EL & ECL return: Barca vs Napoli, Rangers, Celtic, Leicester in play-offs

As the 2021/22 Europa League and Europa Conference League return for the knockout round play-offs, we bring you the state of play, upcoming fixtures and the schedule for the remainder of the tournaments.

The group stage of the Europa League came to a conclusion in early December, with Celtic and Leicester both dropping into the Europa Conference League as a result.

There are some big-hitters who missed out on reaching the last 16 of the Champions League who have joined the Europa League at the newly-formed knockout round play-off stage, with Rangers facing a difficult tie with Borussia Dortmund.

For Dortmund, it represented just the second time in a decade they had failed to progress from the Champions League group stage, with five-time winners Barca a mainstay of the latter stages in 19 of the last 20 campaigns.

The biggest tie of the Europa League knockout play-offs sees Barcelona face Napoli, marking a face-off between the former clubs of the late great Diego Maradona.

Barcelona crashed out of the Champions League after finishing third in their group while Napoli only finished second in their group to be forced into a play-off tie prior to entering the round of 16.

Sevilla will face Croatia’s Dinamo Zagreb, RB Leipzig are up against Real Sociedad, Zenit St Petersburg will play Real Betis while Moldovan minnows Sheriff Tiraspol were drawn against Sporting Braga.

Italian side Atalanta will take on Greek club Olympiakos and Porto will face Lazio. The winners of the eight ties will join the eight Europa League group winners in the last 16, the draw for which will be held on 25 February.

Barcelona vs Napoli – Opta stats

The only previous meeting between Barcelona and Napoli in major European competition saw Barcelona eliminate the Italians at the Last 16 stage of the UEFA Champions League in 2019-20. The first leg finished 1-1 in Naples before Barcelona won the second leg 3-1 at Camp Nou.

Excluding qualifiers, the Supercup and the Club World Cup, each of Barcelona’s last 191 games in European competition have been in the UEFA Champions League, with this their first match in Europe’s secondary competition since 2003-04, when they were eliminated by Celtic in the Last 16 of the UEFA Cup. Barcelona manager Xavi started both legs.

Barcelona have lost three of their last five home games in major European competition (W1 D1), as many defeats as they had suffered across their previous 74 such matches (W59 D12 – excluding qualifiers). They lost their last home match in the knockout stages of such competitions in February 2021 against Paris Saint-Germain, and could lose back-to-back home knockout games at this level for the first time since 2002 and 2003 against Real Madrid and Juventus.

Van Bronckhorst: These are the games you want

Rangers manager Giovanni van Bronckhorst insists his players are relishing their formidable Europa League showdown with Borussia Dortmund.

Van Bronckhorst is adamant his team will embrace the tie rather than be daunted by it.

“We want to play against the best opposition possible in all the competitions we have, so it’s normal to live the moments we are facing now, playing against Borussia Dortmund in the Europa League,” said the Rangers manager.

“These are the games you want. From when you are young, you work hard to be able to play these games. Everyone is excited.

“We’re playing against one of the top sides in Europe. You know when you are still in Europe after the winter break you are going to play against a very good opposition. We are relishing the challenge to play against a top side in a nice stadium. We will go out and try to make it to the next round.”

Borussia Dortmund vs Rangers – Opta stats

Borussia Dortmund and Rangers will face-off in European competition for the first time since the 1999-2000 UEFA Cup Last 32, when Dortmund progressed via penalties after the clubs drew 2-2 on aggregate. Rangers manager Giovanni van Bronckhorst played in both legs, as did Claudio Reyna, whose son Giovanni currently plays for Dortmund and is named after the Rangers coach.

Rangers have lost seven of their last eight away games against German opponents in European competition (D1) since beating Bayer 04 Leverkusen in the UEFA Cup in October 1998, failing to score in six of those eight matches.

Borussia Dortmund have won five of their 10 matches in the knockout rounds of the UEFA Europa League (D3 L2), while they have won the first leg of such ties three times from five attempts (D1 L1).

Foxes seek Europa Conference League progress

Leicester finished third in Europa League Group C, missing out on progress to group winners Spartak Moscow and runners-up Napoli, and manager Brendan Rodgers memorably said he “didn’t know what the Europa Conference League” was when his team’s fate was sealed on the final matchday.

