Feyenoord v Roma, Shakhtar v Marseille, Milan v Rennes and more: Europa League clockwatch – live

I’m not really a betting man, but here are my picks/predictions, the eight teams who I believe will join Liverpool, Brighton, West Ham, Rangers, Leverkusen, Atalanta, Slavia Prague and Villarreal in the Europa League last 16 proper:

• Feyenoord

• Galatasaray

• Marseille

• Sporting

• AC Milan

• Benfica

• Freiburg

• Braga

Feel free to pin post/come back to me when I’ve got all eight predicitons wrong …

Potentially unpopular opinion … this ball is top notch. A scorcher.

Speaking of Bayern and this week’s European thrills and spills, enjoy Football Daily – hot off the press – with your Thursday evening shandy.

At least there was one surprise result in the four opening Champions League last 16 first legs earlier this week, thanks to Bayern Munich doing their best Spurs impression with defeat at Lazio. Poor old Hazza Kane.

What would constitute a surprise in this Europa League playoff round? Galatasaray and Sporting have to be considered big favourites to progress beyond these ties; while later the heavyweights of AC Milan and Benfica will be expected to cruise through too. There’s not much between many of the other sides, though.

More team news: North London rejects Davinson Sanchez and Lucas Torreira start for Galatasaray – who are spearheaded by Euro veterans Mauro Icardi and Dries Mertens – against Sparta Prague.

There’s another one in the Marseille lineup against Shakhtar Donestk, as Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang starts for the French side. Les Olympiens also have former Spurs backup goalkeeper Pau López between the sticks.

Sporting’s team is a hive of exciting young talent. Keep an eye on Gonçalo Inácio (22), Daniel Bragança (24) and, of course, Marcus Edwards (still only 25), the same age as red-hot striker Viktor Gyökeres.

Here are the Feyenoord and Roma team news graphics via Elon. The Italian outfit look pretty strong from where I’m sitting.

European footy is well and truly back for February and these days the Europa League really feels like a pretty big deal, even if we’re effectively at the round of 32 stage with the knockout round playoffs, which begin this evening with four first legs kicking off at 5.45pm (UK time).

There are no British teams in this round. Liverpool, Brighton, West Ham and Rangers all topped their groups to get a direct route to the last 16, with Feyenoord v Roma – a repeat of last year’s Europa League quarter final, and of the 2022 Europa Conference League final – the pick of the action this early evening. Shakhtar Donetsk v Marseille takes place in Hamburg and looks pretty tasty, while Galatasaray v Sparta Prague and Young Boys v Sporting are pretty high-quality ties as well.

There are also four more 5.45pm kick-offs in the Europa Conference League’s very own knockout round, featuring the likes of Olympiakos and Eintracht Frankfurt. So stay tuned and soak in as much European soccerball as you can muster.