The knockout round play-offs for the 2021–22 UEFA Europa League began on 17 February and will conclude on 18 May 2022 with the final at the Ramón Sánchez Pizjuán in Seville, Spain, to determine the champions of the 2021–22 UEFA Europa League. In the knockout stage, a total of 24 teams compete.
The knockout phase features 24 teams: the 16 teams that finished first and second in each of the eight groups in the group stage, as well as the eight clubs that finished third in the Champions League group stage.
Knockout round play-offs
First legs
Thursday 17 February
18:45 CET
Barcelona vs Napoli
Zenit vs Real Betis
Dortmund vs Rangers
Sheriff vs Braga
21:00 CET
Sevilla vs Dinamo Zagreb
Atalanta vs Olympiacos
Leipzig vs Real Sociedad
Porto vs Lazio
2nd Leg
Thursday 24 February
18:45 CET
Dinamo Zagreb vs Sevilla
Olympiacos vs Atalanta
Real Sociedad vs Leipzig
Lazio vs Porto
21:00 CET
Napoli vs Barcelona
Real Betis vs Zenit
Rangers vs Dortmund
Braga vs Sheriff
In this thread, we shall be covering all the Europa League playoff matches. Join the discussion and share your views on the various matches
Barcelona endured one of their worst-ever campaigns in Europe’s top club competition this season as they won just two of their four fixtures, losing three (D1), to end up in the third-place behind Bayern Munich and Benfica. This will be the first time they are competing in the secondary European competition since 2003/04 and head into Thursday’s game on the back of a disappointing 2-2 draw against Espanyol.
Napoli were part of a tricky group involving Leicester City, Spartak Moscow and Legia Warsaw. The Partenopei , who are challenging for the Serie A title, were unable to carry their league form to the continental tournament and finished second behind Spartak due to a poor head-to-head record even though both teams had ten points (W3 D1 L2). They played a 1-1 draw against Inter Milan in their most recent game.
Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang could make his first start as a Barcelona player, potentially alongside Ousmane Dembele, who is still in contention despite very nearly leaving the club in January.
Dani Alves won’t be involved, after Barcelona did not register him in their Europa League squad, while Ronald Araujo is expected to miss out after being forced off at half-time against Espanyol last weekend.
For Napoli, Hirving Lozano and Matteo Politano are both real injury doubts for the trip to Spain.
Kalidou Koulibaly and Andre-Frank Zambo Anguissa both returned against Inter Milan last weekend, after their involvement in the Africa Cup of Nations, and are expected to start here.
The only previous meeting between Barcelona and Napoli in major European competitions saw the Catalans eliminate the Italian outfit at the Round of 16 of the UEFA Champions League in 2019/20.
Barcelona have lost three of their last five home games in major European competitions (W1 D1) as many as they had lost in their previous 74 such encounters.
Napoli have lost each of their last four away games in the knockout stages of major European competitions, with one of those defeats coming against Barcelona in the Champions League in 2019/20.
This will be Barcelona’s first match in the secondary competition of European football since 2003/04 when they were eliminated by Celtic in the Round of 16 stage of the UEFA Cup.
Napoli striker Victor Osimhen has scored four goals in just 168 minutes in the UEFA Europa League this season, scoring in each of his last three games in the competition.
Barcelona XI: Ter Stegen; Mingueza, Piqué, Eric García, Jordi Alba; De Jong, Nico, Pedri; Adama Traoré, Aubameyang, Ferrán Torres
Napoli XI: Meret; Di Lorenzo, Rrahmani, Koulibaly, Juan Jesús; Anguissa, Fabián Ruiz; Elmas, Zielinski, Insigne; Osimhen
vs Inter
HALF-TIME 
