Villarreal of Spain winger, Samnuel Chukwueze will seek a return to relevance with his club, in order to be part of the side that will battle Zenit St. Petersburg in the UEFA Europa League round of 16 next month.
Sports247.ng can report that Chukwueze’s target for next month in the second-tier European competition came after both sides were pooled together during the Europa League round of 16 draw on Friday.
Incidentally, Zenit are the team that sent Victor Moses and Fernebahce of Turkey packing from the competition in the round of 32, meaning it promises to be a testy tie for Villarreal, and Chukwueze will hope to be part of the fray.
While Chukwueze will go to battle in Russia, Arsenal attacker, Alex Iwobi has a date to keep with Stade Rennes of France, following their comeback victory against BATE Borisov of Belarus on Thursday, in which the Nigerian lad played all 90 minutes of the game at Emirates Stadium.
The Super Eagles star and his colleagues will now seek to beat Rennes, who in the past paid the wages of John Chukwudi Utaka and Elderson Uwa Echiejile.
Friday’s draw also pits Chelsea against Dynamo Kiev of Ukraine, who have in the past paid the wages of Kazeem Ayila, Taye Ismaila Taiwo and Lukman Haruna, with both London-based English Premier League clubs getting home advantage in the first legs, to be played on March 7.
Arsenal beat BATE 3-1 on aggregate to reach the last 16 and next face Rennes, who eliminated Real Betis in the previous round.
The French side sit 11th in Ligue 1 and their squad includes former Newcastle and Hull winger Hatem Ben Arfa.
Chelsea, winners of this competition in 2013, defeated Malmo, winning the second leg 3-0 at Stamford Bridge on Thursday to add to a 2-1 away triumph in Sweden.
Eintracht Frankfurt of Germany are paired with Serie A side Inter Milan, Dinamo Zagreb will play Portuguese outfit Benfica, while Napoli tackle Austria’s Red Bull Salzburg.
Valencia, who knocked out Celtic, have been pitted against Russian club Krasnodar, while five-times winners Sevilla face Slavia Prague and Zenit St Petersburg play Villarreal.
