Arsenal's last chance to save the season

In the playoffs of the current season of the Europa League, four English teams started at once.

They seemed to set the tone until the very end.

However, only two of them reached the quarterfinals - Arsenal and Manchester United.

Londoners will now try to take revenge on Slavia for the departure of two British teams at once - Leicester and the Scottish Rangers.

However, the team has its own interests in the first place.

Mikel Arteta's wards perform extremely poorly in the Premier League and are only in tenth place.

And one point scored in the last two rounds finally buried the Gunners' hope of getting into the Champions League through the national championship.

There remains one thing - to win the second most important European Cup.

Moreover, this trophy has never been submitted to Arsenal in its history, although the team reached the final twice.

In 2019, she lost to Chelsea - 1: 4, and in 2000, back in the UEFA Cup in the penalty shootout, she was weaker than Turkish Galatasaray.

As for Slavia, the Czech team made it to the LE quarterfinals for the second time in the past three years.

For the team, whose roster is estimated by Transfermarkt at € 62 million, this is a significant achievement.

For comparison: Arsenal's roster is almost nine times more expensive - € 549 million. Therefore, Prague residents have nothing to lose.

Two years ago, the future Chelsea victor did not let them go further.

Now Jindřich Trpishovski's wards have the opportunity to knock out another top English club from the fight and go down in history.

At the same time, the citizens of Prague will try to take revenge for the humiliating defeat from Londoners 14 years ago.

Then the rivals were in the same group of the Champions League, and the match between them at the Emirates Stadium ended in a victory for the hosts with a score of 7: 0.

True, in the first meeting of Slavia, two key performers will not help at once - goalkeeper Ondřej Kolář, who received a serious dissection of his cheekbone in the return game with Rangers, and experienced central defender Ondřej Kudela, who got into a loud racist scandal in Glasgow.

Gunners, unlike the opponent, approach the confrontation without loss.

Manchester United's attempt to stop a daring debutant

Another English team - Manchester United - will examine the European debutant Granada.

Last season, the Spanish team took seventh place in the standings of Examples and for the first time in history got the opportunity to represent the country on the international stage.

Moreover, the wards of Diego Penas Martinez began their performance with the second qualifying round of the LE.

Manchester United has incomparably great European Cup experience and has previously won the LE.

In 2017, the Mancunians, under the leadership of Jose Mourinho, beat Ajax in the final - 2: 0.

Four years later, they will try to repeat the success with Ole Gunnar Solskjaer.

Moreover, the team, unlike Arsenal, is under no pressure.

She is in great shape, having won three straight Premier League victories, including over Manchester City, and is in second place by a margin.

The only fly in the ointment is the injury of two attackers at once: Anthony Martial and Marcus Rashford.

The first was damaged in the location of the French national team, and the second - in the last meeting of the Premier League with Brighton.

The coaching staff had to change the Englishman just ten minutes after he scored the ball.

Probably, David de Gea will not play at home either.

In his case, the reason is extremely prosaic: the goalkeeper has lost the competition to Dean Henderson and may leave the team.

Despite the losses, Manchester United remains the favorite of the pair, but Granada will try to create another sensation, because in the 1/8 finals the debutant knocked out the formidable Napoli.

Moreover, away matches with Spanish teams, as a rule, are not very successful for the Mancunians - only four wins in 27 matches in all tournaments.

True, the unpleasant statistics did not prevent the Red Devils from confidently passing Real Sociedad in the 1/16 finals (4: 0, 0: 0).

Then they knocked out one of the main contenders for the trophy - Milan - in a confrontation that many have dubbed a hidden finale.

In addition, Solskjaer will try to take revenge from his opponent for his native Molde, which the European debutant did not allow to enter the quarterfinals.

Ex-mentor of "Spartak" in pursuit of the fourth Europa League Cup

Spain and England received the largest representation in the UEL quarterfinals.

The honor of both countries is protected by two teams.

