• Europa League draw

Newcastle land tough quarter-final draw against Benfica

ESPN staff
March 15, 2013
Cisse fired Newcastle past Anzhi

The Europa League is live on ESPN this season. Click here for details on how to subscribe

Newcastle were handed arguably the toughest tie in Friday's Europa League draw, being paired with Benfica in the quarter-finals.

Last year's European champions Chelsea have been drawn against Russian club Rubin Kazan. The Blues, owned by Russian billionaire Roman Abramovich, will face the side who won back-to-back league titles in 2008 and 2009 but who are struggling in sixth place domestically this season.

Tottenham Hotspur have been paired with FC Basel. The Swiss side have twice been knocked out of the competition by English clubs in the past decade, with Newcastle dumping them out in 2004 and Middlesbrough beating them in the quarter-finals in 2006.

However, Basel more recently enjoyed success against English opposition, beating Manchester United in last season's Champions League to eliminate them from the competition.

Turkish club Fenerbahce will face Italian outfit Lazio, while Newcastle United have been spared a third successive trip across Europe after being drawn with Portuguese giants and current Primeira Liga leaders Benfica.

The first legs will be played on April 4 with the return encounters scheduled for the following week on April 11.

Europa League quarter-final draw

Chelsea v Rubin Kazan
Tottenham v FC Basel
Fenerbahce v Lazio
Benfica v Newcastle

© ESPN Sports Media Ltd.
Close

ABOUT COOKIES

To help make this website better, to improve and personalize your experience and for advertising purposes, are you happy to accept cookies and other technologies.

More Info Here Cookie Choices