Topic: Europa League Group Matches 17/18

[downtown]

Sporting Lisbon have to go to Astana....

6100KM travel, that's farther than New York 


Not to mention Astana is the 2nd coldest capital city in the world after Ulan Baator,,,-20 degrees in Feb.

That'd be fun for the Portuguese 

[Gnurglan]

Ostersunds weren't even formed as a club when Wenger became Arsenal manager.

True. Pleased for Östersund that they got a big club. They deserve it. For people who don't know about them, they had Athletic Bilbao, Hertha Berlin and Zorya in the group and were probably rated as the weakest side in the group. Before that they beat PAOK, Fola and Galatasaray to get to the group stages. So they have really performed despite having had a rather difficult journey. It's fascinating that they have an English manager, they play a possession based game, with a team built on a shoestring budget. Their budget is probably League 2 level. It would really, really surprise me if Graham Potter, their manager, didn't end up in the PL in the future.

Now let's hope they can get past Arsenal.

[Flaccido Dongingo]

Sounds a bit silly I know, but the Europa League now feels to me like the purest European competition now, Champions league is so bogged down in seeding and country protection, I really do miss the days before oil clubs and football being ruined by money in general, bring back completely open draws.

[mc_red22]

Sounds a bit silly I know, but the Europa League now feels to me like the purest European competition now, Champions league is so bogged down in seeding and country protection, I really do miss the days before oil clubs and football being ruined by money in general, bring back completely open draws.

They have country protection in the Europa too, they also have seeds...

[Elzar]

So what happens if Leipzig and Salzburg eventually get drawn against each other?

[Flaccido Dongingo]

So what happens if Leipzig and Salzburg eventually get drawn against each other?

Pretty much the same as if Chelsea are drawn against Vitesse I'd imagine.

They have country protection in the Europa too, they also have seeds...

Yes I know they do, but the Champions League just feels like a never ending festival of advertisements now, where football is secondary, Europa League is a bit more low key.