EUROPA LEAGUE: WHAT’S THE STATE OF PLAY?

Manchester United return to European action next week when we host LASK in the second leg of our UEFA Europa League last-16 tie.

The Reds are 5-0 up from the away leg, which took place in March prior to football’s hiatus due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

But which other sides are still in the competition? And how will the remaining rounds be orchestrated? We’ve got the answers to these questions and many more…

WHEN DOES IT ALL START?

The last 16 returns on Wednesday 5 August, with two matches taking place at 17:55 BST, before United face LASK at Old Trafford (20:00 BST kick-off), in what will be our last home match of the 2019/20 season. Overall, there are eight last-16 fixtures across Wednesday and Thursday, with two being one-legged matches that are set to be held in Germany. The first legs of Internazionale v Getafe and Roma v Sevilla were postponed in March, so UEFA have decided to stage one-match deciders at neutral venues for these fixtures.

WHO ELSE IS INVOLVED?

There are 16 sides still in with a chance of winning the Europa League, from 11 different countries. They include:

LASK (Austria)
FC Copenhagen (Denmark)
Olympiacos (Greece)
UNITED & Wolverhampton Wanderers (England)
Bayer Leverkusen, Eintracht Frankfurt & Wolfsburg (Germany)
Internazionale & Roma (Italy)
Rangers (Scotland)
Getafe & Sevilla (Spain)
Basel (Switzerland)
Istanbul Basaksehir (Turkey)
Shakhtar Donetsk (Ukraine)

A full breakdown of the fixture schedule can be found at the bottom of the page.

WHAT HAPPENS NEXT?

Once eight sides have secured their places in the quarter-finals, the remainder of the competition will be played exclusively in Germany. The last three rounds of the Europa League will take place in neutral venues, with the quarter-finals and semi-final finals to be one-legged knockout matches in the same fashion as the final.

WHEN ARE THE NEXT ROUNDS?

The quarter-finals will take place in four different German cities (Cologne, Duisburg, Dusseldorf and Gelsenkirchen) between 10 and 11 August, while the semi-finals will be staged over 16-17 August. The final of the competition will be held in Cologne on 21 August, over 14 months after the preliminary qualification rounds for this season’s competition began.

WHO COULD WE PLAY?

Much in the same style as the World Cup, United’s potential path to the final has already been mapped out. Therefore, we know which opponents we could face in the respective rounds. Should the Reds progress to the quarter-finals, we’ll lock horns with either Istanbul Basaksehir or FC Copenhagen and, should we reach the last four, we’d play one of Olympiacos, Wolves, Roma or Sevilla. If we overcome those two hurdles, one of the following eight sides would be our opposition in the final: Wolfsburg, Shakhtar Donetsk, Eintracht Frankfurt, Basel, Internazionale, Getafe, Bayer Leverkusen or Rangers.

FULL FIXTURE LIST:

LAST 16:

WEDNESDAY 5 AUGUST
Shakhtar Donetsk (2) v (1) Wolfsburg (NSK Olimpiyskiy, Kiev) (17:55 BST)
FC Copenhagen (0) v (1) Istanbul Basaksehir (Parken Studium, Copehagen) (17:55 BST)
UNITED (5) v (0) LASK (Old Trafford, Manchester)
Internazionale v Getafe (Veltins Arena, Gelsenkirchen)

THURSDAY 6 AUGUST
Sevilla v Roma (MSV Arena, Duisburg) (17:55 BST)
Bayer Leverkusen (3) v (1) Rangers (BayArena, Leverkusen) (17:55 BST)
Basel (3) v (0) Eintracht Frankfurt (St Jakob-Park, Basel)
Wolverhampton Wanderers (1) v (1) Olympiacos (Molineux, Wolverhampton)

QUARTER-FINALS:

MONDAY 10 AUGUST
QF1: Internazionale/Getafe v Bayer Leverkusen v Rangers (Dusseldorf Arena, Dusseldorf)
QF2: UNITED/LASK v FC Copenhagen/ Istanbul Basaksehir (Stadion Koln, Cologne)

TUESDAY 11 AUGUST
QF3: Wolverhampton Wanderers/Olympiacos v Sevilla/Roma (MSV Arena, Duisburg)
QF4: Shakhtar Donetsk/Wolfsburg v Basel/Eintracht Frankfurt (Veltins Arena, Gelsenkirchen)

SEMI-FINALS:

SUNDAY 16 AUGUST
QF4 winner v QF1 winner (Stadion Koln, Cologne)

MONDAY 17 AUGUST
QF2 winner v QF3 winner (Dusseldorf Arena, Dusseldorf)

FINAL:

FRIDAY 21 AUGUST
SF1 winner v SF2 winner (Stadion Koln, Cologne)

All matches kick-off at 20:00 BST unless indicated otherwise.