Liverpool drawn against Zenit

Liverpool, Chelsea and Newcastle all head to Eastern Europe in their Europa League last-32 matches, while Tottenham will face French giants Lyon after the draw was completed in Nyon, Switzerland.

Friday, December 21, 2012
Liverpool will face Russian giants Zenit St Petersburg in the next round. Net photo.

Liverpool, Chelsea and Newcastle all head to Eastern Europe in their Europa League last-32 matches, while Tottenham will face French giants Lyon after the draw was completed in Nyon, Switzerland.Liverpool face Russian giants Zenit St Petersburg, who won the trophy in 2008, while last year’s Champions League winners Chelsea were rewarded with a trip to Sparta Prague in their first leg.Newcastle must negotiate Metalist Kharkiv in Ukraine, while Spurs are punished for coming second in their group with a tough tie against French giants Lyon.Tottenham goalkeeper Hugo Lloris, who joined from Lyon this season, will look forward to the tie against his old team-mates.Defending champions Atletico Madrid also head east as they face Russia’s Rubin Kazan, while Internazionale get Romania’s CFR Cluj, who exited the Champions League from Manchester United’s group.The last 16 draw was also conducted, with Atletico facing a potential all-Spanish clash with Levante, while Chelsea could play Manchester City’s Champions League conquerors Ajax.Spurs ended up in Inter’s side of the draw, while Liverpool would get FC Basel or Dnipro of Ukraine if they get past Zenit, whose fans caused controversy this week by releasing a charter demanding the club only sign white, heterosexual players.Zenit reiterated their opposition to views advanced by the group of their supporters, insisting the Russian club was concerned only with the quality of players and not their ethnic origin, nationality or sexual orientation.