The Citizen (Gauteng)

Thur 15 Feb - S10 V2

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M1 Feyenoord Rotterdam vs Roma: The two clubs meet for the third season running with the Dutch side hoping to make it third time lucky in their UEFA Europa League knockout play-off tie. M2 Galatasara­y vs Sparta Prague: The last meeting between these sides came in the Champions League group stage in 1997. Galatasara­y triumphed 2-0 at home after going down 3-0 in Prague.

M3 Molde vs Legia Warsaw: Their only previous meeting came in the 2013-14 Champions League third qualifying round. A 1-1 draw in Norway was followed by a goalless stalemate in the Warsaw second leg, sending Legia through on away goals. M4 Olympiakos vs Ferencvaro­s: Olympiakos enter the Europa Conference League for the first time and face Ferencvaro­s, so far unbeaten in this season’s competitio­n, in the first leg of knockout round play-off in Athens.

M5 Shakhtar Donetsk vs Olympique de Marseille: Ukraine’s Shakhtar face Marseille in neutral Hamburg in Germany in the first leg of their Europa League knockout round play-off tie.

M6 Sturm Graz vs Slovan Bratislava: Sturm have progressed from a UEFA group stage for the first time, while Slovan have reached the knockout stages of the Europa Conference League for a second successive season and will hope they can now better their round-of-16 showing in 2022-23. M7 Union Saint-Gilloise vs Eintracht Frankfurt: The Belgian side only made their European group stage debut last season. Frankfurt are aiming to win their first European knockout tie since beating Rangers in the Europa League final two seasons ago.

M8 Young Boys Berne vs Sporting Lisbon: Young Boys have faced these Portuguese opponents on four occasions and are yet to beat them. Sporting finished second in Europa League Group D behind Atalanta, winning three of their six games and losing just one to finish on 11 points.

M9 Benfica vs Toulouse: After managing only one win in their Champions League group campaign, Benfica join the Europa League for the first time in three years and take on Toulouse in the knockout round play-offs.

M10 Racing Lens vs SC Freiburg: Lens’ first Champions League campaign in 21 years ended with a third-place finish and qualificat­ion to the Europa League knockout round play-offs. They now face a Freiburg side who have reached this stage for the second successive season.

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