West Ham handed tough test & Barcelona get lucky

The draw for the Europa League Round of 16 has taken place on Friday the 25^th of February.

The Europa League Round of 32 would draw to a close on Thursday and saw a number of exciting games play out.

Perhaps the surprise of the round was Rangers beating Borussia Dortmund over two legs to make it into the final 16. Of course, BVB did not have Erling Haaland for either leg, but it was an impressive achievement nonetheless .

Elsewhere, FC Barcelona looked back to their scintillating best when they beat Napoli 4-2 on Thursday to secure their spot in the Round of 16.

Barca and Rangers would join Braga, Real Betis, RB Leipzig, Atalanta, FC Porto and Sevilla in progressing earlier this week.

Said eight teams have now joined the eight Europa League group winners from earlier in the season, which included David Moyes’ West Ham.

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West Ham & Barcelona learn their fates

And as West Ham won their group, they would be drawn against one of the eight sides above who had either finished second in their Europa League group or dropped down from the Champions League.

This was means that West Ham, on paper, were likely to be handed a tough Round of 16 draw as top teams like Barca, Atalanta and Sevilla were on the opposite side of the draw.

In the end, it would be Europa League specialists Sevilla who West Ham were drawn against in the Round of 16. A very tough test for David Moyes and co.

Xavi Hernandez’s Barcelona, meanwhile, were handed a much easier draw against Turkish side Galatasaray.

Elsewhere, Scottish giants Rangers would be drawn against Crvena Zvezda. View the full draw below:

The round of 16 is set ✅

🤔 Best-looking tie? #UELdraw | #UEL pic.twitter.com/aTxFLyNdpt

— UEFA Europa League (@EuropaLeague) February 25, 2022

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