Is Europa a major trophy?

i want the winner of it to get a CL spot the next season, thats a better reward for the winner methink

im obliged to say it is, until we find our way back to the CL

I find it funny that people just want to write off the Europa League as some second rate tournament. Some of you have no clue how hard it is to win any tournament let alone one with some of the best teams from leagues around Europe.

Europa League exposes teams to different styles of play and takes them out of there comfort zone that they have in there FA Cup's or Copa Del Rey's etc where they play the same teams they have been playing for 100 years.

IT is so much harder to win the Europe league then a domestic cup it's not even funny and for teams who say there team doesn't take it seriously it's funny how that's always after there team or league member gets knocked out.

They also totally forget how they play a lesser starting 11 in there domestic cups as well and play way worse teams in those domestic cups as in the FA and Copa Del Rey you can play teams in lower divisions FFS.

At the start of Europe League we heard how great Stoke were because they were thrashing teams or how great of a manager Roy Hodgson was for bringing Fulham to the brink of winning it etc etc and then when random EPL, La Liga, Serie A fan's teams or league members get knocked out it turns into a shitty tournament that doesn't mean much.

Did you see SAF's face when they were getting there ass handed to them? IT sure looked like he cared, did you see half of Bilbao's team crying after they lost, I think they cared as well.

You can have a team like United or Inter or Ranger's and Celtic win there domestic leagues over and over again but put them in this tournament and there liable to get embarrassed because they set there teams up to win there domestic leagues which is smart but this tournament shows if there strong enough to handle different styles and tactics and tests how deep there team is.

I mean for those of you saying it's a second rate tournament take a look at what you have to go through to win it. I mean really Look at these teams and tell me this is a walk in the park and the FA or Carling or Copa Del REy are easier to win or more prestigious.

Man United/ Athletic Bilbao
Man City/ Atletico Madrid
Valencia/ Shalke
Sevilla/ Hannover
PSG/ Fulham
Lazio/ Stoke City
Roma/ Palermo
Ajax/ Udinese
PSV/ Dynamo Kyiv
Porto/ Sporting CP
Braga/ Olympiakios
Tottenham/ Panathinaikos
Celtic/ Besiktas
Rangers/

Not to mention an bunch of other teams who people are not very familiar with.

LOOK AT THESE TEAMS. This is a hard tournament to win. I'm a Barca fan and I couldn't sit here and tell you we would cruise through this competition. These are great teams in here and people have this elite complex that there team are just better then these teams or there leagues don't have to bother playing teams from Portugal etc because there beneath them or there league sucks etc.

Sorry for the long post, it just really bothers me the elite complex people have in football. The Europa League is a great trophy to win way better then any domestic cup or super league or one off tournament.

Congrats to Atletico they earned it.

Idrisozet wrote:

Lord Hades wrote:winning it is not as easy as it looks


bayern munich, juventus, man united, man city werent bad squads when they were participating in the tournament, none of them reached the finals..

very entertaining tournament and credit to these teams i guess

Bayern Munich 2006 was a bad squad...

i meant bayern in 08 when you faced getafe and got knocked out zenit

Neutral wrote:

animal.crackers wrote:

Crimson wrote:I think it is a major trophy

You have teams like Man City, Utd, Dortmund, Pool etc etcd who have all been unsuccessful in Europa in recent years.

In European football I would put it behind winning your league and the UCL but ahead of everything else imo

Honestly, City didn't give a shit about this. We played weakened lineups and still were never outclassed. We went out because of away goals rule (aggregate was the same)...and I'm *bleep* glad we went out. It would have been to distracting on the league.

Man Utd on the other hand were serially outplayed.

http://www.goal.com/en-gb/match/77149/sporting-cp-vs-manchester-city-fc/report

http://www.goal.com/en-gb/match/77149/sporting-cp-vs-manchester-city-fc/report

those are weakened line ups yeah right. whenever a "top team" gets knocked out it always seems to be because they "weren't trying" or played a weaker line up. just excuses.

anyway it would be more prestigious if fans of the big bandwagon clubs didn't insult it so much.

ways to improve improve it would be change the name back. srs uefa cup sounded so much better. a name that has history to it. this tournament once was prestigious. also dont let the third team in the group stages participate in it. thats what really gives it the losers trophy look. lastly give the winner a champions league spot, at least in the qualifying rounds.

