Fiorentina, Napoli and Lazio will all face tough adversaries in the next round of the Europa League, after they were respectively drawn against Tottenham Hotspur, Villarreal and Galatasaray in Monday afternoon’s Round of 32 draw.
All three Italian sides confidently made it through the group stages, as Fiorentina finished second to Swiss side FC Basel, whilst Lazio and Napoli both topped their groups, Maurizio Sarri’s men going on an unbeaten run with 22 goals to their name.
The Partenopei will now travel to the East of Spain, as they will play away to Villarreal mid-February. The last time these two sides met outside of the group stages was back in the 2010/11 season, a fixture which the Yellow Submarine won with a slender 2-1 victory at home in the second leg, thanks to Italian international Giuseppe Rossi.
Rossi’s current club, Fiorentina, will also face a familiar opponent in English side Tottenham Hotspur. Last year’s edition of the tournament played host to the exact same fixture, with Fiorentina running out eventual 3-1 aggregate winners at the very same stage.
Meanwhile, Lazio will make the trip to the Turk Telekom Arena in Istanbul, having been matched up against Turkish giants Galatasaray.
The remaining fixtures in the Round of 32 are: Valencia v Rapid Wien, Borussia Dortmund v Porto, Fenerbahce v Lokomotiv Moskva, Anderlecht v Olympiacos, Midtjylland v Manchester United, Augsburg v Liverpool, Sparta Praha v Krasnodar, Sion v Braga, Shakhtar Donetsk v Schalke, Marseille v Athletic Club, Sevilla v Molde, Sporting CP v Bayer Leverkusen and St-Etienne v Basel.
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