Marseille and Ajax lead last-16 lineup

A meeting of two former European champions and an inaugural all-Ukrainian tie are among the highlights of the UEFA Cup Round of 16 which gets under way on Thursday.

Euro glory
AFC Ajax and Olympique de Marseille, both winners of the UEFA Champions League since its inception in 1992, meet at Stade Vélodrome having both progressed in dramatic circumstances from the last 32. Marseille needed penalties to oust FC Twente, while Marco van Basten's Ajax were readying themselves for the prospect of extra time and spot-kicks until Leonardo struck an 88th-minute equaliser to eliminate ACF Fiorentina 2-1 on aggregate.

Ukrainian rivals
Progress was smoother for FC Metalist Kharkiv, who will play their Ukrainian Premier League rivals FC Dynamo Kyiv for the second time in eight days. The title chasers met in Kharkov on 4 March, when goals from Taras Mikhalik and Artem Kravets earned Dynamo a 2-0 victory which extended the leaders' advantage over Metalist to nine points and avenged a 2-1 home defeat in early August.

Top scorer
Ukraine's third representative in the last 16, FC Shakhtar Donetsk, have an intriguing tie with former Soviet Supreme League rivals and 2004/05 UEFA Cup winners PFC CSKA Moskva. Shakhtar resumed their domestic campaign earlier this month, yet while the Army Men's first Russian Premier-Liga match is not until 15 March, they do boast the competition's leading scorer this term in ten-goal Vágner Love. Meanwhile, holders FC Zenit St. Petersburg will need to improve their record against Serie A opposition when they travel to Udinese Calcio, the sole Italian survivors. In four games against teams from the peninsula, Zenit have yet to win and Dick Advocaat has lost all three of his fixtures as a club coach in Italy.

Third time
Elsewhere, Werder Bremen, who produced a performance that belied their place in the bottom half of the Bundesliga to eliminate AC Milan in the last round, welcome another side struggling in their league, AS Saint-Etienne. Les Verts' Ligue 1 rivals, Paris Saint-Germain FC, host the outright winners of last summer's UEFA Intertoto Cup, SC Braga. Galatasaray AŞ are unlikely to be short of support when they tackle Hamburger SV at the Arena Hamburg, while Manchester City FC will hope familiarity does not breed contempt as Mark Hughes's men take on Aalborg BK – their third Danish opponents of the season – at home.