Arsenal attacker, Alex Iwobi has a date to keep with Stade Rennes of France next month in the UEFA Europa League, following the emergence of the Ligue 1 side as his team’s next opponent in the European second-tier clubs’ competition, footballlive.ng reports.
Following Arsenal’s comeback victory against BATE Borisov of Belarus on Thursday, in which Iwobi played all 90 minutes of the game at Emirates Stadium, the Super Eagles star and hios colleagues will now seek to beat Rennes, who have a long history of Nigerian players in their squad.
The French side, who have in the past paid the wages of John Chukwudi Utaka and Elderson Uwa Echiejile, gotr then nod to confront Arsenal, as both sides were pooled together during the Europa League round of 16 draw on Friday in Nyon, Switzerland.
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.
