Defenders have been warned there is no stopping Viktor Gyokeres as he prepares to fire Sporting into the Europa League last 16.

Albion will know which eight teams have won through from the play-offs on Thursday evening with the Lisbon outfit almost certain to be among them.

The former Seagulls striker scored in a 3-1 win at Young Boys in the away leg.

Sporting defender Luis Neto said: “Viktor has a peculiarity which is his movement, which is a little unusual in a pure No.9, hence its impact.

“His relentless movement hurts teams a lot.

“For example, when they concede the first goal and have to put pressure on Sporting leaving space at the back, Viktor is like a fish in water.

“Having trained with him we have learned how we can limit him, which is by anticipating and limiting the space.

“But I can't give an antidote to stop Gyokeres.”

Milan take a 3-0 lead to Rennes while Qarabag are 4-2 up as they kick-off against Braga in Baku.

The remaining ties are more in the balance. Benfica are 2-1 up as they visit Toulouse and Galatasaray lead 3-2 heading to Sparta Prague.

Freiburg v Lens, Marseille v Shakhtar and Roma v Feyenoord will all kick-off with scores level.

The last-16 draw takes place in Nyon on Friday with Albion joined by Liverpool, West Ham, Rangers, Atalanta, Skavia Prague, Leverkusen and Villarreal as seeded teams