The 2020–21 UEFA Europa League knockout phase began on 18 February with the round of 32 and ended on 26 May 2021 with the

final Final, Finals or The Final may refer to: *Final (competition), the last or championship round of a sporting competition, match, game, or other contest which decides a winner for an event ** Another term for playoffs, describing a sequence of cont ...

at Stadion Miejski in

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, Poland, to decide the champions of the

2020–21 UEFA Europa League The 2020–21 UEFA Europa League was the 50th season of Europe's secondary club football tournament organised by UEFA, and the 12th season since it was renamed from the UEFA Cup to the UEFA Europa League. Villarreal defeated Manchester United i ...

. A total of 32 teams competed in the knockout phase. Times are

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, as listed by UEFA (local times, if different, are in parentheses).

Qualified teams

The knockout phase involved 32 teams: the 24 teams which qualified as winners and runners-up of each of the twelve groups in the

group stage A tournament is a competition involving at least three competitors, all participating in a sport or game. More specifically, the term may be used in either of two overlapping senses: # One or more competitions held at a single venue and concent ...

, and the eight third-placed teams from the Champions League group stage.

Europa League group stage winners and runners-up

Champions League group stage third-placed teams

Format

Each tie in the

knockout phase A single-elimination, knockout, or sudden death tournament is a type of elimination tournament where the loser of each match-up is immediately eliminated from the tournament. Each winner will play another in the next round, until the final matc ...

, apart from the final, was played over two legs, with each team playing one leg at home. The team that scored more goals on aggregate over the two legs advanced to the next round. If the aggregate score was level, the

away goals rule The away goals rule is a method of tiebreaker, tiebreaking in association football and other sports when teams play each other twice, once at each team's home ground. Under the away goals rule, if the total goals scored by each team are equal, the ...

was applied, i.e. the team that scored more goals away from home over the two legs advanced. If away goals were also equal, then

extra time Overtime or extra time is an additional period of play specified under the rules of a sport to bring a game to a decision and avoid declaring the match a tie or draw where the scores are the same. In some sports, this extra period is played onl ...

was played. The away goals rule was again applied after extra time, i.e. if there were goals scored during extra time and the aggregate score was still level, the visiting team advanced by virtue of more away goals scored. If no goals were scored during extra time, the winners were decided by a

penalty shoot-out The penalty shootout is a method of determining a winner in sports matches that would have otherwise been drawn or tied. The rules for penalty shootouts vary between sports and even different competitions; however, the usual form is similar to pen ...

. In the final, which was played as a single match, if the score was level at the end of normal time, extra time was played, followed by a penalty shoot-out if the score was still level.

The mechanism of the draws for each round was 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 were no seedings, and teams from the same group or the same association could be drawn against each other. As the draws for the quarter-finals and semi-finals were held together before the quarter-finals were played, the identity of the quarter-final winners was not known at the time of the semi-final draw. A draw was also held to determine which semi-final winner was designated as the "home" team for the final (for administrative purposes as it was played at a neutral venue).

In the knockout phase, teams from the same or nearby cities (e.g.,

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and

Tottenham Hotspur Tottenham Hotspur Football Club, commonly referred to as Tottenham () or Spurs, is a professional association football, football club based in Tottenham, London, England. It competes in the Premier League, the top flight of English footba ...

) were not scheduled to play at home on the same day, due to logistics and crowd control. To avoid such scheduling conflict, adjustments had 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), was moved from Thursday to Wednesday. 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, was reversed from the original draw.

Schedule

The schedule was as follows (all draws were held at the UEFA headquarters in

Nyon Nyon (; outdated German language, German: or ; outdated Italian language, Italian: , ) is a Municipalities of Switzerland, municipality in Nyon District in the Cantons of Switzerland, canton of Vaud in Switzerland. It is located some 25 kilomet ...

, Switzerland).

Bracket

Round of 32

The draw for the round of 32 was held on 14 December 2020, 13:00

Summary

The first legs were played on 18 February, and the second legs were played on 24 and 25 February 2021.

Matches

''Tottenham Hotspur won 8–1 on aggregate.'' ---- ''Dynamo Kyiv won 2–1 on aggregate.'' ---- ''Manchester United won 4–0 on aggregate.'' ---- ''Arsenal won 4–3 on aggregate.'' ---- ''3–3 on aggregate. Milan won on away goals.'' ---- ''Rangers won 9–5 on aggregate.'' ---- ''Slavia Prague won 2–0 on aggregate.'' ---- ''Villarreal won 4–1 on aggregate.'' ---- ''Roma won 5–1 on aggregate.'' ---- ''Dinamo Zagreb won 4–2 on aggregate.'' ---- ''Young Boys won 6–3 on aggregate.'' ---- ''Molde won 5–3 on aggregate.'' ---- ''Granada won 3–2 on aggregate.'' ---- ''Shakhtar Donetsk won 3–0 on aggregate.'' ---- ''Ajax won 4–2 on aggregate.'' ---- ''Olympiacos won 5–4 on aggregate.''

Round of 16

The draw for the round of 16 was held on 26 February 2021, 13:00

Summary

The first legs were played on 11 March, and the second legs were played on 18 March 2021. Notes

Matches

''Ajax won 5–0 on aggregate.'' ---- ''Villarreal won 4–0 on aggregate.'' ---- ''Roma won 5–1 on aggregate.'' ---- ''Arsenal won 3–2 on aggregate.'' ---- ''Dinamo Zagreb won 3–2 on aggregate.'' ---- ''Manchester United won 2–1 on aggregate.'' ---- ''Slavia Prague won 3–1 on aggregate.'' ---- ''Granada won 3–2 on aggregate.''

Quarter-finals

The draw for the quarter-finals was held on 19 March 2021, 13:00

Summary

The first legs were played on 8 April, and the second legs were played on 15 April 2021.

Matches

''Manchester United won 4–0 on aggregate.'' ---- ''Arsenal won 5–1 on aggregate.'' ---- ''Roma won 3–2 on aggregate.'' ---- ''Villarreal won 3–1 on aggregate.''

Semi-finals

The draw for the semi-finals was held on 19 March 2021, 13:00

, after the quarter-final draw.

Summary

The first legs were played on 29 April, and the second legs were played on 6 May 2021.

Matches

''Manchester United won 8–5 on aggregate.'' ---- ''Villarreal won 2–1 on aggregate.''

Final

The final was played on 26 May 2021 at the Stadion Miejski in

. A draw was held on 19 March 2021, after the quarter-final and semi-final draws, to determine the "home" team for administrative purposes.

Notes

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Uefa Europa League Knockout Phase 2020-21 *3 UEFA Europa League knockout phases February 2021 sports events in Europe March 2021 sports events in Europe April 2021 sports events in Europe May 2021 sports events in Europe