Europa League: Lyon vs Roma - battle of the big scoring marksmen Lacazette and Dzeko

KEY MAN: Olympique Lyonnais's leading scorer Alexandre Lacazette

By Steven Oldham 

LYON vs AS ROMA

This eye-catching fixture in the round of 16 sees Lyon take on Roma with the French team looking to add some much-needed consistency to their season.

They are well off the title pace in Ligue 1, 18 points behind leaders Monaco having played only one game less.  

When on form not many teams can live with them - handing Metz a 5-0 thrashing, outclassing Nancy 4-0 and crushing AZ in this competition 11-2 on aggregate, all since the start of the year. 

The goals of Alexandre Lacazette have been crucial in what has been good about Lyon's game this season - the marksman has 27 already this campaign - and he could be the difference between Lyon's season ending as a damp squib or a success.

However, out-of-sync defeats to Caen and Lille in the same timeframe, coupled with five defeats in their first ten league matches, leave them somewhere short of where they want to be.  

Victory in this competition is now pretty much their only way into the Champion's League next season barring a miracle run. 

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Roma meanwhile, continue to perform strongly. Despite a narrow defeat to Napoli at the weekend, they have eight wins in ten and continue to chase Juventus at the top of Serie A.

The return of Luciano Spalletti just over a year ago to the dugout has reinvigorated Roma's fortunes despite some of his decisions not being universally accepted. The results though - a 64% win rate in 14 months - can not be argued with. 

Edin Dzeko is enjoying a purple patch this season  - the ex-Manchester City man has 29 for the season including eight in this competition - including a hat trick against Villareal in the last round. 

The mercurial form of Radja Nainggolan since the start of 2017 has been a big part of their success - he's scored six times in six games over two months - and the midfielder will surely be a key player in this fixture.

Centre back Antonio Rudiger misses out through suspension.

Both teams are not short of goals so regardless of the winner, it should be an entertaining pair of fixtures. Roma will head into the game as favourites but a lot depends on whether Lyon show up - if they do, they can cause real problems.

PURPLE PATCH: Roma striker Edin Dzeko is in lethal form

Europa League needs to change...but is still a competition worth winning

By Steven Oldham

Tomorrow's Europa League round of sixteen includes many ties which bely the tournament's widely-regarded status as a poor relation of the Champions League.

UEFA's secondary competition offers €5m prize money to the winners, less than half of the team winning the more prestigious cup.  But this is still a substantial sum of money for any club with ambitions of a successful future.

There is no denying there are problems with the competition in its current form.  It's long and overdrawn - four qualifying rounds for a second tier tournament is far too many.

It's also unfair that teams who have slogged through the qualification process are likely to be knocked out by a team getting a second chance at European glory after being eliminated in the Champions League group stages.

Most of the teams in the initial qualification rounds have no chance of making the group stages of the competition, never mind the knock out rounds - obviously every country should be represented in continental competition - but the likes of Drogheda United and Sliema Wanderers are unlikely to ever make their mark on this competition.

A reorganisation of the Europa League could give the smaller, less powerful nations a chance to see their teams be successful.  A reintroduction of the Cup Winners Cup, also to include the 15 lowest ranked national champions, would be a step in the right direction - a shorter, higher quality Europa League and a more realistic competition for the smaller sides to enter.

Sadly, I think this is unlikely to happen, though a positive step has been made in that future Europa League winners will automatically be entered in the qualifying rounds of the Champions League.  A chance to improve and fight for the really big honours and money is just reward for teams winning this competition.  There are some very big clubs left in the last sixteen.

Clubs with real Champions League pedigree including Juventus, Valencia, Lyon and Benfica are among the sixteen teams fighting to reach the quarter finals.  Some have suggested the Europa is considered a distraction - an annoyance almost to these teams - but the additional games don't seem to be affecting Juve or Benfica who sit well clear atop of their respective leagues.
 
Juventus take on Fiorentina as hot favourites in an all Italian clash having beaten their rivals in domestic competition at the weekend.  The league leaders are in a rich vein of form and have won 8 of their last 10, while the Viola have slumped in recent weeks, collecting just 1 point from 12.
 
Sevilla and Real Betis clash in the round's only other same-nation tie with the hosts favourites - they've won their past three while their relegation threatened opponents look unlikely to be hosting continental football next season.  Betis are enduring a torrid season in La Liga and sit rock bottom, eight points from safety.

Last 32 action between Tottenham and Dnipro

 
Tottenham will look to recover from a morale-sapping 4-0 defeat at Chelsea at the weekend in a tough-looking tie against Benfica.  Comments from Spurs manager Tim Sherwood about his players fighting for their futures could encourage them to a good performance, but equally, could go the other way and further deplete their confidence.  Spurs laboured to a narrow victory over Dnipro in the last round, and such a performance will not be enough against the stronger Portuguese side.
 
Porto and Napoli are both seasoned European campaigners and it is a shame to see them paired together at this stage. However, Porto are having a tough season and recently sacked boss Paulo Fonseca.  They lie third in the league but have not won in four games, and struggled to put away a determined Eintracht Frankfurt team in the last round - having to rely on the away goals ruling.  Napoli are going well in Serie A and will be quietly confident.
 
Basel, Lyon, Anzhi and Valencia will head into their respective ties as favourites, but Red Bull Salzburg, Viktoria Plzen, AZ and Hungarian minnows Ludogorets Razgrad will be doing their best to grab the headlines.

What's the right thing to do with the Europa League? Disagree with my thoughts on the competition's future or tomorrow's games? Let me know here or on Twitter - @spoldham

Don't forget to vote in the poll at the bottom of the page!

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Thanks to Getty Images, AFP and UEFA for the photograph.