The 2020–21 UEFA Europa League knockout phase began on 18 February with the round of 32 and ended on 26 May 2021 with the final at Stadion Gdańsk in Gdańsk, Poland, to decide the champions of the 2020–21 UEFA Europa League. A total of 32 teams competed in the knockout phase.
Times are CET/CEST, as listed by UEFA (local times, if different, are in parentheses).
Qualified teams The knockout phase involved 32 teams: the 24 teams which qualified as winners and runners-up of each of the twelve groups in the group stage, and the eight third-placed teams from the Champions League group stage.
Europa League group stage winners and runners-up GroupWinners(seeded in round of 32 draw)Runners-up(unseeded in round of 32 draw)A Roma Young BoysB Arsenal MoldeC Bayer Leverkusen Slavia PragueD Rangers BenficaE PSV Eindhoven GranadaF Napoli Real SociedadG Leicester City BragaH Milan LilleI Villarreal Maccabi Tel AvivJ Tottenham Hotspur AntwerpK Dinamo Zagreb Wolfsberger ACL TSG Hoffenheim Red Star Belgrade
Champions League group stage third-placed teams
Format Each tie in the knockout phase, apart from the final, was played over two legs, with each team playing one leg at home. The team that scored more goals on aggregate over the two legs advanced to the next round. If the aggregate score was level, the away goals rule was applied, i.e. the team that scored more goals away from home over the two legs advanced. If away goals were also equal, then extra time was played. The away goals rule was again applied after extra time, i.e. if there were goals scored during extra time and the aggregate score was still level, the visiting team advanced by virtue of more away goals scored. If no goals were scored during extra time, the winners were decided by a penalty shoot-out. In the final, which was played as a single match, if the score was level at the end of normal time, extra time was played, followed by a penalty shoot-out if the score was still level.
The mechanism of the draws for each round was as follows: In the draw for the round of 32, the twelve group winners and the four third-placed teams from the Champions League group stage with the better group records were seeded, and the twelve group runners-up and the other four third-placed teams from the Champions League group stage were unseeded. The seeded teams were drawn against the unseeded teams, with the seeded teams hosting the second leg. Teams from the same group or the same association cannot be drawn against each other. In the draws for the round of 16 onwards, there were no seedings, and teams from the same group or the same association could be drawn against each other. As the draws for the quarter-finals and semi-finals were held together before the quarter-finals were played, the identity of the quarter-final winners was not known at the time of the semi-final draw. A draw was also held to determine which semi-final winner was designated as the "home" team for the final (for administrative purposes as it was played at a neutral venue).
On 17 July 2014, the UEFA emergency panel ruled that Ukrainian and Russian clubs would not be drawn against each other "until further notice" due to the political unrest between the countries.
In the knockout phase, teams from the same or nearby cities (Arsenal and Tottenham Hotspur) were not scheduled to play at home on the same day, due to logistics and crowd control. To avoid such scheduling conflicts, UEFA had to make adjustments. For the round of 32, since both teams were seeded and play the second leg at home, the home match of the team that was not domestic cup champions in the qualifying season, or the team with the lower domestic ranking (if neither team were the domestic cup champions, i.e. Tottenham Hotspur for this season), was moved from Thursday to Wednesday. For the round of 16, quarter-finals, and semi-finals, if the two teams were drawn to play at home for the same leg, the order of legs of the tie involving the team with the lowest priority was reversed from the original draw.
Schedule The schedule was as follows (all draws were held at the UEFA headquarters in Nyon, Switzerland).
RoundDraw dateFirst legSecond legRound of 3214 December 2020, 13:0018 February 202125 February 2021Round of 1626 February 2021, 13:0011 March 202118 March 2021Quarter-finals19 March 2021, 13:008 April 202115 April 2021Semi-finals29 April 20216 May 2021Final26 May 2021 at Stadion Gdańsk, Gdańsk
Bracket
Round of 32
The draw for the round of 32 was held on 14 December 2020, 13:00 CET.
Summary
The first legs were played on 18 February, and the second legs were played on 24 and 25 February 2021.
Matches
Tottenham Hotspur won 8–1 on aggregate.
Dynamo Kyiv won 2–1 on aggregate.
Manchester United won 4–0 on aggregate.
Arsenal won 4–3 on aggregate.
3–3 on aggregate; Milan won on away goals.
Rangers won 9–5 on aggregate.
Slavia Prague won 2–0 on aggregate.
Villarreal won 4–1 on aggregate.
Roma won 5–1 on aggregate.
Dinamo Zagreb won 4–2 on aggregate.
Young Boys won 6–3 on aggregate.
Molde won 5–3 on aggregate.
Granada won 3–2 on aggregate.
Shakhtar Donetsk won 3–0 on aggregate.
Ajax won 4–2 on aggregate.
Olympiacos won 5–4 on aggregate.
Round of 16
The draw for the round of 16 was held on 26 February 2021, 13:00 CET.
Summary
The first legs were played on 11 March, and the second legs were played on 18 March 2021.
Matches
Ajax won 5–0 on aggregate.
Villarreal won 4–0 on aggregate.
Roma won 5–1 on aggregate.
Arsenal won 3–2 on aggregate.
Dinamo Zagreb won 3–2 on aggregate.
Manchester United won 2–1 on aggregate.
Slavia Prague won 3–1 on aggregate.
Granada won 3–2 on aggregate.
Quarter-finals
The draw for the quarter-finals was held on 19 March 2021, 13:00 CET.
Summary
The first legs were played on 8 April, and the second legs were played on 15 April 2021.
Matches
Manchester United won 4–0 on aggregate.
Arsenal won 5–1 on aggregate.
Roma won 3–2 on aggregate.
Villarreal won 3–1 on aggregate.
Semi-finals
The draw for the semi-finals was held on 19 March 2021, 13:00 CET, after the quarter-final draw.
Summary
The first legs were played on 29 April, and the second legs were played on 6 May 2021.
Matches
Manchester United won 8–5 on aggregate.
Villarreal won 2–1 on aggregate.
Final
The final was played on 26 May 2021 at the Stadion Gdańsk in Gdańsk. A draw was held on 19 March 2021, after the quarter-final and semi-final draws, to determine the "home" team for administrative purposes.
Notes
References
External links