PARIS — Barcelona's
Europa League tie against Napoli is finely poised heading
into the return in Italy on Thursday as Rangers look to finish the job against
Borussia Dortmund following their stunning 4-2 win in the first leg last week.
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Barca
needed a Ferran Torres penalty to draw at home to Napoli in the first leg of
their knockout round play-off tie after Piotr Zielinski put the Serie A side in
front at the Camp Nou.
However,
with the away goals rule having been dispensed with this season by UEFA, the
heavyweight tie remains very much in the balance going to the Stadio Diego
Armando Maradona.
Barcelona
are enduring a troubled season, but
Xavi Hernandez's side still cross the
Mediterranean in good form having gone five unbeaten and not lost in 90 minutes
since Bayern Munich dumped them out of the Champions League in early December.
They
won 4-1 at Valencia in La Liga at the weekend with Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang
scoring a hat-trick, while Napoli are third in Serie A after drawing 1-1 with
Cagliari on Monday.
Scottish
champions Rangers are hoping to secure a spot in the last 16 as they welcome
Dortmund to Ibrox following their stunning 4-2 win in
Germany.
It
would go down as one of the best results in their history in Europe if they
could see off the Bundesliga giants, but the outcome of the tie could hinge on
whether
Erling Haaland plays any part.
The
Norwegian, scorer of 23 goals in 20 appearances for his club this season,
missed the first leg and his team's last three domestic outings due to injury
but has now returned to training and could feature in Govan.
However,
USA starlet Gio Reyna, whose father Claudio played for Rangers and is a close
friend of the Ibrox side's manager Giovanni van Bronckhorst, is sidelined.
Barcelona
are one of four Spanish teams aiming to advance to the last 16, with Real
Sociedad hosting RB Leipzig and Real Betis leading 3-2 against
Zenit Saint Petersburg after the first leg in Russia.
Sevilla,
the record six-time winners of the second-tier European competition and who
will host this season's final, lead 3-1 as they go to Dinamo Zagreb.
In
the Europa Conference League, Marseille, PSV Eindhoven and
Leicester City are
among the teams primed to advance to the last 16 but Celtic must overturn a 3-1
first-leg deficit as they travel to Norway to play Bodo/Glimt.
The
Norwegian champions shocked the Scottish Premiership leaders at Parkhead but
Celtic captain Callum McGregor believes they can turn the tie around in the
Arctic Circle.
"We
are that type of team that still want to be aggressive even if we are going
away from home, we still want to play the same way, and that way will get us
chances," he said.
"It
is then just being ruthless and clinical when the chances come."
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