⚽UEFA Europa League Discussion Thread -- 2021/22 Winners: Eintracht Frankfurt!

[Furious 7]

I think Barcelona drew the easiest draw. They go to the next round by scoring four or five goals in both games. Galatasaray is really bad this year. Barca, on the other hand, became very assertive with their half-time transfers.

Yep, they are currently playing very comfortably and I feel now it is confirmed that they will go into the next round even if the game has not been played.
Galatasaray are currently very bad for their season in fact they are one of the worst defensive clubs in the turkish super league.
I think it will be very easy for Barcelona especially now that they are in a high level of confidence due to their increasing performance.

[Ulven]

Next I hope they can qualify for the next round against Galatasaray. I know now Barcelona will be favorites in the two leg vs Galatasaray but that doesn't guarantee they go through easily. Only a win and a good performance can see Barcelona through because every one of their opponents also wants to win the match to qualify.

Of course, Barcelona must win the return match against Galatasaray, as we know Spanish clubs can return at a moment we did not expect, as we witnessed last night, Barcelona crushed its opponent Napoli in its stronghold with 4 goals, and defender Pique scored the third goal.

I also think that the match between Sevilla and West Ham will be exciting as both clubs are playing good games so Sevilla have to win the second leg to qualify because West Ham will also try to give their best to get through this match.

[DU18]

Congratulations to Barcelona on their great victory against Napoli! They played at the highest level they could play I think and deserved this victory from the beginning to the end of the match. Aubameyang scored again and he is performing better from now on as it seems. He has started adapting to the game plan of the team. And the more important thing is that they are performing much bigger than before as a team. This is critical news for a team like Barcelona. As long as they have this strong team play, there are not too many clubs that can beat them.

Barcelona's convincing victory over Napoli did make the public so surprised where they succeeded in slaughtering the hosts with a score of 2-4, again Aubameyang was the actor in Barcelona's victory over Napoli as well as making Barcelona qualify for the last 16 of the Europa League this season and will challenge Galatasaray, where many new players have begun to adjust to Barcelona's tiki-taka style of play where the contributions of Aubameyang and also Adama Traore paid off for El Barca against hosts Napoli

I am very happy for Barcelona resurgence after the departure of Messi to PSG after some poor runs that lead to the sack of Ronald Koeman, Xavi had improved the team tremendously, I watched their match against Napoli while watching Arsenal vs Wolves simultaneously, they played well and Adams Traore has been very brilliant providing two assist for their two goals, I believe with consistency in their performance Barcelona will be Europa title favorite, luckily they will play Galatasaray in the round 16, I don't see any threat by their next opponent and the other clubs left in Europa this season.

But Lionel Messi still as an icon for Barcelona and fans always remember his name, its not about how much money have pay by Barcelona keep as Messi extended but I think still have benefit if ask Messi will be forever on Barcelona, but need to revolution on Barcelona squad team how to get new player can replace Messi position although can't take attention with Barcelona fans, but I am happy with Barcelona progress right now after arrived Xavi Hernandez and see how achievement can give by him for Barcelona.

[mamesso]

Just like you, I'm quite optimistic about Barcelona's chances of qualifying for the last 16 because I really saw how they dominated the first leg. In Italy, Napoli could not do much after Barcelona surprised everyone with 3 goals in the first half, although Napoli managed to score 2 goals but Barcelona's good performance was able to overthrow them with a score of 2-4 in the second leg. Really it's a nice success at the moment from Barcelona.

Next I hope they can qualify for the next round against Galatasaray. I know now Barcelona will be favorites in the two leg vs Galatasaray but that doesn't guarantee they go through easily. Only a win and a good performance can see Barcelona through because every one of their opponents also wants to win the match to qualify.

Barcelona played like at Camp Nou when they beat Napoli at Stadio Diego Armando Maradona, Xavi Hernandez troops appeared little more dominating. Barcelona had more possession and created more chances than Napoli.

