The Europa League moves on to its second knockout stage, or the round of 16 if you will, with four former European Champions still in the mix – Inter, Chelsea, Benfica and Steaua. The English Premier League and the Russian League have the most clubs left in the competition with 3 teams each.
The Italian Serie A sends two more teams, while Turkey, Portugal, Germany, Spain, Switzerland, Romania, Turkey and France have one team left each.
Anzhi Makhachkala
Finished second in their group, behind Liverpool but ahead of Young Boys and Udinese. Went through Hannover in the knockout stage, beating the Germans 3-1 in the home leg, managing a 1-1 draw in Germnay. Samuel Eto’o, with 4 goals so far, is their top scorer. Facing Newcastle in the next match, Anzhi are second in the Russian Premier League.
Basel
Finished second in their group, ahead of Videoton and Sporting, behind Genk. Basel went through Dnipro, winning 2-0 at home and drawing 1-1 at the Ukraine. Marco Streller, with 4 goals, is the team’s top scorer. They face Zenit in the next round. They’re second in the Swiss league at the moment.
Benfica
Champions League dropout, finishing behind Barcelona and Celtic, ahead of Spartak. Played against Leverkusen in the knockout stage, winning 1-0 in Germany and 2-1 in the home leg, setting themselves up with a match against Bordeaux in the next round. Are second at the moment in Portugal.
Bordeaux
Finished on top of their group, ahead of Newcastle, Maritimo and Club Brugge. Beat Dynamo Kyiv 2-1 in the knockout stage with a 1-1 draw in the Ukraine and 1-0 win at home. Jussiê is their leading scorer with 3 goals. They will face Benfica in the next stage. They are 9th at the moment in France.
Chelsea
Finished third in their Champions League group, behind Juventus and Shakhtar but ahead of Nordsjælland. Managed to pull through Sparta Prague in the knockout stage with a 1-0 win in the Czech Republic and a 1-1 draw at home. They’ll be facing Steaua in the next round, and are third in the Premier League at the moment.
Fenerbahce
Won their group, finishing ahead of Gladbach, Marseille and Limassol. Beat BATE Borisov in the knockout stage with a 1-0 aggregate score. Dirk Kuyt, with two goals, is their top scorer. They will face Viktoria Plzen in the next round, and are second in Turkey at the moment.
Inter
Finished second in their group, behind Kazan but ahead of Baku and Partizan. Had an easy time with Cluj in the knockout stage with two 2-0 wins. Rodrigo Palacio is the team’s top scorer with 5 goals. They’ll be facing Tottenham in the round of 16. They’re currently 5th in the Serie A.
Lazio
Finished on top of their group, ahead of Tottenham, Panathinaikos and Maribor. Beat Monchengladbach in the knockout stage with a 3-3 draw in Germany and a 2-0 win at home. Libor Kozák with 5 goals is the team’s top scorer. They’re facing Stuttgart in the next round, They’re 4th at the moment in Italy.
Levante
Finished second in their group, behind Hannover and ahead of Helsingborg and Twente. Levante impressed against Olympiacos with a clean 4-0 sweep (1-0 and 3-0) in the knockout stage. Pedro Ríos with 3 goals is their top scorer. They meet with Rubin Kazan in the next round and are currently 9th in the La Liga.
Newcastle
Finished second in the group, behind Bordeaux but ahead of Maritimo and Club Brugge. Newcastle beat Metalist in the knockout stage after a 0-0 draw at home and a 1-0 win in the Ukraine. Shola Ameobi is the team’s top scorer with 3 goals, and they will face Anzhi in the next round. They’re 16th in the Premier League at the moment.
Rubin Kazan
Finished on top of their group, ahead of Inter, Partizan and Baku. Won 2-0 in Madrid which made it possible to afford a 1-0 home loss against Atletico. Salomon Rondon with 4 goals is their top scorer, as they face Levante in the next round. They are 7th in the Russian league.
Steaua
Steaua won their group, finishing ahead of Stuttgart, FC Copenhagen and Molde. They beat Ajax in the knockout stage, needing penalty kicks to get through into the round of 16, where they will meet Chelsea. Raul Rusescu is the team’s leading scorer with 3 goals. They’re currently leading the league in Romania.
Stuttgart
Finished second in their group with Steaua, ahead of Copenhagen and Molde. Beat Racing Genk 3-1 in aggregate with a 1-1 draw at home to start things off before a 2-0 win in Belgium. They have three players with two goals each leading them in the competition, facing Lazio in the next round. Stuttgart are currently 12th in the Bundesliga.
Tottenham
Finished second in their group behind Lazio, ahead of Panathinaikos and Maribor. Tottenham scored twice in the 90th minute, first in a 2-1 home win against Lyon and then again in the second leg for a dramatic qualification. They’ll be facing Inter in the next round, with Jermain Defoe (4 goals) leading them in scoring. They’re currently fourth in the English Premier League.
Viktoria Plzen
In the group stage, Plzen finished first ahead of Atletico Madrid, Academica and Hapoel Tel-Aviv. They faced Napoli in the first knockout stage, causing quite a surprise with a clean, 5-0 aggregate win against the Italians. František Rajtoral and Pavel Horváth are the team’s leading scorers with 3 goals, as they head into a clash with Fenerbahce. Currently lead the league in the Czech Republic.
Zenit
Finished third in the Champions League, ahead of Anderlecht but behind Milan and Malaga. Zenit went past Liverpool in the knockout stage, winning 2-0 at home and losing 3-1 at Anfield, going through on away goals. They have two players with two goals leading the scoring, and they’ll face Basel in the next round. They’re currently third in Russia.