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Europa: Balogun, Aribo’s Rangers battle Braga as West Ham, Barca draw Lyon, Frankfurt

SUPER Eagles stars Leon Balogun, Joe Aribo and Calvin Bassey and their Rangers colleagues will be up against Sporting Braga of Portugal in the quarter-finals of the UEFA Europa League.

The Scottish champions will face either German club RB Leipzig or Atalanta of Italy if they reach the semi-finals.

The quarter-finals are billed for 7 April and 14 April with the semi-finals on 28 April and 5 May.

“I am very proud to be in the quarter-finals. It’s a huge achievement because it hasn’t happened a lot for the club,” Rangers manager Giovanni van Bronckhorst said.

“I’m really happy for all of us at the club and the fans and now we will work hard and fight together to try to go to the next round.

“Braga are a strong side. It’s always hard to play against Portuguese teams. They were in the same group as Red Star so we have already seen their games against them.”

The Nigeria trio and their teammates will travel to Portugal for the first leg before the return fixture at Ibrox, which witnessed a thrilling match the last time Rangers and Braga met.

Rangers went 2-0 down in the home leg of their Europa League round of 32 match two years ago but they fought back to win 3-2 in Glasgow then secured their progress with a 1-0 victory in Portugal.

In the other Europa League quarter-final match-ups, West Ham who conquered holders Sevilla, will face Lyon, while Atalanta are up against RB Leipzig, who got a bye into the quarter-finals after Spartak Moscow were kicked out over Russia’s invasion of neighbouring Ukraine.

Barcelona will battle Germany’s Eintracht Frankfurt after the Spanish giants saw off Galatasaray.

EUROPA LEAGUE QUARTER-FINAL PAIRINGS

RB Leipzig vs Atalanta

Eintracht Frankfurt vs Barcelona

West Ham vs Lyon

Braga vs Rangers

EUROPA LEAGUE SEMI-FINAL DRAW

RB Leipzig or Atalanta vs Braga or Rangers

West Ham or Lyon vs Eintracht Frankfurt or Barcelona

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Naija Times