Prelude and Preview to the draw...
The group stage of the Europa League is over and now everyone awaits the draw for the knockout stages. 48 teams in the 12 groups have been whittled down to 24 clubs. They will be joined by the eight dropouts from the Champions’ League. The 32 teams will be squaring off in early February.
In truth, this season has seen some early separation with many teams a cut above the opposition, in the Europa League. Several teams powered ahead early and secured qualification as early as Matchday 4, easily proving to be too good for most of their opponents. But before anyone rushes to brand the tournament as a voluminous exercise in mediocrity, consider this, there is no tournament that has more parity. Also ponder the fact that many of Europe’s biggest guns faltered and either, only stumbled through in unconvincing fashion, or missed out on progression altogether.
I summarise the notable points from an engrossing Group Stage:
Crash and Burn Country: Big Guns, Going Home
Juventus – The Old Lady was unable to bring its best game to the tournament and finished third in Group A.
Dinamo Zagreb – The Balkan giants, despite the latest wave of young Croat talent, lagged 4 points behind in Group D.
AZ Alkmaar – Group E was too much for the 2009 Dutch Eredivisie winners, logging 3 defeats to end in third spot.
Sampdoria – Getting out of Group I was a step too far as the Genoa club were out of contention after 5 games.
Borussia Dortmund – The Germans may be tearing up the Bundesliga but were inconsistent in Group J.
Atletico Madrid – The defending Champions exited with a whimper, behind Leverkusen and Aris in Group B.
Surprise Central: Plucky Underdogs, Standing Tall
Lech Poznan – The small Polish club, not even a domestic heavyweight, tied Manchester City on points in Group A.
Aris – With 10 points and second spot in Group B, one of an impressive trio of Greek clubs to progress.
Bate Borisov – Emerging from Group E after an excellent autumn for the Belarussian team.
Young Boys – The Swiss side followed up their narrow Champions’ League elimination with a strong second in Group H.
Metalist Kharkiv – Presaging upcoming tournaments in Eastern Europe, the Ukrainian side snatched second in Group I.
Setting the Standard: Laying down a marker
Zenit St. Petersburg – Following up on our tip for the tournament, the Russian Champions won six out of six, in Group G.
CSKA Moscow – The Russian World Cup is in 2018 but the Moscow side are right here right now, 16 points atop Group F.
FC Porto – Group L were out to the sword as the Portuguese side scored 14 goals and notched 16 points to go through.
Manchester City – Not spectacular but steady, with 11 points to win Group A and set themselves up for a long run.
Stuttgart – The Germans put aside league woe to win 5 games and nail down a top seed for the round of 32.
Players who caught our eye: Outside bets for player of the tournament
Radamel Falcao – The Colombian forward notched seven goals for Porto to lead all scorers.
Tomas Necid – Czech youngster on a purple patch for CSKA Moscow with five goals in six games.
Giuseppe Rossi – The Italian has responded to his World Cup snub with continued good form for club this season.
Roman Eremenko – Finnish playmaker who pulled the strings for a resurgent Dynamo Kiev side, setting up five goals.
Edinson Cavani – The Napoli forward was persistent and deadly with five goals and 15 shots on target.
Artem Milevskiy – The Ukrainian forward is at the peak of his career and notched five goals for Dynamo Kyiv.
With Liverpool and PSV Eindhoven still alive and growing in strength and confidence with every passing week, the tournament is still anyone’s to win, especially with the Champions’ League dropouts still to be drawn. But once the knockout rounds arrive, this tournament will once again serve up a healthy dose of evenly matched football and close games.
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