The Europa League is due to kick-off again on Thursday night at the Round of 32 stage.
We are down to the last 32 teams in Europe’s second-tier tournament with clubs from across the continent competing for the grand prize and a place in next season’s Champions League. Fenerbahce have already defeated Zenit 1-0 in the opening game of the knockout stages, but the rest are due to play on Thursday.
The Champions League grabs the bulk of the headlines, but there are some great sides competing and great games to look forward to on the road to Baku.
We’ve cast our critical eye over the remaining teams and have compiled a list of, what we feel, to be the top 10 ranking competitors ahead of the first kick-off on Valentine’s Day.
10. Red Bull Salzburg
(Photo credit TIZIANA FABI/AFP/Getty Images)
Group finish: 1st
W/D/L: 6/0/0
Goals: 17
Conceded: 6
Red Bull finished their group with maximum points and boast the tournament’s leading goalscorer to boot. Munas Dabbur snagged six goals in the group stages, while Fredrik Gulbrandsen notched four, too.
Red Bull sit comfortably at the top of the Austrian Bundesliga and are undefeated this season after 18 games. They face Club Brugge in their first outing in the knockout stages, whom they are expected to deal with relatively comfortably. However, how the chips fall in the round of 16 could be ominous for the Austrians if they’re confronted by one of the better sides in this tournament.
9. Valencia
Group finish: 3rd (Champions League)
W/D/L: 2/2/2
Goals: 6
Conceded: 6
Los Che almost made it to the next stages of the Champions League but missed out when Manchester United secured an unexpected victory over Juventus.
They have not been able to keep up their positive start in La Liga, but can still conceivably break the top four if they keep up their recent form. Valencia are undefeated in five games across all competitions and even managed to hold league leaders, Barcelona, to a 2-2 draw at the Nou Camp at the beginning of February.
They face a tough fixture in Glasgow at Celtic Park where the 12th man will undoubtedly be at their audible best.
8. Bayer Leverkusen
Group finish: 1st
W/D/L: 4/1/1
Goals: 16
Conceded: 9
After a poor start to the season, under new manager Peter Bosz Bayer now find themselves neck-and-neck with Frankfurt in the Bundesliga on 33 points and have been on fire of late, winning their last three league games, including a surprising 3-1 victory over second-placed Bavarian giants Bayern Munich.
As well as taking that scalp, they boast convincing victories against Wolfsburg, who they defeated 3-0, and a 5-1 thrashing of Mainz last Friday.
FC Krasnodar are enjoying a successful term in the Russian Premier League, but Bayer should have enough in the tank to take them out on the international day of romance.
7. Eintracht Frankfurt
Group finish: 1st
W/D/L: 6/0/0
Goals: 17
Conceded: 5
The Germans have fallen off the pace in the Bundesliga. They currently sit in fifth place, five points behind RB Leipzig. Frankfurt dominated their group, finishing with maximum points, they defeated Lazio 1-2 on the road and blew them away 4-1 at home.
The Germans will be looking to preserve their unblemished record in the tournament when they travel to Ukraine to square off against Shakhtar Donetsk. The German outfit are blessed with the trailblazing shooting boots of Luka Jovic, who leads the Bundesliga goalscoring charts with 14 goals.
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6. Sevilla
Group finish: 1st
W/D/L: 4/0/2
Goals: 18
Conceded: 16
The La Liga side are having a positive season and are just about holding their own in the top four, commanding a slender two-point lead over Getafe in fifth place.
The Ones from Hispalis finished at the top of Group J, edging out FC Krasnador on goal difference. Sevilla boast enormous success in this competition, having won it five times but they face a difficult task, in one of the most interesting clashes of this stage, against Lazio, who are actually favourites to overcome the Andalusians
5. Lazio
Group finish: 2nd
W/D/L: 3/0/3
Goals: 9
Conceded: 11
I Biancocelesti are still chasing fourth place in Serie A. They’re only a point off the pace, with things heating up against Milan, Roma and Atlanta.
