Analysis of the Europa League: the luck of Benfica and Braga
After the draw for the Champions League group stage, UEFA announced yesterday the match of the Europa League groups. The luck of Benfica and Braga
STANDARD LIÈGE, RANGERS AND LECH POZNAN IN THE PATH OF JORGE JESUS BENFICA
In this article, we will try to understand who are the favourites to move forward and look at the opponents of Benfica (Group D) and Braga (Group G), Portuguese representatives in the competition.
In theory, this was a good draw for Benfica, which will have high aspirations in this Europa League, after having missed the great European goal, which went through qualifying for the Champions League.
The opponent who is expected to have more complications for Jorge Jesus’ team should be Rangers, who is not exactly unknown to the Portuguese fans, who saw Steven Gerrard’s team face successfully (drew away and won at home) FC Porto last season.
Runners-up in Scotland, where they have been after rival Celtic after the restructuring, Rangers presents itself as a well-worked collective, where the Colombian Alfredo Morelos stands out, who came to be associated with the interest of FC Porto in this closed.
The Glasgow team had to overcome the competition from the Galatasaray Turks in the play-off, after beating Lincoln Red Imps and Willem II in the previous qualifying rounds.
Standard Liège, on the other hand, should be an opponent more within Benfica’s reach. Last season, the Belgians faced Vitória de Guimarães in the Europa League but ended up behind Arsenal and Eintracht Frankfurt.
Michel Preud’homme, former goalkeeper of the “incarnate”, was the coach of Standard last season, having left his post at the end of 19/20 to ascend to the vice-presidency of the club.
His successor is Frenchman Philippe Montanier, 55, who went to the Jupiler League after two years at the helm of the French at Lens, having also spent time, among others, with Rennes and Real Sociedad.
Looking to rejoin the fight for the top of the Belgian league, Standard Liège reached this group stage after leaving Bala Town, Vojvodina and Videton by the way.
Finally, Lech Poznan is the Polish runner-up in the title and had to beat four barriers to reach this group stage of the Europa League. The victims who stayed along the way were Valmiera / BBS, Hammarby, Apollon and Charleroi (already in the “play-off”).
Coach Dariusz Zuraw has been at the helm of Lech for about a year and a half, who counts in his ranks with the Portuguese midfielder Pedro Tiba and who has not been champion in Poland since 2014/15, despite being one of the main candidates for the title is present.
BRAGA WITH THREE OBSTACLES CALLED LEICESTER, AEK AND ZORYA
Worse luck seems to have been Braga by Carlos Carvalhal, who saw the “bean” of pot 2 go out of his way. In a Group G where the Minho will have perfect conditions to fight for the qualification, it is necessary to be cautious, not least because Greeks and Ukrainians may create more difficulties than expected.
Premier League champion just over four years ago, Leicester City needs no introduction to the betting community. After breaking the pace after winning with Ranieri, the foxes regained their strength with Brendan Rodgers and are coming from a high season in the Premier League in 2019/20.
In addition, the signs given in these first weeks of the 2020/21 season are very positive, so there should not be much discussion about the English favouritism to win the group without major problems – just like Carlos Carvalhal, in other words, already admitted.
Away from the spotlight of Greek football a few years ago, AEK seems to be on the rise again and the fact that it overcame Swiss runner-up Sankt Gallen, in the 3rd qualifying rounds, and – more impacting still – the Germans of the Wolfsburg, in the play-off, speaks for itself.
Currently guided by the Italian Massimo Carrera, AEK has an authentic Portuguese contingent in its squad: Nélson Oliveira, André Simões, Hélder Lopes, Paulinho and David Simão.
The five Portuguese athletes are joined by some well-known European football names, such as Croatian Marko Livaja (who never reached the potential that was expected) or the experienced Ukrainian central Dmytro Chygrynskyi (ex-Barcelona).
Zorya Luhansk is an old acquaintance of Sporting de Braga, who went through qualifying for the Europa League group stage in early 2018/19 after two draws against the Ukrainian team, which is currently coached by coach Viktor Skripnik.
In 2019/20, Zorya finished 3rd in the Ukrainian Premier League, 24 points behind champion Shakhtar Donetsk of Luís Castro, but with only one point behind historic Dynamo Kyiv in second place.
Individually, Zorya does not have any player that stands out in an evident way, but it will be worth for his team, having been one of the teams that, in 2020/21, already stole points, internally, to the champion Shakhtar.
OPEN PATH FOR FAVORITES
Arsenal, AC Milan, Tottenham and Napoli are the top four candidates to win this edition of the Europa League, according to most bookmakers.
If gunners shouldn’t have a hard time overtaking Molde, Rapid Vienna and Dundalk in Group B, what about the list of LASK Linz, Antwerp and Ludogorets as opponents of José Mourinho’s Tottenham in Group J?
Milan, who suffered to keep Rio Ave out of this phase of the competition, was drawn in Group H, where they should have more work to overcome Celtic, Lille and Sparta Praga.
Napoli should have a more accessible task in Group F, where they will be alongside Real Sociedad, AZ Alkmaar and Rijeka.
