RB Leipzig to face Spartak Moscow in the Europa League round of 16

The European journey continues! After the victory over Real Sociedad, the Red Bulls are through to the round of 16 in the Europa League for the first time since 2018. Leipzig’s matches against Spartak Moscow will take place on 10th and 17th of March. As UEFA announced this morning, the second leg will take place at a neutral venue instead of in Moscow.

Here is everything you need to know about the round of 16.

Florian Scholz,
Commercial director for sport:

• Of course, we wanted to play the last 16 of the Europa League under different circumstances. We’ve already made our position clear on this topic. We are hoping for a peaceful solution to end this conflict as soon as possible. Regardless of this though, we want to beat Spartak Moscow. We’re the only Bundesliga side left in three competitions and we want to go as far as possible in all of them. Our goal remains to establish ourselves in the long run as one of Europe’s top 20 sides.”
  
   

Head coach Domenico Tedesco on the clash with his old club:

• "It's obviously a special draw for me. I had a great time at Spartak. I met a lot of great people and made many friendships there. I would have obviously preferred to have faced them again under different circumstances. I really hope that everything can be done to come to a peaceful agreement. 
  
  On the pitch, this will be anything but an easy game. I know their team well and know what they're capable of. They showed their quality by winning a really tough Europa League group. Nonetheless, our aim is to progress."

THE OPPONENTS

The Red Bulls have been drawn against Spartak Moscow, the only Russian side in the competition. Our opponents currently sit ninth in the Russian Premier League and qualified directly for the last 16 after topping their group, which contained Leicester City, Legia Warsaw and Napoli. Spartak Moscow can partly owe their recent success to Domenico Tedesco, who was the Spartak boss from 2019 to 2021 and led the team from Moscow to a second-placed finish last season. Our manager knows our opponents pretty well already!

THE DRAW

The round of 16 consists of the eight winners from the play-off round and the eight teams who topped their group. Two teams from the same country could not be drawn against each other, ruling out a tie against Bayer Leverkusen and Eintracht Frankfurt. It was already known that the first leg on 10th March would be a home tie because the winners of the groups earned the right to play their home tie a week later on 17th March. Porto vs. Lyon and Real Betis vs. Eintracht Frankfurt will take place on Wednesday 9th March instead, to avoid clashing with Sevilla vs. West Ham and Braga vs. Monaco, which will take place on the 10th. 

As was the case in the playoff round, the away goals rule is not in use for the rest of the knockout stages. In the case of the score being level at the final whistle in a tie, the game will go into extra time. The eight playoff ties did not see the new rule implemented. All the teams who went through did so on aggregate, whilst the match between Sheriff Tiraspol and Sporting Braga would also have gone to extra time under the old rules as it did under the new ones, as the tie was 2-2 on aggregate and both sides had won 2-0 at home.

THE REST OF THE DRAW

Spain and Germany make up the largest proportion of sides in the round of 16 with three each. Behind them, Portugal and France both have two sides left in the competition. Italy, England, Russia, Serbia, Turkey and Scotland all have one team in the hat for the Europa League round of 16. Interestingly, the two sides from the city the final is being held in are still in the competition, as Sevilla FC and Real Betis were drawn against West Ham United and Eintracht Frankfurt respectively. The final of the Europa League will be held on May 18th at Sevilla FC’s home stadium, the Estadio Ramón Sánchez Pizjuán.

In Glasgow and Red Star Belgrade, two reigning domestic champions are left in. FC Barcelona and Red Star are also their country's domestic cup holders.
 

ROUND OF 16 DRAW IN FULL:

Rangers vs. Red Star Belgrade
Sporting Braga vs. AS Monaco
FC Porto vs. Olympique Lyon
Atalanta BC vs. Bayer Leverkusen
Sevilla FC vs. West Ham United
FC Barcelona vs. Galatasaray SK
RB Leipzig vs. Spartak Moscow
Real Betis vs. Eintracht Frankfurt