The company "Granada" was made up by "Villarreal", which will meet with the main sensation of the playoffs - Zagreb "Dynamo".

At the previous stage of the playoffs, the Croatian champion unexpectedly passed Tottenham Mourinho.

Neither defeat in the away match with a score of 0: 2, nor the prison term of head coach Zlatko Mamich prevented the Balkan team from achieving success.

At home, the hosts achieved a crushing victory in extra time thanks to a hat-trick by Mislav Orsic and moved on.

This is the first time in history that Dynamo has gone so far in the LE / KUEFA / Champions League.

True, in 1961, the blue and white played in the semi-finals of the Cup Winners' Cup, where they were defeated on aggregate from Fiorentina - 0: 3, 2: 1.

After 60 years, they have a great chance to repeat the achievement.

However, the attitude of "Villarrela" is extremely serious.

In the current LE draw, Unai Emery's wards feel as comfortable as possible.

In nine matches, they won eight wins and one draw.

Why doesn't the “submarine” aim at the first European competition in the history of the club?

Moreover, the team is currently headed by a coach who won this trophy with Sevilla three times in a row (from 2013 to 2016).

And judging by three consecutive victories in Example, his players are in excellent shape.

In addition, main goalkeeper Sergio Asenjo, central defender Pau Torres and midfielder Frances Coquelin recovered from injuries.

Only Purvis Estupignan and Vicente Iborra will miss the first game.

Dynamo will probably not be able to count on their key striker Bruno Petkovic, who has scored four goals this season in the LE, two of which were against Krasnodar in the 1/16 finals.

Statistics on the side of "Ajax"

The Netherlands and Italy retained only one team each in the EL, and it is the confrontation between Ajax and Roma that can be called central in the quarterfinals.

It can be especially interesting for Russian football fans, because Sergey Karasev will serve the first meeting.

Amsterdam took third place in the Champions League group and flew to the LE.

At the same time, they are playing in the playoffs of the second most important European Cup for the ninth time.

Four years ago, the team even reached the final, where they lost to Manchester United.

In turn, the Romans, for the first time in history, made their way so far into the LE.

In the playoffs, they alternately knocked out of the fight two former teams of their head coach Paulo Fonseca - Braga and Shakhtar, having won four wins.

Ajax also managed without losses in the confrontation with Lille and Young Boys.

True, it will not be easy for Roma to go further because of a real epidemic of injuries.

So, with a high degree of probability, three central defenders Juan Jesus, Marash Kumbulla and Chris Smalling will not play against Ajax.

Due to serious staffing problems in the last matches of Serie A, the nominal midfielder Brian Cristante was forced to act in this position, which was not slow to affect the results.

In the meetings with Parma, Napoli and Sassuolo, the Romans scored only one point and dropped to seventh in Serie A.

Also, the team will definitely not be helped by the disqualified right-back Rick Karsdorp and the injured Nicolo Zaniolo, Henrikh Mkhitaryan and Stefan El Shaaravi.

The loss of the Armenian, who is the real brain of the collective, is especially noticeable.

Ajax also has its own problems.

On the eve of the first quarter-final match of LE, Erik ten Hag was left without two main goalkeepers at once.

Andre Onana was suspended for an anti-doping rule violation, and the experienced Martin Stekelenburg received a knee injury.

In the match between the Eredivisie and Heerenveen, he was replaced by 21-year-old Kjell Sherpen.

Ajax won (2: 1) and the young goalkeeper conceded one goal.

Also, the main center-back Daley Blind will probably not be able to enter the field.

And yet (according to statistics) the Amsterdamites are favorites - at least in the first part of the confrontation.

At home, they have already won ten matches in a row in the LE and, if they succeed, they will repeat the record of the Sevilla tournament.

True, the Italian teams "Ajax" in their field have not beaten since December 2002.

And then the team from the Netherlands also turned out to be stronger than Roma in the second group stage of the Champions League - 2: 1.

That victory helped the hosts reach the quarterfinals.