Which Africans could still win the Europa League?

After Friday’s quarter-final draw, which of the continent’s stars have a chance of winning Europe’s secondary club competition?

Europa League

Tottenham Hotspur’s exit at the hands of Dinamo Zagreb opened up the draw, with the Croatians eliminating a side many considered to be one of the favourites in this year’s competition.

Thursday night’s 3-0 defeat means Jose Mourinho’s team won’t claim European success at the end of the season, which will disappoint Serge Aurier who could have won the first continental title of his career.

The Ivory Coast captain wasn’t the only one from the West African nation to exit the competition this week, with Franck Kessie’s AC Milan side being beaten by Manchester United, despite Eric Bailly’s absence.

Nicolas Pepe’s Arsenal progressed to the last eight despite the Gunners’ 1-0 loss against Olympiacos at the Emirates Stadium.

A 3-1 win in the first-leg in Greece means the red half of North London advanced and Africa will have no less than four representatives from the Premier League club, given the presence of Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang, Thomas Partey and Mohamed Elneny in the team.

While Spurs and Milan may be eliminated, the continent still has representatives left in the tournament from Ajax to Granada, and each will believe they have a shot at winning Europe’s secondary club competition in the final to be held in Poland on May 26.

Granada

While the side from Andalusia are the bottom-ranked side left in the draw, their performances in a maiden Europa League campaign have been notable.

Yan Brice has featured in nine games in total, starting three in the competition including the first-leg in the last round against Molde in which he got booked and the reverse fixture last time out where he conceded a late penalty.

Many expect the Cameroonian and his teammates to exit in the next round given they face current favourites Manchester United. Be that as it may, reaching the last eight in their first ever European sojourn is worth celebrating.

Slavia Prague

Peter Olayinka and Abdallah Sima are two of the leading attackers for the Czech side who have eliminated two British sides in the last two rounds: getting the better of Leicester City in the last 32, before beating Rangers 3-1 on aggregate on Thursday.

The Nigerian netted one of the goals against Steven Gerrard’s team while the Senegalese was on target against the Foxes to bring them face to face with one of the foremost sides in Arsenal in the quarter-final.

Having defeated two sides from the United Kingdom already, Olayinka, Sima as well as the infrequently used Ibrahim Traore and Simon Deli would relish the opportunity to claim another scalp in the last eight.

Dinamo Zagreb

Iyayi Believe Atiemwen hasn’t started any game in the Europa League this season, but he has contributed somewhat in six appearances so far in the competition.

With two goals and an assist after averaging 23 minutes per game, the attacker’s played his part in the Croats' run to the final eight.

He netted the winner in the 3-2 first-leg win over Krasnodar and then assisted the strike that forced extra-time against Tottenham Hotspur seven minutes after his introduction.

They face Villarreal in the next round for a chance to continue their impressive European run.

Villarreal

Samuel Chukwueze’s threat in possession will be crucial to Unai Emery’s prospects in claiming a fourth Europa League title.

The winger assisted the first of Gerard Moreno’s pair of goals in the 2-0 win over Dynamo Kyiv on Thursday as the Yellow Submarine notched up a 4-0 aggregate success.

Emery’s team will face Dinamo Zagreb in the quarters following the Croats who eliminated Tottenham Hotspur in dramatic fashion this week.

Success over Dinamo could see the La Liga side face the winner of the tie between Slavia Prague and Arsenal.

Ajax

There’s plenty of African interest at the Dutch giants, even though the quartet of players aren’t particularly expected to play a significant part in the rest of the tournament.

Lassina Traore and Zakaria Labyad are yet to feature in this year’s competition, while Mohammed Kudus and Oussama Idrissi have made a combined six appearances (zero starts) in the run to the last eight.

They face the only Italian side left in European competition, Roma, in arguably the tie of the round between two evenly-matched sides.

Unfortunately, Erik ten Hag will be unable to call upon Andre Onana, currently serving a doping ban, and Sebastien Haller, who wasn’t registered in bizarre circumstances.

Roma

The Serie A side are ranked 16th by UEFA, and they face Ajax, the 17th-placed team according to the body, in what ought to be the most interesting quarter-final tie.

Amadou Diawara has featured prominently in the Italian side’s journey, starting seven matches on their run to the latter rounds.

Paulo Fonseca’s team have lost only once in the competition, winning all four matches in the knockout rounds against Sporting Braga and Shakhtar Donetsk in the last 32 and last 16 respectively.

They are the only side from Italy left in Europe and are certainly favourites if they can edge past Ajax in the next round. Success over the Dutch side will see the Giallorossi face Granada or Manchester United.

Arsenal

Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang leads Arsenal’s African contingent in the final eight, looking to claim the North London side’s first major success on the continent.

The trio of Thomas Partey, Nicolas Pepe and Mohamed Elneny make up the quartet of the continent’s stars likely to play a vital role for Mikel Arteta’s side who may need to win the competition to feature in Europe next season.

Arsenal face Slavia Prague in the next round and the winner of the tie will play either Dinamo Zagreb or Villarreal, managed by old head coach Unai Emery.

Manchester United

While observers have reservations about the Manchester giants’ capabilities, they are the bookies favourite to claim another title after winning it in 2016/17.

Eric Bailly and Amad Diallo are unlikely to play prominent parts in the rest of the tournament, with the centre-back featuring only three times so far.

Amad netted the Red Devils’ opener in the last round vs AC Milan, which played an important role in their eventual qualification.

Ole Gunnar Solskjaer’s team face tournament debutants Granada and are favourites to defeat the La Liga team with one of Ajax or Roma awaiting in the semi-final.