When beating Napoli with a score of 2-4, Barcelona performed beautifully with a thick tiki-taka feel, the scheme applied by Xavi Hernandez worked very well, they managed to qualify for the round of 16 after many doubted the quality of Barcelona this season.
Barcelona has put in an outstanding performance, they managed to answer doubts after poor start to the season.

Barcelona journey this season has been full of drama, they have been knocked out of the Champions League, Copa del Rey and struggled to catch Real Madrid points in the top flight of La-Liga. The Europa League is the only competition that Barcelona can still win this season, but Barcelona journey to the final is still long, in the round of 16 Xavi team was tested by the strength of Galatasaray, although Barcelona statistics are superior to Galatasaray, but in football anything can happen, such as Borussia Dortmund being eliminated by Rangers.

[snipie]

Poor Dortmund got kicked, along with Lazio, Sociedad and Napoli. Sheriff kicked although they had a clear advantage in the first leg.. Good team wasted.
Barcelona got an easy game imo vs Galatasaray while Atalanta - Leverkusen seems very interesting and balanced tho. Sevilla - West Ham looks challenging too.

[BITCOIN4X]

Barcelona played like at Camp Nou when they beat Napoli at Stadio Diego Armando Maradona, Xavi Hernandez troops appeared little more dominating. Barcelona had more possession and created more chances than Napoli.

When beating Napoli with a score of 2-4, Barcelona performed beautifully with a thick tiki-taka feel, the scheme applied by Xavi Hernandez worked very well, they managed to qualify for the round of 16 after many doubted the quality of Barcelona this season. Barcelona has put in an outstanding performance, they managed to answer doubts after poor start to the season.

It is true that Barcelona played quite well in the second leg at home to Napoli. I was a little doubtful before about the possibility of Barcelona winning by many goals. I don't believe that they are capable but after I watched the first half then I really Barcelona will qualify for the round of 16.

Napoli tried their best, but the Barcelona defender made no mistakes other than the first goal because Ter Steigen's hard tackle and and failing to block Politano's shot which resulted in Napoli's second goals. Apart from that I don't see Barcelona making a lot of mistakes in that match, but some of their finishing is still really bad in my opinion.

[rby]

I think Barcelona drew the easiest draw. They go to the next round by scoring four or five goals in both games. Galatasaray is really bad this year. Barca, on the other hand, became very assertive with their half-time transfers.

Yep, they are currently playing very comfortably and I feel now it is confirmed that they will go into the next round even if the game has not been played.
Galatasaray are currently very bad for their season in fact they are one of the worst defensive clubs in the turkish super league.
I think it will be very easy for Barcelona especially now that they are in a high level of confidence due to their increasing performance.

I cannot believe that I didn't remember yesterday was Europa League and even until now. I was greatly distracted by Putin and his men and the poor people of Ukraine.
I am happy to see that Barcelona survived Napoli which I expected and again they got an easy draw with Galatasaray. This might be a sign that Barcelona will win the Europa League. I think they need it to restore their lost glory.

[Jackl87]

Europa league round of 16 draw has been made:
Barcelona vs. Galatasaray. As Barca fan, I'm very happy about draw, after Napoli it's great great opponent.

Atalanta vs. Bayer Leverkusen -it definitely going to be fun, but I'm not going to predict something here.

A very interesting match is Atalanta and Bayer. Both teams are in good shape and scoring a lot of goals, so the first thing that comes to mind is matches with a lot of goals. My favorite is Atalanta, I only hope they can score more goals because I think both teams will score goals in both matches. Barcelona in the match with Napoli showed that they are gaining shape very quickly, and the arrival of Aubameyang in the team proved to be very effective. Therefore, I see a confident victory for Barcelona here.

Barcelona is now one of the big favorites for me to become the Champions of the Europa League this year. I already thought that they would be out of the tournament after they had to face Napoli in the first round of the play-offs but they somehow managed to beat them and to advance into the next round. Napoli was also a favorite to win the title for me, this makes Barca automatically to one of the favorites. Porto vs Lyon could also be a great game and i also think that the club that can advance from this match has also good chance to reach the final or even win this competition. RB Leipzig has also good chances. The Europa League is really interesting this year.

