Manchester United v Milan, Slavia Prague v Rangers: Europa League clockwatch – live!

What a strike! Kessié, just inside the United area, is allowed to let the ball bounce from a throw-in and turn and then smash the hopping ball into the net from 16 yards while three United players just watched him! But it’s ruled out after a VAR check, which judged that he controlled the ball with a hand before unloading his shot. That’s two disallowed goals for Milan. United can’t say they haven’t been warned.

Not wishing to riff on any Scots’ pain or anything, but mcGregor’s reaction to Stancu’s shot just now evoked memories of Alan Rough v Zico …

The home side take the lead with a sumptuous goal from distance. Slavia worked the ball cleverly to Stancu at the left-hand corner of the Rangers box, and the Romanian took a touch to tee himself up and then swept a beautiful curler into the far corner of the net! McGregor didn’t budge.

5 min: Very sedate openings in Manchester and Prague, where the sides seem to be just sizing each other up. At least that was the case until a moment ago, when Leal thrashed a shot into the net to five Milan the lead! But it was disallowed because the reason he had got the run on Bailly was because he was in an offside position when the ball was dropped over to the top for him to chase. Still, it was a smart finish and a warning to United. “I’m American and went to the Roma-Chievo Verona match at the Stadio Olimpico in May 2016 (featuring Mo Salah, Lucas Digne, Antonio Rudiger, and Francesco Totti’s 600th Serie A appearance),” reveals Matt Burtz. “I was quite surprised to learn that apparently you can openly smoke cigarettes at a stadium in Italy, something you would never see in the US, even in an outdoor facility. Still a great place to see a game though.”

It’s kick-off in four matches: United v Milan, Slavia v Rangers, Kyiv v Villarreal and Ajax v Young Boys.

“Portugal’s teams absence from this stage is probably due to the Covid-condensed calendar, combined with little realistic prospect of winning the thing so concentrate on the domestic scene and look forward to next year, much like the rest of us,” ventures Barry McAuley. That hasn’t stopped Porto in the Champions League, though.

“I’m surprised uUnited didn’t insert a clause in Dalot’s loan contract to stop him playing against us,” quibbles Peter Kingsnorth. “Even though he was never held in great regard here it would be a kick in the teeth if he has a great game…” Ominously, he’s in good scoring form at the moment, having netted in Milan’s win over Verona last weekend.

Want another Readers’ European Football Adventure? Well, here’s Stephen O’Sullivan. “On my many travels basically every other week, one of our lads did a pie league. he religiously bought a pie at every stadium. Then he rated them.” I can only assume Stephen’s network has collapsed and that he would otherwise have included the rest of that tale. Fair to say, following Matt Drake’s introduction of this theme, it’s 0-0 in the story stakes so far.

“Milan have the brothers Donnarumma in their squad today – and both are goalkeepers!” notes Peter Oh. “Wow, just imagine the battles around the laundry basket and the garbage bin in the Donnarumma household when the stoppers were just wee lads, discovering their respective calling in life.”

“Hi Paul,’ begins Matt Drake. “I once went to a game at Slavia Prague. It’s not pertinent to the game today, but at the stadium I purchased (and consumed) the worst slice of pizza I have ever had.” Anyone else like to share stories of their European football travels? Don’t be shy: as you can see, the quality control filter is set to not even slightly picky.

“[By beating Man City last weekend} We set the standard for ourselves as a group of players and it’s about how often can you reproduce that kind of intensity, concentration and winning the ball in the right areas?”

About Rashford’s ankle injury, he says: “Hopefully it won’t be too long but he’s not ready for tonight.”

Eleven countries are represented in the last 16, including Norway, with Molde the first from there to make it this far. With no clubs from Germany, France or Portugal, what should we glean from the failure of any sides from three of Europe’s supposed Big Six leagues to reach this stage?

Slavia: Kolar; Bah, Kudela, Zima, Boril; Sima, Stancu, Holes, Provod, Olayinka; Kuchta

Subs: Visinky, Deli, Vagner, Teci, Dorley, Hromada, Masopust, Kovar, Lingr

Rangers: McGregor; Patterson, Goldson, Helander, Barisic; Kamara, Davis, Aribo; Hagi, Morelos, Kent

Subs: King, Simpson, Wright, Ughelumba, Itten, Zungu, Stewart, Roofe, McLaughlin, Arfield

Here are the lineups:

United: Henderson; Wan-BIssaka, Bailly, Maguire, Telles; McTominay, Matic; James, Fernandes, Greenwood; Martial

Subs: Shoretire, Tuanzebe, Shaw, Williams, Fred, Grant, Lindelof, Bishop, Traoré

Milan: Domarunma; Calabria, Kjaer, Tomori, Dalot; Krunic, Meite, Kssie; Saelemaekers, Rafael Leao, Daz

Subs: Tatarunsanu, Castillejo, Tonali, Kalulu, Tonin, Gabba, Donnarumma

Hello and welcome to the beginning of the Europa League last 16 ties, featuring

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some intriguing match-ups. How about the seven-times European champions AC Milan against the three-times European champions Manchester United? Or Steven Gerrard’s newly crowned Scottish champions against Slavia Prague, the team whose impressive victory at Leicester in the last round denied Brendan Rodgers the pleasure of duelling with Rangers again? A little later we’ll have the latest instalment of Olympiakos v Arsenal, who can’t seem to avoid other whenever they go on European adventures, and Spurs versus Dinamo Zagreb. Here are all of today’s fixtures:

Ajax v Young Boys

Dinamo Kyiv v Villarreal

Manchester United v AC Milan

Slavia Prague v Rangers

Granada v Molde

Olympiakos v Arsenal

Roma v Shakhtar Donetsk

Spurs v Dinamo Zagreb.