The Foxes now face a two-legged play-off to reach the last 16 against Danish outfit Randers FC while Celtic also enter the competition at this stage having been eliminated from the Europa League.

Ange Postecoglou’s side finished third in a group containing Bayer Leverkusen and Real Betis and the Glasgow outfit will host Bodo/Glimt in the first leg on Thursday.

Celtic team news

Josip Juranovic returns to the Celtic squad. The Hoops full-back missed the last two games through illness but has returned to training ahead of the clash against the Norwegian champions.

Winger Mikey Johnston misses out after sustaining an injury in the Scottish Cup win over Raith at the weekend.

Boss Ange Postecoglou said: “From last weekend, Mikey Johnston picked up an ankle sprain, nothing too serious but it will keep him out for a little while.

“Everyone else came through okay, Josip Juranovic is available, he’s back training after missing the last couple of games.

“That’s it. Yosuke Ideguchi is not registered (for Europe) so he won’t be available but everyone else is OK.”

The Norwegian club famously thrashed Jose Mourinho’s Roma 6-1 during the Europa Conference League group stages so Celtic cannot afford to be complacent.

The Norwegian champions are in pre-season mode ahead of the first leg of the Europa Conference League knockout-round play-offs, having not played a competitive game since securing their second successive Eliteserien title in December.

By contrast, in-form Celtic are top of the cinch Premiership, having gone 20 league games unbeaten and only lost twice to Bayer Leverkusen in the Europa League since last September.

Rapid Vienna will face Vitesse Arnhem, Marseille take Azeri side Qarabag and PSV Eindhoven are up against Maccabi Tel-Aviv among the other ties.

The first legs of both the Europa League and Europa Conference League play-offs will be played on 17 February, and the second legs will be played on 24 February.

Bodo/Glimt look to feed off fervent Celtic Park

Speaking before his squad trained at Celtic Park, Kjetil Knutsen revealed he had experienced the “amazing” home fans when he attended a game against Aberdeen about 20 years ago while on holiday and believes an enthusiastic Parkhead can help rather than hinder his side.

He said: “We know the circumstances, Celtic are in the middle of the season in really good shape. We are in pre-season. We have been in Spain for three-and-a-half weeks and worked really well.

“We have a new team, we have sold four really good players, but that’s the way it is and this is typical Bodo/Glimt, so it is not a new situation for us.

“Always here, the new players need time, but four weeks is okay and I think and hope we are competitive tomorrow. I am not sure but I hope.

“We have played two games in Spain and it is different playing friendly games than to playing a big game like tomorrow. But I know my players and with a full stadium we will get energy from the fans.”

EUROPA LEAGUE

What is a play-off round and what’s changed about the Europa League?

Starting from this season, the Europa League group stage has been truncated to eight groups. Instead of a round of 32, the eight second-placed teams will meet one of the eight sides finishing third in their respective Champions League groups in a two-legged play-off round in February.

Knockout round play-offs

Thursday February 17

Thursday February 24

Round of 16

Group winners who have already qualified

Lyon
Monaco
Spartak Moscow
Eintracht Frankfurt
Galatasaray
Red Star Belgrade
Bayer Leverkusen
West Ham

Draw scheduled to take place on Friday February 25.

First legs scheduled to be played on Thursday March 10; Second legs on Thursday March 17.

Quarter-finals

Draw scheduled to take place on Friday March 18.

First legs scheduled to be played on Thursday April 7; Second legs on Thursday April 14.

Semi-finals

Draw scheduled to take place on Friday March 18.

First legs scheduled to be played on Thursday April 28; Second legs on Thursday May 5.

Final

Scheduled to take place on Wednesday, May 18 at Ramon Sanchez Pizjuan Stadium, Sevilla.

EUROPA CONFERENCE LEAGUE

Remind me… what is the Europa Conference League?

The Europa Conference League is the third UEFA club competition and runs alongside both the Champions League and Europa League.

The idea behind the Europa Conference League is to give more clubs a taste of European football, particularly sides from countries that struggle to qualify for the other two UEFA competitions. The winners will enter next season’s Europa League group stages.

Tottenham were eliminated after UEFA confirmed their postponed fixture against Rennes would be deemed as a forfeit.

The eight group winners automatically go through to the last 16. Additional knockout round play-offs will then be played before the round of 16 between the eight group runners-up and the third-ranked teams of the Europa League groups.