UEFA Europa League 2017-18 - featuring Arsenal FC!
07-05-2017
, 04:38 PM
Good evening everybody. Welcome to the 2017-18 of the UEFA Europa League, the little, often wrongly neglected brother of the Champions League.
First, let's take a look back at last season:
Winner: Manchester United
After only finishing 5th in the final season (2015-16) under LVG, Manchester United put TSO in charge of the team. Their league season was even worse this time around. United's international campaign started off with the Group Stage Draw for the Europa League, and they got a fairly stacked group with Fenerbahce, Feyenoord and Zorya Luhansk. Winning four out of their six group matches, they finished 2nd in the group behind Fenerbahce. At this point in mid-December they were already 9 points off the Top 4, the CL qualification in serious danger once again - so the focus shifted more towards winning the Europa League, but they still had to beat five opponents to get there.
In the Round of 32, they met Saint-Etienne, and an Ibra hattrick in the first leg was enough to go through. The Round of 16 against CL dropout Rostov was a bit closer contested, with United winning 2-1 over two legs. The quarter-final against Anderlecht even went to extra time after both legs had finished 1-1, with Rashford scoring late to put United just three matches away from the title. In the league, they were only three points off the Top 4, but there were also only five games left.
The semi-final against Celta Vigo started off perfect for United, with a 1-0 away victory and an early Fellaini opener to take the lead in the home leg - but in the 85th minute, Celta equalized, and suddenly United were only one goal away from being eliminated. THings got heated, but even after a red card for each team United held their nerves and qualified for the final - a true European classic against Ajax, who themselves hadn't been in a European final for almost twenty years. The final was - well, Mourinho-esque, with Junited taking the lead by Pogba and then shutting the game down effectively against the young Ajax team. Shortly after the second half began, Mkhitaryan scored the 2-0, which turned out to be the final goal of the game.
With that, United has qualified for the Champions League, despite finishing only 6th in the league, and they will hope to not defend their title in this competition.
And with that, let's look at who is actually in the competition:
Arsenal FC: Since 1998, Arsenal had always managed to qualify for the Champions League, being a safe contender for the "Top 4 trophy" in every season. In 2016-17, their streak finally ended when they finished 5th. Wenger actually didn't get fired (why would he?), but extended his contract. This will be the first time they will play in the secondary European competition since dropping down to the UEFA Cup in 1999-00, where they lost the final to Galatasaray on penalties.
Milan: The Italian club will make their European comeback after three seasons without international qualification. They actually have never played in the Europa League before, but they participated in the last season of the UEFA Cup, where they lost by drawing 1-1 and 2-2 to Bremen in the Round of 32. They have sorted out their contract trouble with keeper Donnarumma and will start the competition in the 3rd qualifying round and are currently second favourites according to bookies.
Olympique Lyon: They will have a great incentive to make it one step further than 2016-17, where they lost to Ajax in the semi-final: A potential home final awaits, played at Parc Olympique Lyonnais. They belong to the group of favourites as well after their strong previous season. They will be right in the Group Stage.
The Spanish Armada (Villarreal/Athletic/Sociedad): Spanish clubs in the EL, duh. Sevilla is trapped in the Champions League - at least for now.
Dinamo Zagreb: Won the Croatian league 11 times in a row from 2005 to 2016, and literally never made it out of the group stage in either UCL or UEL, into which they dropped quite often. Last season, the reached their absolute low point in the Champions League: 6 games, 6 losses, 0-15 goals. Now, they skipped the CL entirely by not winning the league. They will enter the tournament in the 3rd qualifying round.
Rangers FC: After getting relegated to the 4th tier due to insolvency, Rangers managed to get back to the SPL within four years. In their first top-tier season after promotion, they managed to take 3rd place behind undefeated Celtic and Aberdeen, which resulted in Europa League qualification! Due to the bad coefficient of Scotland, they had to start off in the first qualifying round. Luckily they got a very easy draw with Progrès Niederkorn, who had finished 4th in Luxembourg, 21 points behind champions Dudelange. Not a problem for a club with a history and reputation like Rangers - so they handily def-
Most of the first round qualifying ties are not decided yet, the second leg will be played tomorrow.
DER MARKT:
Let's go!
First, let's take a look back at last season:
Winner: Manchester United
After only finishing 5th in the final season (2015-16) under LVG, Manchester United put TSO in charge of the team. Their league season was even worse this time around. United's international campaign started off with the Group Stage Draw for the Europa League, and they got a fairly stacked group with Fenerbahce, Feyenoord and Zorya Luhansk. Winning four out of their six group matches, they finished 2nd in the group behind Fenerbahce. At this point in mid-December they were already 9 points off the Top 4, the CL qualification in serious danger once again - so the focus shifted more towards winning the Europa League, but they still had to beat five opponents to get there.
