Lisbon duo into Europa League last 16 after draws: Atalanta and Rangers await | OneFootball

Benfica 0-0 Toulouse; Sporting 1-1 Young Boys

First-leg wins proved decisive as Benfica and Sporting both negotiated the second leg of their playoff ties to make it through to the next round of the Europa League tonight.

Benfica missed several chances to take a first-half lead in France, then survived a nervy second period as Toulouse spurned a number of presentable opportunities to level the aggregate score. The goalless draw was enough to see the Eagles through 2-1 on aggregate.

As for Sporting, Rúben Amorim must still be scratching his head and wondering how his team did not beat Young Boys for a second week running. The inevitable Viktor Gyökeres put the hosts ahead early on but the Lions missed a hatful of gilt-edged chances and a penalty before conceding a late penalty themselves, converted by Silvère Ganvoula. The 1-1 draw gave Sporting a 4-2 aggregate victory over the Swiss outfit.

Roger Schmidt, Benfica coach:

“It was a decisive game, because we wanted to go through to the next round. It was difficult.

“We had two or three chances to score in the first half and in the second half they put us under pressure from set pieces and we couldn’t find the right moment to score the decisive goal. But it is at these moments that you need to defend well. We’re happy to go through.

“In football you have different tests. Sometimes they are more tactical and on other occasions you have to run more risks and fight and that is what we did.”

Rúben Amorim, Sporting coach:

“Obviously we’re not going home happy because we should have won this game by a big score-line. We did better compared to the first leg. We conceded a goal from one of the few chances our opponents had.

“The feeling is we should have had another victory in Europe and kept up our winning run. But I can’t blame my players for anything; they didn’t drop their intensity level. But it’s a frustrating feeling not winning. Does it worry me? No. If we had won 2-0 or 3-0 but we had dropped our level, I would be more worried.”

On becoming the Sporting coach with the second highest number of matches: “I’m not so interested in the number of matches. What interests me more is the number of trophies. That’s what I want.”

Europa League last-16 draw possible opponents for Benfica and Sporting

The draw for the last 16 of the Europa League takes place tomorrow at the House of European Football in Nyon, Switzerland, at midday local time.

Benfica and Sporting will be unseeded, meaning they will play one of the group phase winners of the competition.

Therefore, the possible opponents are: West Ham United, Brighton & Hove Albion, Rangers, Atalanta, Liverpool, Villarreal, Slavia Prague or Bayer Leverkusen.

The two clubs to avoid would appear to be Liverpool and Bayer Leverkusen who are currently leading the way in the English Premier League and the Bundesliga respectively.

The first legs of the last-16 ties will be played on 7 March, and the second legs will be played on 14 March.

Article update: Scots and Italians lie in wait

The draw on Friday paired Benfica with current Scottish league leaders Rangers, while Sporting will play Atalanta, a familiar opponent given that the two teams were in the same group in an earlier stage of the competition.

Sporting lost to the Italians 2-1 in Lisbon, and drew the second leg 1-1 in Bergamo.

Both Benfica and Sporting play the first leg at home and to avoid two matches taking place on the same night in Lisbon, Sporting’s game has been brought forward one day, leading to the following schedule.

Benfica v Rangers (7 March)

Atalanta v Sporting (14 March)

Rangers v Benfica (14 March)

By Tom Kundert