In this article we look at the draw for the knockout round play-offs for the 2022–23 UEFA Europa League
In the knockout phase, teams play against each other over two legs on a home-and-away basis, except for the one-match final. The mechanism of the draw is as follows:
- In the draw for the knockout round play-offs, the eight group runners-up will be seeded, and the eight Champions League group third-placed teams will be unseeded. The seeded teams will be drawn against the unseeded teams, with the seeded teams hosting the second leg. Teams from the same association cannot be drawn against each other.
Draw
The first legs will be played on 16 February, and the second legs will be played on 23 February 2023.
| Team 1 | match Number. | Team 2 |
|---|---|---|
| Barcelona | 1 | Manchester United |
| Juventus | 2 | Nantes |
| Sporting CP | 3 | Midtjylland |
| Shakhtar Donetsk | 4 | Rennes |
| Ajax | 5 | Union Berlin |
| Bayer Leverkusen | 6 | Monaco |
| Sevilla | 7 | PSV Eindhoven |
| Red Bull Salzburg | 8 | Roma |
The addition of Champions league 3rd place teams has meant that there are some good ties and one stand out ties.
Barcelona v Manchester United – An absolute cracker of a tie, Barcelona had a very poor Champions league campaign albeit in a tough group and the gamble of spending a lot of money on players rather than paying off debts hasn’t paid off. Man Utd are also an up and down team, definetly better under Ten Haag but can still throw in some poor performance. Squad depth with 2 games a week may be an issue with them. Despite this its still a big tie between of the giants of European and World football
Ajax v Union Berlin – Ajax have lost a couple of players and manager to Man Utd but are still a good team, place in a tough group in the Champions league they could only finish 3rd but easily beat Rangers. Union Berlin are an up and coming German team, just lost a couple to relinquish the top of the table to Bayern Munich, the fact that they are challenging domestically and appearing in Europe after only getting promoted a few years ago is a fantastic story. Should be an intriguing tie.
Juventus have a good chance of progressing after an immensely disappointing Champions League campaign and a poor domestic season so far. A lot may depend on which players they have fit, Pogba and Di Maria being out at the moment and whether he manager will still be the same. Normally you would say it was an easy win, at the moment who knows.
Sevilla v PSV Eindhoven – Looks a good tie on paper as well, Sevilla have had a dreadful season and are currently 4th bottom of La Liga which considering the squad is a lamentable performance. PSV have a good squad but apparently have to sell one of their top players – so will COdy Gakpo be there or will he be on his way to another European club in January
Roma having won the Europan Conference League last season will hope they can dispose of RB Salzburg, with Mourinho there you can never discount them from going deep into the tournament. Roma seem to be doing reasonably well in Serie A at the moment while Salzburg are clear at the top of the Austrian Bundesliga. Will Salzburg still have all their players by the time of the tie or will the European teams come knocking at the door again to take some of their constant supply of good players.
Again, a lot depends on the World Cup – no break for some players, possible injuries to players and a tough, demanding schedule after it and also will any teams make transfers in January
