Topic: ⚽UEFA Europa League Discussion Thread -- 2022/23 | Group Stages - page 28. (Read 15139 times)

I know everyone's all eyes on Champions League, and all for good reason but there's a special game I'm putting money on and that's Barca-United... in a world where City and Liverpool, before them Real, Bayern etc, have all set straight wins records across all competitions (I can't count teams like Ajax, can I?) Xavi will be aiming to create a new record with 12 straight wins.

And his team is better, works harder, and hungrier. Anyone else watching the next ties?

I'm just saying something, for me Barcelona didn't want to fall in the Europa League first, but because they couldn't achieve their goals they had to be in the Europa League, for their part I think Man United has been evolving as Ten Hag has. made possible, now that Man United wants to have results, it has forced them not to leave their stars on the bench, this includes Casemiro and above all CR7, Man United if we start to review, they have much more quality in players than Barcelona, the only one from Barcelona who is very good for me is Lewa, but 1 player cannot make a difference if the team does not help him.


Yes, the fact that they play well against teams that are considered medium or low level is because the Barcelona team is used to a certain level, that certain level is what Xavi has instilled in them, unfortunately Lewa has had to experience this and like it or not, his level also drops, it's logical, you can't always be at a high level when your team doesn't help enough and the only one who stands out in everything is him.

If Lewa had stayed at Bayern, everything would have been different for him, first he was not in the Europa League, and second he was playing high-level games with a high-level team where he would always be chanting with the greatest, sometimes it's unfair to see him there in that position, I think Lewa must be sorry for having gone to Barcelona, honestly if I were him I would find a way to leave quickly.

Yes i agree with you CLS63, Lewandowski its doing magnificent against low and medium teams but against big teams he is not doing so good, but i also think its more a team problem than a Lewandowski one.

If they dont feed him he cant score.

For my as i say above Barcelona its in better shape than Man Utd but we have to wait so much until the match and anything can change.

As for Lewandowski, he hasn't still proven himself with Barcelona jersey against big teams. He has always had problems on scoring goals against them. Teams like Bayern Munich and Real Madrid are good examples for this.

For this reason, I will be curious about his performance against Manchester United as well. There is a long time until then so it is more than enough time for Lewandowski to focus on improving this weakness of him now. Barcelona need him in this kind of matches to be more successful. Of course he isn't the one to blame for their unsuccessful run in the Champions League. But he needs to contribute in some way in big matches too. If he plays strongly against Manchester United this would be a big advantage for Barcelona to reach next stage.

Barcelona's striker Lewandowski is hot anytime right now, that alone should strike fear into the hearts of Manchester United team. Not as if am rooting for a sure win, all am saying is that Barcelona still stands a chance of winning or better put, display a better performance if they encounter Manchester united.
Machester united with Anthony and Ronaldo, if he would play, are strong and a formidable side, but Barcelona has always found a way around this English side. I think Manchester city and Arsenal stand a better chance if they encounter Barcelona, compared to Manchester united.

Ronaldo's stepping on Camp Nou after a long time would be really meaningful for him indeed. But we don't even know if we will still see him as a part of Manchester United after January. He still doesn't have a good relationship with Erik ten Hag now as it seems. He finally found a chance in the starting eleven in a Premier League match last. But I don't want to keep my hopes up about its continuation. ten Hag is a really unpredictable manager. Maybe he will continue to make him wait in the subs mostly until the transfer window.

This would definitely cause him to leave at the first opportunity. Because he is already not comfortable with Manchester United's not being part of the Champions League. Having not much time in matches would just speed up the process of leaving for him.

Im the only one who its more exited about this round of 16 of Europa LEague than the round of 16 in Champions League?

I think we have really good matches here, yes i know in UCL also but in terms of fun to watch i think here are most fun matches.

Manutd Barca can be really good, and Cristiano returning to Camp Nou can be very important. Can you imagine if he strikes again in that pitch?

PSV Sevilla also can be really good to see.

Call me stupid but I'm actually really really excited to play this Europa next stage with Manchester United.

Yes we fell out of UCL too early but I doubt we'd have gone far anyway, even the hardest Barca fan would be in la la land to think different, whereas we have a great opportunity in Europa.

Too bad we couldn't have a Pique farewell against United!

In last decade, Barca and MU haven't faced each other many times. And I'm trying to remember when last time Barca lost to MU. Anyway, United isn't that opponent which I wanted to get in 1st round. Struggling Juventus and Sporting can be happy about draw results. Roma probably too. Even if Sevilla looking awful now, their clash with PSV should be very interesting. Shakhtar - Rennes and Leverkusen - Monaco is pairs without favorites. Union - Ajax. Maybe Union is looking good now, I don't beleive that they will play that good after few months. It's not bad draw for Ajax.

When Barcelona used to win Manchester United in times back is quite different from now. If not that Barcelona are having issues in defending they would have a chance of winning this game. But right now it seems Manchester United ìs more better than Barcelona in performance.

Barcelona have been the winner many times in this encounter over the years but I think this time will be a little bit different and harder to win. Manchester United are not a team to underate this time under their new coach the have shown competence playing big teams and I'm sure they can replicate that form next year against Barcelona when they play in the Europa. Predicting this game I will even tip Manchester United to win.

