Barca to face Napoli in Europa League knockout round playoffs

Barcelona will play Napoli in the knockout round playoff of the second-tier Europa League, marking a face-off between the former clubs of late soccer great Diego Maradona.

Barcelona, who crashed https://www.reuters.com/lifestyle/sports/toothless-barca-crash-out-champions-league-with-3-0-loss-bayern-2021-12-08 out of the Champions League after finishing third in their group, will host Napoli in the first leg on Feb. 17 before playing away a week later.

Barcelona’s fellow LaLiga team Sevilla will face Croatia’s Dinamo Zagreb, while Bundesliga club Borussia Dortmund will play against Scottish champions Rangers after the draw took place in Nyon, Switzerland on Monday.

RB Leipzig will face 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 Piraeus 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 Feb. 25.

In the third-tier Europa Conference League, English Premier League club Leicester City will face Danish side Randers and Scottish club Celtic will take on Norwegian champions Bodo/Glimt in the knockout playoff round.

Austrian club Rapid Vienna will face either England’s Tottenham Hotspur or Dutch team Vitesse Arnhem, depending on which one of the two teams advance.

Tottenham’s further participation in the competition is yet to be decided by European soccer governing body UEFA after their game against Stade Rennais was called off due to COVID-19 cases in the club. UEFA has said the game cannot be rescheduled.

Vitesse are currently second in Group G on 10 points after playing all six games, while Tottenham are third on seven points after five matches.

Among other ties, French club Olympique de Marseille will face Azeri side Qarabag, Dutch team PSV Eindhoven will take on Israeli club Maccabi Tel-Aviv and Turkey’s Fenerbahce will play Czech side Slavia Prague.

Denmark’s Midtjylland were drawn against Greek side PAOK, while Sparta Prague will face Serbian club Partizan Belgrade.