The Europa League round of 16 draw took place in Nyon on Friday morning with Premier League side West Ham, Scottish champions Rangers and Barcelona among the participating teams.
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In the photo: Atletico Madrid v Man Utd
West Ham and Barcelona were among the teams that discovered their opponents in the Europa League round of 16 draw.
The Hammers got to the top of their group stage earlier in the campaign, meaning they didn’t have to go into the knockout stages with a slight improvement of their opponents in this campaign.
Rangers are the only English club left in the fray having superbly defended the scalps of German giants Borussia Dortmund during their playoff clash.
Barcelona is the biggest name left in the competition and a side competitor who always wants to avoid later beat Napoli 4-2 on Thursday night during their playoff game.
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Image:
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The Catalan giants are taking part in the tournament for for the first time since 2004 after getting a shock eliminated from the group stage of the Champions League.
Draw match West Ham against Sevilla, who have won the tournament six times – all since 2006 – and will host this season’s final in May.
Meanwhile, Barcelona are paired with Turkish giants Galatasaray, who won the UEFA Cup in 2000.
Rangers will host Serbian giants, Crvena Zvevda – who lost only 1 of the last 13 matches in the tournament.
The eight Europa League group stage winners have been in attendance since December and they join the eight winners from eight Europa League knockout play-offs.
The eight group stage winners, including The Hammers, were seeded for the draw while the winners of the playoff matches were not selected.
All seeded teams will play the first leg away with the return leg played at their own home ground.
No team can be held to a draw against a club from their home country – a common rule across UEFA competitions remains until the quarter-final stage.
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Image:
Pedro Salado / Quality Sports Photos / Getty Images)
The first legs of the Round of 16 will take place on March 10, and the second legs a week later on March 17.
The draws for the quarter-finals and semi-finals will be made simultaneously on March 18, with the quarter-finals scheduled for April 7 and 14, and the semi-finals on April 18. April and May 5.
This year’s Europa League final will be held in Seville at Sevilla’s Ramon Sanchez Pizjuan stadium – the Spanish side have won the tournament six times, more than any other club.
Europa League round of 16 draw:
Atalanta vs Bayer Leverkusen
Barcelona vs Galatasaray
Braga vs Monaco
Porto vs Olympique Lyonnais
Rangers vs Crvena Zvevda
Real Betis vs Eintracht Frankfurt
RB Leipzig vs Spartak Moscow
Sevilla vs West Ham
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https://www.mirror.co.uk/sport/football/news/europa-league-draw-barcelona-rangers-26326690 Europa League round of 16 draw as Barcelona and West Ham learn fate