⚽UEFA Europa League Discussion Thread -- 2023/24 | SFs

[bitvalak]

Bayer Leverkusen appeared strong when facing Molde at BayArena.
They beat their guests with a score of 5-1 in the final Group H match of the 2023/2024 Europa League.
Thanks to this result, Leverkusen successfully completed the group phase with a clean sweep of six wins.
Leverkusen also has the right to qualify for the knockout phase with Group H champion status and has 18 points.
Leverkusen has a chance to become champions if you look at the progress of their match results without losing a single match in the group phase.

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[Distraction]

I have to say, no United and no Sevilla makes it a really clear path to Europa for Leverkusen and Liverpool, I honestly hoped Newcastle at least reached playoffs but seems like their first timer luck ran out, what a shame!

Also didn't realize was a different format this season, now 3rd place has to fight second place Europa group to go through last 16. That seems fairer, rather than clear progress for champions league dropouts

Indeed. Especially the absence of Sevilla must be a big relief for the current Europa League top contenders. Because Sevilla can be a quite interesting team.    Even in a season they are going on poorly in the La Liga and Champions League they can suddenly start playing totally differently if they continue on their way with the Europa League. They even won the Europa League title in exactly a season like that previously. 

And yeah the format has changed. The second finishers in the groups of the Europa League are to face the teams coming from the Champions League. There are some good teams among the ones coming from there so I wonder if any of them will be able to make a surprise about the title also.

[puloweh555]

Indeed. Especially the absence of Sevilla must be a big relief for the current Europa League top contenders. Because Sevilla can be a quite interesting team.    Even in a season they are going on poorly in the La Liga and Champions League they can suddenly start playing totally differently if they continue on their way with the Europa League. They even won the Europa League title in exactly a season like that previously. 

This is very real. It would be much different if Sevilla played in the Europa League, like last season they managed to win the Europa League, even though when they won the Europa League, Sevilla's condition was in bad condition. Even in the league it was bad, they were only able to reach 12th place in the standings last season.

So I agree with you, that the absence of Sevilla in Europe is an advantage for European competitors such as Liverpool and Leverkusen, now there is AC Milan again. because when Sevilla plays in Europe the enthusiasm is different, it could be said that Sevilla has European league DNA, so if they play in the European league the enthusiasm will increase. And now that Sevilla is no longer playing in the Europa League, it's time we will see the new champions this season.

[el kaka22]

It is quite obvious that we are not going to end up with last 16 to be any shocking, the 8 teams there is basically all obvious situations and should be all the greater for the long term. I get that some people may have some doubts about the big clubs but I think so far they do look alright.

I think the trouble begins at quarter finals because there is a potential for two big clubs to face each other, doesn't mean they will, but it does look like it's quite possible and they should focus on that. I believe that we are going to end up with some trouble that will not be all that simple to handle. Lets see how it will go, we still have a long time until we can see those games, over a month I think, and that is why we can't get our answers quickly.

[slaman29]

Also didn't realize was a different format this season, now 3rd place has to fight second place Europa group to go through last 16. That seems fairer, rather than clear progress for champions league dropouts

Indeed. Especially the absence of Sevilla must be a big relief for the current Europa League top contenders. Because Sevilla can be a quite interesting team.    Even in a season they are going on poorly in the La Liga and Champions League they can suddenly start playing totally differently if they continue on their way with the Europa League. They even won the Europa League title in exactly a season like that previously. 

Sevilla, Villareal, to me they just bring something special, but now we must learn to do without Sevilla. Not the team I knew them to be, and we have to accept that. And now this is final season of group stage so no idea how it will look like in future, guess we can only wait to dind out.

See you all in 2 months. It's gonna be an interesting Valentines Day date. Strange I cannot find odds yet

[LTU_btc]

https://twitter.com/90min_Football/status/1736723606275506432/photo/1
How do you like Europa league draw? There isn't many big games as teams which finished 1st in their groups skip this round. Feyenoord - Roma and Shakhstar - Marseille looks most interesting. I thinkj that Braga is most luck with draw as Qarabag is biggest underdog remaining in competition.

