The UEFA Europa League round of 32 is already underway as we give our insight on yesterdays results, upcoming fixtures and predictions.
RESULTS
Portuguese club Sporting Braga hosted Scottish side Rangers Fc in the first of the UEFA Europa League round of 32 fixtures on Wednesday.
Steven Gerrard and his men came backed up with over 5000 travelling fans to support the club through to the next stage of the Europa knock out stage.
Rangers missed out on an opportunity to take the lead just before the end of the first half when Ianis Hagi missed a penalty from a handball by Raúl Silva.
Ianis Hagi made up for his mistake in the second half assisting Ryan Kent to put away the first and winning goal for the Rangers in the 60th minute.
The Rangers now go through to the Europa League Round of 16 after Wednesday’s results.
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THURSDAY 27 FEBRUARY FIXTURES
The final 30 teams will square off today in two sessions being played starting at 17:55 (GMT) and 20:00 (GMT)
The first session matchups are:
Porto VS Bayer Leverkusen
LASK VS AZ
Basel VS APOEL
Malmo FF vs Wolfsburg
Istanbul Basaksehir VS Sporting CP
Espanyol VS Wolverhampton Wanderers
Gent VS Roma
The Second session of fixtures scheduled for 20:00 (GMT) kick-off are:
Manchester United VS Club Brugge
Celtic VS Kobenhavn
Benfica VS Shakhtar Donetsk
Internazionale VS Ludogorets
Ajax VS Getafe
Arsenal VS Olympiakos Piraeus
Sevilla VS CFR Cluj
RB Salzburg VS Eintracht Frankfurt
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5 GAMES TO WATCH IN ROUND OF 32
Manchester United vs Club Brugge
Ole Gunnar Solskjaer will be looking too new signee Bruno Fernandes to propel the club through to the next stage of the Europa League. Coming into the match with an away goal advantage following their 1-1 draw in the first leg, Manchester United will hope that the atmosphere at Old Trafford will be just the spark they need to see them through to victory.
Ajax vs Getafe
Ajax are currently going through a bad spell after their weekend results having lost to Heracles. The Dutch giants have an uphill battle against Getafe who go into the game encounter with the advantage after their 2-0 win in the first leg match.
Porto vs Bayer Leverkusen
Bayer Leverkusen won the first leg encounter 2-1 but will now face Porto without their top goalscorer Kevin Vollard who is out with an ankle injury, possibly until the end of the season.
Porto’s hopes are still alive thanks to the away goal scored by Luis Diaz but they will now have to contend with a determined Bayern Leverkusen who only find themselves in the Europa League after exiting a tough group led by Juventus and Atletico Madrid.
Inter Milan vs Ludogorets
With the recent Coronavirus outbreak in Italy, Inter Milan will have to face Ludogerets behind closed doors without any home support.
Even with this setback, Inter Milan are the favourites to win having already gotten their away goal advantage with a 0-2 win against Ludogerets when they played at Razgrad in the first leg encounter.
Inter Milan will still be without goalkeeper Samir Handanovic who is still nursing a fractured finger.
Arsenal vs Olympiakos Piraeus
Arsenal comes into today’s encounter with Olympiakos with the away goal advantage after defeating them 0-1 in the first leg encounter.
Mikel Arteta will be looking to continue his unbeaten streak which started at the beginning of this year after he took over the English club as manager.
Europa League may be the young manager’s first trophy for the club if he keeps the club on course as they look to be the favourites in tonight’s game.
