UEFA Europa League 2025/26 Season

[asriloni]

Still can't believe Porto played out a draw in this game they are suppose to win, Nottingham Forest didn't play anything compared to what Porto played tonight, it was a good game but those missed chances could have increase the goals for Porto. The second leg would at The City Ground in England and Porto better come out with everything they have got because Nottingham Forest would do everything possible to get something but not a draw in this encounter. At first I felt the game was going to be an easy game for Porto to get more than a goal but is like after the host scored the Nottingham Forest players woke up from their sleep to start attacking not until Fernandes over hit the ball into his own net, that was what Nottingham needed to keep their hopes alive, surely Porto must be prepared for what is coming next in the reverse fixture.

Painful to watch at times when Porto continuously attacked Nottingham Forest. However, i feel happy Porto was unable to capitalize their chances. So it let Forest comeback to home with a tie, which is a decent result. Ortega and Abbot are the most performing players in this game while the rest are just bang average.

I was feeling nervous with after i saw they were not using many of their key players. They were not also using the same formation they often used at EPL too. I was thinking they might lost, but i'm so happy my negativity was not happening.

Other than that it's kinda disappointed with how referee was disallowing Jesus's goal. The referee robbed their win!!!!!!!!!

Hopefully, Forest can thrash Porto with their full squad in 2nd leg at home.  

[stompix]

Nice round....nice ...
Got only one winner right, got only 2 out of 6 specials right..
I don't even want to actually watch the games anymore!

Anyhow, funny how in early betting Aston has the same odds as Celta!? One won by 3-1, one got trashed 3-0 but the difference is 1.95 and 1.85
I'm going to quit chasing single bets this way

[mandown]

When the score became 1-1 in the 13th minute of the Porto vs. Nottingham match, I thought we would see a high-scoring game, but Forest goalkeeper Ortega made some very successful saves, and the match ended 1-1. Perhaps this match score was the surprise of the evening.
I was expecting Porto to win, but they were thwarted by Ortega.
Porto has the squad and football quality to beat Forest in England.
I still see Porto as having a better chance of advancing to the next round.
Porto could even play in the final of this cup.

[Daniel91]

Yes, that's true.
In fact, in a way, it's easier for the worse teams to achieve a good result in the cup system, where they only need a few good or lucky games for a great result, than in the national league, where you need to play consistently well through a large number of games, 34-38.
On the other hand, Fiorentina and Nottingham have already lost their chance for any good placement and result in the national championship and now their players are very motivated to use this, the last chance they have, to do something great this season for themselves and their fans.
Realistically, their chances are not great, but this is a cup system where even teams that are not favorites have a chance and everything is open.

What you're saying seems like huge bullshit to me, just a few lucky matches to do well in the cup, i don't think so. Perhaps the team decides to work harder in the cup than in the championship, this explanation sounds much better in my opinion.

Of course, it often happens that in 1 match a weaker team can beat a stronger team, with more luck and courage, but we have had cases (although of course rare) that weaker teams, by playing anti-football and ''parking the bus in front of their goal'' and a lot of luck, even managed to win a competition in the cup system even though they were objectively, in terms of quality, one of the worse teams in the competition.
The best example of this is the case of Greece winning the 2004 European Football Championship, probably the worst national team to ever win that competition.
Most of you are young and probably don't remember that competition, but I watched it and, like all other sincere football fans, was disappointed with the way Greece played the entire competition and in the end, completely undeservedly, won the competition and became the European Football Champion.
Every match they played in the championship was the same. Park the bus in front of their own penalty area and defend to the max the entire match.
In attack, they focused exclusively on break-ups, free kicks and corners and had a few coordinated actions and that was all from them.
In every match, their opponents were better and had many more chances, but the Greeks were more lucky, they would somehow manage not to concede a goal and then they would use 1 break to score a goal and win.
It was a complete anti-propaganda of football and a big bore to watch, but the Greeks, with that destructive football and with a lot of luck, became champions of Europe.
As for yesterday's results in the European league, all results were as expected. The only thing that surprised me was the draw in the match between Porto and Nott'm Forest because I considered Porto the second favorite to win the competition, right behind Aston Villa.
However, there is still 1 match to be played and it is not all over.

[knowngunman]

Just as I thought! Bologna didn’t stand much of a chance against Aston Villa; they were simply too strong. Despite their excellent season so far, Bologna don’t have the strength to fight their way into the semi-finals. At the Dallara, the match ended 1–3 to the English side, who now have one foot in the semi-finals.

