Sevilla Dismantles Man U In The Europa League Quarters

[mike412]

Man U, the last Premier League team left in the Europa League, lost 3-0 to Sevilla in Sevilla today to complete a 5-2 thrashing in aggregate.
Sevilla is 13th in La Liga this season, with a losing record. Man U is in 3rd place in the Premier League.

This tie was more lopsided than Chelsea’s 4-0 loss to Real Madrid in the Champion's League. It took all of 7-plus minutes for Sevilla to score. Less than two minutes after Marcus Rashford and Luke Shaw came in as “saviors” to rescue Man U according to the British commentators, Sevilla scored again to put the tie out of reach. Man U had 3 shots on goal. I’m 76, and I could have saved 2 of them.

Someday, when I have time to do the research, I will clinically destroy SMF’s bald assertion that La Liga is only the Big 2 and a bunch of small fry. The fact is that since 1975, excluding RM and Barca, clubs from La Liga have won more European trophies than clubs from the Premier League. And, more La Liga clubs have won trophies.

The trophies don’t lie. They are the only objective way to measure the relative strength of the two leagues. And, the numbers aren’t even close. Sevilla alone has won more European trophies than Tottenham and Man City combined.

 

[Allan McMurray]

LOVE IT! Yankees of the EPL. A mediocre big club that thinks they're better than they are.

 

[Fk_Pitt]

EPL this year is a hodgepodge of mediocrity. There is man City and Arsenal and then like a 20 point drop to 3rd place and everyone else. For a league that dwarfs all the others financially, it kind of is unacceptable for some of these clubs. But Tottenham has never pulled it all together historically, Man U has never under this ownership, Liverpool is in transition, and the Chelsea Dodgers are a mess.

And as much as it looks like City will win Champions League, I hope they don’t. I’ll be pulling for cash strapped AC Milan.

As far as Europa, no one cares except Sevilla. For whatever reason they take it more seriously than everyone else. It’s like collecting NIT trophies.

 

[Gunner Panther]

EPL this year is a hodgepodge of mediocrity. There is man City and Arsenal and then like a 20 point drop to 3rd place and everyone else. For a league that dwarfs all the others financially, it kind of is unacceptable for some of these clubs. But Tottenham has never pulled it all together historically, Man U has never under this ownership, Liverpool is in transition, and the Chelsea Dodgers are a mess.

And as much as it looks like City will win Champions League, I hope they don’t. I’ll be pulling for cash strapped AC Milan.

As far as Europa, no one cares except Sevilla. For whatever reason they take it more seriously than everyone else. It’s like collecting NIT trophies.

Well the reason for Sevilla to take it seriously is the financial windfall of auto-qualification to Champions League the following year (when your league position doesn't support it).

Was crushed when Arsenal lost to Chelsea in the Europa League final a few years ago for that reason. This year, was glad to get knocked out early, since top 4 is assured.

 

[anon_d97v9o3a8b6xr]

The Sevilla fans helped win that game. That environment was insane. But let’s be honest, MU defense was the biggest reason for the 5-2. 2 own goals to give the tie game 1, and horrible defense again gave away 2 easy goals.

 

[Fk_Pitt]

Well the reason for Sevilla to take it seriously is the financial windfall of auto-qualification to Champions League the following year (when your league position doesn't support it).

Was crushed when Arsenal lost to Chelsea in the Europa League final a few years ago for that reason. This year, was glad to get knocked out early, since top 4 is assured.

I forgot that it was even Arsenal we beat. I should have remembered because that was the Olivier Giroud Cup. But that goes to show you how irrelevant the competition is for some fan bases if I barely remember it.

It’s always nice to have another trophy for the trophy case, but big clubs generally don’t like those Thursday matches and don’t approach the competition with any amount of urgency. They’re playing backups most of the time. The teams aren’t any good until you meet a mediocre team in the knockouts or a good team that may not have advanced out of champions league group play.

Regarding the Man U “thrashing” by Seville, United was up 2-0 in the first match and looking to kill off the tie with an 3rd goal, until they conceded 2 own goals late. Harry Maguire decided to start scoring own goals. They lost two starting center halves and Bruno Fernandez, and played a team yesterday who simply wanted it more.

This is what you get with Europa. It’s a B team tourney with B teamers in your line up. It was important to Sevilla as evidenced by their crazy fans. The atmosphere at Old Trafford for the 1st game was tame.

 

[Fk_Pitt]

The Sevilla fans helped win that game. That environment was insane. But let’s be honest, MU defense was the biggest reason for the 5-2. 2 own goals to give the tie game 1, and horrible defense again gave away 2 easy goals.

Harry Maguire. Lol. So glad he plays for United.

 

[anon_d97v9o3a8b6xr]

Harry Maguire. Lol. So glad he plays for United.

What the hell happened to him? But De Gea was not helping either. Every goal was based on MU errors and very costly errors.

 

[mike412]

IMO the idea that the Europa League is a second class tourney that no one cares about is a fiction created by the Premier League to try to justify its dismal showing.

A year after Simeone took over Atletico Madrid, he had them in the Europa League as well as the Copa del Rey and La Liga. He hadn’t had time to build up any depth and was asked at a press conference about his lineup for the Europa and Copa del Rey matches. He said it would be just like La Liga when they had both a midweek and weekend match.

People thought he was spreading his team too thin. They won the Europa League. Then, they won La Liga. The next year, their lack of depth caught up with them. They made it to the finals of the Champions League, where they lost to Real Madrid in extra time. They were the better team for 90 minutes, but then exhaustion hit them. It was a no trophy year.

