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Europa League (2018/19) Discussion thread

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Arsenal, Chelsea, Celtic and Rangers will discover their Europa League group stage opponents in Friday's draw.

The draw takes place in Monaco at 12:00 BST.

Arsenal and Chelsea, who both qualified automatically for the group stages, are the highest-ranked sides in the competition behind Sevilla.

Steven Gerrard's Rangers had to come through four rounds of Europa League qualifying, while Celtic lost in the Champions League qualifiers.

Thursday's Champions League draw
Rangers beat Ufa 2-1 on aggregate in Thursday's play-off, with Celtic beating Suduva 4-1 over two legs.

Burnley lost 4-2 on aggregate to Olympiakos to miss out on the group stages.

A total of 48 teams make up the draw, split into 12 groups of four. Clubs from the same nation cannot be drawn together at this stage - although a Scottish and English team could be in the same group.

Teams involved in the draw
Seventeen teams enter at the group stage along with the 21 winners of the play-off round. The six losers of this week's Champions League play-off round also feature in the group draw, as well as four beaten teams in the previous round.

High-profile teams in the draw include Sevilla, AC Milan, Lazio, Marseille, Besiktas, Sporting Lisbon, Zenit St Petersburg and RB Leipzig - who only qualified following a last-minute Emil Forsberg penalty against Zorya Luhansk in the play-off.

Among the smaller teams are F91 Dudelange, the first Luxembourg team to reach the main stages of a European competition since 1995.

Norwegian side Sarpsborg 08 and Turkish Cup winners Akhisar Belediyespor are in Europe for the first time.

The 48 sides are split into four seeding pots based on their club coefficients - a ranking determined by how they have performed in Europe over the past five years - with each of the 12 groups to contain one team from each seeding tier.

Pot 1: ARSENAL, CHELSEA, Sevilla, Zenit St Petersburg, Bayer Leverkusen, Dynamo Kiev, Besiktas, Red Bull Salzburg, Olympiakos, Villarreal, Anderlecht, Lazio

Pot 2: CELTIC, Sporting Lisbon, Ludogorets Razgrad, Copenhagen, Marseille, PAOK, AC Milan, Genk, Fenerbahce, Krasnodar, Astana, Rapid Vienna

Pot 3: Real Betis, Qarabag, BATE Borisov, Dinamo Zagreb, RB Leipzig, Eintracht Frankfurt, Malmo, Spartak Moscow, Standard Liege, FC Zurich, Bordeaux, Rennes

Pot 4: RANGERS, Apollon Limassol, Rosenborg, Vorskla Poltava, Slavia Prague, Akhisarspor, Jablonec, AEK Larnaca, MOL Vidi, F91 Dudelange, Spartak Trnava, Sarpsborg

How might the UK teams fare?
Arsenal and Chelsea have the second and third-highest coefficients in the tournament.

Chelsea will play in the Europa League for the first time since winning it in 2013.

Arsenal reached the semi-finals last season before losing to eventual winners Atletico Madrid.

Gunners boss Unai Emery won the tournament three times in a row with Sevilla, in 2014, 2015 and 2016.

Rangers are in the group stage of a European competition for the first time since 2010-11 - which was the last season Celtic did not reach the groups of either the Champions or Europa League.

When does the football start?
The first Europa League group-stage games take place on 20 September, with clubs playing the last of their six matches on 13 December.

The knockout rounds begin in February and the final will be held at the Olympic Stadium in Baku, Azerbaijan, on 29 May.

https://www.bbc.com/sport/football/45315488
 
Dl7QDplWsAE_0ID.jpg
 
Sevilla 5 1 winners over Standard Liege

Chelsea 1 0 away win at PAOK

Rangers good draw 2-2 away at Villarreal
 
Arsenal and Chelsea both through to the last 16.
 
Rangers eliminated from the tournament. Celtic go through....but just!
 
Rangers have been fined £14,000 and warned after a series of incidents in their Europa League ties with Villarreal and Spartak Moscow.