One thing with football is that it can never be predicted and it does not always reward hardwork. If hardwork is always the basis of conclusion, Bologna should have won that match yesterday. Bologna played a very decent game especially in the first half. They dominated the game completely and could have even scored at least two goals within that period but then the single error were decisive. Most times, it need just a single mistake to ruin everything in a match and no any attempts to correct the mistake would be successful.

As it stand, Bologna is 90% close to elimination from this competition but whatever the outcome maybe in the second leg, they still earn a respect. Aston villa is one of the strong side now in the Premier League and of course one of the favourite team to win this competition this season. It's not surprising to see Bologna losing against them but I was impressed with their performance yesterday night.

[BALIK]

As it stand, Bologna is 90% close to elimination from this competition but whatever the outcome maybe in the second leg, they still earn a respect. Aston villa is one of the strong side now in the Premier League and of course one of the favourite team to win this competition this season. It's not surprising to see Bologna losing against them but I was impressed with their performance yesterday night.

Aston villa's performance has been  erratic for quite some time. So I  avoided betting on Bologna's home match. Now it seems that I  would have benefited if I had bet on villa winning.

Aston villa performed excellently in this match, there is no doubt  about it. Their performance was very organized. Despite very little attacking, Villa's players were able to score  3 goals. Along with 42 % ball possession, they were able to take only 8 shots in total and they could score 3 goals. In addition , they were able to keep their defense strong. Villa's chances of winning the second leg Aston Villa home match are also high.

[Slow death]

Aston Villa easily beat Bologna, and to be honest, I'm not surprised by Aston Villa's victory. This is because, although teams struggling in their domestic leagues often perform well in this competition, sometimes the scenario changes. Bologna has been very inconsistent in Serie A this season, while Aston Villa, despite also not doing very well in the Premier League, is still number 4 and, at least for now, has qualified for the European Champions League.

Meanwhile, Bologna doesn't even have a place in next season's Europa League yet, and I highly doubt they will, as they are far behind the top teams. Even for Conference League qualification, Bologna might not qualify, and the Europa League would be their only chance if they were to win. But with this defeat against Aston Villa,

I have no doubt that Bologna is eliminated. In the second leg, Bologna will lose again at Aston Villa's home ground. I see that Aston Villa can reach the final of this competition and even become champions. If they win this competition, it will be a great achievement for their coach; he has managed to keep the team consistently close to the title contenders in recent years.

[emrecemsan]

When the score became 1-1 in the 13th minute of the Porto vs. Nottingham match, I thought we would see a high-scoring game, but Forest goalkeeper Ortega made some very successful saves, and the match ended 1-1. Perhaps this match score was the surprise of the evening.
I was expecting Porto to win, but they were thwarted by Ortega.
Porto has the squad and football quality to beat Forest in England.
I still see Porto as having a better chance of advancing to the next round.
Porto could even play in the final of this cup.

Porto could be in trouble in the Liga Portugal after some point losses. Maybe the players' mind could be preoccupied with their domestic league rather than the EL.

Otherwise I wouldn't expect Porto to be this bad at finishing at home. They had literally 2.16 xG with so many big chances but wasted them all generously.  

I also think Porto can still advance though. Even Fenerbahçe beat Forest away so Porto can do it easier if they play well.

[Iranus]

I never imagined that Porto will struggle against Nottingham Forest to a draw. Though Nottingham Forest has a remarkable record in European competitions because they once won the then European cup twice which was in 1979 and 1980 respectively, before they went many years without any European title again. Porto disappointed many bettors including me because played Porto to win, Aston Villa to win and Freiburg to win and in another bet i played all 3 matches to score over 2.5 goals but Porto versus Nottingham Forest match only produced 2 goals. With the performance of Nottingham Forest while at away, they are likely to win Porto in the second leg.

I would say Nottingham forest have succeeded. Porto were the favourites in this match. They were in good form. And the match was also  their home match. And we  saw Porto's dominance in this match. They played well, but unfortunately they  could not score more than  one goal. Porto managed to secure the lead in just 11 minutes of the match. But in just  2 minutes , the match was equalised due to a mistake by porto's defender fernandes. And even after  that, porto's players tried their best to score , but we did not see any more goals.

[davis196]

Aston Villa is the obvious favorite for winning the Europa League. Porto's own goal should win the award for most ridiculous own goal in this season of the Europa League. I wasn't expecting Freiburg to win so decisively against Celta Vigo. I've also wasted my time watching Real Betis-Braga. This was a rather boring game to watch. I would bet money on Nottingham Forest eliminating Porto and Betis to eliminate Braga. Aston Villa and Freiburg have done their job and they will play in the semifinals. It kinda sucks that tournaments such as Europa League and the Conference League are less competitive and really boring in comparison to the Champions League.

