenham vs. PAOK/Benfica	Tottenham
Macabbi Tel-Aviv/Basel vs. Ajax/Salzburg	Ajax
Juventus/Trabzonspor vs. Esbjerg/Fiorentina	Juventus

Preview

Tottenham Hotspur and Salzburg, the only two sides with a 100 percent record in the competition, were drawn against Dnipro and Ajax, respectively.

Spurs’ fixture with Dnipro will mark the return of Juande Ramos to White Hart Lane. The Dnipro boss spent less than a year with the North London outfit before being sacked at the beginning of the 2008-09 season when the club sat bottom of the table after eight games.

Speaking after the draw, Ramos told UEFA.com,

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“Luck was not with us in this draw. Tottenham are one of the favourites to win the competition. They are a very strong side, but we have to take to the pitch and play with no other thought than to fight for the win over two legs.”

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If Spurs are to advance, they will face the winner of PAOK and Benfica in the Round of 16.

Fellow Premier League team Swansea were handed an extremely tough draw. The Welsh side take on Napoli, who became the first side ever to exit the Champions League group stages with 12 points after losing out to Arsenal and Borussia Dortmund.

Swansea, playing in their maiden European competition, will take confidence from their 3-0 victory over Valencia at the Mestalla on Matchday 1, however.

If the Swans can find a way past Rafa Benitez’s side, it won’t get much easier, with the winner of Eintracht Frankfurt and Porto awaiting them in the Round of 16.

Speaking to UEFA.com, Benitez said, “Swansea have made great strides. [Michael] Laudrup is a coach who loves his teams to keep possession. They play brilliant football and have a good squad of players, including Michu.”

Arguably, the tie of the Round of 32 sees Juventus take on Turkish side Trabzonspor.

The Serie A club will have been disappointed with the manner in which they exited the Champions League, but with Turin hosting the Europa League final, The Old Lady have some additional incentive to go the distance.

Mustafa Resit Akcay’s Tranzonspor have been one of the surprises of this year’s tournament. They finished ahead of Lazio in Group J and will be buoyed on by Juventus’ recent defeat to Galatasary, which consigned them to Europa League action.  

Trabzonspor president, Ibrahim Ethem Haciosmanoglu, confidently told UEFA.com, “Juventus were knocked out of the Champions League by a Turkish side and we can give them the pleasure of being eliminated by another.” 

Another team to impress during the Group Stages was Ludogorets. They finished top of Group B, which on paper looked to be a tough pool. 

The Bulgarian side qualified with five wins and a draw, sending well-known clubs PSV and Dinamo Zagreb out of the competition. Their reward is a Round of 16 clash against Lazio. 

Elsewhere, Dynamo Kiev were paired off with Valencia, who recently sacked their manager Miroslav Djukic. Real Betis take on Rubin Kazan and Lyon play Ukrainian side Chornomorets Odesa.