Who will Tottenham face in Europa League last-16 knockout stage? | OneFootball

Spurs hope to avoid a team they have already lost to this season

Your matchday briefing on Tottenham, featuring team news and expert analysis from Dan Kilpatrick

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A fine start and end to the new league phase did the business for Spurs, but a defeat to Galatasaray followed by draws to Roma and Rangers almost derailed their campaign.

But Spurs did overcome that wobble to finish in the top eight and, therefore, progress straight through to the last 16 and avoid two extra games in a knockout round play-off tie.

That saw the teams from ninth to 24th thrown into a play-off stage to confirm the eight unseeded teams in the last-16 stage.

Who will Tottenham face in Europa League last 16?

As a result of finishing fourth in the league phase, Tottenham will either face the winners of the knockout phase play-off between the 13th and 14th seeds, or the 19th and 20th seeds. Which are: Galatasaray, AZ Alkmaar, Real Sociedad or Midtlylland.

As mentioned, Spurs have already faced - and lost to - Galatasaray this season, and also sneaked past AZ.

With the second legs being played on Thursday, February 20, Tottenham’s potential opponents will be whittled down to two.

Ahead of the second-leg clashes this week, AZ hold a commanding 4-1 lead over Gala, while Real Sociedad welcome Midtlylland to Spain with a 2-1 first-leg advantage.

Tottenham will see their opponent confirmed during the last-16 draw on Friday, February 21.

The first leg of those ties will be played on either March 6, with the return fixtures a week later.