EUROPA League
ENGLISH PREMIER LEAGUE RULES EUROPE!
What England missed by not winning the World Cup last year will be compensated for in 2019.
A day after Tottenham set up an all-English Champions League final against Liverpool, Arsenal overcame Valencia in Spain, while Chelsea held its nerve to defeat Eintracht Frankfurt 4-3 on penalties.
It is the first time
one country has provided all four finalists for both the Champions League and
Europa League. The closest that this
had happened before was the six times that a country produced three of the four
finalists. The most recent was in 2016 when the trio of Spanish La Liga sides, Real
Madrid, Atlético Madrid (Champions League final) and Servilla (Europa Cup) got to the final. The latter
beat English Premiership side, Liverpool to win the Europa Cup.
Prior to that were that of 1980 when trio of German sides, Hamburg, Eintracht and Mönchengladbach were three finalist while England first division side (No Premiership then), Nottingham Forest won the European Cup of Champions Clubs. Italy in 1990 had AC Milan, Juventus and Fiorentina in the finals while Portugal’s Benfica was the fourth club.
In 1995 Italy also had three clubs in the finals{ AC Milan, Parma and Juventus just as they did in 19998 with Juventus, Internazionale and Lazio. In 2014, Spain’s dominance of the European clubs’ competitions manifested with the trio of Real Madrid, Atletico Madrid and Sevilla in the finals.
The exception could be in 1990 when UEFA had three clubs’ competition as against the current two – the European Cup Winners Cup, European Cup and UEFA Cup. Italy had four clubs in the three finals and the three trophies all ended in Italy.
That is in the ancient past. Currently, it is the English Premier League, the most followed national league that is reigning.
And so, the English Premiership will not only produce this year’s UEFA Champions League and Europa League winners, the Super Cup which pitches the winners of both leagues in one contest is destined to be won by any of the quartet of the English Premiership clubs.
While Arsenal’s route to the final was rather more sedate, Chelsea’s was anything but after it was taken all the way to penalties by an exciting and adventurous Eintracht Frankfurt.
With the tie level at 1-1 after the first leg, it was Chelsea that struck first at Stamford Bridge through Ruben Loftus-Cheek after 28 minutes.
Ruben Loftus-Cheek gave his side the lead at Stamford Bridge.
The visiting side hit back four minutes after the interval through Luka Jovic, one of the most sought after strikers in Europe, with the forward racing through to slot the ball past the stranded Kepa Arrizabalaga in the Chelsea goal.
Both teams had chances to win the tie in the additional 30 minutes of extra time but David Luiz’s spectacular block on the line denied Sebastien Haller, while Chelsea captain Cesar Azpilicueta’s effort was ruled out for a foul on the Eintracht Frankfurt goalkeeper.
With the scores level at 1-1 on the night and 2-2 on aggregate, it was left to penalties to separate the side with Kepa the hero for Chelsea.
The Spaniard saved two spot kicks, allowing Eden Hazard to fire home the winner and send Chelsea into the final.
For Kepa, who was caught up in controversy after refusing to be substituted during Chelsea’s shootout defeat by Manchester City in the League Cup final earlier this year, it was a moment of redemption.
“Penalties are down to luck. Today we won and in the Carabao Cup final we lost, but this is football,” Kepa told BT Sport.
“Today was really good and we played against a very difficult team and we are very happy.
“Our season was a little bit difficult but we have reached two finals and we have qualified for the Champions League so I think it’s a good season. Now we will have a strong London derby with Arsenal in Baku.”
While Chelsea was made to sweat, Arsenal enjoyed a more comfortable evening as it eased past Spanish side Valencia.
Leading 3-1 from the first leg, Arsenal came from behind to win 4-2 on the night and 7-3 on aggregate.
Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang scored a hat-trick and Alexandre Lacazette was also on target as Arsenal became the third English club to reach a European final in as many days.
The victory was particularly sweet for Arsenal head coach Unai Emery, formerly of Valencia, who is attempting to win the competition for a fourth time.
After a difficult opening 15 minutes in which Valencia took the lead through Kevin Gameiro, Arsenal grew into the contest and hit back through Aubameyang’s exquisite finish.
That goal appeared to knock the home side’s confidence and when Lacazette added Arsenal’s second five minutes after the interval.
But Valencia rallied and Gameiro leveled just eight minutes later to set up a tense final half hour.
Yet, any hopes the home side may have had of a comeback were quickly curtailed when Aubameyang grabbed his second and Arsenal’s third with a neat finish
The Gabon international then completed his treble with just two minutes remaining to send Arsenal into the final on May 29.
