Chelsea draw Dynamo Kyiv, Arsenal face Rennes
Chelsea will face a trip to Dynamo Kiev of Ukraine in the last 16 of the Europa League, where Arsenal take on French club Rennes.
Friday’s draw in Nyon was not protected by any seeding but teams from Russia and Ukraine were kept apart. Dynamo Kiev were first out against Chelsea.
The first legs of the last-16 ties are set for March 7, when both Premier League teams will be at home. The returns will taking place on March 14 as the London clubs look to stay on course for the final in Baku.
Arsenal progressed from the round of 32 with a 3-1 aggregate win over BATE Borisov, overturning a first-leg loss in Belarus after victory at the Emirates Stadium on Thursday night.
Chelsea, meanwhile, defeated Malmo, winning the second leg 3-0 at Stamford Bridge to add to a 2-1 away victory in Sweden.
Elsewhere, Eintracht Frankfurt of Germany were paired with Serie A side Inter Milan and Dinamo Zagreb will play Portuguese outfit Benfica.
Napoli tackle Austrian side Salzburg, while Valencia, who knocked out Celtic, have been paired against Russian club Krasnodar. Former winners Sevilla face Slavia Prague and Zenit St Petersburg play Villarreal.
Charles Antaki wanted a nice story, but alas, we cannot always have nice things: “Shame that Arsenal didn’t draw Villareal, to give fans a sight of the much-loved Santi Cazorla; even sadder that it looks like Villareal won’t even be in the top division net year…”
The exact schedules are yet to be finalised, but just like in the previous rounds the games will be played at 5.55pm and 8pm, the former being a hearty ballache for anyone who has to get from something as insignificant as ‘work’.
“It’s kind of the obvious thing to say, but I’m saying it anyway,” writes Agnello Figueiredo, knowing very well that we’re never afraid of the obvious. “Chelsea vs Dynamo Kyiv is basically Russia vs Ukraine.”
So with little respect for narrative, and also for Chelsea fans wishing to travel to see their team play, there’s the draw. A little underwhelming perhaps? There aren’t any super duper huge clashes: Chelsea v Dynamo, Eintracht Frankfurt v Inter and Napoli v RB Salzburg are probably the pick of the ties.
That draw in full
- Chelsea v Dynamo Kyiv
- Eintracht Frankfurt v Inter
- Dinamo Zagreb v Benfica
- Napoli v RB Salzburg
- Valencia v Krasnodar
- Sevilla v Slavia Prague
- Arsenal v Rennes
- Zenit St Petersburg v Villarreal
Ties will be played on March 7 and March 14, with the team listed first playing at home first.
There’s another item on the table: it’s the tupperware box with Zenit and Krasnodar’s balls in it. A reminder that they will draw Dynamo Kyiv out first, pairing them with one of the other 13 non-Russian teams.
The celebrity former player on hand to help with the draw is…former Valencia and Sevilla keeper and thrice winner of the tournament Andres Palop.
Pedro says the magic words “without further ado” and brings out Giorgio Marchetti, our favourite Claudio Ranieri lookalike. The draw is v imminent.
Our old friend Pedro Pinto, who used to be UEFA’s head of communications but now appears to be a consultant/smoothie for hire, is the presenter.
Happy to report the set-up seems decidedly lo-fi. Just a plinth with the trophy on it, then what looks like a breakfast bar with two bowls, presumably for the balls but let’s not rule out the scrambling of some eggs.
The draw is just minutes away. Mumbling dignitaries are assembled in a Swiss lecture theatre. The excitement is entirely bearable.
To anyone who draws Zenit just…be prepared…
Zenit fans give team fiery welcome before Europa League tie – video
Apologies for being excessively Anglo-centric, but here’s how the Premier League boyz got to this stage of the tournament.
Arsenal beat BATE through the natural, obvious goalscorers of…*checks notes*…Shkodran Mustafi and Sokratis Papastathopoulos.
Chelsea through against Malmo as Narrative seals a 3-0 (5-1 on agg) victory…
…while Maurizio Sarri continues to be stubborn and insist his footballing son Jorginho is not to blame for anything.
Just a small amend to the intro: there is one restriction to the draw, in that teams from Russia and Ukraine cannot be drawn together, for obvious geopolitical reasons. So first out of the hat will be Dynamo Kyiv, who’ll be kept well away from Krasnodar and Zenit, and then we can get on with the rest of it.
Preamble
I’ll be honest, the Europa League draw is probably a little way down Chelsea’s priority list this morning. But still, nice to find out who they’ll be playing in a few weeks, eh? Arsenal don’t have quite as much on, admin-wise, so they can give this one their full attention.
There are some potentially pretty spicy ties in the offing. With Valencia, Villarreal, Inter, Napoli and Benfica all left in, as well as Sevilla, who are there because of course they’re always there. Plus, because the draw is unseeded/unrestricted, there’s always the slightly tedious prospect of Chelsea and Arsenal drawing each other.
In travel terms, stating the obvious to say that both sides will be hoping not to get Krasnodar, and Kyiv won’t be popular either. St Petersburg is a mild logistical ballache for fans but won’t be too onerous, time-wise. But there could be some fun ties in here. Stay tuned.
Draw kick-off time: 12.00 GMT