The UEFA Europa League resumes this week with the start of the Round of 16.
Here are five key matches to keep close tabs on…
Everton vs Dynamo Kiev
The Toffees’ European form has been stellar; it’s their domestic form that has been below par. Everton smashed Young Boys 7-2 on aggregate to set up this encounter vs Dynamo Kiev. Three wins from four home fixtures in the competition, Goodison Park has been somewhat of a fortress in Europe—minus the 1-0 defeat to Krasnodar in the group stage. Romelu Lukaku sits second in the scoring charts with six goals—five of those strikes coming against Young Boys over two legs. The Toffees are currently only six points above relegation in the Premier League, though it’s highly unlikely that Everton will end up in the bottom three by season’s end. Therefore, Roberto Martinez will be aiming to go the distance in this competition and hold nothing back, as a place in Europe next year is definitely out of the question unless Everton are crowned Europa League champions.
Good news for Dynamo, as the club successfully appealed the three-match ban handed to Andriy Yarmolenko (three goals and five assists in seven matches) by UEFA for a hard challenge on Guingamp’s Younousse Sankhare. Past history shows the Ukrainian club struggle against English opposition, winning only four of 22 meetings overall and having not won in any of their 11 trips to England (nine losses and two draws).
Thursday programming alert: Watch Zenit Saint Petersburg vs Torino on Sportsnet World at 1:00 pm ET, Wolfsburg vs Inter Milan on the four main Sportsnet channels at 2:00 pm ET, Everton vs Dynamo Kiev on the four main Sportsnet channels at 4:00 pm ET and Fiorentina vs AS Roma on Sportsnet World at 4:00 pm ET. || Also, watch these four games online at Sportsnet World NOW: Dnipro vs Ajax at 2:00 pm ET, Brugge vs Besiktas at 2:00 pm ET, Napoli vs Dynamo Moscow at 4:00 pm ET and Villarreal vs Sevilla at 4:00 pm ET. || Broadcast schedule
Zenit St. Petersburg vs Torino
The Italian side is definitely the neutral’s choice given their modest stature and overachievement in the competition thus far. However, the challenge ahead at the Petrovsky Stadium is daunting. Zenit is currently on a 12-match unbeaten run at home in the Europa League (11 wins), and have conceded once in six European home fixtures in the competition this season, scoring 11 with four wins and one draw.
Torino has proven not to be pushovers in Europe, losing once in 12 Europa League matches. There is still a long way to go for this to become a fairy tale for Turin’s second-best club, but Il Toro boss Giampiero Ventura has his players believing anything is possible after the heroics at the new San Mames against Athletic Bilbao in the last round—confidence is extremely high.
Wolfsburg vs Inter Milan
Wolfsburg suffered their first defeat of 2015 over the weekend—losing 1-0 at Augsburg—and dropped 11 points behind runaway Bundesliga leaders Bayern Munich. Wolves manager Dieter Hecking will be the first to admit a domestic title has always been beyond their reach, the weekend loss has somewhat deflated the ever-growing confidence gained from a 15-match unbeaten run in all competitions (11 wins). Despite having an undefeated home record domestically (10 wins and two draws) and being in the midst of their best run of form since winning the Bundesliga title six years ago, Wolfsburg’s European home form has been rather inconsistent (two wins, one draw and one loss).
It hasn’t been exactly a positive second-coming for Roberto Mancini at Inter, as the once revered Italian giants continue to languish at mid-table domestically and six-points adrift of a European spot for next season. However, Mancini can boast an undefeated record in this competition, though both of their away matches ended in draws, having failed to score against minnows Qarabag in Azerbaijzan and blowing two leads in Glasgow against Celtic. The Nerazzurri are one of three teams to remain unbeaten since the group phase of the Europa League (four wins and four draws).
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Fiorentina vs AS Roma
With five Italian teams involved in the Round of 16, this draw was quite an unfortunate one from a competitive and entertainment standpoint. Both sides possess the quality to reach the final. Alas, Serie A pride will be cast aside and one will be sacrificed by the other. Roma dumped out Feyenoord in a hotly contested encounter in the previous round, with Gervinho scoring two of the Giallorossi’s goals to prevail 3-2 on aggregate. Fiorentina were equally put to the test by Tottenham and came out victorious, Mohamed Salah and Mario Gomez scoring to lead La Viola to a 2-0 win in Florence after Jose Basanta cancelled out Roberto Soldado’s opener at White Hart Lane in the first leg.
This will be their first meeting in European competition, though they’ve played three times this season with Roma taking four of six points in the league. Fiorentina’s victory came just over a month ago in the Coppa Italia quarterfinals, with Mario Gomez netting a brace to give Vincenzo Montella his first win against his former club as Viola manager. Neither team is coming into Thursday’s encounter in Florence in the best frame of mind, with Roma playing out an uneventful and deflating 0-0 draw at Chievo Verona, while Fiorentina were crushed 4-0 by Lazio in Rome.
Villarreal vs Sevilla
The only two remaining Spanish sides left in the competition collide Thursday at the Estadio El Madrigal, with the reigning Europa League champions holding a sizeable edge in the head-to-head (Sevilla have won 17 of 33 overall matches and drawn eight). Los Rojiblancos have won their last four UEFA encounters against La Liga clubs, the latest two happening in last year’s Europa League—beating Real Betis in a penalty shootout in the Round of 16 and Valencia on the away goals rule in the semis. However, their form away from home hasn’t been great in continental play. The 3-2 victory at Borussia-Park two weeks ago was Sevilla’s first win in seven away matches over 90 minutes.
Villarreal have amassed an undefeated record at home in Europe this season (four wins and one draw) to go along with a pretty spectacular domestic home record (10 wins from 13 matches). Marcelinho has done a fantastic job since taking over the Yellow Submarine last season since returning to the top-flight after being relegated in 2012. He had a short rein as Sevilla manager that same season but was sacked after a seven-match winless run. Keep an eye on Argentine striker Luciano Vietto, who has been rumoured to be on his way out of Villarreal after a breakthrough campaign. The 21 year-old has scored 17 goals in all competitions this season–five in the Europa League.