Europa League Thread.

[asylumseeker]

These Benfica penalties are terrible.

dem was some ah d most tentative penalty I ever see......yuh almost had ah premonition dey wouldn't score jus from d run ups both times

The 2nd miss/save was particularly atrocious.

[asylumseeker]

Europa League Final on now. Second half.
Sevilla FC vs Benfica

I don't know how this game is still 0-0
Sevilla living dangerously

Good call on dis! I woulda end up missing out ... Tuned in with 12' to go in regulation and it was a wicked warm-up for the WC with the extra time, PKs and attacking vibes. A Benfica victory woulda been nice fuh Eusebio's memory, but seems like ex-Porto man Beto, the goalie, was highly motivated to sour Benfica.

[Flex]

Ties to be played April 5/6 and 12/13: - 2016

Braga v Shakhtar Donetsk
Villarreal v Sparta Prague
Athletic Bilbao v Sevilla
Borussia Dortmund v Liverpool
 

[palos]

La Liga supposed to be a 2 team league. So many people say anyway

Yet

3 teams in the last 8 of CL
3 teams in the last 8 of Europa

Scudetto by contrast have zero

Russian League has 1 in Europa

Czech League has 1 in Europa

Ligue Un has 1 in CL

EPL/BPL has 2. 1 in each competition

Portugal has 2 in Europa and 1 in CL

Bundesliga has 2 in CL and 1 in Europa

[Peong]

Years now la liga ruling the Europa. Is only epl fans call la liga a 2-team league.

[100% Barataria]

Years now la liga ruling the Europa. Is only epl fans call la liga a 2-team league.

Correkk is right

[Flex]

Man United could earn more from Europa League than UCL - source
BY MARK OGDEN, SENIOR FOOTBALL WRITER

Manchester United will receive almost £40 million in Europa League prize money if they progress to the final in Stockholm on May 24 -- a figure which would eclipse their earnings from last season's unsuccessful Champions League campaign.

United go into Thursday's semifinal decider against Celta Vigo at Old Trafford with a 1-0 advantage from last week's first-leg in Spain courtesy of Marcus Rashford's second-half winner.

And progression to the final by Jose Mourinho's team would help the club soften the financial blow of missing out on participating in the Champions League this season, sources have told ESPN FC.

United, who will reveal their third quarter financial results on May 16, received £34.4m from the Champions League pot following their group-stage elimination under Louis van Gaal last season, plus a further £3.4m after reaching the round of 16 of the Europa League.

But with a place in the final against either Ajax or Lyon now in sight, United stand to top up this season's earnings by €6.5m (£.5.5m) by winning the competition or €3.5m (£2.95m) if they end up as losing finalists.

Liverpool received £34.2m in Europa League prize money last season as a result of their progression to the final, where they lost to Sevilla in Basel, and United have already earned a similar amount by reaching the semifinals.

The money United stand to receive will diminish the impact of failing to play in this season's Champions League, but the earnings on offer in that competition continue to dwarf those in the Europa League.

Leicester City are expected to receive £66m in prize money following their run to the quarterfinals, while Manchester City banked £75.8m last season after making it to the semifinals for the first time in the club's history.

[Flex]

T&T players line up in Europa League qualifiers.
TTFA Media.

Three players from Trinidad and Tobago saw playing time in European League action on Thursday as qualifying action continued for both the UEFA Champions League and Europa League competitions.

Senior team defender Sheldon Bateau made his european debut for Kazakhstan club FC Kairat, playing the full encounter in his team’s 1-1  draw with Albania’s KF Skenderbeu Korce in Almaty in their Europa second round qualifier.

Radanfah Abu Bakr also appeared in the full game for FK Suduva Marijampole of Lithuania in their 2-0 win over FK Liepaja in another Europa League qualifier. And former national under 20 player Keston Julien saw full action in AS Trencin’s 1-1 draw with Israel’s Beni Aviv FC. Lester Peltier was on the bench for FC Alashkert of Armenia in their  1-1 draw with FC Bate Boris in UEFA European Champions’ League second round qualifying clash.

Bateau who played in both of T&T’s recent previous World Cup qualifiers against Costa Rica and United States, spoke about his Europa League debut appearance.

“It was a good experience for me. It was a game of a high level similar to international matches. The experience I have had with the national team has helped me to perform better and to keep a cool head because before the game it was a bit nerve wrecking because I’ve always dreamt about playing at this European level and there was a bit of tenseness surrounding the match. The atmosphere at the stadium and everything was strong,” Bateau told TTFA Media.

“The game itself was pretty good. We were solid defensively and I felt I was solid also in my second game for the club. The fans and the president of the club were happy with the performance. We are at 1-1 and we need to go to Albania and get a result in order to move on and we will go there and give it everything.”

The former Belgium and Russian-based player added that he was in a good state of mind having settled at the club.

“I’m happy because I am in a good club now with a good environment and facilities as well as within a  circle of players with a level of class and experience, players like Arshavin and the captain of the Kazakhstan national team (Bauyrzhan Islamkhan),” Bateau said.

“The set up has everything to keep you improving once you are prepared to dedicate yourself. So I am staying focused, staying humble and just putting in the work to keep improving my levels,” he added.

Meantime, T&T head coach Dennis Lawrence will continue his preparation of a 25-man squad from Monday in preparation for the July 26th international friendly away to Ecuador. Lawrence will be looking at a few new players and recalls to the set up as he looks ahead to September 1st when T&T faces Honduras in their World Cup qualifying encounter at the Ato Boldon Stadium.

“We’ve invited twenty five players to be part of the training squad and we’ll work with them from this coming Monday before finalising the team to travel to Ecuador. We’ll get in a few days of preparation at home for the match,” Lawrence said.

“We have available to us some of the players who were involved for the two previous games against the US and Costa Rica and we’ve invited a few others to have a look at and see how they respond to what we are requiring of them,” Lawrence added.

[Flex]

Full 2018/19 draw:

Viktoria Plzen vs. Dinamo Zagreb

Club Brugge vs. FC Salzburg

Rapid Vienna vs. Inter Milan

Slavia Prague vs. Genk

Krasnodar vs. Bayer Leverkusen

Zurich vs. Napoli

Malmo vs. Chelsea

Shakhtar Donetsk vs. Frankfurt

Celtic vs. Valencia

Rennes vs. Real Betis

Olympiakos vs. Dynamo Kyiv

Lazio vs. Sevilla

Fenerbache vs. Zenit

Sporting CP vs. Villarreal

BATE Borisov vs. Arsenal

Galatasaray vs. Benfica

[Flex]

2019

Europa League Teams:

Chelsea FC
Eintracht Frankfurt
SL Benfica
SSC Napoli
Valencia CF
Slavia Prague
Arsenal FC
Villarreal CF

Europa League Draw:

🇮🇹 Napoli vs Arsenal 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿
🇪🇸 Villarreal vs Valencia 🇪🇸
🇵🇹 Benfica vs Frankfurt 🇩🇪
🇨🇿 Slavia Prague vs Chelsea 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿

The quarter final first legs are scheduled for April 11; the second legs set for April 18. The semifinals will be played May 2 and May 9.

The final will take place in Azerbaijan at Olympic Stadium, Baku on Wednesday, May 29.