Another Europa League Title for Manchester United?
by Steve Ashfield | by Steve Ashfield
Eight Clubs Dreaming of Europa League Glory
Just eight clubs remain in the 2022/23 Europa League. Only Italy has two teams with the other six coming from England, Germany, Spain, Belgium, Portugal and the Netherlands. There are some excellent ties on their way on April 13 and 20 topped by Manchester United v Sevilla. We also know the semi-final draw and we could see an all Italian final.
- Manchester United v Sevilla
- Juventus v Sporting Lisbon
- Bayer Leverkusen v Union Saint-Gilloise
- Feyenoord v Roma
The winners of match 2 have home advantage in the first leg of their semi-final against the winners of match 1. Whoever wins match 3 travels to the match 4 winners in the first leg of the semi-final.
See the latest Europa League odds at bet365
Will History Repeat Itself for United?
It was in 2017 that Manchester United won the Europa League. The same season saw them win the Carabao Cup. Could history repeat itself because United have already won that competition in this 2022/23 season..
The Premier League side have played ten matches in the Europa League this season. All but four of them have been played against teams from La Liga and now they have two more on the way. Real Sociedad, Barcelona and Real Betis have all had to face United this season and in the last eight, it's the turn of Sevilla to face the English side.
Manchester United have an hectic end to their season. They are also in the FA Cup semi-finals and in the top four of the Premier League. Securing a Champions League spot is not confirmed so they might just need to win the Europa League to confirm their place in Europe's top club competition.
Sevilla definitely fall into that category. Rather than chasing a top four finish, they are battling to stay in La Liga. They love this competition though and their poor league form has been left behind in this competition. Away form is a big worry though with both of their games in the knockout stages at PSV and Fenerbahce being lost. United are our favourites to progress to a semi-final against either Juventus or Sporting.
Feyenoord Out to Bring Back the Glory Days
It's over 20 years since Feyenoord won this competition back when it was called the UEFA Cup. Only once this century have they been Dutch champions but the glory days may well be on their way back to Feyenoord. They top the Dutch Eredivisie by six points and take on Roma in the Europa League quarter finals.
The Dutch side finished top of their Europa League group but only just. All four teams in Group F finished on eight points but they won the group on head-to-head results. Seven of their eight points were earned at home. They didn't win away at Shakhtar Donetsk in the first leg of their last 16 tie. Home form did the job again though as they won the home second leg 7-1. It could have been more with their seventh goal being scored by Danilo (above) in just the 67th minute.
Roma haven't had an easy route to the last eight. They finished second in their group, six points behind Real Betis. In the Knockout Play-off round, they lost the away leg to Red Bull Salzburg 1-0 but won 2-0 at home in the return game. That was also the score in the home leg of their last 16 tie against Real Sociedad but this time it was the first leg. The away leg saw them draw 0-0 making it just one win in five away matches in the Europa League this season.
The tie against Feyenoord could go either way but it's likely Roma will be in the last four against either Bayer Leverkusen or Union Saint-Gilloise. We prefer Leverkusen to win what could well be a high scoring affair.
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Happy Ending for Juventus?
It's been a strange season for Juventus and they might not even be in European competition next season. A deduction of 15 points has hit them hard and without it they'd be second in Serie A. A 1-0 win at Inter last weekend was their sixth win in seven league games. They are only four points behind the Europa Conference League place and six adrift of a Europa League place. They could end up in either of the three competitions and it might even be the Champions League.
Juventus began this season in the Champions League but earned just three points in a group that saw them finish third behind Benfica and PSG, 11 points behind second place. Moved into the Europa League, they beat Nantes 4-1 in the Knockout Play-off round, winning the away leg 3-0 thanks to a Di Maria hat-trick. In the last 16, the Italian team beat Freiburg 3-0.
They face Sporting in the last eight and the Portuguese side won't be easy to get past. They knocked out Premier League leaders Arsenal in the last round but Juventus look to be the form side at present and can win this tie.
