The 19/20 Europa League Thread

[McLewis]

I'll openly admit that Roma returning to this competition has naturally drawn my interest back to it.

Group Stage Draw:

Group A - Sevilla, APOEL, Qarabag, Dudelange

Group B - Dynamo Kyiv, Copenhagen, Malmo, Lugano

Group C - Basel, Getafe, Trabzonspor, Krasnodar

Group D - Sporting CP, Rosenborg, PSV, LASK

Group E - Lazio, Celtic, Rennes, Cluj

Group F - Arsenal, Frankfurt, Standard Liege, Vitoria

Group G - Porto, Young Boys, Feyenoord, Rangers

Group H - CSKA, Ludogerets, Espanyol, Ferencvaros

Group I - Wolfsburg, Gent, St. Etienne, Oleksandriya

Group J - Roma, BMG, Wolfsberg, Basaksehir

Group K - Beskitas, Braga, Wolves, Slovan Bratislava

Group L - Man United, Partizan, Astana, AZ Alkmaar

[Firenze]

Best competiton in the world tbh.

[RealGunner]

Best competition easily. Incredible tournament. Love it.

[RealGunner]

Wolves beating Torino home and away.

[Hapless_Hans]

Wolves beating Torino home and away.

@Breva

[Firenze]

Wolves would challenge Juve for the scuddeto, such is the might of the PL. So that's to be expected. One of the three favourites for the EL IMO alongside Man United and Arsenal.

[RealGunner]

Wolves would challenge Juve for the scuddeto, such is the might of the PL. So that's to be expected. One of the three favourites for the EL IMO alongside Man United and Arsenal.

Pretty much mate. They are a CL level club playing in the EL like Arsenal and United.

[El Gunner]

Can't believe we're in this competition again. I don't have huge faith in us winning it mainly because cup competitions can always be so erratic, it just takes one bad match and you're out basically. But hopefully we seal a top four spot in the league this season.

[McLewis]

I don't know about challenging Juve, but they'd probably place in CL places. Their rise is nuts.

[Firenze]

Gotta say though, I genuinely enjoy the EL knockouts (despite the fact that the year we won it, we played a bunch of jobbers) but good lord are the group stages a huge chore. Wish the entire thing were just a straight knockout competition to add some urgency to it. At least in the CL you usually have a couple good teams in each group. Lot of the teams in the EL wouldn't finish top 15 in the major leagues.

[RealGunner]

lol it's a soul sucking experience. One of the worst things in football is EL group stages phase.

Sitting at home on a thursday night watching the lads beat some farmer team in eastern europe...

Worst part is that you can easily make it tot he Semis or the final but lose making it all a shit experience

[El Gunner]

exactly, it's terrible

[Arquitecto]

You friends are quite clearly new to the Europa League.

I had to be brought up upon it since the beginning of its forging. Liverpool in particular (now Milan).

If you feel its bad now do not even speak of it in this early decade where the tranquility of the atmospheres to the general make-shift quantity of it was akin to Hoovervilles of the 1930s. It grew and countless ELs this decade have proven to be more exciting than some CL experiences despite the latter no doubt by far the best football competition in the world.


Yet it built character, akin to what weights do at a gym when you go day in day out and fight against gravity to lift them in proper form. It build appreciation for it. I wish I could find my original EL post here to which I self proclaim sparked the Love for Europa League meme here but the few of us that did love it here then, we adored it and still do.

Give it time, you will appreciate it as the year goes by should you remain in its bittersweet trap. For all it takes away in what could have been, it gives right back in what it is.


Have some respect. (Reported btw [including RG])

[Jay29]

I love how Sevilla are still the number one ranked team on co-efficient.

For them and Arsenal, my only concern for the group stage is travel distance. Arsenal's group was a nightmare last season, with trips to Azerbaijan and Vorskla - except they couldn't even play in Vorskla due to martial law and had to re-direct to Kiev and play in an empty Olympic Stadium in freezing temperatures.

They deserve a nice trip to the Netherlands, France or Germany imo.

[McLewis]

Sevilla deserve to be top honestly. They treat this competition with a lot of respect and have been rewarded for it. I wish Serie A clubs did the same and I hope we see that this season.

I really want Roma to make a concerted effort to win this cup. We have a bonsai tree in our trophy case next to the MLS All Star cup we won 5 years ago ffs. And that's next to the Coppa Italia from 11 years ago and the scudetto from 18 years ago.

The time has come for Roma to stop turning its nose up at this competition. This cup is far more prestigious than anything we've won in the last decade, which is a big fat nothing.

[Nishankly]

This thread is gold

[Nishankly]

United in Group L. I can't breathe : rofl:

[Firenze]

Manchester United face trips to Kazakhstan and Serbia in the Europa League group stages after being drawn against Astana and Partizan while Arsenal will face last season's semi-finalists Eintracht Frankfurt as well as Belgium side Standard Liege.

Fellow Premier League side Wolves will face Turkish giants Besiktas and and Portuguese outfit Braga.

THURSDAY NIGHT HYPE IS BACK FFS

feel like a kid at christmas, time to go scout the Kazakh league

[rincon]

United in Group L. I can't breathe : rofl:

Group L

United
Astana
Partizan
AZ

[Firenze]

Arsenal, Wolves and Roma actually have decent groups for the EL

I'll be watching United on the gL app tbh

[rincon]

a couple of good clashes

Arsenal-Eintracht
Lazio-Celtic
Porto-Feyenoord
Roma-Gladbach
Wolves-Besiktas

[BarcaLearning]

Sorry but cant help but mentioning Man U too, They really are Europa regulars nowadays, as above, playing vs clubs that some have not even heard of, gonna be a regular thing for years to come

[Firenze]

Sorry but cant help but mentioning Man U too, They really are Europa regulars nowadays, as above, playing vs clubs that some have not even heard of, gonna be a regular thing for years to come

We were in the CL quater finals last season you dolt

[McLewis]

Updated 1st post with the full group stage draw.

[McLewis]

Regarding our group. I'm reasonably ok with it, but I think it does hold some hidden peril. BMG are obvious the strongest of our 3 opponents, but I'm not sleeping on Basaksehir. This is the club that produced Cengiz Under. They have talent and playing them away will probably be a tricky fixture.

I know nothing of Wolfsberg (Austrian apparently), but we don't seem to do well against Teutonic sides in general so it wouldn't surprise me if they give us trouble, especially away from home.

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