In the Round of 32, they met Saint-Etienne, and an Ibra hattrick in the first leg was enough to go through. The Round of 16 against CL dropout Rostov was a bit closer contested, with United winning 2-1 over two legs. The quarter-final against Anderlecht even went to extra time after both legs had finished 1-1, with Rashford scoring late to put United just three matches away from the title. In the league, they were only three points off the Top 4, but there were also only five games left.
The semi-final against Celta Vigo started off perfect for United, with a 1-0 away victory and an early Fellaini opener to take the lead in the home leg - but in the 85th minute, Celta equalized, and suddenly United were only one goal away from being eliminated. THings got heated, but even after a red card for each team United held their nerves and qualified for the final - a true European classic against Ajax, who themselves hadn't been in a European final for almost twenty years. The final was - well, Mourinho-esque, with Junited taking the lead by Pogba and then shutting the game down effectively against the young Ajax team. Shortly after the second half began, Mkhitaryan scored the 2-0, which turned out to be the final goal of the game.
With that, United has qualified for the Champions League, despite finishing only 6th in the league, and they will hope to not defend their title in this competition.
And with that, let's look at who is actually in the competition:
Arsenal FC: Since 1998, Arsenal had always managed to qualify for the Champions League, being a safe contender for the "Top 4 trophy" in every season. In 2016-17, their streak finally ended when they finished 5th. Wenger actually didn't get fired (why would he?), but extended his contract. This will be the first time they will play in the secondary European competition since dropping down to the UEFA Cup in 1999-00, where they lost the final to Galatasaray on penalties.
Milan: The Italian club will make their European comeback after three seasons without international qualification. They actually have never played in the Europa League before, but they participated in the last season of the UEFA Cup, where they lost by drawing 1-1 and 2-2 to Bremen in the Round of 32. They have sorted out their contract trouble with keeper Donnarumma and will start the competition in the 3rd qualifying round and are currently second favourites according to bookies.
Olympique Lyon: They will have a great incentive to make it one step further than 2016-17, where they lost to Ajax in the semi-final: A potential home final awaits, played at Parc Olympique Lyonnais. They belong to the group of favourites as well after their strong previous season. They will be right in the Group Stage.
The Spanish Armada (Villarreal/Athletic/Sociedad): Spanish clubs in the EL, duh. Sevilla is trapped in the Champions League - at least for now.
Dinamo Zagreb: Won the Croatian league 11 times in a row from 2005 to 2016, and literally never made it out of the group stage in either UCL or UEL, into which they dropped quite often. Last season, the reached their absolute low point in the Champions League: 6 games, 6 losses, 0-15 goals. Now, they skipped the CL entirely by not winning the league. They will enter the tournament in the 3rd qualifying round.
Rangers FC: After getting relegated to the 4th tier due to insolvency, Rangers managed to get back to the SPL within four years. In their first top-tier season after promotion, they managed to take 3rd place behind undefeated Celtic and Aberdeen, which resulted in Europa League qualification! Due to the bad coefficient of Scotland, they had to start off in the first qualifying round. Luckily they got a very easy draw with Progrès Niederkorn, who had finished 4th in Luxembourg, 21 points behind champions Dudelange. Not a problem for a club with a history and reputation like Rangers - so they handily def-
Spoiler:
Most of the first round qualifying ties are not decided yet, the second leg will be played tomorrow.
DER MARKT:
Let's go!
Last edited by Fatal Checkraise; 07-05-2017 at 04:42 PM.
Reason: Hope I didn't put in to many typos, off to bed :)
08-24-2017
, 04:06 PM
08-24-2017
, 04:24 PM
08-24-2017
, 04:29 PM
08-24-2017
, 06:07 PM
Quote:
We were hoping to see Videoton through as they might have played in the groupama arena (same district Ledders and I live in Budapest)...but Partizan crushed that dream pretty hard w the 4-0 away win. Zvezda up by 2 vs Krasnodar as well
Hoping for some geographical rungood so we can get some games close by and have 1 or 2 TRs coming...
Im feeling Belgrade and getting stabbed by the ultras
Hoping for some geographical rungood so we can get some games close by and have 1 or 2 TRs coming...
Im feeling Belgrade and getting stabbed by the ultras
08-25-2017
, 04:02 AM
08-25-2017
, 07:25 AM
08-25-2017
, 07:26 AM
