The UEFA Europa League draw is behind us Last Word on Football brings you the draw in full with analysis.
UEFA Europa League Quarter-Finals Draw
The quarter-finals are set! 😍
Most exciting tie?#UELdraw pic.twitter.com/s70kFqKjOH— UEFA Europa League (@EuropaLeague) March 15, 2024
Benfica vs Olympique de Marseille
Second place in Liga Portugal Benfica take on seventh place in Ligue 1 Marseille. The first match will take place at the Estadio da Luz with the second leg being at the Stade Orange Velodrome.
Benfica are only one spot off top spot, yet leaders Sporting CP have a game in hand. Benfica beat FC Porto to the title last season by two points to win their 38th title. They are unbeaten in 6 home games. They topped their Champions League group last season; a group consisting of European giants PSG and Juventus, to reach the round of 16 in which they beat Club Brugge 7-1 on aggregate.
Benfica have picked up 13 out of 15 possible points in their last five games, keeping three clean sheets in the process. As for Marseille, they have won their last three league games, scoring 11 goals in the process. They finished 2nd in their group behind Brighton, beating Shakhtar Donetsk 5-3 on aggregate in the round of 32. They then beat Villarreal 5-3 on aggregate in the round of 16, winning the first leg 4-0. Benfica finished 3rd in their UCL group, dropping down to the Europa League, beating Toulouse and Rangers to advance.
Both sides have never faced each other in a competitive fixture. They have however taken part in three friendlies, with each match ending in a different result. They met in Lisbon in July 2021, with the result ending 1-1, with all goals coming in the first half.
Liverpool vs Atalanta
Second place in the Premier League Liverpool take on sixth place in Serie A Atalanta. The first match will take place at Anfield with the second leg taking place at the Gewiss Stadium.
Read More: ‘I Wanted Arsenal’: Multiple Clubs To Battle Liverpool For Borussia Dortmund Star
Liverpool currently sit second in the league, only below leaders Arsenal due to an inferior goal difference. They have picked up 13 out of 15 possible points in their last five league matches, scoring 13 in the process. In the Europa League, the Reds topped Group E winning 4 matches and losing twice. In the round of 16, they beat Sparta Prague 11-2 on aggregate. They won the first away leg 5-1 before winning 6-1 at home, in which the latter had five different scorers. Klopp will have a limited squad to choose from, with the Reds having ten injuries in their first-team squad.
This includes Alisson Becker, Trent Alexander-Arnold, Diogo Jota and Joel Matip. As for Atalanta, the Italian side currently sit 6th in Serie A. Gasperini’s side were on a 10 match unbeaten run until late February with eight wins and two draws in all competitions. However, since then they have only won once, drawing three times and losing twice. They are currently without any injuries.
The two sides have only faced off twice before. This came in the 2020 Group stage of the Champions League. Liverpool won 5-0 at Anfield but Gasperini’s side were able to get a 2-0 win at home. Both sides were able to qualify, with Klopp’s team topping the group.
Bayer Leverkusen vs West Ham United
Seventh place in the Premier League West Ham take on top of the Bundesliga Bayer Leverkusen. The first match will take place at the BayArena with the second leg taking place at the London Stadium.
Xabi Alonso’s Leverkusen are currently in miraculous form. They are top of the Bundesliga with a 10-point gap over second-place Bayern Munich. Moreover, they are unbeaten so far this season, winning 22 and drawing 4 in 26 matches. They average 2.54 goals scored per match, only conceding an average of 0.69.
Leverkusen have won all of their last five matches, getting the maximum amount of points possible. In doing so, they have scored two goals or more in every match. That being said, and despite topping their Europa League group, they struggled to get past Qarabag, needing two goals in added time to advance.
As for West Ham, they are the current Europa Conference League winners. In their last six games, West Ham have lost two, including their 6-0 thrashing against Arsenal, won two and drew two. Their last game was a 1-1 draw at home to Emery’s Aston Villa. West Ham topped Group A, getting 15 out of 18 possible points, and beat Freiburg 5-1 on aggregate to advance to the quarter-finals
The only occasions the two teams faced off against each other came in a friendly earlier this season. Leverkusen prevailed, winning 4-0 at the Bay Arena. This would be a first competitive meeting between the two clubs.
AC Milan vs AS Roma
The two Italian giants. 2nd place AC Milan vs 5th place AS Roma. The first leg will take place at the San Siro, the second at the Stadio Olimpico.
AC Milan currently sit 2nd in the Serie A, the league that they won two seasons ago. Despite this, they are 12 points off Simone Inzaghi’s Inter Milan. They have won three of their last five in Serie A matches, but remain unbeaten in their last six in all competitions. AC Milan were placed in group F of the Champions League, otherwise known as the ‘Group of Death’ alongside PSG, Newcastle United and Borussia Dortmund.
They finished 3rd in the group, winning two, drawing two and losing two, meaning they fell into the Europa League. In the round of 32, they beat Stade Rennes 5-3 on aggregate before demolishing Slavia Prague 7-3 on aggregate advancing to the quarter-finals.
As for Roma, they have won three of their last five in all competitions. They currently have the joint best form in the league alongside league leaders Inter, but things weren’t always this way. After a poor start to the season, they sacked Jose Mourinho and replaced him with club legend Daniele De Rossi until the end of the season. They finished as runners-up in their Europa League group behind Slavia Prague. This meant they had to advance through the round of 32, which after two 1-1 draws against Feyenoord, they advanced winning on penalties 4 – 2. They then beat Brighton 4-2 on aggregate to reach the quarter-finals.
In the past two meetings this season, AC Milan have won both of them, winning 2-1 in September and 3-1 in January. Olivier Giroud and Rafael Leao have scored on both occasions.
UEFA Europa League Semi Final Draw
Benfica/Marseille vs Liverpool/Atalanta
AC Milan/AS Roma vs Bayer Leverkusen/West Ham United