Yes, those were weakened lineups. Or squad truly isn't as great as people like to think it is.

In the first game:
-No Yaya Toure
-No Kompany
-Kolarov played (AWFUL defensively)
-Clichy on the right (WTF?)
-Milner (no creative product)
-Silva (playing injured)
-Dzeko (can't control a ball)
-De Jong (no offensive output)

Despite this, we still bossed the game, but its difficult to create many chances when the other team has 10 players behind the ball and are defending with DESIRE (Sporting really wanted to win).

Their goal came from a set piece error.


In the second game:
-We won (but aggregate was 3-3 and they had the away goal)
- We dominated and their goal came from a free kick.
- Their other goal came because our defender slipped on the wet surface, allowing him to get a free pass into the box.

Believe you me, with our strongest lineup, I am confident we would beat Sporting nearly every time.

To me it's a Mickey Mouse Cup tbh. Winning Europa League is like being crowned the smartest student in a class full of retards.

Spoiler:

your defensive errors cost you the game, and thats the reality of it

you cant say you would beat them unless you did lol

Lord Hades wrote:you cant say you would beat them unless you did lol

We did...

animal.crackers wrote:

Lord Hades wrote:you cant say you would beat them unless you did lol

We did...

you know what i meant lol

Lord Hades wrote:

animal.crackers wrote:

Lord Hades wrote:you cant say you would beat them unless you did lol

We did...

you know what i meant lol

No. No, I don't.

Dat deception

VivaStPauli wrote:

Idrisozet wrote:Bayern Munich 2006 was a bad squad...

Still better than Hannover or Schalke this year, though.

I'm doing a 180 on my previous statement, I just looked up the 2006 Bayern squad because of something else, and holy crap now I remember how shit German football was a couple years ago, how did we ever get to the WC Semis?

Argentina

To be honest it was a really good German team with a blend of youth and experience.

The problem is when you get to the quarterfinals.... you usually end up with good, but no great teams. It's just as tough as any tournament before that. This year was an exception with City and Man U flopping in CL pool play. Wound up flopping in the quarters of Europa too lol. But that is because a few starters are rested and nobody at those top clubs really gives a hoot about a Europa results.

My point is that it's tough to get to the final 8. But after that, it's easier than League, CL or cup competitions because you almost never get elite teams there.

Also, i know at least for the Italian teams and PSG... only half the regulars were played in Europa. The clubs actually don't mind early elimination because the league is considered much more important and they don't want to tire the players out on a second rate competition. Every team view the competition differently obviously.

Well, the thing is: money.

For all serious clubs with a shot at UCL action, that's the main and best source of income. Winning the EL doesn't give you a UCL spot. Winning the UCL and placing high in the league does.

So going for a league win, or going deep in UCL just gives you far more money ,which buys you players, which makes you go deep again next year.

Of course it's a major trophy. Seeing as if you win you have a game against the winners of the Champions League.

So if this isn't a considered a major trophy then the UEFA Supercup isn't a major trophy.

UEFA supercup is not a major trophy imo actually...

I think there are only two trophies that are elite: Domestic league and CL.

After that, you have: Cup, EL, CWC.

The third tier is: Domestic supercup and UEFA supercup.

I think winning EL is tougher than winning Domestic cup for midtable teams.

I agree Adit, also the reason most teams dont bother is Money.......

For example, we are going to get more money for finishing 5th than we would for winning the Europa League

Also you get more for finishing 4th in the CL group stage than you do for winning the EL

Uefa need to sort it out, because thats the only way teams will take it serious again.....

I don't think we are trying to say that it isn't difficult to win, we are just saying that most big clubs don't consider it prestigious. It is the Carling Cup of European football, which is fitting that you get a Europa spot for winning the Carling Cup.