BEVERLY HILLS, March 19, (THEWILL) – After the full cast of teams that made it to the next round of the competition in the second-tier of European football, the UEFA Europa League, went through on Thursday, the draws for the quarter-finals took place on Friday at the House of European Football in Nyon, Switzerland.
The draws pitched English Premier League club Manchester United against Spanish side Granada for the quarter-finals while a thrilling semi-final against either one of Ajax or Roma lying in wait for Ole Gunnar Solskjaer’s team, if they make it past the next round.
For their north London EPL comrades, Mikel Arteta’s Arsenal, a grim doubleheader against the Czech eliminators of the Premier League’s Leicester City and newly-crowned Scottish Champions Rangers and the leading side in the Czech First League this season, Slavia Prague await.
Arteta’s charges qualified for the quarter-finals relatively unscathed against Olympiacos, though with a late scare while the Red Devils had Paul Pogba and keeper Dean Henderson to thank for their win over AC Milan at San Siro that booked their place in the pot for the quarter-final draws.
An Europa semi-final against either Ajax or Roma promises to deliver one of the biggest games of the tournament so far, with the Dutch and Italian giants due to fight out their quarter-final first leg in Amsterdam to determine who will go through.
The Dutch club blew Young Boys away with 5-nil aggregate win in the last 16, while Roma had a similarly comfortable win over Shakhtar Donetsk, adding to their 3-0 first leg victory with a 2-1 win in Ukraine for a similar 5-1 aggregate victory. There is another quarter-final for the conquerors of Spurs’ Dinamo Zagreb to battle Spanish side Villarreal. The winner will face either Arsenal or Slavia in the semi-final.
By drawing Arsenal and Manchester United in separate sides of the tree, Europa opened up the possibility of an all-Premier League final in Gdansk is a possibility provided both sides win their next two ties in the lead up to the final.
2020/21 UEFA Europa League quarter-final draw
Granada vs Manchester United
Arsenal vs Slavia Prague
Ajax vs Roma
Dinamo Zagreb vs Villarreal
2020/21 UEFA Europa League semi-final draw
Granada or Manchester United vs Ajax or Roma
Dinamo Zagreb or Villarreal vs Arsenal or Slavia Prague
All quarter-final first legs will be played on April 8, with the return legs the following week later on April 15. Then, the semi-final first legs will take place on April 29, followed by the second legs a week later on May 6.
The final for the 2020/2021 UEL final takes place on May 26 at the Stadion Energa in Gdansk, three days before the UCL final for the season.
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