Europa League 2016 Round-of-32 Draw: Winners and Losers
The draw for the first knockout stage of the UEFA Europa League took place on Monday, with the round of 32 set for some intriguing clashes once competitive action in continental football gets underway again in February.
While the full set of 16 fixtures can be seen here, some of the highlights include a return to Germany for Liverpool manager Jurgen Klopp, set to face Augsburg, and some of the teams who entered via third-place finishes in their respective Champions League groups—notably FC Porto and Shakhtar Donetsk—picking up extremely difficult-looking ties.
Here are all our biggest winners and losers from the draw.
Winners: Manchester United
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The route to the final in Basel looks tricky for plenty of clubs, but Manchester United received the draw they probably would have hand-picked themselves.
FC Midtjylland of Denmark are the side the Red Devils will face in the round of 32, a small club with little European pedigree in general—but who progressed from their group ahead of Club Brugge and Legia Warsaw nonetheless.
The reaction of the Danish club can be best summed up by midfielder Tim Sparv on Twitter: "Unreal! I'm actually going to play against Manchester United. The club I've supported since I was a boy. @EuropaLeague @ManUtd."
Losers: Molde
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There's often one team that has what looks like a monumental struggle to go anywhere in the knockouts, and although Midtjylland have a tough draw, it's nothing on Molde.
The Norwegian side have been drawn against Sevilla, with the Spanish side the reigning holders of the Europa League, having won it the last two seasons in succession.
Of course, winning it last year put Sevilla in the Champions League this term, but they exited that competition after finishing third in their group and will look to complete a memorable hat-trick in this tournament instead. Good luck, Molde. You'll need it, even if Sevilla haven't been at their best this season.
Winners: Valencia
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Valencia were the first team drawn out of the bowl, and new coach Gary Neville will be reasonably pleased after his side were paired with Austrian outfit Rapid Wien.
It's not a particularly high-profile clash, certainly compared with other fixtures, and he and his side will likely be left to prepare in relative peace. With Los Che still not performing well this term—Neville has lost and drawn his two games in charge so far—they'll hope to be functioning much better by the time February rolls around. Rapid also represent relatively modest opposition.
They did, however, top Group E ahead of Villarreal, Viktoria Plzen and Dinamo Minsk, so the Austrians will be far from a pushover.
Losers: Tottenham Hotspur
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Tottenham Hotspur qualified top of Group J in the Europa League so would have been hoping that guaranteed them a reasonable draw—but instead they face Fiorentina, who are second in Serie A.
Spurs have been playing well and looking a strong side domestically, as well as in Europe, but Fiorentina's style and quality on the ball will certainly be a huge test for the north London outfit.
Meanwhile, Anderlecht, the team Spurs finished ahead of, were handed a rather more palatable tie against Olympiakos. Finishing top certainly didn't aid Spurs this time.
Winner: The Europa League Itself, with Some Heavyweight Draws
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In contrast to the group stage, with so many dull fixtures, reduced-quality teamsheets and unsatisfying outcomes, the round of 32 has some high-value knockout matches to look forward to.
While each might consider themselves unfortunate to have been drawn against a similarly tough opponent, it gives neutrals and fans of teams in other ties plenty to look forward to. The best among the 16 ties perhaps come from the following:
Fiorentina vs. Spurs
Borussia Dortmund vs. FC Porto
Galatasaray vs. Lazio
Shakhtar Donetsk vs. Schalke
Marseille vs. Athletic Club
Sporting vs. Bayer Leverkusen
Villarreal vs. Napoli.
Whichever tie fans want to tune into should feature plenty of entertainment and an intense two legs of football as some of the favourites for the competition gear up to progress to the last 16.
