Yeah you are both right. As soon as Bayern and Liverpool relegated to the Europe League, UEFA should set up a final match between them and give the cup to the winner. By this way the other teams don't get tired and it stops the waste of time
Liverpool. The only reason they'll go out of this competition, I think, is because they don't really care too much about it. But its a trophy, I say we should go for it, this and the FA Cup. Better than nothing. And try and get 4th in the league. Saying all this, it feels like 2001 all over again.
Cl 3rd placed teams: Juventus, Wolfsburg, Olympique Marseille, Nikosia, Liverpool, Rubin Kazan, Unirea Urzicieni, Standard Liege I´d say the best out of these are Liverpool, Juventus, Wolfsburg, Marseille and Kazan. But to be honest I believe that teams like Shaktar, Galatasaray, Valencia, Hamburg and Bremen are at least as strong as the CL 3rd placed teams. Liverpool isn´t as good as the years before. Juventus is falling into pieces. Wolfsburg, Marseille and Kazan are exactly the same level. So, it will be a very exciting Europe League. I don´t think that Benfica is as strong as people seem to believe here. They´ll be out when they meet one of the teams i stated.
It's nearly impossible to predict the EL winner. Each and every year some team wins when nobody thought they would. Now we have like 20 teams which are favorite to win this thing.
Who will these teams play against in the knockout stage of the Europa league? The winners of each group? runner-ups? among themselves?
Yea I was gonna ask the same thing. No idea how the draw/seeding etc works for the EL once the CL teams join.
Nice and simple. 4 best teams (not by rating but by their group results instead) from UCL are seeded (Unirea, Juventus, Wolfsburg and Marseille). 4 other are unseeded. First places of UEL groups are seeded, second places are unseeded. Unseeded teams will play first leg at home.
Just to be clear (and because even some news articles are getting this wrong), Atletico Madrid was the 3rd placed team in Group D who will be in the Europa League, not APOEL Nicosia. The tiebreaker used here was superior away goals in matches played between the two teams. Group goal difference was not used here.
It really will be interesting to see who makes it... The quality of teams in this competition really highlights the fact that Platini has turned the competition a little bit around. However, I still think the UCL 3rd placed teams should not be given a right of passage to the final 32 into the Europa League. I feel like it devalues all the hard work of the these teams, as well as giving teams a second chance. How is it not less valued when you let the 'losers' get in? If Platini just fixed that as well and brought up that only 3 teams from the biggest leagues get into the UCL with the fourth placed team in the EL then I think this competition would resemble what it had in the 1990's. Class.
Why are Ajax and PSV included in this poll while the Dutch league leaders (who are nine points ahead of Ajax) are not, that's what I want to know.
Or maybe because the thread was created 2 months ago, and includes the then-leader of the Dutch table (PSV)?
On the back of last season when AZ finished first in the Dutch league and Twente second you mean. Twente's success isn't exactly new. I realise full well we're not a big name mind.
It will be an interesting couple of months... The Uefa Cup is so unpredictable that I really think it will be the team that dedicates themself to the competition. I could see another Eastern European team making it... Honestly, Rubin Kazan deserves a shout. It seems a lot of things are going their way, plus they are pretty good, but are losing Alejandro. Some of the people at the Guardian believe the final will have at least one German team. I can't argue with that as the Germans seem to really play their first teams in the competition. I really am eager to see if Juventus, Liverpool, Wolfsburg, etc. play their full sides. And there are so many good match ups as well... I am really curious to see: Ajax - Juventus Atletico Madrid - Galatasaray Hamburg - PSV Fulham - Shakhtar Twente - Werder Panathinaikos - Roma Villareal - Wolfsburg My most interesting match would probably be Ajax - Juve. If Juventus field a less than their first starting 11 Ajax have a good shot. And if Juve continues like currently then Ajax will have an even better chance. I also want to see Twente vs. Werder. Both are playing some decent football, from where I am watching, you could disagree, and it will be interesting to see some of the top sides in the German and Dutch leagues collide. The other match being PSV-HSV.