[bekti3]

Barcelona is now one of the big favorites for me to become the Champions of the Europa League this year. I already thought that they would be out of the tournament after they had to face Napoli in the first round of the play-offs but they somehow managed to beat them and to advance into the next round. Napoli was also a favorite to win the title for me, this makes Barca automatically to one of the favorites.

They will be more motivated now especially when they think about their financial crisis and to minimize the loss of being eliminated from UCL I think they will be a little excited about it, At least there should be 1 title for them at this time and indeed UEL at this time has quite the potential especially with the better their performance.
There are still some opponents that will be troublesome later but this won't have much effect in my opinion

[el kaka22]

Honestly I really did not expected Rangers to win, it really didn't feel like it was a possible thing before the games started but at the end of the day there wasn't really anything Dortmund could do, Rangers just played so greatly. This is the proof that if your team plays amazingly as a team, like really know what they should as a team then you would not face a big problem when you are fighting against a better team.

Sherrif by the way nearly got away with another stage, I really loved their story this year, they managed to play so well during champions league and even beat Real Madrid, which was like some of the best underdog games I have seen in years, and they played well against Braga as well, won the first game with ease, but unfortunately got a tie and then penalties to getting eliminated. Sad situation for them but something to be very proud of.

[mamesso]

~Snip~

It is true that Barcelona played quite well in the second leg at home to Napoli. I was a little doubtful before about the possibility of Barcelona winning by many goals. I don't believe that they are capable but after I watched the first half then I really Barcelona will qualify for the round of 16.

Napoli tried their best, but the Barcelona defender made no mistakes other than the first goal because Ter Steigen's hard tackle and and failing to block Politano's shot which resulted in Napoli's second goals. Apart from that I don't see Barcelona making a lot of mistakes in that match, but some of their finishing is still really bad in my opinion.

Your doubts are well-founded. Unexpectedly Barcelona was able to destroy Napoli in Italy. Vaxi gentle touch had a positive impact on Barcelona performance, slowly Barcelona is able to appear convincing in important matches. Barcelona success in qualifying for the round of 16 cannot be separated from the role of players who had just been brought in in the January transfer window.  Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang, Adama Traore and Ferran Torres immediately blended into Barcelona pattern of play.

Barcelona back line is quite disciplined, it was recorded that during 90 minutes only 3 shots were successfully released by Napoli players, 2 of them aimed at the goal. I can't say this am the beginning of Barcelona revival, but I hope that in the match VS Galatasaray Barcelona players can perform as well as they beat Napoli.

[hahay]

Poor Dortmund got kicked, along with Lazio, Sociedad and Napoli. Sheriff kicked although they had a clear advantage in the first leg.. Good team wasted.
Barcelona got an easy game imo vs Galatasaray while Atalanta - Leverkusen seems very interesting and balanced tho. Sevilla - West Ham looks challenging too.

For me it's only about Dortmund being unlucky, because others like Napoli, Lazio and Sociedad are natural. It was Napoli who got an opponent from Barcelona which was certainly not easy, Lazio also who I think still has quality that is not much different from Porto so for me it is only natural and both teams do have a chance to qualify. Likewise with Sociedad and even, I personally see that Leipzig is a better team when compared to Sociedad which also Sociedad is not such a big team.

[Mr.Scott]

Europa league round of 16 draw has been made:
Barcelona vs. Galatasaray. As Barca fan, I'm very happy about draw, after Napoli it's great great opponent.

Atalanta vs. Bayer Leverkusen -it definitely going to be fun, but I'm not going to predict something here.

A very interesting match is Atalanta and Bayer. Both teams are in good shape and scoring a lot of goals, so the first thing that comes to mind is matches with a lot of goals. My favorite is Atalanta, I only hope they can score more goals because I think both teams will score goals in both matches. Barcelona in the match with Napoli showed that they are gaining shape very quickly, and the arrival of Aubameyang in the team proved to be very effective. Therefore, I see a confident victory for Barcelona here.

