Of the final 8 teams that made it into the quarterfinals in the 2012-2013 Europa League, we have 3 teams from England (Chelsea, Newcastle, Tottenham), 1 from Switzerland (Basel), 1 from Portugal (Benfica), 1 from Turkey (Fenerbahce), 1 from Italy (Lazio) and 1 from Russia (Rubin Kazan).
The quarterfinals will be played on April 4 and April 11, with the draw to decide the encounters being made on March 15.
FC Basel
Basel won their round of 16 match up with Zenit 2-1 on aggregate, following their 3-1 aggregate win over Dnipro in the knockout stage. They finished second in their group, behind Genk and ahead of Videoton and Sporting. Their top scorer in the competition this season is Marco Streller with 4 goals. They are currently second in the Swiss Super League.
SL Benfica
Benfica impressed with an aggregate 4-2 win against Bordeaux, including a 3-2 win in France. In the knockout stage they beat a difficult Bayer Levekusen side. Benfica came from the Champions League, finishing third in their group behind Barcelona and Celtic. They’re currently leading the table in Portugal. Oscar Cardozo is their leading scorer in Europe this season with 5 goals.
Chelsea
Chelsea, another Champions League dropout, beat Steaua 3-2 in aggregate with a 3-1 win in the second leg. They beat Sparta Prague in the previous round, after finishing behind Juventus and Shakhtar in the Champions League. They’re currently fourth in the Premier League. Their top scorer in Europe this season is Oscar with 6 goals.
Fenerbahce
Fenerbahce went past Viktoria Plzen with a 2-1 aggregate score, winning 1-0 in the Czech Republic and drawing 1-1 in Turkey. They beat BATE Borisov in the previous round. They finished first in the group stage, ahead of Monchengladbach, Marseille and AEL Limassol. Dirk Kuty is their top scorer in European competition this season with 5 goals. They’re currently second in the Turkish league.
Lazio
Lazio didn’t have too much trouble against Stuttgart, winning 2-0 and 3-1 to make it into the quarterfinals. They knocked out a different German side, Monchengladbach, in the previous round. They finished first in their group stage, ahead of Tottenham, Panathinaikos and Maribor. Libor Kozak is their top scorer in the competition with 8 goals so far, leading the Europa League scoring charts. They’re sixth in the Serie A at the moment.
Newcastle
Newcastle continue their weird season which is a failure in the Premier League (13th) while making surprising advancements in Europe, beating Anzhi 1-0 to make it into the quarterfinals after beating Metalist 1-0 in the previous round. They finished second in their group behind Bordeaux, and ahead of Maritimo and Club Brugge. Their top scorer in the competition is Shola Ameobi with 3 goals.
Rubin Kazan
Kazan beat Levante 2-0 after extra time to make it into the quarterfinals, that’s after knocking out another Spanish side, Atletico Madrid, in the round of 32. They finished first in their group, ahead of Inter, Partizan and Baku. Their top scorer in the competition is Salomon Rondon with 5 goals. They’re only sixth at the moment in Russia.
Tottenham
Despite losing 4-1 in the second leg against Inter, an away goal and a 3-0 win from London was enough to put Spurs into the quarterfinals. They beat Lyon 3-2 (aggregate) in the previous round, after finishing second in the group stage behind Lazio and ahead of Maribor and Panathinaikos. Their top scorer in the competition is Jermain Defoe with 4 goals. They’re currently third in the Premier League.