Sevilla's midfielder Ever Banega, left, and Andre Silva celebrate Thursday's win in the Europa League against Krasnodar. EPA
Sevilla's midfielder Ever Banega, left, and Andre Silva celebrate Thursday's win in the Europa League against Krasnodar. EPA
Sevilla's midfielder Ever Banega, left, and Andre Silva celebrate Thursday's win in the Europa League against Krasnodar. EPA
Sevilla's midfielder Ever Banega, left, and Andre Silva celebrate Thursday's win in the Europa League against Krasnodar. EPA

Explainer: The Europa League draw - who can play who in last 32, Sevilla being favourites, and Arsenal and Chelsea's prospects


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The Europa League group stages came to a conclusion on Thursday and we now know the teams who have qualified for the knockout stages of the tournament.

The 24 sides are joined in the draw, which will take place on Monday in Nyon, Switzerland, by the eight sides who finished third in their groups of the Uefa Champions League.

Of those eight, the four with the better records (Napoli, Valencia, Inter Milan and Benfica) will be seeded, while the second quartet (Viktoria Plzen, Club Brugge, Shakhtar Donetsk and Galatasary) are unseeded.

Here are things to watch out for.

Who is in which category

The 32 teams are split into the following lists

Seeded Bayer Leverkusen, Red Ball Salzburg, Zenit St Petersburg, Dinamo Zagreb, Arsenal, Real Betis, Villarreal, Eintracht Frankfurt, Genk, Sevilla, Dynamo Kiev, Chelsea, Napoli, Valencia, Inter Milan and Benfica.

Unseeded Zurich, Celtic, Slavia Prague, Fenerbahce, Sporting Lisbon, Olympiakos, Rapid Vienna, Lazio, Malmo, Krasnodar, Rennes, BATE Borisov, Viktoria Plzen, Club Brugge, Shakhtar Donetsk and Galatasary.

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Who can play who in the last 32

The only restrictions are that teams cannot at this stage play another club from the same domestic league, so neither seeded Serie A sides Napoli or Inter Milan can face Lazio for instance.

Teams can also not play the side that qualified from the same group as them, meaning BATE Borisov are the only unseeded team that Chelsea cannot be drawn with.

The unseeded side will have home advantage for the first legs, which are on February 14, with the second leg on February 21.

Spanish domination

The Europa League has proven something of a happy hunting ground for Spanish sides in the past with six of the past nine winners coming from Spain.

La Liga will fancy their chances of making that four from seven with four sides in Sevilla, Real Betis, Valencia and Villarreal in the competition still.

Sevilla have won the tournament three times, a hat-trick of successes between 2014-16, and they are favourites for a fourth crown, given they are title contenders in Spain, sitting just three points behind leaders Barcelona in second spot.

Chelsea and Arsenal's hopes

As things stand in the Premier League. with Chelsea fourth and Arsenal fifth, separated only by goal difference as they both have 34 points, the chances are only one of them will qualify with a top-four finish for the Champions League in 2019/20.

So winning the Europa League, and gaining qualification that way, is going to be an appealing prospect, especially as the top-four fight in the Premier League likely to go to the wire.

Chelsea, under Rafa Benitez, won the tournament in 2013, and in Eden Hazard have one of the elite players in world football right now, so they will always be a contender.

Arsenal have not won an European title since they won the Cup Winners Cup in 1994. They reached the semi-finals of the Europa League and are a galvanised outfit under Unai Emery, who took over from Arsene Wenger in the summer.

Arsenal have not lost in 22 matches in all competitions, a run that stretches back to August, and the 15 unseeded sides they can face (Sporting Lisbon qualified from Group E with them) will all hope they avoid being paired with them.

The Spanish sides, and Napoli in Serie A, look the biggest threats to the English pair, and they cannot be drawn with until the last 16 at the earliest.

Tournament details

From the last 16 stages the draw becomes open and there is no seedings.

