Europa Conference League draw LIVE: Aston Villa to face Ajax after learning last 16 fate

The procedure of the draw - seeded teams face unseeded teams etc - is now explained just so that everyone knows how things work and which teams can be drawn against which.

No team from the same domestice league can face each other at this stage.

Giorgio Marchetti is brought onto the stage to talk about next season’s Europa League expansion before explaining the rules for the draw with a bit of flair and style.

He also congratulates Qarabag for becoming the first team from Azerbaijan to reach the knockout stage of this competition.

John O’Shea is then introduced to help out with the draw.

Here’s a reminder of the teams in the draw:

Seeded teams

• Atalanta (ITA)
• Brighton (ENG)
• Bayer Leverkusen (GER)
• Liverpool (ENG)
• Rangers (SCO)
• Slavia Prague (CZE)
• Villarreal (ESP)
• West Ham (ENG)

Unseeded teams

• AC Milan (ITA)
• Benfica (POR)
• Freiburg (GER)
• Marseille (FRA)
• Qarabağ (AZE)
• Roma (ITA)
• Sparta Prague (CZE)
• Sporting CP (POR)

Here we go.

The draw for the Europa League last-16 is just getting started. As always there’s a recap of the group stages and the play-off round with the teams who have progressed being announced.

Uefa and Fifa are in a stand-off over regulation on multi-club ownership, as the two biggest confederations struggle to find a solution for one of the biggest issues facing football today.

The European body are pushing for Fifa to come up with rules before next year’s inaugural Club World Cup in the USA, especially with the possibility that it could feature clubs from multiple groups. Manchester City and Chelsea are both certain to be involved, as two examples, and the former are part of one of the biggest such groups in the world as City Football Group while the London club’s owners investigating the possibility of expanding beyond the recent purchase of Strasbourg.

Fifa are at the same pushing Uefa to clarify its own rules, that have so far led to situations like Leipzig and Salzburg - both from the Red Bull group - meeting in the Europa League. That is despite the rules notionally supposed to keep such teams apart to prevent conflict of interest. The two clubs were able to prove sufficient separation, which has left a consistent question over whether the regulations are fit for purpose.

Jurgen Klopp broke his promise.

A few months ago, he had vowed to stop talking about his greatest comeback, his greatest night. There can be a temptation to mention the most famous of his 472 games in charge of Liverpool, in part because it combined so many of the elements that have defined his reign.

But after another four-goal comeback, against Luton this time, he reached for the ultimate in his search for something reminiscent.

“I promised my team a few months ago that I would never mention the Barcelona game as an example and I used it again today so I broke my promise,” he said.

“Just because this game was, before the game, kind of similar. This is now their Barcelona, it was against Luton.

“Difficult situation, plenty of reasons to give up in moments but not tonight and I saw only a super group fighting. If you don’t limit yourself with bad thoughts you can fly, that’s what the boys did.”

Sparta Prague forward, Jan Kuchta said: “I don’t have any preferences for the draw, but I’m certain that we will now play with courage against other big clubs as we did against Galatasaray.”

Mohamed Salah faces a late fitness test ahead of the Carabao Cup final with the Liverpool forward yet to have been ruled out of the Wembley clash against Chelsea.

Darwin Nunez and Dominik Szoboszlai will also be assessed ahead of Sunday’s showpiece.

“Dom, Darwin and Mo we have to really see,” Liverpool’s assistant manager Pep Lijnders said. “We have two more days, so at the last minute we will check if they can be there.”

Knockout round play-off winners and unseeded teams:

• Ajax (NED)
• Dinamo Zagreb (CRO)
• Maccabi Haifa (ISR)
• Molde (NOR)
• Olympiacos (GRE)
• Servette (SUI)
• Sturm Graz (AUT)
• Union SG (BEL)

Group winners and seeded teams:

• Aston Villa (ENG)
• Club Brugge (BEL)
• Fenerbahçe (TUR)
• Fiorentina (ITA)
• LOSC Lille (FRA)
• Maccabi Tel-Aviv (ISR)
• PAOK (GRE)
• Viktoria Plzeň (CZE)