Rangers were fined by Uefa after "field invasions by supporters" and "throwing of objects" during the 0-0 draw with Villarreal at Ibrox last month.

Manager Steven Gerrard was also given a warning after the 4-3 defeat away to Spartak kicked off late.

Spartak were fined £24,000 for a range of incidents.

Uefa's control, ethics and disciplinary body had charged the Russian club for "throwing of objects", "setting off of fireworks" and having "stairways blocked".

However, disciplinary proceedings were closed against coach Oleg Kononov for the late kick-off.

Rangers were knocked out of the Europa League on Thursday after losing 1-0 away to Rapid Vienna, finishing third in their group.



https://www.bbc.com/sport/football/46571317
 
Arsenal booked their place in the last 16 of the Europa League with a comfortable second-leg victory over Bate Borisov at the Emirates.

Trailing 1-0 from the first leg, they scored inside four minutes when Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang's cross was turned in by Bate defender Zakhar Volkov.

Centre-back Shkodran Mustafi made it 2-0 before the break with a powerful header from Granit Xhaka's corner.

Substitute Sokratis Papastathopoulos headed in the third goal after an hour.

After a disappointing performance in losing the first leg in Belarus, Arsenal needed to score at least twice to go through.

Bate were denied an equaliser just four minutes after Arsenal had taken the lead when Stephan Lichtsteiner slid in to make a goalline clearance from Stanislav Dragun's header.

The visitors also came close when Maksim Skavysh hit the side-netting in the first half but Arsenal had the best chances through Alex Iwobi, Xhaka and Aubameyang.

https://www.bbc.com/sport/football/47303991
 
I think Arsenal and Chelsea should take this tournament v seriously as winning it will get you CL the next season. And the race for the top 4 is very tight.
 
Ten-man Arsenal suffered their first away defeat by a French club in European competition in the first leg of their Europa League last-16 tie at Rennes.

The Gunners appeared to be cruising when Alex Iwobi's early cross from the left drifted past home goalkeeper Tomas Koubek, into the right corner.

But Benjamin Bourigeaud's stunning strike, which flew into the top right corner, levelled matters immediately after Sokratis Papastathopoulos' dismissal for a second booking.

Unai Emery's side fell behind when Nacho Monreal deflected Mehdi Zeffane's cross from the right past his own goalkeeper Petr Cech.

And Ismaila Sarr's diving header in the closing stages compounded a miserable evening for Arsenal.

However, it was no more than the hosts deserved as they capitalised on their man advantage to bombard the visiting goal after the break.

Arsenal will now hope to repeat their heroics from the last-32 stage, where they overturned a 1-0 first-leg deficit against Belarus side Bate Borisov to progress with a 3-0 home victory.

Capture.JPG

https://www.bbc.com/sport/football/47474042
 
I am expecting an Arsenal - CFC Final.... and 5 EPL teams in next years CL.
 
Arsenal's Europa League quarter-final tie with Napoli is "still 50-50" according to Gunners boss Unai Emery, despite his side winning the first leg 2-0 at Emirates Stadium.

Aaron Ramsey converted Ainsley Maitland-Niles' pass to finish off a good team move and give the hosts the lead.

Kalidou Koulibaly then scored an own goal when he deflected Lucas Torreira's shot past goalkeeper Alex Meret.

The impressive Meret stopped the Gunners winning by more.

Napoli, who are second in Serie A, host the Gunners in the second leg next Thursday at the San Paolo Stadium (20:00 BST).

"The first leg was very important to take a good result," said Emery. "We deserved to win, but we know it is going to be very difficult there.

"Their performances at home are usually very strong. We will plan to win the match, but we need to have a lot of respect for them. It is still 50-50. Our challenge is to be competitive away. Sometimes away we lose the spirit we have at home."

Napoli boss Carlo Ancelotti said he is still "confident" of progressing to the last four.