The final takes place on May 29 in Baku in Azerbaijan at the Olympic Stadium.

Predictions

Predicted winners for final round of games before play-offs:

  • Friday: Delhi v Chennai - Chennai
  • Saturday: Rajasthan v Bangalore - Bangalore
  • Saturday: Hyderabad v Kolkata - Hyderabad
  • Sunday: Delhi v Mumbai - Mumbai
  • Sunday - Chennai v Punjab - Chennai

Final top-four (who will make play-offs): Chennai, Hyderabad, Mumbai and Bangalore

The National's picks

4.35pm: Tilal Al Khalediah
5.10pm: Continous
5.45pm: Raging Torrent
6.20pm: West Acre
7pm: Flood Zone
7.40pm: Straight No Chaser
8.15pm: Romantic Warrior
8.50pm: Calandogan
9.30pm: Forever Young

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  • DLD registration fee can be paid through banks or credit cards at zero interest rates

THE SPECS

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Match info

Manchester City 3 (Jesus 22', 50', Sterling 69')
Everton 1 (Calvert-Lewin 65')

Farage on Muslim Brotherhood

Nigel Farage told Reform's annual conference that the party will proscribe the Muslim Brotherhood if he becomes Prime Minister.
"We will stop dangerous organisations with links to terrorism operating in our country," he said. "Quite why we've been so gutless about this – both Labour and Conservative – I don't know.
“All across the Middle East, countries have banned and proscribed the Muslim Brotherhood as a dangerous organisation. We will do the very same.”
It is 10 years since a ground-breaking report into the Muslim Brotherhood by Sir John Jenkins.
Among the former diplomat's findings was an assessment that “the use of extreme violence in the pursuit of the perfect Islamic society” has “never been institutionally disowned” by the movement.
The prime minister at the time, David Cameron, who commissioned the report, said membership or association with the Muslim Brotherhood was a "possible indicator of extremism" but it would not be banned.

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GOLF’S RAHMBO

- 5 wins in 22 months as pro
- Three wins in past 10 starts
- 45 pro starts worldwide: 5 wins, 17 top 5s
- Ranked 551th in world on debut, now No 4 (was No 2 earlier this year)
- 5th player in last 30 years to win 3 European Tour and 2 PGA Tour titles before age 24 (Woods, Garcia, McIlroy, Spieth)

MATCH INFO

Quarter-finals

Saturday (all times UAE)

England v Australia, 11.15am 
New Zealand v Ireland, 2.15pm

Sunday

Wales v France, 11.15am
Japan v South Africa, 2.15pm

In numbers

1,000 tonnes of waste collected daily:

  • 800 tonnes converted into alternative fuel
  • 150 tonnes to landfill
  • 50 tonnes sold as scrap metal

800 tonnes of RDF replaces 500 tonnes of coal

Two conveyor lines treat more than 350,000 tonnes of waste per year

25 staff on site

 

Tightening the screw on rogue recruiters

The UAE overhauled the procedure to recruit housemaids and domestic workers with a law in 2017 to protect low-income labour from being exploited.

 Only recruitment companies authorised by the government are permitted as part of Tadbeer, a network of labour ministry-regulated centres.

A contract must be drawn up for domestic workers, the wages and job offer clearly stating the nature of work.

The contract stating the wages, work entailed and accommodation must be sent to the employee in their home country before they depart for the UAE.

The contract will be signed by the employer and employee when the domestic worker arrives in the UAE.

Only recruitment agencies registered with the ministry can undertake recruitment and employment applications for domestic workers.

Penalties for illegal recruitment in the UAE include fines of up to Dh100,000 and imprisonment

But agents not authorised by the government sidestep the law by illegally getting women into the country on visit visas.

Honeymoonish
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'Moonshot'

Director: Chris Winterbauer

Stars: Lana Condor and Cole Sprouse 

Rating: 3/5

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