United could face Wolves in Europa League semis

PARIS: Manchester United could find themselves facing English rivals Wolverhampton Wanderers in the semi-finals of the Europa League in Germany in August, ater Friday’s draw for the later stages of the tournament put the teams on a collision course.

While the UEFA Champions League is to be completed with a straight knock out mini-tournament in Lisbon in August, the Europa League will be played to a conclusion with an identical format in Germany. Both competitions were suspended in March as the coronavirus pandemic took hold.

The Europa League final will be played in Cologne on August 21. The quarter-finals and semi-finals will be played as one-off ties with Cologne, Duisburg, Duesseldorf and Gelsenkirchen all hosting games.

Before that, all last-16 ties must be completed. Ole Gunnar Solskjaer’s United, who have been in fine form since the Premier League season resumed last month, are effectively already through to the last eight having won 5-0 away to Austrian side LASK in the first leg.

Assuming they progress, the 2017 Europa League winners will take on either Istanbul Basaksehir or FC Copenhagen in the quarter-finals on Monday, August 10 in Cologne. The Turkish side beat Copenhagen 1-0 at home in the first leg in March.

Meanwhile, Wolves drew 1-1 away to Olympiakos in the first leg of their last-16 tie. They are due to host the recently-crowned Greek champions in the return on August 5 or 6 and would then need to beat Sevilla -- who have won the Europa League and its precursor, the UEFA Cup, a record five times -- or Roma in the quarter-finals.

Manchester United and Wolves are both chasing Champions League qualification through the Premier League, with the Old Trafford team fith, six points ahead of sixth-placed Wolves with four games let.

Fith in England’s top flight will be enough to qualify for the Champions League if Manchester City’s two-year ban from Europe is upheld. But winning the Europa League also offers a route into next season’s Champions League.

A semi-final meeting of the teams would take place in Cologne on Aug.16.

There are three German teams let in the Europa League, including Bayer Leverkusen. They won 3-1 away to Rangers in the first leg of their last-16 tie and will be confident of advancing to the last eight.