Almost every tie in the first knockout round of the Europa League is still up for grabs, leaving us with several extremely compelling matches to watch.
Last week we were treated to an incredible day of Europa League football, with a whopping 41 goals scored between the 16 matches, and only one fixture going scoreless. Normally you'd expect such a mountain of goalscoring to end with a bunch of lopsided scorelines and ties pretty much wrapped up after just one match played, but really only a couple of these pairings can be considered "over," with 12 or 13 of the spots in the round of 16 still very much up for grabs.
When looking at these aggregate scorelines, though, keep in mind that away goals are a major factor in these ties as they serve as the tiebreaker. That means that currently-even scorelines could actually heavily favor one side or the other, making the match much tougher than it appears on the surface. Take Internazionale and Celtic, for instance -- the match saw six goals in an epic slugfest, but the 3-3 scoreline heavily favors Inter going in to the home leg, thanks to the atmosphere of the San Siro and Celtic's road struggles in European competition.
With so many excellent matches on tap packed in to just five hours, it's tough to know what to watch. Fortunately, we're here for you with three prime games that stand out from the rest. It's probably going to be hard to go wrong with any match to watch, though, and this should be one heck of a fun day, possibly even more than the first legs were.
Fiorentina vs. Tottenham Hotspur
An entertainingly wild first leg ended in a 1-1 tie, but could easily have swung heavily in either side's direction, and can still go either way by the time the final whistle blows in the second leg. These are both teams who desperately want to win this competition to prove their ability to Europe and get in to the Champions League, but only one of Fiorentina and Tottenham can advance past this stage after this match in Florence (1:00 p.m. ET, FOX Sports 2). Both sides are facing squad issues -- an injury to Ciprian Tatarusanu means Fiorentina will be forced to use Neto in goal, who hasn't played since he declared in January that he'll leave the club at the end of his contract, and captain Borja Valero is out as well. Spurs also have to balance finding a way to win match on the road with putting out a lineup that can beat Chelsea in the League Cup final this weekend, giving manager Mauricio Pochettino quite the challenge.
Feyenoord vs. AS Roma
After a contentious first leg both on and off the pitch, Feyenoord and AS Roma face off in Holland to decide who advances to the round of 16 (3:05 p.m. ET, FOX Sports 2). Roma did not play well at all in the first leg and Feyenoord were able to take advantage, getting an away goal and sending the tie home to Rotterdam with a 1-1 scoreline. The Stadion Feijenoord is a tough place for anyone to play in, so even with Roma's talent advantage, a win is far from guaranteed for the Italian side. If Feyenoord can show the same heart and effort that they did in the first leg, it's entirely possible that Roma's building disappointment in 2015 will only grow larger.
Borussia Mönchengladbach vs. Sevilla
Two of the favorites to go the distance in this year's Europa League, both Sevilla and Gladbach fought to a near-standstill before Vicente Iborra's 70th minute goal gave Sevilla a 1-0 advantage that they still hold going in to the German leg of this tie (1 p.m. ET, Fox Soccer 2GO/ESPN3). This is still a tie either club can win, and Gladbach will be looking to use the full advantage of playing at Borussia-Park, as they're riding a seven-match win streak at home in European competition. These are both teams that play entertaining football and will be eager to push on, and given the closeness of the score and importance of the tie to both Gladbach and Sevilla, this could prove to be an epic slugfest.
Full round of 32 second leg schedule
All matches on February 26th, with starting aggregate score listed. Viewing options are found here.
Zenit St. Petersburg vs. PSV (1-0), 12 p.m. ET, 8 p.m. local
Dinamo Moscow vs. Anderlecht (0-0), 12 p.m. ET, 8 p.m. local
Borussia Mönchengladbach vs. Sevilla (0-1), 1 p.m. ET, 7 p.m. local
Legia Warsaw vs. Ajax Amsterdam (0-1), 1 p.m. ET, 7 p.m. local
Dynamo Kiev vs. Guigamp (1-2), 1 p.m. ET, 8 p.m. local
Red Bull Salzburg vs. Villarreal (1-2), 1 p.m. ET, 7 p.m. local
Beisktas vs. Liverpool (0-1), 1 p.m. ET, 8 p.m. local
Fiorentina vs. Tottenham Hotspur (1-1), 1 p.m. ET, 7 p.m. local
Inter Milan vs. Celtic (3-3), 1 p.m. ET, 7 p.m. local
Everton vs. BSC Young Boys (4-1), 3:05 p.m. ET, 8:05 p.m. local
Club Brugge vs. AaB (3-1), 3:05 p.m. ET, 9:05 p.m. local
Athletic Bilbao vs. Torino (2-2), 3:05 p.m. ET, 9:05 p.m. local
Sporting Lisbon vs. Wolfsburg (0-2), 3:05 p.m. ET, 9:05 p.m. local
Olympiakos vs. Dnipro Dnipropetrovsk (0-2), 3:05 p.m. ET, 9:05 p.m. local
Napoli vs. Trabzonspor (4-0), 3:05 p.m. ET, 9:05 p.m. local
Feyenoord vs. AS Roma (1-1), 3:05 p.m. ET, 9:05 p.m. local
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