Europa League Round of 16 to kick off with Sporting Lisbon, Atalanta game

By Selcuk Bugra Gokalp

The UEFA Europa League Round of 16 will kick off Wednesday with Sporting Lisbon-Atalanta game at Jose Alvalade Stadium in Lisbon.

Italian Serie A side Atalanta won the Group D, including Sporting Lisbon, Sturm Graz and Rakow, unbeaten, while Portuguese club Sporting eliminated Swiss side Young Boys with 4-2 aggregate in the playoffs.

"Atalanta are the kind of team who transform the game into a series of duels, the way they move and create provokes that in the opponent. Their intensity level is different to what we are used to in Portugal, so we need to raise our game in that sense," said Sporting head coach Ruben Amorim about their opponents.

"Sporting are a very strong team," said Atalanta manager Gian Piero Gasperini, adding, "They already were five months ago (when the sides met in the group stage), and have consolidated since. They are doing very good things domestically, but we too have made progress this season. We are different teams, but well-balanced."

Portuguese defender Goncalo Inacio and Portuguese wingers Pedro Goncalves and Trincao are doubtful to play for Sporting against Atalanta, while there are no major injuries in the Italian team's squad.

Sporting Lisbon lost the 2005 UEFA Cup (the former format of the Europa League) final 3-1 against Russian side CSKA Moscow, while Atalanta have no European trophies.

- Europa League Round of 16 fixtures are as below:

Wednesday:

Sporting Lisbon (Portugal)-Atalanta (Italy)

Thursday:

Sparta Prague (Czech Republic)-Liverpool (England)

Roma (Italy)-Brighton (England)

Qarabag (Azerbaijan)-Bayer Leverkusen (Germany)

Olympique Marseille (France)-Villarreal (Spain)

Benfica (Portugal)-Rangers (Scotland)

Freiburg (Germany)-West Ham United (England)

Milan (Italy)-Slavia Prague (Czech Republic)