Atletico has won more European trophies since 1975 that Tottenham has. Or Man City. So has Athletic Bilbao. So has Valencia. So has Sevilla. So has Osasuna. Villareal has won just as many. In European competition, the so-called Premier League Big Six does not exist. There are four achievers and a lot of minnows.

 

[brdst11]

IMO the idea that the Europa League is a second class tourney that no one cares about is a fiction created by the Premier League to try to justify its dismal showing.

A year after Simeone took over Atletico Madrid, he had them in the Europa League as well as the Copa del Rey and La Liga. He hadn’t had time to build up any depth and was asked at a press conference about his lineup for the Europa and Copa del Rey matches. He said it would be just like La Liga when they had both a midweek and weekend match.

People thought he was spreading his team too thin. They won the Europa League. Then, they won La Liga. The next year, their lack of depth caught up with them. They made it to the finals of the Champions League, where they lost to Real Madrid in extra time. They were the better team for 90 minutes, but then exhaustion hit them. It was a no trophy year.

Atletico has won more European trophies since 1975 that Tottenham has. Or Man City. So has Athletic Bilbao. So has Valencia. So has Sevilla. So has Osasuna. Villareal has won just as many. In European competition, the so-called Premier League Big Six does not exist. There are four achievers and a lot of minnows.

Mike did Barcelona fans care about Europa last year? Didn't a bunch of them sell their tickets to Frankfurt fans?

You're right that the soccer culture in this country is very EPL centric, and there's plenty of good soccer played elsewhere that could use more attention. But I'm not sure how much big teams in Europe care about Europa, other than if they need the Champions League auto bid.

 

[Allan McMurray]

Holy beat down at St. James Park today. Spurs looked like a League One side against Newcastle. 6-1

 

[Joe the Panther Fan]

IMO the idea that the Europa League is a second class tourney that no one cares about is a fiction created by the Premier League to try to justify its dismal showing.

And of course most of the rest of Europe looks at it the other way around, that the Spanish sides really care about the Europa League when no one else really does because it gives them a chance to actually win something, which they know they aren't going to do in their league.

If you want to know how seriously some of these teams take the Europa League, look at the lineups they put out for their early Europa League matches. Sure, by the time you get to the knockouts teams are mostly playing full strength lineups, because they know if they survive they can get into the European League that everyone cares about. But before that?

I mean look at Man U (since we all like to pick on them). In their game before their first Europa League game they played Arsenal with a first choice lineup. Then they played, coincidentally, Sociedad in their first Europa League game. They made six changes to the lineup.

Of course Arsenal also played in the Europa League. After they played that Man U game they open Europa League play with Zurich. They made seven changes from the lineup that played Man U.

Why are they making all those changes like that? Because they obviously cared a lot more about the game when they played each other than they did about their Europa League games.

 

[Fk_Pitt]

It’s just a weird flex pumping up Europa as a way of pimping your favorite league. I personally have a favorite league, it’s the EPL, but wouldn’t care it the EPL is the #4 league, as it’s likely a language thing that makes it appealing for us. I am not a fan of English fans either so I don’t buy into their league flex rhetoric. Are they the top league? Of course they are. Money talks. But so what. If they want to call all the other leagues farmer leagues let them. I have no skin in the game.

It’s a fact that big clubs don’t prioritize Europa. The lineups they put out are a dead giveaway. It’s a B team tourney. It is what it is.
And using cup competitions to measure strength is kinda silly.

Heck, my team won champions league less than two years ago. Does anyone really think they were the best team in Europe? Heavens no. I think they might have finished 5th in their domestic league that year. And this year Milan will probably play in the UCL final. But put them in England, would they finish top 10?

My guy Jose Mourinho put a tattoo of the the 3 Euro Cup trophies on his body after winning the Europa Conference league last year. And everyone laughed at him. Because there’s only one European trophy that really matters and it’s Not Europes versions of the NIT or CBI tourney.

Here’s another point, take Emery for example. Look at his Europa record and his Europa trophies. If it’s such a feat, why aren’t the top clubs beating down his doors? Instead clubs like Chelsea would rather recycle guys like Ponchettino. God help us.

 

[mike412]

Mike did Barcelona fans care about Europa last year? Didn't a bunch of them sell their tickets to Frankfurt fans?

It isn’t quite “selling” tickets they regularly use. Barcelona is owned by over 110,000 “Culés” who are residents who had an opportunity to be registered as an owner of the team and paid a fee for it. Each one is afforded an opportunity to buy tickets. There are more Culés than seats so obviously not all of them go to the games.

Some use this to try to make some money. They buy seats to matches which likely will draw well (not to a match involving, for example, Almería or Elche) and then try to sell them at a profit. The Club will even sell the tickets for them on its ticket sites.

These are mostly people who seldom if ever attend a match.

Last year, some very savvy travel agents in Frankfurt used that process to purchase somewhere between 20,000 and 30,000 seats. They then put together packages for German fans.

Every Barca match I have attended, except for a Champions League match against PSG some years ago, has been one I attended using a ticket purchased through that system. Realistically, except for the seats set aside for visiting teams, it’s about the only way for a non-Culé to attend a popular match. The Club doesn’t release information on how many Culés actually purchase season tickets, but my guess would be 50,000. Others buy single game tickets.

After Frankfurt, Barcelona initiated a system to check mailing addresses to insure tickets weren’t going to the visiting team. I think that is stupid, but it is what many Spanish clubs do.

Real Madrid instituted a rule that no one dressed. in the opponents’ colors can sit anywhere except the section reserved for them; other clubs like Barcelona soon followed suit. When Barcelona played PSV Eindhoven in a Champions League match a few years ago, it was cold out. I was wearing a jacket with a Dynamo Kyiv scarf which had been a birthday present ftom Masha’s brother, who went to the game with me. I was required to remove the scarf at the gate.