"The result is difficult to change but we have 90 minutes left," the Italian said.

Chelsea suffer before Alonso's late winner
Benfica's Felix becomes youngest player to score Europa League hat-trick
Could Gunners regret lack of killer touch?
The only downside of an impressive Arsenal performance is that they did not win by more than two goals to kill the tie off.

Ramsey, who is joining Napoli's Serie A rivals Juventus on a free transfer at the end of the season, had a good game and opened the scoring.

A flowing team move from the halfway line involving Mesut Ozil and Alexandre Lacazette resulted in Ramsey slotting home Maitland-Niles' flicked pass from six yards.

Torreira helped double their lead when he won the ball off Fabian Ruiz and cut inside the midfielder before hammering in a 20-yard shot which deflected off Koulibaly and was later given as an own goal.

Wales midfielder Ramsey had another two good shots saved by Meret - who also denied Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang three times.

Aubameyang was back in the starting line-up after recovering from an illness which has meant he can only be a substitute in recent games.

The Gunners continued to push for a third goal after the break and Maitland-Niles' shot on the bounce was expertly tipped over the bar by Italy Under-21 international Meret - before Ramsey smashed an effort over from 12 yards.

Arsenal boss Emery, who won the tournament three years in a row as Sevilla boss, will hope their dominance at Emirates Stadium is enough to take them into the semi-finals, where they would face Villarreal or Valencia.

Another bonus of winning the tournament would be a place in next season's Champions League, with the Gunners currently outside the Premier League's top four by one point.

Napoli fortunate to stay in tie
Napoli coach Ancelotti has won the Champions League three times, twice with AC Milan and once with Real Madrid, but has never won Europe's second competition.

He is lucky his side, the 1989 Uefa Cup winners, still have a chance after a lacklustre display in north London.

They had two efforts on target, a Koulibaly header and low 20-yard strike from substitute Adam Ounas, both saved by veteran Petr Cech.

However, unlike Arsenal, they do not need to win the Europa League to give them a Champions League safety net, as they sit comfortably second in the Italian league.

"The first half we were really bad. We weren't brave enough to control the game as we wanted," Ancelotti said.

"In the second half we showed we create chances. It will be a different environment with our home crowd behind us. I'm confident."

Man of the match - Aaron Ramsey (Arsenal)
Aaron Ramsey waving to the crowd
Arsenal will miss him when he is gone - Aaron Ramsey played more passes than any of his team-mates and tried five shots
Match stats - Gunners make it eight home wins in row
Arsenal have lost just once in their past 18 home games in the Uefa Cup/Europa League (W13 D4).
Napoli have never beaten an English side away from home (D1 L8).
Arsenal have won their past eight home games, their longest run since October 2017 (13 games).
Napoli had just two shots on target, their lowest total in a game in any competition this season.
Manchester City (seven) are the only Premier League side this season to benefit from more own goals in all competitions than Arsenal (six).
Since the start of last season, Aaron Ramsey has been directly involved in eight goals in the Europa League (six goals, two assists), more than any other Arsenal player.
Ainsley Maitland-Niles has had a hand in two goals in his past three games for Arsenal at the Emirates (one goal, one assist), after managing none in his previous 27.
What's next?
Arsenal's next game is a Premier League trip to Watford on Monday at 20:00. Three days later they visit Naples for the second leg of this tie.

Napoli visit Serie A's bottom side Chievo, who have won one league game all season, on Sunday (17:00).

https://www.bbc.com/sport/football/47885988
 
Arsenal must now concentrate on this trophy!
 
FT in both games

Arsenal 3-1 Valencia
Frankfurt 1-1 Chelsea
 
Picture from last night's game at the Emirates

56d18e38-0b5b-4363-b88f-b5dbbd6c1577.jpg

cfe8a5c6-6c58-4725-86c9-46df268ea056.jpg
 
An alll English final would only ease the pain of EPL teams UCL heartbreak

Arsenal/Chelsea to take revenge from Barcelona in USC :))
 
1-1 is a good result away from home, I'm praying at this point that those misses are not going to hurt us in the long run.
 
