Conference League draw LIVE: Chelsea to learn last-16 opponents | OneFootball

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Maresca feeling sorry for Chelsea fans after Brighton battering

The Conference League is set for the knockout stage draw with Chelsea set to learn their last-16 opponents.

Enzo Maresca is under pressure after a disastrous run of form, which has seen the Blues eliminated from the Carabao Cup and FA Cup.

The Blues have cruised in this competition though and remain strong favourites to complete the set of European trophies after winning the Champions League, Europa League and European Super Cup over the last decade.

After shifting Joao Felix and Axel Disasi in the January transfer window and Mykhailo Mudryk remains suspended, meaning Maresca will shuffle his squad in the coming weeks and may even call upon his first-teamers, including Cole Palmer, who did not feature in the group stage.

The draw takes place following the Europa League draw, which includes Manchester United, Tottenham and Rangers. Follow all the latest updates in Nyon from both draws below:

Who Manchester United could face in Europa League last-16 draw

After finishing as the third seeds in the league phase, United are paired with fourth seeds Tottenham in the knockout bracket.

The knockout play-off ties were drawn on Friday with the 13th, 14th, 19th and 20th seeds now facing off for a right to make it into next month’s draw. The winners will then face United or Spurs.

Those ties are Real Sociedad vs Midtjylland and Galatasaray vs AZ Alkmaar, which sit at 2-1 to Sociedad and 4-1 to AZ after the first legs.

Chris Wilson21 February 2025 10:23

How did the British teams qualify?

All three British sides involved in the competition qualified automatically for the last 16, having all finished in the top eight in the league phase.

Manchester United make a shaky start with three successive draws against FC Twente, Porto and Fenerbahce, though successive wins against PAOK, Bodo/Glimt, Viktoria Plzen, Rangers and FCSB meant that Rube Amorim’s side eventually qualified unbeaten in third place.

Spurs started off their campaign with three successive wins – against Qarabag, Ferencvaros and Alkmaar – before losing to Galatasaray in November. They followed that with draws against Roma and Rangers, before two wins in their last two saw them finish in fourth.

It was a little more dramatic for Rangers, who beat Nice 4-1 away from home and held Tottenham to a 1-1 draw at Ibrox. Despite suffering a 2-1 loss to United at Old Trafford, the Scottish side finished in eighth thanks to a final-day 2-1 victory over Union Saint-Gilloise.

When is the draw for the quarter-finals and semi-finals?

From the knockout play-offs onwards the tournament is a bracket, so potential opponents in the round of 16, quarter-finals and semi-finals were also pre-determined by pairings that were set according to league phase positions.

As the bracket was set after the end of the league phase, teams already know their potential opponents.

In this case, the draw is only made to determine the order of the matches (i.e. who plays at home in each leg).