Europa League final day – who is through and what’s at stake?

The inaugural Europa League league phase is set for an exciting final day next week – with plenty still to play for.

All 18 games will be played at the same time – at 20:00 GMT on Thursday, 30 January.

Manchester United and Tottenham can both secure a place in the top eight and with it direct passage to the last 16.

Those finishing in the top eight automatically progress to the last 16, where they will be seeded.

They will await the winners of eight two-legged knockout play-off ties featuring the clubs ranked from ninth to 24th.

Those finishing between ninth and 16th will be seeded and face a team placed 17th to 24th, with the advantage of playing the second leg at home.

The clubs who finish 25th or lower are eliminated.

A late Bruno Fernandes goal gave Manchester United a 2-1 victory against Rangers on Thursday.

That moved them up to fourth in the league table with 15 points, meaning victory at Romanian side FCSB next week will cement a top-eight finish. A draw might be enough depending on results elsewhere.

Tottenham, meanwhile, put themselves on the verge of a place in the knockouts by winning 3-2 at Hoffenheim.

They are sixth on 14 points, meaning only a win against Elfsborg will guarantee a place in the last 16.

Rangers may have suffered frustration with the late Fernandes goal, but they are still in a good place to secure at least a place in the play-off round.

They are 13th on 11 points, three ahead of Porto in 25th place – with teams who finish between ninth and 24th going through to the two-legged play-offs.

Porto are the only club who could deny them a finish in those positions but goal difference would come into play and Rangers are in a good position in that regard. The Scottish side have a +5 goal difference, while Porto are on +1.

Lazio have assured their place in the knockouts as the Italians have 19 points from their seven games, six more than Galatasaray in ninth with just one game remaining.

Dynamo Kyiv, Nice, Qarabag, Ludogorets, Malmo, Slavia Prague and RFS are all mathematically unable to finish in the top 24.

Eintracht Frankfurt are second in the table and remain on track for the top eight after beating Ferencvaros.

Ajax are 16th and cannot finish in the top eight after they lost 1-0 to Latvians RFS on Thursday. They will need to beat Galatasaray in their final league phase game next week to be assured of a play-off spot.

Roma’s top-eight hopes are also over after former Tottenham forward Troy Parrott fired AZ Alkmaar to a 1-0 victory against the Italian side.