Europa League: Ighalo, Aribo Headline Possible Battles Of Nigerians In Quarterfinals

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Odion Ighalo And Dennis Bonaventure Started playing football from Ajegunle Busybuddiesng

Manchester United striker Odion Ighalo could duke it out with Istanbul Basaksehir’s Azubuike Okechukwu for a place in the Europa League quarterfinals if both teams come through their last-16 second leg ties.

United hold a 5-0 lead over Austrian side LASK Linz from the first leg and are practically through to the last-eight but Istanbul Basaksehir must defend a narrow 1-0 advantage when they travel to Danish side FC Copenhagen for the return leg.

Both sides will clash in the last-eight if they hold on to their first-leg leads.

In other pairings at the draws held on Friday, Victor Moses’ Inter Milan could face Joe Aribo’s Rangers in the quarterfinals but the Scottish side face an uphill task in overcoming a 3-1 deficit when they travel to Bayer Leverkusen.

Moses, meanwhile, will tackle Oghenkaro Etebo’s Getafe for a place in the quarterfinals with the tie set to be played as a one-off after the first-leg was called off due to the coronavirus pandemic.

Similarly, the last-16 tie between Sevilla and AS Roma will be held as a one-off with the winners taking on Wolverhampton Wanderers or Olympiakos in the quarterfinals.

Both one-off ties will be played in Germany at a yet to be decided stadium.

Wolves held the Greek side to a 1-1 draw in the first leg in Greece and will face Manchester United in the last four if both sides progress that far.

The return legs of the last-16 ties will take place on 5 or 6 August.

The quarterfinals onwards will be held as one-off matches in Germany at the home grounds of Duisburg, Fortuna Düsseldorf, Schalke and Cologne.

Cologne’s RheinEnergieSTADION will host the final on 21 August.

Draw In Full

Remaining last-16 ties, 5-6 August: Copenhagen v Istanbul Basaksehir (0-1), Wolves v Olympiakos (1-1), Bayer Leverkusen v Rangers (3-1), Shakhtar Donetsk v Wolfsburg (2-1), Basel v Eintracht Frankfurt (0-3), Manchester United v LASK (5-0), Inter Milan v Getafe (first leg abandoned), Sevilla v Roma (first leg abandoned).

Quarter-finals, 10-11 August

Wolfsburg/Shakhtar Donetsk v Eintracht Frankfurt/Basel

LASK/Manchester United v Istanbul Basaksehir/Copenhagen

Inter Milan/Getafe v Rangers/Bayer Leverkusen

Olympiakos/Wolves v Sevilla/Roma

Semi-finals, 16-17 August

Winner of quarter-final 4 v winner of quarter-final 2

Winner of quarter-final 3 v winner of quarter-final 1

Final, 21 August