Drawn against Qarabag was Xabi Alonso’s Bayer Leverkusen, who lead the Bundesliga by eight points and have not lost yet this year.
Since Jurgen Klopp declared that he will be leaving at the end of the season, Alonso has been connected to the Liverpool position.
Meanwhile, Roma will play Brighton, while Marseille will play Villarreal.
West Ham, the champions of the Europa Conference League last year, will take against Freiburg, a German team.
On May 22, the Europa League final of this season will take place in the Dublin Arena in Ireland.
The Europa Conference League’s headline round of 16 matchup pitted Dutch powerhouse Ajax against flying-high Aston Villa.
Complete Europa League draw: Liverpool vs. Sparta Prague
Rangers vs. Benfica
AC Milan vs. Prague Slavia
Bayer Leverkusen v. Qarabag
Complete Europa Conference League draw: Viktoria Plzen vs. Servette
Molde vs. Brugge Club
Gilloise Union vs. Fenerbahce
PAOK Salonika vs. Dinamo Zagreb
Haifa Maccabi vs. Fiorentina
Arteta urges Arsenal to be more ‘streetwise’ in title race
LONDON In the aftermath of Arsenal’s Champions League first-leg loss to Porto on Wednesday, Mikel Arteta stated that his squad has to have the ability to be “streetwise” and “tricky” in specific circumstances.
The ball was only in play for almost 50 minutes of Wednesday’s game, according to statistics, as Arteta’s players appeared uneasy with Porto’s tactics. This led Declan Rice to call on his teammates to play with more “savviness” going forward.
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When asked if his players might be “bad guys” on the field, Arteta responded, “I don’t know [about being a] bad guy but you have to be tricky,” at a news conference on Friday. It’s imperative that you possess intelligence, practical knowledge, and make an effort to take benefits in any circumstance, and they are aware of this.
“That’s a thing that has to be developed… the best players they have, they have that.”
In the league in 2024, Arsenal has been unstoppable; they have won five straight games while scoring 21 goals and giving up just two.
Arsenal might catch up to Premier League leaders Liverpool with a victory over Newcastle on Saturday. On Sunday, Jurgen Klopp’s club will play Chelsea in the Carabao Cup final.
However, Arteta expressed his belief that his squad is being seen as a long shot to win the Premier League.
“I feel a lot of excitement, especially internally because we are right the mix and we want to continue to be there because we are in the Champions League,” Arteta stated.
“We have a fantastic game to play at the Emirates and externally probably is different because the expectations are much more focused in the other two teams [Liverpool and Manchester City].”
After making remarks regarding the referees after Arsenal’s 1-0 loss to Newcastle at St. James’ Park in the rematch in November, Arteta was exonerated of a Football Association accusation in December.
Despite calling the VAR’s award of Newcastle’s winning goal “a disgrace” at his post-match press conference, the Arsenal manager stated on Friday that he believes refereeing decisions have improved since he raised his concerns.
“Well that’s why we all wanted that at the end the decisions are better,” Arteta stated. “I believe the most recent statistics revealed that there had been a notable improvement and that many judgments were being made correctly. Hopefully, it holds true, and we will keep doing that.
“I talked the way I felt and I was very straight and I did it in a way that it was pretty strong but within the law because I didn’t get charged for that.”
The head coach of Arsenal also stated that Oleksandr Zinchenko and Gabriel Jesus could be well enough to play against Newcastle, and that Thomas Partey is “very close” to recovering from his injury.