Barcelona is now one of the big favorites for me to become the Champions of the Europa League this year. I already thought that they would be out of the tournament after they had to face Napoli in the first round of the play-offs but they somehow managed to beat them and to advance into the next round. Napoli was also a favorite to win the title for me, this makes Barca automatically to one of the favorites. Porto vs Lyon could also be a great game and i also think that the club that can advance from this match has also good chance to reach the final or even win this competition. RB Leipzig has also good chances. The Europa League is really interesting this year.

In this year's Champions of the Europa League, I hope Barcelona will win. I hope the good team wins. This round of sixteen will see some big teams exit. I think Real Betis or Sevilla will be crowned European champions. Barca also has a chance to win, but I don't think they can beat a Spanish team. Even though Porto plays well, I can't see them making the final. In the semi-finals, Barcelona, Porto, Sevilla and Betis are expected to meet, unless they play earlier.

[DanWalker]

Poor Dortmund got kicked, along with Lazio, Sociedad and Napoli. Sheriff kicked although they had a clear advantage in the first leg.. Good team wasted.
Barcelona got an easy game imo vs Galatasaray while Atalanta - Leverkusen seems very interesting and balanced tho. Sevilla - West Ham looks challenging too.

For me it's only about Dortmund being unlucky, because others like Napoli, Lazio and Sociedad are natural. It was Napoli who got an opponent from Barcelona which was certainly not easy, Lazio also who I think still has quality that is not much different from Porto so for me it is only natural and both teams do have a chance to qualify. Likewise with Sociedad and even, I personally see that Leipzig is a better team when compared to Sociedad which also Sociedad is not such a big team.

Dortmund is really losing their grip over any match and they should really make some changes in the team otherwise they are not going to win in the recent future in my opinion. And with Erling Haaland ready to leave the team I think it only creates more problems for Dortmund. I think there are a team that really should have qualified but there are just producing bad results at the moment.

[Daniel91]

yesterday's games were few that surprised me, but this one particularly surprised me the most:

Dinamo 1 - 0 Sevilla

I expected that Sevilla would win this game but they lost and worse, they didn't even manage to score 1 goal, asote of them and they passed to another phase

Ranger 2 - 2 Borussia

this borusia is bad, he can't stay without conceding goals that's why he lost in the first game and then comes to draw in the second game, they conceded a total of 6 goals, that's too much

Napoli 2 - 4 Barcelona

this was a game in which napoli was humiliated and i even said that napoli is not doing well, they are losing points in serie A while barcelona improved a lot this result was predictable

Dinamo was very close to making another big surprise in European competitions, and to knock out Sevilla after being better than Tottenham last season.
Unfortunately, the result from the first game was decisive, and the undeservedly big victory of Sevilla.
I expected a lot more from Borussia and they are an unpleasant surprise to me.
Barcelona is playing very well again, and by all accounts they are now one of the main favorites to win this competition.

[Tony116]

~Snip~

It is true that Barcelona played quite well in the second leg at home to Napoli. I was a little doubtful before about the possibility of Barcelona winning by many goals. I don't believe that they are capable but after I watched the first half then I really Barcelona will qualify for the round of 16.
Napoli tried their best, but the Barcelona defender made no mistakes other than the first goal because Ter Steigen's hard tackle and and failing to block Politano's shot which resulted in Napoli's second goals. Apart from that I don't see Barcelona making a lot of mistakes in that match, but some of their finishing is still really bad in my opinion.

Your doubts are well-founded. Unexpectedly Barcelona was able to destroy Napoli in Italy. Vaxi gentle touch had a positive impact on Barcelona performance, slowly Barcelona is able to appear convincing in important matches. Barcelona success in qualifying for the round of 16 cannot be separated from the role of players who had just been brought in in the January transfer window.  Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang, Adama Traore and Ferran Torres immediately blended into Barcelona pattern of play.

Barcelona back line is quite disciplined, it was recorded that during 90 minutes only 3 shots were successfully released by Napoli players, 2 of them aimed at the goal. I can't say this am the beginning of Barcelona revival, but I hope that in the match VS Galatasaray Barcelona players can perform as well as they beat Napoli.

