• Europa League Groups and calendar

In the Europa League that starts this afternoon, any decision made by the field referee will be final. What until now was a norm, has now become something strange. There will be no opportunity for amendment for the members because the second club competition of the continent will not have VAR , in principle, until the end of Gdansk (Poland). The Europa League is the last analogue of the first level European football. The Champions League - which last year used it in the qualifiers - and the Premier League have already integrated the technology this season , thus joining the leagues of Spain, Italy, Germany, France, the Netherlands ...

A priori, the reason that the Europa League does not travel - still - that path is merely logistic . The group phase consists of 12 groups of four teams and, with very specific exceptions, is held in full on Thursdays. That is, there are 24 games played in a maximum margin of six hours , while in the Champions League they are only six a day . In addition, the matches are played in 48 stadiums with very different infrastructures between them, from the luxury of O Dragao and Old Trafford to very small stadiums such as the Luxembourg Dudelange or the Austrian Lask . Obstacle similar to that found by UEFA to implement the VAR in the qualification phase for the European Championship.

But as there is no harm that for good does not come, the Europa League can become an attractive competition for those who still repudiate the VAR and feel morbid nostalgia for the penalties that are not and the gameplay that are not appreciated live. Apart from this issue, the sporting show is assured for another year, with a large battery of Europe already in limel and waiting for those who fall from the group stage of the Champions League.

Sevilla, in the list of favorites

The Spanish representation is in charge of Sevilla , the most successful club in the history of this competition , Getafe and Espanyol , the only one that had to undergo three previous ones to reach the group stage. For potential and history, Julen Lopetegui's have to aspire to the fullest, while Madrid and Catalans return many years later to Europe without pressure and always with an eye on LaLiga, their top priority. They would not be the first teams to be scared in the national competition for putting too many eggs in the European basket.

Outside of Spain, the two big favorites have an English accent . The Arsenal, finalist last edition, and United go to the Europa League as a minor prize after failing in their attempt to qualify for the Champions League. The Italians Lazio and Roma and the Portuguese Porto are other teams with a hearth in a group stage always exposed to surprises.

The groups of the Spanish teams

  • Seville. Three 'Cinderella'

    The Azerbaijan Qarabag (where it starts at 6:55 p.m.), the Cypriot Apoel and the Luxembourg Dudelange are a priori inferior to those of Lopetegui.

  • Getafe. Dangerous rivals

    They are not first level opponents, but neither are Basel, Krasnodar and Trabzonspor (who visits the Coliseum at 9:00 pm).

  • Spanish. The CSKA is the threat

    The group of parrots are completed by the Bulgarian Ludogorets and the Hungarian Ferencvaros (which visits Cornellá today at 9 pm).

According to the criteria of The Trust Project

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  • Julen Lopetegui
  • sports
  • football
  • Sevilla FC
  • Getafe CF
  • RCD Espanyol

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