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I agree that they were decent, but remember that we have seen Liverpool lose to Atalanta 3-0 when they were the leaders in the league, that should tell you how hard these competitions are. Of course they dropped to third place later on but that doesn't change the fact that we had them at the top during the time of the loss, a team leading premier league would be expected to beat most teams in the world, including UCL teams too, maybe not Real Madrid, but there aren't that many teams leader of premier league could lose to, and yet they lost to Atalanta.
So saying that United is good right now is true but also they could lose is once again true as well. Just because they look good, doesn't mean that they are going to win it, so much so that even if they end up being somehow incredible and win the premier league and shock the whole world, that still doesn't mean that they will win this one too. You have to play game by game to see how it will end up.
Atalanta's performance won great at that time, they were able to defeat two teams that were candidates for champions in this competition. Liverpool fell in the quarter-finals, Leverkusen fell in the final round. Well, talking about Liverpool at that time, Klopp was actually faced with a fairly difficult situation. The reason is, it seems like their target at that time was the Premier League. We even remember very well, Liverpool's points with Arsenal and Manchester City were only a small difference. Well, IMO, this is one of the factors that put pressure on Liverpool at that time. They were divided in focus.
Now we are talking about Manchester United, that they have a chance to win a trophy in this competition. It's just that they have to maintain their consistency throughout their matches, especially in the Europa League. Well, that's why I didn't say that United would win this competition. We don't even know for sure whether Ten Hag is eyeing the trophy in this competition. Given their poor performance last season, the main thing they prioritize is their domestic competition. maybe, this is just a guess, Ten Hag prioritizes United to be able to finish in the top four of the Premier League. let's say Manchester United is doing very well in the Europa League, it is part of their journey when playing match after match. IMO, losing or winning in a match is a common thing. moreover, this season Ten Hag is trying so that his team is able to play their match with optimal performance. also, no one can be sure which team will win the Europa League competition.