Arsenal hoping for some Emery magic
SEVILLA consider themselves “Kings of the Europa League” as record winners of Europe’s second-tier club competition but Arsenal hope for good results with Sevilla’s former coach as the knockout stage starts.
Fenerbahce beat former winners Zenit St Petersburg 1-0 on Tuesday but all other 15 last 32, first leg matches are today, with Sevilla and Arsenal both on the road at Lazio and Bate Borisov respectively.
A host of ex-champions are present, including a meeting between 1980 winners Eintracht Frankfurt at 2009 winners Shakhtar Donetsk, 2012 winners Chelsea at Malmo, and former Italian winners Napoli and Inter Milan at Zurich and Rapid Vienna.
Arsenal’s only continental silverware is the 1994 Cup Winners’ Cup and they will be hoping for success this time around with Unai Emery, who led Sevilla to three straight titles from 2014 for a record five overall, at the helm.
Emery hopes to recall striker Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang for trip to Bate. The forward missed the weekend’s Premier League win at Huddersfield.
Aaron Ramsey, who will join Juventus next season, is also in contention after knee trouble, and Mesut Oezil should be fit after illness.
Chelsea travel to Sweden on the back of a 6-0 hammering at Manchester City last time out, and midfielder N’Golo Kante said the London side need to show their resilience.
“It’s difficult to accept such a heavy defeat but we have a lot of matches coming up to lift our heads and give us hope for good results at the end of this season,” he said.
“But we’ve got a lot to learn from this and hopefully we will not repeat the same mistakes in the future.”
Sevilla go to Lazio with their sporting director Joaquin Caparros declaring: “We are the kings of the Europa League but we have a difficult game ahead of us.”
New signing Marko Rog will make the journey and full-back Guilherme Arana returns after missing the weekend draw with Eibar. Another new signing Max Woeber is suspended.
Lazio have striker Ciro Immobile and midfielder Sergej MilinkovicSavic injured against the club where their Spanish midfielder Luis Alberto grew up.
“I was almost certain we were going to meet either Sevilla or (Real) Betis,” Luis Alberto said. “I will play again at the Sanchez-Pizjuan before my family. It will be incredible.”
Betis go to Rennes off the back of a 3-0 loss to Leganes in La Liga but they could have defender Marc Bartra back from injury.
Valencia are at Celtic without striker Rodrigo Moreno, who is rested. Santi Mina, Jose Gaya and Gabriel Paulista are out injured, while Facundo Roncaglia is suspended.
Frankfurt were the only team apart from last season’s semifinalists Salzburg to win all six group matches. They have also impressed in the Bundesliga where they lie fifth, and want to continue their good run in Europe at Shakhtar.
“They’re tough opponents but we’re really looking forward to it... We want to keep writing our European story,” Frankfurt goalkeeper Kevin Trapp said.
Germany’s other club, 1989 Uefa Cup winners Bayer Leverkusen, go to Russia’s Krasnodar, while Salzburg are at Belgium’s Club Brugge.
The other games are Slavia Prague v Genk, Plzen v Dinamo Zagreb and Olympiacos v Dynamo Kiev.