A search for the UEFA Europa trophy continues as teams who dropped out from the ongoing UEFA Champions League have an opportunity to still fight for
A search for the UEFA Europa trophy continues as teams who dropped out from the ongoing UEFA Champions League have an opportunity to still fight for a European trophy.
Barcelona dropped into the UEFA Europa League from the UEFA Champions League for a second consecutive season after finishing third in Group C behind Bayern Munich and Inter Milan. The Catalan side has since put that disappointment behind them by stitching together a 16-game unbeaten competitive run with 15 Wins and a Draw that landed them the Supercopa de Espana title and an 11-point lead in La Liga after last weekend.
Spotify Camp Nou is probably the best place for Barcelona to begin this two-legged tie, having lost just twice against English clubs in UEFA competitive home games winning 22 and Drawing 11 of them. Their backline could be the one leading the charge for another positive result, after they conceded a meagre eight goals from 14 home matches this season, albeit with seven coming in Europe.
United missed out on topping UEFA Europa League Group E by a goal difference to Real Sociedad, and complicating matters is the suspension of defensive lynchpin Lisandro Martínez for this opening leg.
However, this could have crippled United teams of the recent past, but manager Erik ten Hag has drilled his side into a competitive unit that is now third in the Premier League and has lost just once across 17 competitive matches with 14 Wins and 2 Draws whilst managing eight clean sheets along the way.
The Red Devils are on a five-match winning run in Europe and could post six such victories in a row for the first time since 1965/66. That should spur the visitors who have been troubled by Spanish teams in the past, having not only lost four straight UEFA Champions League games against Barcelona but also witnessing their last five European campaigns end at the hands of the Spanish club while Barcelona have won just two of their last 11 UEFA home games Drawing 4 and losing 5 of those games) conceding 3+ goals on six occasions nevertheless, Following a very important win over Villareal to maintain their perfect record in 2023 and their comfortable margin at the top of the La Liga table.
This new Europa League knockout format established last season eliminated the Round of 32 and replaced it with eight playoff ties between the teams that finished third in the UEFA Champions League group stage against the sides that came in second in their Europa League groups. The eight group winners from the Europa League await in the Round of 16, but it’s safe to say that this is the most anticipated tie of the entire tournament no matter what else happens.
This is truly a fascinating matchup between sides who are very similar in their current trajectory.
By: Herosportgh.com/ Solomon Duah (Sports Atom)
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