Emery, who won the trophy three times in succession with Sevilla between 2014 and 2016, will now hope his side can overcome Chelsea in the final.
“I am very proud of the players and the supporters,” Emery told BT Sport after the game.
“The players did all they could and we can be proud of the whole club.
“We knew we had to be calm after they scored and we needed to control our emotions. It is very difficult to score four goals against this team because they are very organized. It gave us confidence to score quickly we know our strikers are taking chances.”
FOUR FINALISTS IN ONE SEASON
- European Cup: AC Milan 1-0 Benfica
- UEFA Cup: Juventus 3-1agg Fiorentina
- Cup Winners’ Cup: Sampdoria 2-0 Anderlecht, aet
THREE FINALISTS IN ONE SEASON*
- 1980 GER – Nottingham Forest 1-0 Hamburg, Eintracht 3-3agg Mönchengladbach (Eintracht won on away goals)
- 1990 ITA – AC Milan 1-0 Benfica, Juventus 3-1agg Fiorentina
- 1995 ITA – Ajax 1-0 AC Milan, Parma 2-1agg Juventus
- 1998 ITA – Real Madrid 1-0 Juventus, Internazionale 3-0 Lazio
- 2014 ESP – Real Madrid 4-1 Atlético Madrid (aet), Sevilla 0-0 Benfica (4-2 on pens)
- 2016 ESP – Real Madrid 1-1 Atlético Madrid (Real Madrid won 5-3 on pens), Sevilla 3-1 Liverpool
ONE-NATION EUROPEAN CUP/UEFA CHAMPIONS LEAGUE FINALS
This season will be the seventh UEFA Champions League final between domestic rivals in 20 seasons:
- 2000 ESP Real Madrid 3-0 Valencia
- 2003 ITA AC Milan 0-0 Juventus (3-2 on pen)
- 2008 ENG Manchester United 1-1 Chelsea (6-5 on pens)
- 2013 GER Bayern München 2-1 Borussia Dortmund
- 2014 ESP Real Madrid 4-1 Atlético Madrid (aet)
- 2016 ESP Real Madrid 1-1 Atlético Madrid (5-3 on pens)
- 2019 ENG Tottenham v Liverpool
ONE-NATION UEFA CUP/UEFA EUROPA LEAGUE FINALS
This season’s final in Baku is the first all-English decider since the competition’s very first season in 1971/72, when Tottenham got the better of Wolves. It is the tenth one-nation final in all.
- 1972 ENG Tottenham 3-2agg Wolverhampton
- 1980 GER Eintracht 3-3agg Mönchengladbach (Eintracht won on away goals)
- 1990 ITA Juventus 3-1agg Fiorentina
- 1991 ITA Internazionale 2-1agg Roma
- 1995 ITA Parma 2-1agg Juventus
- 1998 ITA Internazionale 3-0 Lazio
- 2007 ESP Sevilla 2-2 Espanyol (3-1 on pens)
- 2011 POR Porto 1-0 Braga
- 2012 ESP Atlético Madrid 3-0 Athletic Club
- 2019 ENG Chelsea v Arsenal
TWO WINNERS IN ONE SEASON*
With a monopoly on finalists, both trophies are obviously destined for England. It is the 12th time one nation has won both competitions – and remarkably, the fifth time in six seasons!
- 1975 GER Bayern München, Mönchengladbach
- 1981 ENG Liverpool, Tottenham
- 1989 ITA AC Milan, Napoli
- 1990 ITA AC Milan, Juventus (Sampdoria won the Cup Winners’ Cup, too)
- 1994 ITA AC Milan, Internazionale
- 1997 GER Dortmund, Schalke
- 2006 ESP Barcelona, Sevilla
- 2014 ESP Real Madrid, Sevilla
- 2015 ESP Barcelona, Sevilla
- 2016 ESP Real Madrid, Sevilla
- 2018 ESP Real Madrid, Atlético Madrid
- 2019 ENG ???
Manchester United manager Ruben Amorim defended under-fire goalkeeper Andre Onana following the Cameroonian’s costly mistakes in his side’s 2-2 draw at Olympique Lyonnais in their Europa League quarter-final first leg on Thursday.
Onana allowed Thiago Almada’s free kick to squirm past him in the Groupama Stadium and was also at fault for Rayan Cherki’s last-gasp equaliser that denied United victory.
Since the start of last season, no Premier League club’s goalkeeper has made more errors leading to goals being conceded in all competitions than Onana.