Arsenal manager Unai Emery has won the Europa League three times before - with Sevilla in 2014, 2015 and 2016.

"It's an attractive title and it's getting more attractive," said the Spaniard, who has also managed tonight's opponents.

"I first competed for this title when it was still the Uefa Cup and was a lesser title than it is now.

"It has grown and I have seen that shift. Giving teams a Champions League place through the Europa League is a fair reward and it's a title they all want to win.

"It's an important title for those teams not in the Champions League - and for some who drop into it as a second chance, like Valencia did this season."

https://www.bbc.com/sport/live/football/45686112
 
Chelsea is all but through - they need 0-0 to avoid shot out at bridge. Arsenal has a little difficulty to avoid losing 0-2 at Ramon-Sanchez, quite such intimidating place. I think, Arsenal will need to score today, otherwise Seville will score 2 against Arsenal defence.

If these two advance today, we might see as many as 9 English clubs in Europe next year. Could have been 11 with 2 cup ties, but MCity should win the FA cup over Watford. If these two advance, then MU probably is going to CL also as 6th English team from 6th on the table (or they’ll be in Europa) Wolves, Everton & Leicester makes the 9!!!!
 
Chelsea & Arsenal aim to set up all-English Europa League final

Latest: Valencia 1-2 Arsenal (2-5 agg)
Aubameyang & Lacazette as Gunners come from behind

Latest: Chelsea 1-1 Eintracht Frankfurt (2-2 agg)
Loftus-Cheek scores, Jovic equalises

Tournament winners get Champions League place
Last all-English final in Uefa Cup/Europa League was 1972
 
Valencia 2-3 Arsenal (3-6 agg)

Aubameyang double & Lacazette for Gunners - hosts need four more

Latest: Chelsea 1-1 Eintracht Frankfurt (2-2 agg)
 
Latest: Chelsea 1-1 Eintracht Frankfurt (2-2 agg) - EXTRA TIME now
Loftus-Cheek scores, Jovic equalises

Result: Valencia 2-4 Arsenal (3-7 agg) - Gunners into final
Aubameyang hat-trick & Lacazette for Gunners
 
Chelsea and Arsenal complete the EPL final's line up. Just imagine how the Manchester clubs must be feeling!!:))):)))
 
Eden Hazard scored the winning penalty as Chelsea edged past Eintracht Frankfurt 4-3 on penalties to set up an all-English Europa League final against Arsenal.

Hazard, who could have played his final game for the Blues at Stamford Bridge, converted after Chelsea goalkeeper Kepa Arrizabalaga had saved from both Martin Hinteregger and Goncalo Paciencia.

Chelsea will now meet Arsenal in the final in Baku on 29 May and the result means both the Champions League and Europa League final will be played between English clubs this season - the first time all four finalists in Europe's top two competitions have come from one nation.

With the score 1-1 after the first leg, Chelsea took the lead in the second when Ruben Loftus-Cheek coolly stroked into the far corner in the 28th minute, but the night was far from straight-forward.

Frankfurt levelled the tie four minutes after half-time when Luka Jovic slotted past Arrizabalaga after being played in by Mijat Gacinovic.

Jovic's goal punished Chelsea for a sloppy start to the second half and the Blues continued to be wasteful as Stamford Bridge became increasingly restless.

In extra time the Germans twice had efforts cleared off the line with David Luiz first denying Sebastian Haller and then Davide Zappacosta clearing Haller again at a corner.

Chelsea thought they had won it late in extra time but Cesar Azpilicueta, who later missed first in the penalty shootout, had a goal ruled out when the referee deemed he had bundled the ball out of Frankfurt keeper Kevin Trapp's hands.

Aubameyang scores hat-trick as Arsenal reach final

The shootout was Chelsea's first since they lost the Carabao Cup final to Manchester City on penalties in February.

