Europa League last 16: Who could Rangers play? When is the draw? Potential Russian and English opponents

For the third consecutive season, Rangers have qualified for the last 16 of the Europa League.

After their knockout round play-off success against Borussia Dortmund with a gripping 6-4 aggregate victory, the attention of Rangers supporters now turns to who the Scottish champions will face next.

The draw is scheduled to take place at 11am on Friday morning at UEFA’s headquarters in Nyon. It will be streamed live on the UEFA website and will also be televised live on BT Sport 1.

Rangers will be paired with one of the eight Europa League group stage winners who all qualified directly for the round of 16 and are seeded.

The first leg will be on Thursday, March 10. The second leg will be on Thursday, March 17. Rangers will be at home in the first leg, with all seeded clubs having the second leg at home.

There are some familiar and recent foes among the eight seeded clubs who Rangers could face.

The French club were comfortable winners of Group A, finishing eight points clear of runners-up Rangers.

Lyon won 2-0 at Ibrox in September before their only dropped points came in a 1-1 draw at home to van Bronckhorst’s side in a dead rubber on matchday six in December.

But the side coached by van Bronckhorst’s compatriot Peter Bosz are having a torrid domestic campaign. They are currently eighth in Ligue 1, a massive 21 points adrift of leaders Paris Saint-Germain, and were thrown out of the French Cup because of crowd trouble in their tie at Paris FC.

In the January transfer window, Lyon sold Brazilian star Bruno Guimaraes to Newcastle United for €50 million and signed French midfielder Roman Faivre from Brest for €15 million.

Winners of Group G, in which they defeated Celtic both home and away, Bayer Leverkusen finished three