[RaltcoinsB]

Aston Villa is the obvious favorite for winning the Europa League. Porto's own goal should win the award for most ridiculous own goal in this season of the Europa League. I wasn't expecting Freiburg to win so decisively against Celta Vigo. I've also wasted my time watching Real Betis-Braga. This was a rather boring game to watch. I would bet money on Nottingham Forest eliminating Porto and Betis to eliminate Braga. Aston Villa and Freiburg have done their job and they will play in the semifinals. It kinda sucks that tournaments such as Europa League and the Conference League are less competitive and really boring in comparison to the Champions League.

I'm not sure about Porto because they missed a lot of important opportunities. If they had converted most of those chances, they would have easily won this match. Don't let the low score fool you, it was a really good game. I especially liked Porto's performance. The players need to play better in the second leg in England. We, as Fenerbahçe, won away but were eliminated by Forest because we lost at home in the first leg. Porto could do something similar.

[Stormisover]

When the score became 1-1 in the 13th minute of the Porto vs. Nottingham match, I thought we would see a high-scoring game, but Forest goalkeeper Ortega made some very successful saves, and the match ended 1-1. Perhaps this match score was the surprise of the evening.
I was expecting Porto to win, but they were thwarted by Ortega.
Porto has the squad and football quality to beat Forest in England.
I still see Porto as having a better chance of advancing to the next round.
Porto could even play in the final of this cup.

What really amazed me most is how Nottingham Forest could be that awful in the English premier league and became a world class in the Europa league it still surprise me, and trust me for Nottingham Forest to hold FC Porto to draw in their home is a clear sign to me that Nottingham Forest is advancing to the next round of the tournament, trust me they are beating FC Porto in the returning leg, and if by chance they made it to the semi final then i must say they are proceeding to the final because i see FC Porto as the most challenging match they are having now.

[letteredhub]

Some how the dynamics are beginning to change a little bit, prior to this time it was between the English and Spanish teams to decide who's going to dominate the competition but now we're seeing a bit of a shift because the French and Germans have also gotten involved, though there's only one German and a French team left yet, they both seem to be very dugged concerning ambition towards their intentions for the completion, and this also applies to all other UEFA competitions.

You made a valid claim, at some point in the past years it has always been the English and Spanish teams who are very active in the Champions League, and they’re both of the teams that usually goes far in the Competition, German teams have always been involved most especially the likes of Bayern and Dortmund have always been involved, and also Italian teams have also been involved but the likes of the French team have always been left out in the Champions League Knockout stages, but now Paris-Saint-German have been doing a due diligence for French Teams who have also been playing very well in the past years and also winning the Competition last year, which they’re a defending Champions.

Aside the French league1 teams that has being slacking from getting far in the UCL competition the other leagues teams like the Germans bundesliga, EPL, Spanish La'liga and Serie A (except for this particular season for Italy), they all had been top class in the UCL. I like what PSG is doing and I would like to see more of their counterparts in their league joining to an impressive stage in the competition, even if it's the semi finals stage, and not actually having to win the title as did PSG. All that would raise the level of the league in European leagues ranking.

Some how the dynamics are beginning to change a little bit, prior to this time it was between the English and Spanish teams to decide who's going to dominate the competition but now we're seeing a bit of a shift because the French and Germans have also gotten involved, though there's only one German and a French team left yet, they both seem to be very dugged concerning ambition towards their intentions for the completion, and this also applies to all other UEFA competitions.

England placed two of their teams here, namely Aston Villa and Nottm Forest. Of the two English teams, Aston Villa has a good chance of being able to expect more and in the match vs Bologna which will kick off, I choose that Aston Villa can get something that many Villa supporters want.

In yesterday's game against Bologna the English side Aston villa managed to claim all the three points in a 1:3 slide victory thereby increasing their chances towards the next stage of the competition meanwhile Nottingham forest dropped point in their 1:1 draw with Porto but may likely take advantage of the home hosting in the second leg to move to the next stage to still maintain themselves as the only two English teams in the competition.

[MK-74]

Porto vs Nottingham Forest match started very quickly, but there were no more goals afterward.
We saw 2 goals in the first 15 minutes and although there were more goals later, they were disallowed, and the match ended 1–1.

Freiburg clearly defeated Celta Vigo 3–0 at home and took a big step toward the semi finals. I think next week will be an easy match for them.

Aston Villa returned from their away match against Bologna with a very good result, winning 3–1.
They will play at home next week and are expected to reach the semi finals.

