Paris (AFP) – Olympique de Marseille, the last French representative in the Europa League, will face the Spaniards of Villarreal in the round of 16, according to the draw made in Nyon (Switzerland) on Friday.
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The Marseillais will thus reunite, on March 7 and 14, with their former Spanish coach, Marcelino, who left OM in September before signing up with Villarreal, currently 13th in Liga.
“ This is a very nice poster. », Reacted Jean-Pierre Papin, advisor to President Longoria in Marseille, at the microphone of Canal+. “ Villarreal is a team with great European experience, winner of the competition in 2021 against Manchester United. And I remember that Marcelino left Marseille without having lost a match, in a difficult context “.
Beyond the snub, by inheriting the Spaniards, Marseille is heading towards a balanced confrontation, avoiding for example Liverpool, the favorite of the competition which will face Sparta Prague, or Leverkusen, undefeated leader of the Bundesliga, opposed to the Azerbaijanis of FK Qarabag.
Thursday evening, Marseille and its new coach Jean-Louis Gasset saved the honor of the French clubs involved in the Europa League play-offs by eliminating Shakhtar Donetsk (3-1), after the failures a little earlier of Lens, Rennes and Toulouse.
The draw for the round of 16 was generally lenient with the favorite teams in the Europa League, not offering any big draws.
In addition to Liverpool and Leverkusen, AS Roma, now coached by Daniele De Rossi, will face Roberto De Zerbi’s Brighton, Benfica has inherited Glasgow Rangers and AC Milan, who defeated Rennes in the play-off, from the other Prague club, Slavia.
Freiburg-West Ham and Sporting Portugal-Atalanta Bergamo complete the program.
After the round of 16 in March, the quarter-finals of the competition will be held on April 11 and 18, the semi-finals on May 2 and 9 and the final, in Dublin, on May 22.