Lazio emerged victorious in their last two league outings after losing 2-1 against Juventus and Napoli in really tight games. There’s no shame in that and Simone Inzaghi also managed to engineer a victory against Inter in the Coppa Italia to put a further bounce in their step.
The Italians will take part in one of the juiciest Round of 32 fixtures against Sevilla, another side battling for the top four in their respective league, and it’s shaping up to be an unmissable fixture at the Stadio Olimpico.
4. Chelsea
Group finish: 1st
W/D/L: 5/1/0
Goals: 12
Conceded: 3
Chelsea are bluer than usual at the moment after being beaten black and blue by Manchester City on Sunday. The Citizens were merciless as they dismantled Sarri’s men at the Etihad, banging in six goals against them without appearing to reach second gear.
Such humiliation saw pundits speculate about the longevity of Sarri-ball at the Bridge, as Roman Abramovich is not known for his restraint with the axe. This is why Chelsea will be desperate for a good result on Thursday, as a tough game against an improving Manchester United in the FA Cup next Monday could mean the Europa League is their last vestige of hope for silverware this term.
Malmo may be the most successful team in the history of the Allsvenskan, but the Blues should make easy work of them – unless they’re still rattling from the mauling in Manchester.
3. Arsenal
Group finish: 1st
W/D/L: 5/1/0
Goals: 12
Conceded: 2
Arsenal have enjoyed mixed returns this season and have failed to capitalise on the struggles of fellow fourth-place competitors, Manchester United and Chelsea.
It was always going to be a difficult task for Unai Emery to put his stamp on a club whose modus operandi has remained intransigent for the last quarter of a century. Moderate critics will appreciate the positive strides Emery has made in north London and the Gunners appear to be finding their groove, having won three out of their last four league games, the sole defeat having against champions Manchester City at the Etihad.
The Gunners will have their weapons fixed on BATE on Valentine’s Day and Gooners hoping to see silverware this term will be expecting their beloved club to show no love to their opponents.
2. Inter Milan
Group finish: 3rd (Champions League)
W/D/L: 2/2/2
Goals: 6
Conceded: 7
Inter Milan were another Italian side to lose out to an English team on a technicality in the Champions League – maybe a playoff tie at a neutral venue would be a fairer way of settling such circumstances in future. Inter are third in Serie A, making them the team sitting in the second-best position in the ‘big five’ leagues left in the competition.
The Nerazzurri found themselves in a “group of death,” a concept that was apparently lost on Barcelona, who looked comfier than a fluffy cushion on a Nova Icaria sun lounger. Inter did their thing in the group stages and even succeeded in holding Barca to a draw at the San Siro, but it was not to be in the end.
Inter face Austrian Bundesliga side Rapid Vienna in another gimme match that shouldn’t cause the Serie A giants too much trouble.
Honourable mentions: Benfica, Sporting Club, Shakhtar Donetsk, Celtic, Real Betis
1. Napoli
Group finish: 3rd (Champions League)
W/D/L: 3/2/1
Goals: 7
Conceded: 5
Serie A’s runners-up last season found themselves sharing a group with last year’s finalists Liverpool and a star-studded Paris Saint-Germain side. The Italians, despite the odds being stacked against them in another one of the competition’s “death groups”, competed incredibly well against their more decorated opponents.
They took points from PSG, defeated Liverpool and finished the group with the same points as the second-placed Merseysiders, but were eliminated because Jurgen Klopp’s side found more goals during the competition.
Out of all the teams competing, the Italians are the most impressive club in terms of league form among those representing the ‘big five’ European leagues. Carlo Ancelotti’s men are expected to advance into the next round and will almost certainly do so unless something incredibly unfortunate happens to them between now and their last-of-32 tie against Swiss side, FC Zurich.
The post Arsenal & Chelsea among the favourites? The top 10 Europa League teams ranked appeared first on Squawka News.
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