Amidst all the exciting action in the
UEFA Champions League this week there is still a fine selection of fixtures in the Europa League to choose from on Thursday as the small matter of Europe’s second division cannot be ignored.
Europa League fixtures:
Thursday, March 8th
Atletico vs Lokomotiv
Dortmund vs Salzburg
AC Milan vs Arsenal
CSKA vs Lyon
Matches to kick-off at 18:00 (6pm) GMT
Leipzig vs Zenit
Lazio vs Kyiv
Marseille vs Bilbao
Sporting vs Plzen
Matches to kick-off at 20:05 (8:05pm) GMT
Borussia Dortmund vs Red Bull Salzburg
Westfalenstadion, Dortmund
The 2013 beaten Champions League finalists, Borussia Dortmund, welcome the Austrian League leaders to Germany on Thursday as they continue on their quest for continental glory once more since last lifting the European Cup back in 1997. The Black and Yellow have never won the Europa League, twice runners-up in 1993 and again in 2002, and were reduced to Europe’s second tier this season after finishing 3
rd in Group H in the Champions League, behind both Tottenham and Real Madrid but reserved their place in the last-16 with a hard-fought 4-3 aggregate victory over Atalanta in the previous round.
Dortmund head into their first-ever clash with the Austrians off the back of three consecutive 1-1 draws in all competitions while Salzburg, who are aiming to make the quarter-finals for the first time since 1994 when they reached the final in the most successful European campaign to date, are in fine form having won seven of their last eight in all competitions since the start of February including a stunning 7-0 victory over Austria Klagenfurt last week to seal their spot in the semi-finals of the Austrian Cup.
AC Milan vs Arsenal
San Siro, Milan
Arsenal, sitting sixth in the English Premier League, make the trip to Milan to take on AC who currently sit seventh in Serie A. L Rossoneri, under the guidance of the legendary Gennaro Gattuso, are in resurgent form at the minute. They reached the final of the Coppa Italia for the second time in three seasons with a penalty shoot-out success over Lazio last Wednesday to make it eight wins from ten in all competitions since returning from the festive break in January. After finishing top of Group D they eased passed Ludogorets 4-0 over two-legs to reach this stage.
The Gunners, who find themselves in unfamiliar territory in the Europa League, finished at the summit of Group H before a nervy 4-2 aggregate win over Ostersund secured their last-16 berth. They have won just four of their last 15 matches in all competitions since New Years Eve and are reeling after a 2-1 defeat at Brighton was their fourth in a row after a pair of defeats to Manchester City followed the shock home-loss to the Swedes. The last time Arsenal visited the San Siro, in February 2012, they were trounced 4-0 with Brazilian forward Robinho bagging a brace as Milan eventually reached the quarter-finals of the Champions League.
RB Leipzig vs Zenit St. Petersburg
Red Bull Arena, Leipzig
Leipzig’s first foray into European football has been simply superb. After finishing runners-up in the Bundesliga last season to Bavarian giants Bayern Munich, they had a small taste of Champions League action before a third-place finish in Group G behind Besiktas and Porto booked their berth in the Europa League knockout phase. After a 3-1 first-leg victory away to Italian log leaders Napoli, the Germans held on in the second leg for a 3-3 aggregate scoreline, securing passage through to the next round on away goals.
The 2008 UEFA Cup (now Europa League) champions will look to lift the trophy again in 2018 after five wins from six ensured an unbeaten finish in Group L before a comprehensive 3-0 showing in the second-leg against Scottish champions Celtic helped cap off a 3-1 aggregate victory for the Russians. Zenit are well short of match practice having featured just three times since the turn of the year while Leipzig are winless in four heading into this fixture.
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