Europa League 2017/2018

[Hadoop]

Napoli too.

Agreed. Napoli are fantastic when they are on.

 

[YNWA14]

Napoli and Atletico have to be the favourites IMO.

 

[Evilo]

But they should be seeded.
And they could turn it around by march.

 

[Pouchkine]

Napoli favorites? They just lost at Feyenoord and finished 6pts behind Shakhtar. Even teams like Astana could beat Napoli. They are a good little team, but not winners... Atletico are probably slight favorites at the moment but a lot could change in a couple of months and the draw will be important. Like I said I can see at least 10 teams making it to the final.

 

[cgf]

Napoli favorites? They just lost at Feyenoord and finished 6pts behind Shakhtar. Even teams like Astana could beat Napoli. They are a good little team, but not winners... Atletico are probably slight favorites at the moment but a lot could change in a couple of months and the draw will be important. Like I said I can see at least 10 teams making it to the final.

They were clearly more focused on taking advantage of Juve's down season to snag the league. If they were focused on europe they'd be the best team in this competition; but they're not, so we'll see how far they can get while focused on the league instead.

 

[Cassano]

I'd say top 3 are Atletico, Arsenal and Dortmund. Napoli won't take this seriously.

 

[Pouchkine]

They were clearly more focused on taking advantage of Juve's down season to snag the league. If they were focused on europe they'd be the best team in this competition; but they're not, so we'll see how far they can get while focused on the league instead.

You really believe this nonsense? They have already started fading in Serie A.

Dortmund will probably lose in the next round and Arsenal I'm sure will get a tough draw, let's hope Lyon!

 

[HajdukSplit]

Round of 32 (February 15 & 22)
Borussia Dortmund (GER) vs. Atalanta (ITA)
Nice (FRA) vs. Lokomotiv Moscow (RUS)
FC Copenhagen (DEN) vs. Atletico Madrid (ESP)
Spartak Moscow (RUS) vs. Athletic Bilbao (ESP)
AEK Athens (GRE) vs. Dynamo Kiev (UKR)
Celtic (SCO) vs. Zenit St. Petersburg (RUS)
Napoli (ITA) vs. RB Leipzig (GER)
Red Star Belgrade (SRB) vs. CSKA Moscow (RUS)
Lyon (FRA) vs. Villarreal (ESP)
Real Sociedad (ESP) vs. Red Bull Salzburg (AUT)
Partizan Belgrade (SRB) vs. Viktoria Plzen (CZE)
Steaua Bucharest (ROU) vs. Lazio (ITA)
Ludogorets Razgrad (BUL) vs. AC Milan (ITA)
Astana (KAZ) vs. Sporting CP (POR)
Ostersunds (SWE) vs. Arsenal (ENG)
Sporting Braga (POR) vs. Marseille (FRA)

Pair of Italian-German matchups and both will be interesting ties, especially Napoli-RBL. Lyon-Villarreal will be an interesting matchup as well, with the exception of Villarreal, the Spanish sides came out well from this draw. That Astana-Sporting matchup is some travel Glamor draw for Ostersunds

 

[Paulie Gualtieri]

Ostersund vs Arsenal. Wow.

 

[maclean]

That Astana-Sporting matchup is some travel

Loved the subtle look on the Sporting official's face when they got drawn

 

[Savant]

Arsenal wins this draw by a land slide.

Especially considering the rest of the big teams are playing each other for the most part. They still have a long way to go but maybe they’ll have an easier trip to the final than Man U last year.

 

[Theokritos]

I'd say top 3 are Atletico, Arsenal and Dortmund.

If Dortmund played Bergamo right now, I'm not even sure they would be favourites in that match. Fortunately they have two months with a new coach ahead before the first leg.

 

[maclean]

Lyon continues its tradition of getting tough draws, though I suppose it's what comes of ending up unseeded

 

[Pouchkine]

Villarreal are not that good this year. Zenit with a nice draw, they are my favorites along with Atletico.

 

[maclean]

Villarreal are not that good this year.

OK, wasn't sure what kind of form they're on right now, but they're a team that tend to come to play in the EL

 

[LOFIN]

Red Star Belgrade (SRB) vs. CSKA Moscow (RUS)

Surely UEFA will ban away fans for this fixture, otherwise things could get ugly...

 

[Evilo]

Villareal is one spot behind Sevilla in la Liga and many here seem to claim they're a tough opponent to Liverpool and United...

 

[YNWA14]

Villareal is one spot behind Sevilla in la Liga and many here seem to claim they're a tough opponent to Liverpool and United...

This seems intentionally misleading (or obtuse). There are fewer points between Sevilla and Real Madrid (3, and they were tied on points until last match) than there are between Sevilla and Villareal (7). In fact there's the same gap between Sevilla and 2nd place as there is between Sevilla and Villareal.

 

[cgf]

Will be curious to see what happens in the Napoli-Leipzig tie of the disinterested versus the naive.

 

[YNWA14]

Borussia Dortmund (GER) vs. Atalanta (ITA)
Nice (FRA) vs. Lokomotiv Moscow (RUS)
FC Copenhagen (DEN) vs. Atletico Madrid (ESP)
Spartak Moscow (RUS) vs. Athletic Bilbao (ESP)
AEK Athens (GRE) vs. Dynamo Kiev (UKR)
Celtic (SCO) vs. Zenit St. Petersburg (RUS)
Napoli (ITA) vs. RB Leipzig (GER)
Red Star Belgrade (SRB) vs. CSKA Moscow (RUS)
Lyon (FRA) vs. Villarreal (ESP)
Real Sociedad (ESP) vs. Red Bull Salzburg (AUT)
Partizan Belgrade (SRB) vs. Viktoria Plzen (CZE)
Steaua Bucharest (ROU) vs. Lazio (ITA)
Ludogorets Razgrad (BUL) vs. AC Milan (ITA)
Astana (KAZ) vs. Sporting CP (POR)
Ostersunds (SWE) vs. Arsenal (ENG)
Sporting Braga (POR) vs. Marseille (FRA)

My picks. I think Atalanta/Dortmund will be interesting, Celtic/Zenit and Lyon/Villareal. Napoli vs. RBL has potential to be a really tough match for Napoli because stylistically it's a team that RBL will like to play against.

 

[maclean]

Huh, I know Dortmund's on a bit of a downswing, but you know Atalanta's like 11th in the Serie A right now? 5 wins 5 draws 5 losses

 

[Live in the Now]

Atalanta took Europa League pretty seriously. Many of their poor results came as a result of preparing for those games and withdrawing players early in matches even when the score was close or not playing them at all. Dortmund should still win but this isn't the usual Italian case of not caring about Europa League.

 

[Evilo]

This seems intentionally misleading (or obtuse). There are fewer points between Sevilla and Real Madrid (3, and they were tied on points until last match) than there are between Sevilla and Villareal (7). In fact there's the same gap between Sevilla and 2nd place as there is between Sevilla and Villareal.

I really isn't misleading, I stated a fact. 6th or 7th in a league is a wash, regardless of number of points.

 

[Evilo]

Atalanta has been excellent in EL.

Also don't think OM goes through. Not sure about Nice either, but it will be the right time to play in Moscow. Lyon has a fair chance, but will be 50/50 depending on form. If Fekir is still hot, I favor them.

 

[cgf]

I really isn't misleading, I stated a fact. 6th or 7th in a league is a wash, regardless of number of points.

How does that make any sense?