We simulated Europa League draw with Manchester United…

We simulated Europa League draw with Manchester United handed tough tie and Arsenal given nightmare scenario

Manchester United will discover who they will face in the last-16 of the Europa League when the draw is conducted at UEFA's headquarters in Nyon this morning.

United, who last won the competition in 2017, progressed to the next round of the tournament last night with a famous come-from-behind 2-1 win over Barcelona at Old Trafford. Goals from Fred and Antony sealed a 4-3 aggregate victory for Erik ten Hag's side, who are still competing in four different competitions this term.

The Reds found themselves 1-0 down at the half-time interval following Robert Lewandowski's 18th-minute opener from the penalty spot but showed the grit and determination required to turn both the game and the tie on its head. Fred brought United level just two minutes after the interval before Antony, who had stepped off the bench at half-time to replace Wout Weghorst, curled home the winner with 17 minutes of normal time left on the clock.

Over the course of the two legs, victory was nothing less than what United deserved. They went toe-to-toe with the La Liga leaders and last night's victory meant they became the first side to beat them when trailing at half-time since April 2021.

At this stage of the competition, the eight group winners from earlier on in the campaign are drawn against the eight knockout-round play-off winners. The group winners are on the seeded side of the draw and will get the advantage of being at home in the second-leg of the two-legged ties.

However, clubs from the same country cannot be pitted up against each other at this stage of the competition. That means United cannot be handed the task of facing Arsenal and nor can Sevilla be pitted up against either Real Betis or Real Sociedad, for example.

Nevertheless, there are still seven other opponents that the Reds could face, including the likes of Fenerbahce and Feyenoord.

Therefore, the draw promises to throw up both some interesting and exciting ties as the road to the final in Budapest on May 31 intensifies. And that is exactly what happened when we ran a draw simulation using a simulator.

Ahead of the real draw taking place at 11am today (Friday) GMT, MEN Sport did a simulation and it threw up some interesting ties, pitting United up against Bundesliga outfit SC Freiburg. The German club won Group G earlier this season, winning four of their six group matches.

Should they be drawn against each other in the real draw later, it would mark a first-ever meeting between the two clubs.

Meanwhile, Arsenal were handed the task of getting the better of Italian giants Juventus, who joined United in progressing from the knockout round last night. Europa League specialists Sevilla, who also progressed from the knockout round, were drawn to take on Hungarian outfit Ferencvaros, who saw off competition from Monaco to top Group H back in November.