And away we go.

We're ready in Athens, obviously with no fans in attendance, but it won't be long now before we'll all be back in the stands. Hopefully.

It's not just Arsenal who are struggling this season.

Benfica find themselves down in fourth in Portugal's Primera Liga, 15 points off city rivals Sporting Lisbon, who lead the way.

There are some familiar names in the Benfica line-up, including former Manchester City centre-half Nicolas Otamendi, ex-Tottenham defender Jan Vertonghen and midfielder Adel Taarabt, who had spells in England with Tottenham, QPR and Fulham.

Striker Pizzi, with seven goals, is the top scorer in this season's Europa League.

Bernd Leno makes his 100th appearance for Arsenal this evening becoming the fifth German player to reach the milestone for the club.

The others are Jens Lehmann (200), Per Mertesacker (221) Mesut Ozil (254) and Shkodran Mustafi (151).

Arteta says it is a 'final', he's not the only one...

Jorge Jesus, Benfica coach: "It's a final. All of these ties are finals. We have to eliminate opponent after opponent. Everything is open for Arsenal and Benfica.

"Arsenal are a top five [European league] team, they are built for this, they have the players for it."

Arsenal boss Mikel Arteta was not playing down how important this match was for his side and said: “It’s a big season and a really important game, mentally and confidence-wise.

“It’s going to dictate if we’re in another competition or not for a few more weeks. This is really what we need. It’s a really tough opponent.

“It’s a Champions League team who have been playing in these types of games for many years with a manager with huge experience. For us it’s a final.”

Both legs of this last-32 tie will be played on neutral grounds but, rather bizarrely, away goals will still count.

That means Bukayo Saka's equaliser in Italy could prove crucial as the Gunners would advance if it ends 0-0 in Greece.

Tonight, Arsenal are the designated 'home' side.

A 1-1 draw after 90 minutes would take us to extra-time and possibly penalties, but if it's a high scoring draw at the end of 90 minutes then it will be Benfica who advance.

Image source, Getty Images

Former Arsenal, Barcelona and France striker Thierry Henry has stepped down as manager of Major League Soccer side CF Montreal for personal reasons.

The 43-year-old, who was recently on the shortlist to become the new manager of Championship club Bournemouth, had been in charge since November 2019.

Henry said it was "with a heavy heart" that he was leaving after "an extremely difficult" period away from his family.

"Due to the worldwide pandemic I was unable to see my children," he said, external.

"Unfortunately due to the ongoing restrictions and the fact we will have to relocate to the US again for several months (at least) [the situation] will be no different. The separation is too big a strain for me and my kids."

Henry will return to London and thanked Montreal for a "wonderful opportunity", during which he led the club to the play-offs for the first time since 2016.

Granada are one of those teams in action in tonight's early kick-offs as they look to hold on to their 2-0 lead against Napoli.

That seems a good enough excuse to throw some goals into the live page so watch below as Granada midfielder Domingos Quina scores La Liga's goal of the week during his side's 3-2 defeat to Huesca in the Spanish top division.

Image source, Getty Images

The draw for the last 16 of the Europa League will take place on Friday, 26 February at 12:00 GMT.

With no seedings, and no restrictions on sides from the same nation facing each other, the draw could produce an all-Premier League clash.

Tottenham could be joined by Manchester United, Arsenal, Leicester and Rangers if they come through their last-32 games tonight.

The eight last-16 ties will be played on 11 and 18 March with kick-off times again split between 17:55 GMT and 20:00 GMT. The BBC Sport website and app will have live text coverage of the draw tomorrow.

Already through: Tottenham (beat Wolfsberger 8-1 on aggregate)

Last 32 first-leg results: Dynamo Kiev 1-1 Club Bruges, Red Star Belgrade 2-2 AC Milan, Krasnodar 2-3 Dinamo Zagreb, Olympiakos 4-2 PSV Eindhoven, Real Sociedad 0-4 Manchester United, Slavia Prague 0-0 Leicester, Braga 0-2 Roma, Young Boys 4-3 Bayer Leverkusen, Benfica 1-1 Arsenal, Red Bull Salzburg 0-2 Villarreal, Granada 2-0 Napoli, Lille 1-2 Ajax, Maccabi Tel-Aviv 0-2 Shakhtar Donetsk, Molde 3-3 Hoffenheim, Royal Antwerp 3-4 Rangers.

As always, feel free to send us your thoughts, stats, observations and jokes on tonight's action.

Also, tell us which of the British sides do you expect to go the furthest in the Europa League and why? Will there be a British winner this season?

Tweet us using #bbcfootball and we will put the best messages in this page throughout the evening.

Leicester will be without James Maddison for the second leg of their Europa League clash with Slavia Prague.

The England midfielder has been in London seeing a specialist about his hip injury that flared up against Aston Villa last weekend.

Leicester will also be without the suspended Kelechi Iheanacho.

James Justin (knee), Ayoze Perez (knee), Dennis Praet (hamstring) and Wesley Fofana (hamstring) also remain out.

Youngsters Amad Diallo and Shola Shoretire could make their full debuts as Manchester United host Real Sociedad in the second leg of the Europa League last-32 tie.

Paul Pogba, Edinson Cavani, Donny van de Beek and Scott McTominay are out.

Winger Diallo, 18, featured in the first leg of the tie and 17-year-old forward Shoretire came on as a substitute in United's 3-1 Premier League win against Newcastle on Sunday. Ole Gunnar Solskjaer has also added 19-year-old Northern Ireland midfielder Ethan Galbraith to his Europa League squad.

United are all but through to the last 16 after Bruno Fernandes scored twice and goals from Rashford and Daniel James secured a comfortable 4-0 first leg win in Turin.

This page will be largely focusing on the fortunes of Arsenal, Leicester and Manchester United, but if you want full coverage of the Rangers v Royal Antwerp match, with Steven Gerrard's side 4-3 up after an incredible first leg, then click here to go to that page.

It's Arsenal of London versus Benfica of Lisbon, so where are we tonight?

Not at the Emirates, not at the Estadio da Luz, nope, this match is being held at the Georgios Kariskakis Stadium in Athens, Greece.

The UK has implemented strict coronavirus quarantine rules around people returning from Portugal, with 10-day quarantine periods enforced and no exemptions for major sports.

As a result, the first leg was held at the Stadio Olimpico in Rome and the second will take place at the home of Olympiakos.

By the way, Mikel Arteta's Arsenal beat Olympiakos 1-0 away from home on 21 February, 2020 in this stage of last season's Europa League, but then lost 2-1 at home in the second leg with the Gunners going out on the away goals rule.

Image source, Google

Image source, Getty Images

Bukayo Saka's goal earned Arsenal a 1-1 draw in the first game against Benfica.

Played in Rome's Olympic Stadium instead of Portugal for Covid-19 reasons, the Gunners were the better side but failed to take a number of first-half chances before falling behind to a Pizzi penalty.

However, they responded quickly with Cedric Soares crossing low for England winger Saka to level from close range.

Benfica's penalty was awarded when Emile Smith Rowe was adjudged to have handled in blocking Diogo Goncalves' cross, with Pizzi converting to take his goal tally to a tournament-high of seven.