Barcelona host Napoli for the first time in the Europa League in 17 years

Barcelona will side with Italy Napoli in the next Europa League playoffs eliminated from the Champions League last week.

Barca are third in their group after Bayern Munich and Benfica, they fell into a secondary European competitive position for the first time in 17 years.

They will face Napoli for a place in the round of 16, with the first leg taking place at Camp Nou on February 17. The second leg will take place in Napoli at Diego Armando Maradona’s stadium a week later.

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Elsewhere, Scottish champions Rangers have been paired with Borussia Dortmund, while winning the Europa League six times Seville will face Dinamo Zagreb.

Other relationships Atalanta against Olympiakos, RB Leipzig against Real Sociedad, Zenit St Petersburg against Real Betis, Police Chief Tiraspol against Braga and Porto against Lazio.

All playoff matches will be played over the same two days in February, with the winner advancing to the round of 16, when the top teams in their Europa League group will re-enter the competition.

West Ham, FK Crvena Zvezda, Eintracht Frankfurt, Galatasaray, Bayer Leverkusen, Lyon, Monaco and Spartak Moscow are eight parties that have passed that stage.

The final will take place at Sevilla’s Sanchez Pizjuan stadium in May.

Barca’s draw with Napoli is notable for sharing the club’s history with Diego Maradona, who passed away just over a year ago and played for both clubs.

Barca are in Saudi Arabia, where they will play one of the Argentine legend’s former clubs, Boca Juniors, at the Diego Maradona Cup on Tuesday.

The last time Napoli met Barca in the round of 16 of the Champions League in 2020, the Catalan team won 4-2 on aggregate.

A lot has changed since then, with Xavi Hernandez now in charge of a Lionel Messi– Except for Barca, the team has not been eliminated from the Champions League group stage but also sits in 8th place in La Liga.

Napoli, meanwhile, have dropped to fourth in Serie A after just one win in six league games.

In the third division Europa Conference League, the English Premier League club Leicester City will face the Randers of Denmark and Scottish club Celtic will face Norwegian champions FK Bodo/Glimt in the knockout playoffs.

Austrian club Rapid Vienna will face England Tottenham Hotspur or the Dutch team Vitesse Arnhem, whichever comes forward.

Tottenham’s continued participation in the competition has yet to be decided by European football’s governing body UEFA following the match against Stade Rennais was suspended due to a COVID-19 case in the club.

UEFA said the match could not be rescheduled. Vitesse Second in Group G with 10 points after playing all six games, while Tottenham are third with seven points from five games.

Among other relationships, the French club Marseille will face Qarabag on Azeri side, Dutch team PSV Eindhoven will meet Israeli club Maccabi Tel-Aviv and Turkey’s Fenerbahce will play Slavia Prague of the Czech Republic.

Denmark’s Midtjylland were held to a draw against Greece’s PAOK, while Sparta Prague will face Serbian club Partizan Belgrade.

Europa League play-off draw

Sevilla vs Dinamo Zagreb

Atalanta vs. Olympiacos

Leipzig vs. Real Sociedad

Barcelona vs. Napoli

Zenit vs. Betis

Dortmund vs. Rangers

Sheriff vs. Braga

Porto vs. Lazio