The claim that United are inconsistent in the Premier League is too controversial. There's too much competition there so even a good team may not have the best stats, in any case United are now ahead of Chelsea and Liverpool which continue on their way in the Champions League. Barcelona failed all the big games of the season, so I don’t see that they are stronger than United even on paper.

Honestly I believe that Xavi's Barcelona are in a better condition than Manchester United now. The reason why I think like this is that we all know how Barcelona are performing in the La Liga now. I know how bad they were in the Champions League as well. But the board would expect Xavi to redeem himself by being successful in the Europa League at least. Barcelona just need to show a performance whose level is close to the one in their league. I think that this would be enough for eliminating their opponent.

Manchester United have done a good job in the Europa League so far despite being inconsistent in the Premier League. On the other hand, they had only one challenging opponent in their group which was Real Sociedad. This will be their first serious challenge actually. Maybe they can find a way to win the game in Old Trafford but I don't trust them in Camp Nou. Barcelona can eliminate them on aggregate and continue on their journey.

The draws were done perfectly as all the teams that come from UEFA Champions were given a perfect team to make the competition intense and more competitive.



I was very pleased with the outcome of the fixtures, particularly the Barcelona vs. Manchester United match; this game will eventually reduce Arsenal's workload in the competition as many people thought that either Barcelona or Manchester United would be a difficult opponent for Arsenal, but as it stands now, one of them must be eliminated and Arsenal's work will be easier.

It's a good challenge for themselves, both for Manchester and Barcelona it's a test they both should have to judge themselves, it's good news for Barcelona that the game won't be held anytime soon cause they are in a poor form. De Jong will finally face United at Old Trafford which he refused to switch to. Manchester United also, the fixture will unite Ronaldo back with Spanish side after some many years. Martinez will not play the first leg at Camp Nou due to bookings he had. It's gon to be good, can judge let the best side win

These are the results of the last 32 draw.

The most attracting matchup is obviously Barcelona - Manchester United. It is like Ronaldo has Champions League brought to himself.    However it is even doutbful whether he will be staying in January. If he manages to find a favourable team for himself then I think he wouldn't think of staying. Otherwise a really lovely matchup is waiting for him. ten Hag has chosen him for the starting eleven regularly in the Europa League so far. I assume he would continue to start like that in both legs then. These teams are among the biggest candidates for the title. It is quite difficult to guess which side would make it. But I guess I will prefer Barcelona for now because of being in need of money.

Well, for me, Arsenal is a team that always gives a lot to offer, when we talk about Gambriel Jesus, it comes to my mind once and for all, it is the Brazilian team and if I think that he plays with Neymar, he is one of the pieces fundamental that he is in Brazil and that Arsenal have him, there is something that I have always realized about Gabriel Jesus, when things are not right for him they are not right not even because they serve him in cheap silverware, because they always I see that he misses a lot of goals, it's as if he was beta, no matter how good games he plays, he doesn't score, the only way I know that he makes important assists, but he has that problem.

For me, according to what I have seen in how Roma's performance has been, it is something that can be said that they will be able to leave the Conference League, it is a fact that they will be in the Eurpa League, but really that does not worry me what in The truth is that it worries me that Roma does not have Dybala, and Dybala is key in this team, Mou cannot perform miracles, Mou does as much as he can, for me the Europa League is going to become one of the most watched competitions, they are teams that are too good.



Mourinho: ‘We Want Europa League Play-Offs; One Result to Get There”





Source: https://cultofcalcio.com/mourinho-we-want-europa-league-play-offs-only-one-result-to-get-there/

Of course the play-offs are always more interesting than when the clubs play to get out of the group... Especially since the Europa League is now made up of strong clubs who couldn't stay in the Champions League... Yes, I also think that the competition will increase, but the more interesting for us... I think Ajax, Sporting and Barcelona will fight for the final match...

@el kaka22

Definitely enjoying the quality of Europa a lot, I've always liked this tournament, and it was the first time I saw Liverpool lift a European trophy too (against Alaves in the old format) and back then I honestly was watching my first European games and til today I think the quality has been very, very good. At one point even UCL was getting boring but thankfully teams have evolved to ultra attack now.


In England they call Valencia they team that loves to snatch defeat from the jaws of victory But yeah, while I've found it far easier to give up on teams that've let me down (Valencia, Sevilla, Villareal more recently, Koln last season, in Europa), I have a problem with Lazio specifically because I was slightly favouring them in Serie A a couple of seasons ago, so in my mind they're still a good team. Really need to banish such thoughts now.

Def might keep riding with Partizan, they've made me some good money this season, even if they lost me my last one.

Honestly, it's impossible to beat Rome at home they have experience as the Confederations League champion last season, maybe you still remember that moment
At first I was surprised when I saw Ludogorets scoring first and won in the first half but Roma managed to change the situation until finally Roma won 3-1

Regarding Lazio, it's really sad even though they only need a draw in the last match and despite having the same points as competitors, they failed because their total goals were lower.