That game was overshadowed by Arrizabalaga's refusal to be substituted - manager Maurizio Sarri wanted to bring on substitute goalkeeper Willy Caballero for the shootout - but at Stamford Bridge the Spaniard proved to be the hero.

After Azpilicueta missed first, Arrizabalaga remarkably kept out Eintracht's fourth penalty by trapping the ball under his shin as he stood still when Hinteregger went for power and then dived low to his right to palm away the visitors' fifth.

That left Hazard with the opportunity to complete the win and the Belgian delivered - sending Trapp the wrong way, tucking the ball into the corner.

Hazard has been strongly linked with a move to Real Madrid this summer and if he does depart the game will be his final at Stamford Bridge after seven years at the club.

There were no waves to the crowd or clear indications he will leave in the summer and when asked whether the final would be his last game for the club he said "in my mind I do not know yet".

If he does leave in the summer it would be a fitting way for him to finish in west London.

Sarri to end difficult season on a high?
The win also means Chelsea have a final chance to earn silverware in Sarri's first season in charge.

Like the campaign as a whole, the night was far from smooth for the Italian and had difficult moments.

He become increasingly frantic on the touchline as his side lost control of the game in the second half and his decision to remove goal scorer Loftus-Cheek when bringing on Ross Barkley late on was loudly booed by the Chelsea fans.

But for all of the season's problems, including the Arrizabalaga affair and protests from fans against his style of play, Chelsea are quietly achieving their pre-season aims at the end of the season.

Last weekend they secured a top four finish and Champions League qualification through their league position and are now into their first European final since winning the Europa League in 2013.

Luka Jovic is the joint top scorer in the Europa League this season alongside Chelsea's Olivier Giroud with 10 goals
Had either of their efforts cleared off the line in extra time gone in, it would have been hard to argue Eintracht Frankfurt were not worthy finalists.

Over the two legs the German side, fancied by few at the start of the competition, had opportunities to seal a first European final since 1980.

Rather than sitting back after Jovic's equaliser - the highly sought after 21-year-old's 10th Europa League goal of the season - they continued to attack Chelsea in the second half and the tension around Stamford Bridge was clear.

Substitute Haller should have scored his first chance in extra time but failed to make proper contact with his volley, kicking the ball into the ground with his studs rather than side-footing into the net, and that allowed Luiz to clear.

The visitors were roared on by their vocal travelling support, some of whom were in tears at the end of the penalty shootout.

Despite the disappointment those fans chanted in support of their team long after the final whistle as the players and backroom staff emotionally came together and linked arms in front of the away end.

Speaking to BT Sport, Chelsea boss Maurizio Sarri said: "I think we played a very good first half and then we got into trouble after the break. We conceded a goal in 10 minutes of panic.

"We were better in the last part of the match but we were tired in extra time and it was difficult.

"We started with three injuries and picked up two more during the match after we lost Andreas Christensen and Ruben Loftus-Cheek, so it wasn't easy but we are now in the final."

https://www.bbc.com/sport/football/48171995
 
MMHS said:
Chelsea is all but through - they need 0-0 to avoid shot out at bridge. Arsenal has a little difficulty to avoid losing 0-2 at Ramon-Sanchez, quite such intimidating place. I think, Arsenal will need to score today, otherwise Seville will score 2 against Arsenal defence.

If these two advance today, we might see as many as 9 English clubs in Europe next year. Could have been 11 with 2 cup ties, but MCity should win the FA cup over Watford. If these two advance, then MU probably is going to CL also as 6th English team from 6th on the table (or they’ll be in Europa) Wolves, Everton & Leicester makes the 9!!!!
Click to expand...


If Arsenal win the Europa league, 5 teams in CL.

If Watford win the FA cup they , United ,and 7th place will be in the Europa league. Obviously if Arsenal lose the final they will be in Europa league. Under no circumstances will there b 9 English teams in Europe lol.
 
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