“It can happen, if you play football, you play a lot of games, you can make mistakes,” Amorim said. “If you look at the season, I make more mistakes than them during these last games and these last months.
“The other thing is we have one more game to change everything and that should be our focus.
“The best thing is to look at the goals, all the actions that Andre had in the game, this is the best way to help any player, it’s to focus on the game, what happened, what we need to improve.”
United nonetheless remain unbeaten in this season’s Europa League — the only side to do so this term — after goals from Leny Yoro and Joshua Zirkzee put them on course for a potential victory.
The team, who are 13th in the English Premier League standings, still go into next week’s second leg in Manchester as favourites to book a spot in the last four.
“It was an entertaining game,” Amorim added. “We had some difficulty in the first half trying to press, because Lyon played in a different way. Then, in the middle of the first half and especially the second, we controlled the game.
“The second leg will be a different game. At home, our fans want us to press all the time.”
-Reuters
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Manchester United will be without defender Harry Maguire and midfielder Manuel Ugarte for Thursday’s Europa League last-16 clash with Real Sociedad, coach Ruben Amorim said, as he seeks to salvage an otherwise dire season.
The pair were left out of an already depleted squad after picking up injuries in last weekend’s penalty shootout defeat to Fulham that dumped them out of the FA Cup to compound the misery of lying 14th in the Premier League.
“We are being careful with them because at the moment we cannot afford to lose any more players for a long time,” Amorim told a press conference on Wednesday before the Europa League first leg game in Spain.
“We are taking care of them at Carrington (training ground) and they cannot play this game because it will be a greater risk.”
The coach, who joined United in November, stressed the importance of balancing youth development with the needs of the squad during a worsening injury crisis.
“I’m trying to cope with everything. When I do my squad, I’m trying to think about every aspect, of the formation of the (new) kids, of the squad and not if it will look really well with the fans and the media,” Amorim said.
Altay Bayindir, Tom Heaton, Jonny Evans, Kobbie Mainoo, Luke Shaw and Mason Mount remain on individual rehabilitation programmes.
Lisandro Martinez, who tore his anterior cruciate ligament, and Amad Diallo, who suffered an ankle ligament injury in training, are also sidelined.
-Reuters
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Manchester United captain Bruno Fernandes scored a last-gasp winner to secure a 2-1 victory over Rangers in the Europa League group stage on Thursday and Tottenham Hotspur captain Son Heung-min struck twice in his team’s 3-2 win at Hoffenheim.
United climbed to fourth in the standings on 15 points going into the last round of matches, in a strong position to reach the knockout phase along with Spurs who are sixth with 14 points.
The English side broke the deadlock early in the second half when Rangers goalkeeper Jack Butland misjudged a Christian Eriksen corner, sending the ball into his own net.
Rangers fought back with an equaliser from substitute Cyril Dessers two minutes from time before Fernandes struck in added time to give United all three points.
In Germany, James Maddison opened the scoring for Spurs in the third minute and Son doubled the lead in a first half the visitors dominated.
Hoffenheim pulled one back in the 68th minute through Anton Stach’s counter-attack goal. Son restored Spurs’ two-goal lead in the 77th minute before the hosts’ David Mokwa scored to give his side late hope but the game ended in a narrow win for the English side.
Lazio stayed top of the standings with a commanding 3-1 home victory over Real Sociedad to become the first team to qualify for the round of 16.
Mario Gila struck after five minutes and when Sociedad’s Aihen Munoz was shown a second yellow card on the half-hour mark, Lazio immediately seized the advantage.
Mattia Zaccagni quickly doubled the lead and Taty Castellanos effectively ended the match with a third for the hosts. Ander Barrenetxea scored a late consolation goal for Sociedad.
Eintracht Frankfurt moved closer to securing a top-eight spot with a 2-0 home win over Hungarian side Ferencvaros thanks to second-half goals from Can Uzun and Hugo Ekitike. They are second in the standings with 16 points, three ahead of ninth-placed Galatasaray.
A late goal from Troy Parrott gave AZ Alkmaar a 1-0 home win over AS Roma and Olympiacos earned a 1-0 victory at Porto thanks to a late goal from Ayoub El Kaabi.
Dutch side Alkmaar can still reach the top eight with 11 points sitting in 14th place while Roma’s nine points place them 21st, close to the bottom of the playoff section.
Fenerbahce and Olympique Lyonnais played out an intense goalless draw in Istanbul, leaving the French side in a strong position to progress to fifth place in the group on 14 points.
-Reuters
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