[casperBGD]

~snip
Feyenoord - Roma and Shakhstar - Marseille looks most interesting. I thinkj that Braga is most luck with draw as Qarabag is biggest underdog remaining in competition.

Lens vs Freiburg will also be an interesting one
Four french teams in this round, Rennes will play Milan, but I think that their chances are really slim compared to Marseille and Lens, Toulouse is facing Benfica, but they can't handle Ligue 1, so don't expect much from them (although they crashed Liverpool in group stage)

Roma and Feyenoord is a re-match from Conference league final two years ago
this time I expect different outcome, TBH
Braga should pass through, agree

[tiCeR]

~snip
Feyenoord - Roma and Shakhstar - Marseille looks most interesting. I thinkj that Braga is most luck with draw as Qarabag is biggest underdog remaining in competition.

Lens vs Freiburg will also be an interesting one
Four french teams in this round, Rennes will play Milan, but I think that their chances are really slim compared to Marseille and Lens, Toulouse is facing Benfica, but they can't handle Ligue 1, so don't expect much from them (although they crashed Liverpool in group stage)

Roma and Feyenoord is a re-match from Conference league final two years ago
this time I expect different outcome, TBH
Braga should pass through, agree

This is interesting because usually I would agree that clubs performing bad in the domestic league won't make it very far in other competitions either, but didn't Sevilla teach us a lesson? That's why it is quite easy to believe that Liverpool should be the biggest favorite in the Europa League, but still nobody knows how much the performance in the domestic league means.

Ajax Amsterdam really had trouble and got those issues across all competitions. It will not be an easy path for Liverpool, but most likely they are the ones to be defeated if anyone else wants to claim the title.

[Belarge]

Bayer Leverkusen appeared strong when facing Molde at BayArena.
They beat their guests with a score of 5-1 in the final Group H match of the 2023/2024 Europa League.
Thanks to this result, Leverkusen successfully completed the group phase with a clean sweep of six wins.
Leverkusen also has the right to qualify for the knockout phase with Group H champion status and has 18 points.
Leverkusen has a chance to become champions if you look at the progress of their match results without losing a single match in the group phase.

Bayer Leverkusen remain unbeaten till this present moment, no club could stop them and defeats is not their thing this year. Leverkusen are strong contenders for the Europa League title this season, they stand in possession of whatever it takes to win the title but it will be with tough competition from the club's coming in all the way from the UEFA Champions League and also Liverpool. I trust Xabi Alonso to do a great job for Leverkusen this season, he's leading on the Bundesliga table in Germany and now facing mediocre clubs wouldn't be a main threat for them, they seeks to play more competitive elite clubs this season.

[Captain Corporate]

Sparta Prague is not a lowly opponent, I assume we are going to face a little bit danger there. I talked about it on our local board, they have size and we do not really do very well with size. Normally we do quite well against teams that are agile and quick, because fast and smaller teams means we do not have a size disadvantage and we do have skillful players as well, and fast ones too. But when its a team with size, like when we faced against Copenhagen, we do not really know what to do, we try to do our best but usually we just do not have the physical ability to overcome and just lose. We are still the better team, Galatasaray has so many talented players, I still see us as the favorites clearly, but its not easy, it will be some trouble for sure.

[slaman29]

Sparta Prague is not a lowly opponent, I assume we are going to face a little bit danger there. I talked about it on our local board, they have size and we do not really do very well with size. Normally we do quite well against teams that are agile and quick, because fast and smaller teams means we do not have a size disadvantage and we do have skillful players as well, and fast ones too. But when its a team with size, like when we faced against Copenhagen, we do not really know what to do, we try to do our best but usually we just do not have the physical ability to overcome and just lose. We are still the better team, Galatasaray has so many talented players, I still see us as the favorites clearly, but its not easy, it will be some trouble for sure.

I was looking at which underdog team to select for Europa, I have a 1mbtc freebet from the Sportsbet.io promo of Super Bowl, and I was looking very long at this game (Sparta vs Gala). Gala gave me some great memories in UCL and I think they were badly unlucky to drop down to Europa playoff after smashing Manchester United, but I think they'll be way too good for Prague.

On the other hand, Toulose beat Liverpool and are the underdog against Benfica, plus I always like a little bit French teams, so why not I thought?

