Arsenal’s loanees have learned their Europa Conference League last-16 opponents, with some ties of interest in the Europa League as well.
The Europa Conference League last-16 draw took place on Friday, with a couple of Arsenal loanees watching on.
Mika Biereth scored home and away for Sturm Graz in the previous round, and they drew LOSC Lille in the last-16. It will be a good chance for the 21-year-old to prove himself against a Ligue 1 opponent.
Omar Rekik’s situation at Servette remains unclear, but if they can register him in time, he’ll face FC Viktoria Plzen.
In other Arsenal-related news, Aston Villa have been drawn against AFC Ajax.
If Villa progress, their quarter-final would be either side of their game against Arsenal. If the Gunners also progress in the Champions League, that would make scheduling difficult.
Villa’s first leg would be on the Thursday, the Arsenal game would be at the weekend, and then the Gunners would play their second leg on Tuesday or Wednesday.
In the worst-case scenario, Arsenal might end up with a game on Sunday against Villa, then a Champions League second leg on Tuesday.
You’d hope UEFA would step in to move one of the games to avoid that scenario, but Villa’s immediate elimination by Ajax would be preferable.
There won’t be any Arsenal players involved in the Europa League last-16, with the draw for that round also taking place on Friday.
But there are still a few English teams involved in the competition, which could have an indirect impact on Mikel Arteta’s side.
Liverpool were drawn against Sparta Prague, Brighton drew AS Roma, and West Ham United drew Freiburg.
Arsenal fans will probably hope to see Liverpool progressing as far as possible, to keep them distracted from their Premier League title challenge.
The Brighton tie is also one to keep an eye on, as if Brighton make it to the quarter-finals, they’d play the first leg just days after their match against the Gunners.
As for West Ham and Freiburg, the one thing to note there is that England are currently competing with Germany for the fifth Champions League qualification spot.
A win for West Ham would see an English team progressing at the expense of a German team, putting England in a much better position to earn that bonus spot.
Europa League last-16 draw in full
- Sparta Prague vs Liverpool
- Marseille vs Villarreal
- Roma vs Brighton
- Benfica vs Rangers
- Freiburg vs West Ham United
- Sporting CP vs Atalanta
- AC Milan vs Slavia Prague
- Qarabag vs Bayer Leverkusen
Europa Conference League last-16 draw in full
- Servette vs Viktoria Plzen
- Ajax vs Aston Villa
- Molde vs Club Brugge
- Union Saint-Gilloise vs Fenerbahce
- GNK Dinamo vs PAOK
- Sturm Graz vs Lille
- Maccabi Haifa vs Fiorentina
- Olympiacos vs Maccabi Tel-Aviv