Europa League draw, weekend team news and more: football – live | Football

Liverpool v Sparta Prague: Liverpool will play the first leg of their Round of 16 tie in the Czech capital just three days before what will almost certainly be a crunch Premier League match against Manchester City.

The game against Sparta Prague could be an occasion for Jurgen Klopp to rest several key first-team players, although given his mounting injury list, that might be an option for the German.

Europa League: An already exciting maiden season in Europe gets better for Brighton. Having already qualified for the last 16 by finishing top of a group containing AEK Athens, Marseille and Ajax, they get to play another storied European club in the form of Roma, who scraped past Feyenoord on penalties last night. Pack your bags, Brighton fans – you’re off to the City of the Seven Hills! And if you haven’t been lucky enough to visit Rome before, you’re in for an absolute treat.

Europa League Round of 16 draw

Breaking: Freiburg v West Ham

Breaking: Benfica v Rangers

Breaking: Liverpool will face Sparta Prague and Brighton have been drawn against Roma in the Europa League last 16.

Liverpool: Here’s more from Pep Lijnders as the audience in Nyon listen to a very, very longwinded explanation of how the Europa League draw will work.

“Is that a compliment from United?” he asks, upon being told Sir Jim Ratcliffe said Manchester United could learn a thing or two from how things are done at Liverpool. “That says everything, no? No-one can replace Jurgen Klopp but the past showed already a few difficult transitions. What was the most difficult transition inside this club? Bill Shankly saying ‘That’s me (done)’. Who stepped up? Bob Paisley. He was different from Shanks.

“It showed that we as a club we have to search for someone who wants to grow who, has the mindset to develop but it is not for us but the owners, they can make the decision. We made the right decision to announce this early, to give the club time to get this transition smooth.

“The past has shown it is possible. Barcelona … Pep Guardiola announced he was done and then Tito Vilanova took over and got them the most points ratio over. That was probably the hardest transition in the past 15 years. I was at Porto when Andre Villas-Boas won so much at Porto, then Vítor Pereira took over and was completely different to Andre and was champion the year off. They don’t have to replace Jurgen, but find a new manager.”

Liverpool have just been drawn against Sparta Prgaue in the Europa League.

Europa League draw: With the final of this season’s competition being staged in Dublin’s Aviva Stadium, former Republic of Ireland international John O’Shea is the tournament ambassador.

He has been invited to Nyon to assist Uefa Deputy Secretary General Giorgio Marchetti and the governing body’s debonair frontman Pedro Pinto with the draw.

Europa League draw: The little footballs will be plucked from the Uefa tombola imminently, to decide who plays who in the Europa League Round of 16. Liverpool, Brighton, West Ham and Rangers are the British representatives in the draw.

All four clubs are seeded, which means they will be away from home for the first leg on Thursday 7 March and at home for the second leg on 14 March. Teams from the same league cannot be paired with each other at this stage of the competition.

Liverpool: On the back of the news that Alisson is expected to be out until some time after the next international break, Pep Lijnders has been talking up the Brazilian’s Irish deputy, Caoimhin Kelleher. (For anyone who is still unsure, it’s the Irish for ‘Kevin’ and is pronounced ‘Key-veen’.)

“I still know his first game: Derby away, no-one watching,” says Lijnders. “Not on a main pitch, the sixth pitch! He saved a penalty and you saw a boy who was 15. At the time it was not an easy situation and with his feet already impressed in a trial game. I think he played for many years outfield before he became a goalkeeper.

“I am really pleased for him. At Liverpool you need two good goalkeepers and we have that. It is a huge compliment to John (Achterberg), (Claudio) Taffarel and all the guys at the academy because we produce some good goalkeepers but Caoimhin is probably the most outstanding one, and the most complete.

“He can make match-winning saves, has this, and he sees the game, knows how to act as the free player with direction and he is calm, has serenity. It creates calmness for the others. Especially the way we want to play. It’s important to have a goalkeeper like that. Again, it is the culture with our own players. It’s cool.”

Not football: Joe Root hits 100 in Ranchi

Newcastle United: A number of Newcastle players were spotted at the Premier League of Darts in Newcastle last night and their presence was raised by some tell-tale at Eddie Howe’s press conference.

Howe said he was unaware that Dan Burn and chums were planning a night out at the arrars and said he hoped they weren’t out too late and suggested they probably should have gone in fancy dress to avoid detection. At the very least, he’ll be pleased to know they weren’t drinking anything stronger than water, as the footage below proves.

If Newcastle’s players stayed for the final of last night’s round of the competition, they’ll have seen Michael van Gerwen beat Nathan Aspinall 6-4 in the final.

Arteta: Partey is very close to return

Liverpool: Jürgen Klopp’s assistant Pep Lijnders is taking today’s press conference and is asked about the fitness of Dominik Szoboszlai, Curtis Jones, Darwin Nunez and Mo Salah, who are all rated doubtful for the Carabao Cup final on Sunday.

“Dominik, Darwin and Mo we really have to see,” he says. “We have two more days. We have today’s session, tomorrow’s session and then we will check if they can be there. It would be great (if they are fit) to be honest.”

Lijnders adds that Curtis Jones will miss the Carabao Cup final with a sprained ankle and will be out until “around the” international break, which begins on 17 March. The Dutch coach reveals that Trent Alexander-Arnold will be sidelined for a similar time-frame, while Diogo Jota and Alisson will almost certainly be out for longer.

Eddie Howe on Ashworth

Newcastle United: As is customary, Early Bird Eddie Howe is first out of the traps when it comes to weekend press conferences and is currently fielding interrogatroy projectiles ahead of his side’s match against Arsenal at the Emirates tomorrow night.

Bruno Guimaraes has been just one yellow card away from a two-match ban since picking up his ninth Premier League booking of the season ( his 15th in all competitions for club and country) against Manchester City five games ago. His manager was asked how his spiky midfielder is dealing with life on the disciplinary tightrope.

“He’s managed it well so far,” says Howe. “He’s been his normal self. He hasn’t looked as though it’s conscious in his mind. He’s played with discipline. You need your creative players to fire and your defensive players to fire in a different way. He was very competitive in the home game but also very good technically. We need all our players to fire.”

Philipp Lahm on Euro 2024: “As the tournament director, I see the Euros’ potential to enhance the best of our way of life and to set aside ugly resentments,” writes the former Germany international. “We are now experiencing an era when Europe must live its values and sport can be a piece of the mosaic.”

Europa League: Pierre Emerick Aubameyang became the competition’s all time top scorer with 31 goals as Marseille booked their place in the last 16 at Shakhtar Donetsk’s expense. Roma, Benfica, Qarabag, Freiberg, Sporting, AC Milan and Sparta Prague also advanced last night.

Carabao Cup final: A five-times winner of the League Cup with Manchester City, Chelsea winger Raheem Sterling will face another of his former teams, Liverpool, in Sunday’s final. The dynamic is intriguing, writes Jacob Steinberg.

Preamble