Galatasaray to visit Sparta Prague with slight advantage in Europa League knockout round playoff

By Can Erozden

Galatasaray will visit Sparta Prague with a slight advantage in the UEFA Europa League knockout round playoff on Thursday as the Turkish team barely beat their Czech opponents last week.

Galatasaray, the 2000 winners, took a 3-2 win in a hard-fought first leg in Istanbul against Sparta Prague on Feb. 15, thanks to the stoppage-time winner scored by Argentine star Mauro Icardi.

Victor Nelsson, the Danish central defender of Galatasaray, was shown a red card in Istanbul to miss the second leg in Prague.

Galatasaray's Moroccan winger Hakim Ziyech has an ankle injury and he is expected to miss the Sparta Prague match on Thursday. Ziyech did not play last week for the same reason. The Turkish club's winter signing Serge Aurier from Ivory Coast faced a strained hamstring to miss the second leg.

Sparta Prague's Matej Rynes is suspended as the Czech midfielder was sent off in Istanbul.

In addition to Rynes, Sparta Prague's Serbian midfielder Veljko Birmancevic and Czech defender Ladislav Krejci were booked to miss the second leg at Stadion Letna.

The game in the Czech capital will kick off at 2000GMT.

The winning team of the tie will reach the last 16. The Europa League's Round of 16 draw will be held on Friday.

Atalanta, Bayer Leverkusen, Brighton, Liverpool, Rangers, Slavia Prague, Villarreal, and West Ham United were previously through to the last 16 after they won their Europa League groups each.

Thursday's fixtures are as follows. The brackets are showing the first leg results.

- Playoff 2nd legs

Toulouse - Benfica (1-2)

Rennes - AC Milan (0-3)

Freiburg - Lens (0-0)

Qarabag - Braga (4-2)

Roma - Feyenoord (1-1)

Sparta Prague - Galatasaray (2-3)

Olympique Marseille - Shakhtar Donetsk (2-2)

Sporting - Young Boys (3-1)