The Europa League
Omar Mahmoud
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Ok, so I already wrote about the Champions League this month, and you should go check it out if you haven’t read it already. The Champions League is obviously the big competition, the major one that everyone, fans of the teams competing or just neutrals, watches. But, there is another tournament going on which flies under the radar:
The Europa League.
Essentially, the Europa League is made for the ‘lower’ teams in Europe. The teams that did not qualify for the Champions League. I wrote a previous article in Issue 10 explaining European Football where I go over it in greater depth, so go check it out if you want more information.
All I am going to do here is highlight the Quarter Finals of this tournament and give a bit of explanation because there are some insane matchups that not many people are aware of.
Also my club is in this tournament and I really just want to talk about them.
I am a Liverpool fan. Historically, Liverpool is like the top 5 greatest Club in Europe, and I might go as far as saying top 3. Normally we (as in Liverpool) are a Champions League Club. Unfortunately, last year we had a highly underperforming season, and were on course to not even play in any of the 3 European competitions. Luckily, we made a strong comeback and fought for the UCL spot in the last days, but alas, we only made it to the Europa league.
Before I explain the 4 matchups, let me briefly explain what has happened so far. First, there was a group stage, which included teams that either automatically qualified or played qualification matches to end up qualifying. Eight groups, 4 teams, just like the UCL. After 6 rounds, the groups were finalized.
Here is where the Europa League differs from the UCL in the qualifications to next rounds. Just like in the Champions league, 3rd place drops down to the European tournament below it, the Europa Conference League, and the first place automatically qualifies to the round of 16. However, the 2nd place does not automatically go to the Round of 16.
Remember the 8 that dropped from the Champions League? Well those 8 are drawn against the 8 runner-ups. They face each other in a Playoff game for the spots in the Round of 16. Europa League fans are always mad about this, because usually those 8 UCL teams are very strong and end up going deep in the tournament. The 8 winners of these ties join the 8 Group Winners to complete the Round of 16.
This year; however, the 8 UCL teams did horribly. They were AC Milan, Benfica, Galatassary, Feynoord, Lens, Braga, Shaktar, and Young Boys. Out of those 8, only 2 made it through. Most of the others went out in these big, shocking, underdog-winning or comeback games, for example Sparta Prague beating giants Galatasaray 4-1, or Freiburg coming back from 3-0 down to beat Lens.
At the end, the Round of 16 was comprised of
AC MIlan (UCL)
Benfica(UCL)
Sporting (2nd Place)
Sparta Prague (2nd Place)
Freiburg (2nd Place)
Marseille (2nd Place)
Roma (2nd Place)
Qarabag (2nd Place)
Liverpool (1st)
Bayer Leverkusen (1st)
Slavia Prague (1st)
Villareal (1st)
Atalanta (1st)
Rangers (1st)
Brighton (1st)
West Ham (1st)
The Round of 16 was finalized the day after the UCL was, and the 8 remaining teams are :
AC Milan (UCL)
Benfica (UCL)
Liverpool (1st)
Bayer Leverkusen (1st)
Atalanta (1st)
West Ham (1st)
Marseille (2nd Place)
Roma (2nd Place)
The 2 UCL teams made it through again, and half of the group winners went out
The Quarter Final Matchups are :
Liverpool vs Atalanta
Benfica vs Marseille
AC Milan vs Roma
Bayer Leverkusen vs West Ham
Let’s briefly discuss each of these
Liverpool vs Atalanta
Ok, I am a Liverpool fan, yes. But, I promise even without bias, this prediction is easy.
Liverpool are coming off of an 11-2 win on aggregate over Sparta Prague.1-5 and 6-1 wins saw them demolish their opponents. There is no stopping us. We are flying high in our attack right now. As of March 17th, we have scored 117 goals. Yep, 2.6 goals a game.
However, Atalanta is not an easy game. Their home fans are insane. I watched clips from their Round of 16 game and the atmosphere was amazing. So at their stadium we might only pull up with a slight win, or even a draw. Overall though, I think we will win at home and Liverpool will enter the semis.
Benfica Vs Marseille
Benfica is a Champions league team who are quite weird in their score lines and have some crazy high scoring games on both ends. Same with Marseille. For example, Marseille beat their Round of 16 opponents 4-0 at home, and then went to the other stadium where they were losing 3-0 and were about to bottle it before they scored a last minute goal to confirm their qualification. Benfica lost 5-0 to Porto a week after beating another team 4-0. So, this tie will be chaotic. It will probably depend on who can score more at home, because again both atmospheres are crazy. Most likely, each team is going to win at home. Overall, I have Benfica qualifying. On paper, they are much stronger and after Marseille' slip last round, I do not trust them.
Something you will notice me saying a lot about Europa League teams is atmosphere. In general, teams from weaker leagues have some insane atmosphere with flames and flags and tifos and whatnot, usually due to less strict rules and regulations on the fans. They do not have much media attention. For example, in the Prem and La Liga, you do not see much of the above. Great fans, absolutely have a wonderful atmosphere; look at Anfield, Bernabéu, Camp Nou, but nothing crazy like Germany, France and even weaker leagues get even better.
AC Milan vs Roma
Not much to say here honestly. It is an All-Italian tie, which is great. There are higher stakes here because a loss is more personal, as these are your rivals and you are almost fighting for dominance in your country. It is pretty straightforward who goes through here. AC Milan beat Roma both times they faced each other in the league this year, and although Roma beat Brighton 4-1 and are doing amazing under their new manager, I see AC Milan qualifying to the semifinals.
Bayer Leverkusen vs West Ham
Another easy one to talk about. Bayer Leverkusen are currently unbeaten in all competitions this year, something only they can say of the top 10 European leagues. They are coming off of a 3-2 crazy comeback against Qarabag in the Round of 16. I honestly do not see anyone stopping them in the near future. Xabi Alonso is doing awesome there. And West Ham, despite beating Freiburg 5-1 in the Round of 16, are quite horrible in defense. I see Bayer Leverkusen comfortably qualifying to the Semi Finals.
This leaves us with the following Semis, if all goes to plan:
Bayer vs Milan and Liverpool vs Benfica
In next month’s issue, I will discuss the confirmed semi final matchups of both the Champions League and the Europa League. Maybe I’ll even talk about the Conference League Semis as well.
Thank You for reading.
See you next month.
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