The 2020–21 UEFA Europa League knockout phase began on 18 February with the round of 32 and will end on 26 May 2021.
Qualified teams
The knockout phase involves 32 teams: the 24 teams which qualified as winners and runners-up of each of the 12 groups in the group stage, and the eight third-placed teams from the Champions League group stage.
Each tie in the knockout phase, apart from the final, is played over two legs, with each team playing one leg at home. The team that scores more goals on aggregate over the two legs advances to the next round. If the aggregate score is level, the away goals rule is applied, i.e. the team that scores more goals away from home over the two legs advances. If away goals are also equal, then extra time is played. The away goals rule is again applied after extra time, i.e. if there are goals scored during extra time and the aggregate score is still level, the visiting team advances by virtue of more away goals scored. If no goals are scored during extra time, the winners are decided by a penalty shoot-out. In the final, which is played as a single match, if the score is level at the end of normal time, extra time is played, followed by a penalty shoot-out if the score is still level.[2] The mechanism of the draws for each round is 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 could not be drawn against each other.
In the draws for the round of 16, quarter-finals and semi-finals, there are no seedings, and teams from the same group or the same association can be drawn against each other. As the draws for the quarter-finals and semi-finals are held together before the quarter-finals are played, the identity of the quarter-final winners is not known at the time of the semi-final draw. A draw is also held to determine which semi-final winner is designated as the "home" team for the final (for administrative purposes as it is played at a neutral venue).
In the knockout phase, teams from the same or nearby cities (e.g., Arsenal and Tottenham Hotspur) are not scheduled to play at home on the same day, due to logistics and crowd control. To avoid such scheduling conflict, adjustments have to be made by UEFA. For the round of 32, since both teams were drawn to play at home for the second leg, the home match of the team which were not domestic cup champions in the qualifying season, or the team with the lower domestic ranking (if neither team were the domestic cup champions, e.g. Tottenham Hotspur for this season), were moved from Thursday to a different day. 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 which were not domestic cup champions in the qualifying season, or the team with the lower domestic ranking, will be reversed from the original draw.
Schedule
The schedule is as follows (all draws are held at the UEFA headquarters in Nyon, Switzerland).
↑Order of legs between Tottenham Hotspur and Dinamo Zagreb were reversed after original draw, in order to avoid a scheduling conflict with the Arsenal v Olympiacos second leg in the same city on 18 March, as Arsenal were the domestic cup winners and given higher priority over Tottenham Hotspur.[43][44]
The draw for the quarter-finals will be held on 19 March 2021, 13:00 CET.[54] The first legs will be played on 8 April, and the second legs will be played on 15 April 2021.
Semi-finals
The draw for the semi-finals will be held on 19 March 2021, 13:00 CET, after the quarter-final draw.[54] The first legs will be played on 29 April, and the second legs will be played on 6 May 2021.
The final will be played on 26 May 2021 at the Stadion Miejski in Gdańsk. A draw will be held on 19 March 2021, after the quarter-final and semi-final draws, to determine the "home" team for administrative purposes.[54]
↑The Dynamo Kyiv v Club Brugge match, originally scheduled at 18:55 CET(19:55 EET), was moved to 16:00 CET(17:00 EET), due to the very cold temperatures.[8]
↑The Molde v 1899 Hoffenheim match, originally to be played at Aker Stadion, Molde, was moved to Estadio de la Cerámica, Villarreal (Spain), due to the quarantine restrictions in response to the COVID-19 pandemic in Norway.[4][31]
↑The Molde v Granada match will be played at Puskás Aréna, Budapest (Hungary), due to the quarantine restrictions in response to the COVID-19 pandemic in Norway.[53]
↑"Benfica vs. Arsenal". Union of European Football Associations. 18 February 2021. Archived from the original on 25 May 2021. Retrieved 19 February 2021.
↑"Arsenal vs. Benfica". Union of European Football Associations. 25 February 2021. Archived from the original on 25 May 2021. Retrieved 25 February 2021.
↑"Antwerp vs. Rangers". Union of European Football Associations. 18 February 2021. Archived from the original on 25 May 2021. Retrieved 19 February 2021.
↑"Rangers vs. Antwerp". Union of European Football Associations. 25 February 2021. Archived from the original on 25 May 2021. Retrieved 25 February 2021.
↑"Granada vs. Napoli". Union of European Football Associations. 18 February 2021. Archived from the original on 27 May 2021. Retrieved 19 February 2021.
↑"Napoli vs. Granada". Union of European Football Associations. 25 February 2021. Archived from the original on 27 May 2021. Retrieved 25 February 2021.
↑"Olympiacos vs. Arsenal". Union of European Football Associations. 11 March 2021. Archived from the original on 7 March 2022. Retrieved 11 March 2021.
