UEFA European League play-off - what duels to expect




UEFA European League play-off - what duels to expect




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The UEFA Europa League is the second strongest professional club tournament on the continent. The group tournament has ended, which means that the time has come for the decisive battles - the "play-off" stage. Which teams are favorites in the battle for Europe's second most prestigious club trophy, and which pairings are potentially the most compelling for football fans already in the first knockout rounds?

Only "Lazio" stumbles from the "big" in the group tournament

Considering that many teams from Europe's leading leagues often have motivational problems in this tournament, the fact that unexpected results are regularly recorded is also logical.

Sensational evenings - this is a common thing in the Europa League tournament.



This time, from the "big whales" considered according to this level, only the Italian Serie A team Roma "Lazio" remained outside the "play-off". The other favorites have successfully passed the round of group tournaments.

The most interesting situation was in Group F, in which "Lazio" played directly, because all four teams had the same number of points - eight each. It was calculated on the calculator that they did not move any further. Only in groups A, B and E the winners of the first two places were determined prematurely, but in the remaining groups the uncertainty about the "play-off" participants lasted until the final round.

n many groups, the competition was so great that all four teams there claimed to actually advance further before the last round. It should also be noted that none of the 32 teams managed to collect the maximum 18 points in six matches, the best being the "La Liga" team Betis "Real" with 16. You can get acquainted with the overall ranking situation after the group tournament here.

In the first round already a potential final?

UEFA has created a system in which, in order to increase the number of sportingly important matches, teams that do not qualify for the UEFA Champions League play-offs have the opportunity to continue the international season at a lower level in the Europa League. On the other hand, in the Europa League, the winners of the first place in the subgroups provide themselves with one round of rest, because in the first "play-off" round, the second place winners are joined by eight teams from the Champions League.

Thanks to this playing order, fans will be able to watch the duel of the European giants - "Barcelona" against "Manchester United" already in the round of 16. United finished second in their group, while Barca failed to make it out of the UEFA CL group. One thing is clear - such a duel would also be worthy in the Champions League, perhaps even in one of the final rounds, but now it will be seen in the Europa League.

It must be said that the other couples do not promise to be boring for football fans either. For example, Amsterdam Ajax will compete against Berlin Union, which is playing successfully in the German Bundesliga (currently tied for fourth place), Turin Juventus will face off against French Ligue 1 team Nantes, but Bayer Leverkusen promises to be intriguing as well. "AS Monaco" duel. Sevilla vs PSV is also sure to attract a lot of attention. The full list of round of 16 pairings can be viewed here.

Top favorites



According to several sports bookmakers, the main favorite for the title at the moment is the London "Arsenal", which played a good group tournament, ensuring itself to advance in time. The units of "United" and "Barcelona" as well as "Juventus" are also mentioned above. "Ajax" is also among the favorites. As you can see, four of the five teams started the season in the Champions League.

However, it should be borne in mind that the club tournaments organized by UEFA are special in that in the playoffs everything can be decided by one goal, one mistake... An additional factor is that after the round of 16, the teams no longer have any advantages after the results of the group stage - the further pairs are determined by a draw help. Maybe that's why this tournament is so exciting!

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