[Solodoski]

What really amazed me most is how Nottingham Forest could be that awful in the English premier league and became a world class in the Europa league it still surprise me, and trust me for Nottingham Forest to hold FC Porto to draw in their home is a clear sign to me that Nottingham Forest is advancing to the next round of the tournament, trust me they are beating FC Porto in the returning leg, and if by chance they made it to the semi final then i must say they are proceeding to the final because i see FC Porto as the most challenging match they are having now.

Nottingham Forest did not score a goal yesterday, they are not world class in my own opinion. A world class team is a team that will dominate the game with a flawless win at the end. A world class team will not be participating in the conference league and still cannot win FC Porto after Porto helped them to equalize. You don't know the meaning of world class, or you did not watch Nottingham Forest play yesterday. In the returning leg, Porto can still win Nottingham Forest. Nottingham Forest have an average record at home.

[Xyloo]

When the score became 1-1 in the 13th minute of the Porto vs. Nottingham match, I thought we would see a high-scoring game, but Forest goalkeeper Ortega made some very successful saves, and the match ended 1-1. Perhaps this match score was the surprise of the evening.
I was expecting Porto to win, but they were thwarted by Ortega.
Porto has the squad and football quality to beat Forest in England.
I still see Porto as having a better chance of advancing to the next round.
Porto could even play in the final of this cup.

What really amazed me most is how Nottingham Forest could be that awful in the English premier league and became a world class in the Europa league it still surprise me, and trust me for Nottingham Forest to hold FC Porto to draw in their home is a clear sign to me that Nottingham Forest is advancing to the next round of the tournament, trust me they are beating FC Porto in the returning leg, and if by chance they made it to the semi final then i must say they are proceeding to the final because i see FC Porto as the most challenging match they are having now.

Porto is one of the strongest teams in this competition outside of the Premier League. If Nottingham eliminates them, they could go all the way to the final on the road to the championship. Aston Villa also won their first match away against Bologna, and it's highly likely that Premier League teams will once again reach the semi-finals. The biggest reason why Premier League teams play so well in this competition is the difference in quality between them and other teams. A team that isn't very good in the Premier League can even reach the semi-finals here. Last year, the two Premier League teams in the final were fighting to avoid relegation in the Premier League.

[Unsoldier]

Aston Villa were incredibly lucky to win. Bologna attacked more and created plenty of chances, but the ball simply refused to go into Martinez's net. The English side was saved by the post or the crossbar several times. But if you do not take your chances, your opponent will, which is exactly what the Villans demonstrated. I do not know how they did it, but Villa converted almost all of their scoring opportunities, and the final goal came out of nowhere. I guess it is some kind of Unai Emery magic in the Europa League.

[Roseline492]

What really amazed me most is how Nottingham Forest could be that awful in the English premier league and became a world class in the Europa league it still surprise me, and trust me for Nottingham Forest to hold FC Porto to draw in their home is a clear sign to me that Nottingham Forest is advancing to the next round of the tournament, trust me they are beating FC Porto in the returning leg, and if by chance they made it to the semi final then i must say they are proceeding to the final because i see FC Porto as the most challenging match they are having now.

Even if Nottingham Forest cannot go with any trophy but don't see them small except you no that all the strong people they have will not be on the match otherwise just expect anything from them because they can go beyond how you expect them or less, i was use to not expecting good from them and whenever I want to bet I always love it when is against them but few times I lost a bet because of them and it wasn't even a weak team I bet against them, they have draw Arsenal also draw Manchester City so it makes them a team that imposed force when is not expected so actually FC Porto is not an exemption for them  as it was a draw they also had.

[Hvdv]

Aston Villa were incredibly lucky to win. Bologna attacked more and created plenty of chances, but the ball simply refused to go into Martinez's net. The English side was saved by the post or the crossbar several times. But if you do not take your chances, your opponent will, which is exactly what the Villans demonstrated. I do not know how they did it, but Villa converted almost all of their scoring opportunities, and the final goal came out of nowhere. I guess it is some kind of Unai Emery magic in the Europa League.

Looking at the statistics, Bologna took 19 shots and only converted one into a goal. Aston Villa, on the other hand, scored three goals from eight shots. This is a great achievement, and goal-scoring percentage is what makes a team a great team. I remember many of Aston Villa's matches this year in the Europa League; they didn't play well, but they capitalized on their opportunities and scored goals. I think they will maintain this advantage in England and reach the semi-finals.

[kriminall]

Freiburg comfortably beat Celta Vigo in Germany. They scored three goals and gained a huge advantage for the return leg. Celta Vigo had no impact on the game and had no choice but to lose. They only managed four shots throughout the match. I didn't expect them to play so ineffectively in Germany. I thought they would at least score a goal, but they struggled even to create chances.