Good luck to bettings, loads of choices to pick from for big winnings

[emrecemsan]

Sparta Prague is not a lowly opponent, I assume we are going to face a little bit danger there. I talked about it on our local board, they have size and we do not really do very well with size. Normally we do quite well against teams that are agile and quick, because fast and smaller teams means we do not have a size disadvantage and we do have skillful players as well, and fast ones too. But when its a team with size, like when we faced against Copenhagen, we do not really know what to do, we try to do our best but usually we just do not have the physical ability to overcome and just lose. We are still the better team, Galatasaray has so many talented players, I still see us as the favorites clearly, but its not easy, it will be some trouble for sure.

Ziyech was a really good card for Galatasaray in matches in the Champions League. He made important contributions. He was on international duty for a long time and he looks like injured now. He would have been useful against Sparta Prague.    Galatasaray still have strong players in the attacking area though. They are especially in need of Kerem Aktürkoğlu's being very active on the pitch.

He is criticized by Galatasaray fans quite much because of wasting many chances to score. But he is still making the team more effective on the front. I think Galatasaray won't disappoint and they will get a win home. 

[BabyBandit]

Milan - Rennes play tonight and you get almost 1.70 odd for a Milan win. I think that's pretty good. Rennes is on 7th place in Ligue 1. Milan is 3rd in Serie A with 52 points. 10 points a head the 5th place and 8 points behind the leader Inter ^{(Inter has one less game played)} and will probably win the league. So Milan are IMO pretty safe to reach Champions League next year and could go for a UEL title.
IMO 1.70 for Milan to win home against 7th placed Rennes in Ligue 1 is a pretty good value.

Need to find another match and mix it up and do a Paralay but should not be that hard to find some game and play O/U 2.5 goals.

[MAAManda]

Milan - Rennes play tonight and you get almost 1.70 odd for a Milan win. I think that's pretty good. Rennes is on 7th place in Ligue 1. Milan is 3rd in Serie A with 52 points. 10 points a head the 5th place and 8 points behind the leader Inter ^{(Inter has one less game played)} and will probably win the league. So Milan are IMO pretty safe to reach Champions League next year and could go for a UEL title.
IMO 1.70 for Milan to win home against 7th placed Rennes in Ligue 1 is a pretty good value.

It is quite surprising for me to see AC Milan getting attractive odds here, they're a team from the UCL and will play against Rennes who are runners up from Group F in the UEL. This could be a trap from the bookies, because AC Milan isn't playing away but at home. I have doubts about this match, but I can't miss it either, I think I'm going for AC Milan to win.

Need to find another match and mix it up and do a Paralay but should not be that hard to find some game and play O/U 2.5 goals.

It shouldn't be so difficult to get to the other matches, since today's match is a play-off. Just pick the majority of teams that come from the UCL, we have Galatasaray & Braga who are most likely to win there.

[SOKO-DEKE]

Bayer Leverkusen appeared strong when facing Molde at BayArena.
They beat their guests with a score of 5-1 in the final Group H match of the 2023/2024 Europa League.
Thanks to this result, Leverkusen successfully completed the group phase with a clean sweep of six wins.
Leverkusen also has the right to qualify for the knockout phase with Group H champion status and has 18 points.
Leverkusen has a chance to become champions if you look at the progress of their match results without losing a single match in the group phase.

Bayer Leverkusen remain unbeaten till this present moment, no club could stop them and defeats is not their thing this year. Leverkusen are strong contenders for the Europa League title this season, they stand in possession of whatever it takes to win the title but it will be with tough competition from the club's coming in all the way from the UEFA Champions League and also Liverpool. I trust Xabi Alonso to do a great job for Leverkusen this season, he's leading on the Bundesliga table in Germany and now facing mediocre clubs wouldn't be a main threat for them, they seeks to play more competitive elite clubs this season.

It is widely recognized that Bayer Leverkusen is exhibiting formidable strength this season. Their unbeaten streak in both domestic league matches and Europa League fixtures has garnered attention and admiration. The team exudes confidence and determination, evident in their consistent performances. Observing their outstanding achievements thus far, Bayer Leverkusen emerges as the frontrunner in the ongoing Europa League competition.

