NYON: Twice Europa League winners Porto will face two-times finalists AS Roma in a knockout phase playoff tie, while Jose Mourinho’s Fenerbahce were pitted against Anderlecht in Friday’s draw held in Nyon, Switzerland.

Porto, winners in 2003 and 2011, last met Serie A club Roma in a Champions League last-16 clash in 2019, in which the Portuguese side emerged victorious.

Turkey’s Fenerbahce face Belgium’s Anderlecht, while fellow Super Lig club Galatasaray take on AZ Alkmaar. Ajax Amsterdam, champions in 1992, will meet Union SG and FC Twente play Bodo/Glimt of Norway.

The top eight sides automatically qualified for the last 16 while the teams that finished ninth to 24th will compete in the two-legged playoffs.

Premier League sides Manchester United and Tottenham Hotspur, among the favourites to win the tournament, secured automatic qualification to the Europa League last 16.

United and Spurs could face the winners of the tie between Midtjylland and Real Sociedad, or the winners of AZ Alkmaar v Galatasaray.

Spurs have already played AZ and Galatasaray in the league phase, beating the Dutch club 1-0 at home and losing 3-2 to the Turkish giants in Istanbul.

United played Galatasaray in the Champions League group stage last season, taking just one point from a possible six.

Sociedad are familiar opponents for the Old Trafford club: they met in the Champions League group stage in 2013/14, in the Europa League last 32 in 2021, and in the Europa League group stage in 2022.

Rangers, the 2022 Europa League runners-up, scraped into eighth place in the league phase and can face Twente of the Netherlands, Norwegian champions Bodo/Glimt, Fenerbahce or Anderlecht in the last 16.

The draw for the last 16 will take place on February 21, with the ties being played in the first half of March.

This season’s Europa League final will be played in Bilbao on Wednesday, May 21.

Published in Dawn, February 1st, 2025