What to look out for in the Europa League quarterfinals

Decorated coaches, potent strikers and history makers could all come to the fore when the last eight kicks off.

A meeting of two coaches who get the best out of their players and a head to head between two striking units packed with goals are among the storylines when the Uefa Europa League quarterfinals get under way.

WHAT TO LOOK OUT FOR

ROCK 'N' ROLL VS GASPERINI TRANCE

The fanfare that follows Jürgen Klopp has reached fever pitch since he announced he would be leaving Anfield at the end of the season, amplified by the electric football his youth-infused team have been playing. There is decidedly less fuss about Gian Piero Gasperini, but make no mistake – the impact he has had at Atalanta since his 2016 appointment (12 months after Klopp arrived at Liverpool) has also been seismic.

"A super coach", his Reds counterpart labelled the 66-year-old. Gasperini took the reins of a club fighting relegation and led them back to Europe after a 26-year absence, then to the Champions League for the first time, plus two Coppa Italia finals, all while playing a spectacular, high-risk attacking game. Anfield could witness another European classic: rock 'n' roll football against uplifting trance.

RESURGENT ROMA OUT TO END MILAN HEX

Former AC Milan and Roma coach Fabio Capello says it is impossible to name a favourite in the all-Italian tie, but recent history perhaps suggests otherwise: the Giallorossi have won just one of the sides' last 13 meetings. Roma lost 3-1 at San Siro in January the last time they met, a result that left them ninth in Serie A and precipitated the departure of José Mourinho.

Under Daniele De Rossi they have been a different proposition – their 4-0 demolition of Brighton in the last 16 was evidence of that, and