Europa League just got interesting... CL dropouts

[kaz Hirai]

UEFA bemoan the lack of respect for the competition, yet they themselves make it appear second rate by putting teams that finish 2nd bottom of their CL groups into the knockout stages

yeah they finally made the good and obvious choice of rewarding the winner with a CL place but to still have the losers from that tournament automatically drop into the knockout rounds of the EL is fucking clown shoes to be honest

 

[southlondonyiddo]

Lazio away was a good crack in Rome but been there done that

As said Ajax,Porto or Juve would be good trips

Ajax in the last 32

Benfica in the last 16

Valencia in the Last 8

Lyon in the semis

Porto in the final in Turin

Sorted

 

[jambreck]

yeah they finally made the good and obvious choice of rewarding the winner with a CL place but to still have the losers from that tournament automatically drop into the knockout rounds of the EL is fucking clown shoes to be honest

Yep.

And it's because UEFA were and are gutless - and toothless - when faced with the threat of a breakaway European league.

The Champions League was designed to cater to every will and whim of clubs like Barca, Madrid, Milan, Juve, Man Utd, Liverpool and Bayern - virtually assuring them of qualification every year rather than having to risk the lottery of needing to win their domestic league in order to qualify.

But that wasn't enough for the clubs. They also wanted an assurance that, in the event that any of them failed to progress to the latter stages of the CL, they would still have the opportunity to compete for a European trophy in the second half of the season. UEFA caved in to this demand too and CL third placed teams were henceforward guaranteed a consolation of UEFA Cup / Europa League participation.

Greed was the father and cowardice the mother of this unloved bastard of a competition.

 

[spurs9]

So, below are the Teams that finished bottom 4 of the CL 3rd place teams and the 2nd place teams from the EL group stages, that we could face next round:

Ajax (Holland)
Juve (Italy)
Porto (Portugal)
Viktoria Plzen (Czech)
Odesa (Ukraine)
Esbjerg (Denmark)
Maribor (Slovenia)
Dnipro (Ukraine)
Maccabi (Israel)
Kiev (Ukraine)
Liberec (Czech)
Betis (Spain)
Trabzonspor (Turkey)
AZ (Holland)

 

[spurs9]

Here are the other teams that have qualified all of which we wont face in the next round:

Napoli (Italy)
Benfica (Portugal)
Shakthar (Ukraine)
Basel (Swiss)
Valencia (Spain)
Razgrad (Bulgaria)
Salzburg (Austria)
Rubin (Russia
Fiorentina (Italy)
Frankfurt (Germany)
Genk (Belgium)
Sevilla (Spain)
Lyon (France)
Trabzonspor (Turkey)
PAOK (Greece)
Anzhi (Russia)
Swansea (Wales)

 

[THFCSPURS19]

So, below are the Teams that finished bottom 4 of the CL 3rd place teams and the 2nd place teams from the EL group stages, that we could face next round:

Ajax (Holland)
Juve (Italy)
Porto (Portugal)
Viktoria Plzen (Czech)
Odesa (Ukraine)
Esbjerg (Denmark)
Maribor (Belgium)
Dnipro (Ukraine)
Maccabi (Israel)
Kiev (Ukraine)
Liberec (Czech)
Betis (Spain)
Trabzonspor (Turkey)
AZ (Holland)

As a whole, these teams are easier but some individual teams are much more difficult than the other group of teams. Knowing our luck, we will get one of the top 3

 

[nightgoat]

So, below are the Teams that finished bottom 4 of the CL 3rd place teams and the 2nd place teams from the EL group stages, that we could face next round:

Ajax (Holland)
Juve (Italy)
Porto (Portugal)
Viktoria Plzen (Czech)
Odesa (Ukraine)
Esbjerg (Denmark)
Maribor (Belgium)
Dnipro (Ukraine)
Maccabi (Israel)
Kiev (Ukraine)
Liberec (Czech)
Betis (Spain)
Trabzonspor (Turkey)
AZ (Holland)

AZ would be nice. Betis are bottom of La Liga so would be an OK draw. Would rather not get Ajax, Juve or Porto this early on. Getting the winner of a Genk v Esbjerg tie in the RO16 would be great. As long as we don't have to go to Russia, Ukraine or Israel.

 

[THFC 1882]

Seeded
AZ Alkmaar, FC Basel 1893*, SL Benfica*, Eintracht Frankfurt, ACF Fiorentina, KRC Genk, PFC Ludogorets Razgrad, Olympique Lyonnais, SSC Napoli*, FC Rubin Kazan, FC Salzburg, Sevilla FC, FC Shakhtar Donetsk*, Tottenham Hotspur FC, Trabzonspor AŞ, Valencia CF.

Unseeded
AFC Ajax*, FC Anji Makhachkala, Real Betis Balompié, FC Chornomorets Odesa, FC Dnipro Dnipropetrovsk, FC Dynamo Kyiv, Esbjerg fB, Juventus*, SS Lazio, Maccabi Tel-Aviv FC, NK Maribor, PAOK FC, FC Porto*, FC Slovan Liberec, Swansea City AFC, FC Viktoria Plzeň*.