As teams enter the fourth game in the Europa League group stage, we’re now at the stage where teams can progress through to the round of 16 and the relatively new knockout stage.
What’s happened to the round of 32?
You may have forgotten that things have changed in the Europa League within the round of 32. Teams who finish in 1st place in their groups automatically move onto the round of 16. There is now a knockout round to qualify for the round of 16 where teams who finished in 2nd in their groups, play third-place teams who have come down from the Champions League. Winners in that round take on the group winners in the round of 16. Last year, Manchester United played Barcelona in the knockout round. Barcelona dropped out of the Champions League but it was Manchester United who ended up progressing.
Who can go progress to the next stage?
There’s a lot of tight groups in the Europa League, you’d have to begin in group D with the possibility of Atalanta qualifying. If Atalanta beat Strum Graz and if Rakow Czestochowa fail to beat Sporting, the Italian side will progress.
Liverpool could progress with a win but even a point could basically do it for them considering they have an 8+ goal difference compared to Toulouse’s -3. A win would be better if they wanted automatic qualification to the round of 16.
Roma can stamp their ticket to the next stage with a win against Slavia Prague and in group H, Bayern Leverkusen can also progress to the next stage if they beat Qarabag.
Who can crash out?
If West Ham and Freiburg win their games in group A, Backa Topola will exit the competition. In group D, if Union Saint-Gilloise beat Linz ASK, then that’d knock them out of the tournament.
Group F, if Slavia Prague beat Roma and if the result ends in a draw between Servette and Sheriff Tiraspol then those two clubs would be both knocked out. They’d then be fighting for a third place spot to sink down to the Europa League Conference knockout clash.
Finally, in group H, if Qarabag beat Bayern Leverkusen and if Molde beat Hacken then it’d be the end of the Europa League road for Hacken.
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