Their remarkable displays on the field always have solidified their position as the top contender for victory. With each match, they reinforce their status as the team to beat, showcasing remarkable skill and teamwork. Given their exceptional efforts and consistent success, it is only fitting to acknowledge Bayer Leverkusen as the deserving favorites to clinch the Europa League title. Their dedication, talent, and unwavering commitment make them a force to be reckoned with in the world of football.

[BabyBandit]

Milan - Rennes play tonight and you get almost 1.70 odd for a Milan win. I think that's pretty good. Rennes is on 7th place in Ligue 1. Milan is 3rd in Serie A with 52 points. 10 points a head the 5th place and 8 points behind the leader Inter ^{(Inter has one less game played)} and will probably win the league. So Milan are IMO pretty safe to reach Champions League next year and could go for a UEL title.
IMO 1.70 for Milan to win home against 7th placed Rennes in Ligue 1 is a pretty good value.

It is quite surprising for me to see AC Milan getting attractive odds here, they're a team from the UCL and will play against Rennes who are runners up from Group F in the UEL. This could be a trap from the bookies, because AC Milan isn't playing away but at home. I have doubts about this match, but I can't miss it either, I think I'm going for AC Milan to win.

Need to find another match and mix it up and do a Paralay but should not be that hard to find some game and play O/U 2.5 goals.

It shouldn't be so difficult to get to the other matches, since today's match is a play-off. Just pick the majority of teams that come from the UCL, we have Galatasaray & Braga who are most likely to win there.

Ye, will see what I find. Will try to find a O/U 2.5G game. 

Good luck tonight mate.

[Inwestour]

It is widely recognized that Bayer Leverkusen is exhibiting formidable strength this season. Their unbeaten streak in both domestic league matches and Europa League fixtures has garnered attention and admiration. The team exudes confidence and determination, evident in their consistent performances. Observing their outstanding achievements thus far, Bayer Leverkusen emerges as the frontrunner in the ongoing Europa League competition.

Their remarkable displays on the field always have solidified their position as the top contender for victory. With each match, they reinforce their status as the team to beat, showcasing remarkable skill and teamwork. Given their exceptional efforts and consistent success, it is only fitting to acknowledge Bayer Leverkusen as the deserving favorites to clinch the Europa League title. Their dedication, talent, and unwavering commitment make them a force to be reckoned with in the world of football.

Perhaps Bayer's good performance in the Bundesliga is also due to the fact that Bayern are not so strong? In any case, in the EL at the moment we have two clear favorites, these are Liverpool and Bayer, in my opinion this could be the ideal final for this season, but perhaps we will see some unexpected results closer to the final. There may be various surprises at the playoff stage, so I think it is too early to talk about the winner.

[execijutiere]

Young Boys normally have no chance against Sporting Lisbon for the round but a home win could change things.That's why today's game is important.Lisbon might not care about this game because being champions in the league will be more important for them. That's why I don't think they will be able to get a win in this match, I think they will rotate some of their players and not play them.Young Boys can take advantage of this and win and if they get a possible draw away, they can be the team that will pass the round.I can say that everything depends on winning the match they will play today.If they want to pass the round, they need to defeat their opponents at home today.

[buwaytress]

Whoa Slam, you spotted Toulose, a bet worthy of consideration for me usually, completely forgot we had playoffs. Icardi saving Gala at the death and no surrises yet, do I hope you snag Toulose. Portuguese teams are scary these past few seasons though. Find it hard to bet against them if you watch them play.

Tough call, execijutiere. You Swiss?

[LTU_btc]

As I already said in other thread, Shakhtar - Marseille was such drama, not just because of game itself but also BSFL things. Galatasray managed to achieve positive result on additional time, Milan is 99% in next round, Sporting also made huge step forward.

Portuguese teams are scary these past few seasons though. Find it hard to bet against them if you watch them play.

In later game slot they didn't looked so scary, playing with weaker opponents on paper. Benfica only managed to save their asses and my over 2.5 bet by getting penalty on 96th minute which was scored by Di Maria. While Braga suffered fiasco, losing against Qarabag 2:4 at home is just shameful