Barcelona is looking really good after the recent transfer that was being made by Xavi. And right now I am actually surprised to see Barcelona's defense working quite well because, to be honest, I expected far worse from Barcelona's defensive line but they actually impressed me. I think we can have some high hopes from this current Barcelona squad. Honestly, I did not think that they will be able to win the second leg vs Napoli as it was their away match.

[DU18]

Poor Dortmund got kicked, along with Lazio, Sociedad and Napoli. Sheriff kicked although they had a clear advantage in the first leg.. Good team wasted.
Barcelona got an easy game imo vs Galatasaray while Atalanta - Leverkusen seems very interesting and balanced tho. Sevilla - West Ham looks challenging too.

For me it's only about Dortmund being unlucky, because others like Napoli, Lazio and Sociedad are natural. It was Napoli who got an opponent from Barcelona which was certainly not easy, Lazio also who I think still has quality that is not much different from Porto so for me it is only natural and both teams do have a chance to qualify. Likewise with Sociedad and even, I personally see that Leipzig is a better team when compared to Sociedad which also Sociedad is not such a big team.

Dortmund is really losing their grip over any match and they should really make some changes in the team otherwise they are not going to win in the recent future in my opinion. And with Erling Haaland ready to leave the team I think it only creates more problems for Dortmund. I think there are a team that really should have qualified but there are just producing bad results at the moment.

Dortmund have loss their chance on UEFA Europe League and I think will move target on Bundesliga as the only chance to get trophy, after defeating on DFB Pokal right now only Bundesliga competition as realistic chance for getting trophy, behind 6 points from Bayern Munich I think still have chance for Dortmund can get his trophy on this year. I think Ausburg is not have to worry because Dortmund should easy to win on this week.

[KTChampions]

Poor Dortmund got kicked, along with Lazio, Sociedad and Napoli. Sheriff kicked although they had a clear advantage in the first leg.. Good team wasted.
Barcelona got an easy game imo vs Galatasaray while Atalanta - Leverkusen seems very interesting and balanced tho. Sevilla - West Ham looks challenging too.

Yes, it's very good that there are at least a couple of matches that deserve attention. With all due respect to other teams, most pairs are not interesting either for viewing or for betting (although there is an option here, but again, the status of the tournament does not allow for serious analytics). But closer to the final, the intensity will increase, at least it pleases.

[Maidak]

Honestly I really did not expected Rangers to win, it really didn't feel like it was a possible thing before the games started but at the end of the day there wasn't really anything Dortmund could do, Rangers just played so greatly. This is the proof that if your team plays amazingly as a team, like really know what they should as a team then you would not face a big problem when you are fighting against a better team.

Sherrif by the way nearly got away with another stage, I really loved their story this year, they managed to play so well during champions league and even beat Real Madrid, which was like some of the best underdog games I have seen in years, and they played well against Braga as well, won the first game with ease, but unfortunately got a tie and then penalties to getting eliminated. Sad situation for them but something to be very proud of.

I think at this moment we can say that Dortmund is just probably done and needs some changes in their team. I absolutely did not give any chance to their opponent because I thought obviously Dortmund is going to win this match but I was wrong. But credit to Ranges as they played really well and to be honest deserved the win.

Sherrif I was so unlucky not to win that match in my opinion. They played quite well and ultimately they lost in the penalty shootout which was really unlucky because I think penalties are almost all about luck.

[slaman29]

We're smiling again

it's possible for that, now Barcelona are back strong they scored a lot of goals in the last few games and I think their new coach xavi has managed to bring this club back to how it used to be, maybe for a lot of trophies we'll just have to wait.
Winning the Europa League this season is of course Barcelona's only target when other competencies are already unlikely.
I believe Barcelona will be able to do that.
[/quote]

Credit is for Xavi for sure but more the new blood injected in. I mean we had Traore in and he won us great points and goals, then Auba started properly and done the same for the last 2 games. We have goalscorers and goal creators now, and a big spirit, but we still need I would say 4 out of 5 wins in the next string of games to truly say we're building up properly.

We are favorites now for Europa but let's not get carried away.