UEFA Europa League – Group Stage Recap

The last group fixtures of the UEFA Europa League produced some unexpected results. Who qualified for the knockout stages and who didn’t? Here is a recap of the group stage of the competition.
Group A – Liverpool finished first, with little bit of lucky results in last Thursday. Starting furiously at Bern, against Young Boys and winning 5-3 , the Merseyside Reds  expressed their ambitions to win this group. However, lack of good results at home put Liverpool in fear for knock-out phase with Swiss club breathing at their neck.  It all finished great for them as they beat Udinese at Friuli last night and went through with 10 points, same as Anzhi and Young Boys. Anzhi Makhachkala were very solid at home ground, winning all 3 games without problems. They just won 1 point away, but that was enough for qualification.
The biggest and most pleasant surprise was FC Young Boys Bern. Unlucky not to get through to next round with 10 points. The Boys played very good against all teams in group, especially against Udinese, winning both matches. Biggest disappointment in this group was Udinese. They played just 1 good game when they beat Liverpool at Anfield 3-2.
Group B – Only unexpected result in this group was that Atletico didn’t finish first but they’re going to the next phase anyway. The defenders of the title mainly used their second team and rested couple of key players.  Last year best scorer and player in this competition, Falcao, didn’t play a single minute in this group stage, but is normal to expect him firing in the last 32. FC Plzen beat Atletico in last fixture battle for 1st place and Czech team were rock solid against Academica and Hapoel who finished 3rd and 4th, respectively.
Group C – In this tough group, Marseille won just one game and finished 3rd, not fulfilling expectations of their supporters and football world, in general.  Fenerbahche were the best team from the start,  only lost one game. The Turks collected 13 points and Borussia Moenchengladbach with 11.
Group D – Without any surprises, Bordeaux and Newcastle United will be playing in the last 32. Newcastle played this stage with team from couple of starters and mainly reserves but that was enough for them to be at the draw later this month. Girondins were 1st as they beat The Magpies 2-0 in last collision for top of the table. Maritimo and Club Brugge were not bad at all, but they won’t be participating in further games.
Group E – One of the tight groups, with three teams were in battle for first two places in last match day. Steaua Bucuresti and Stuttgart will continue to play in this year Europa League, although  Die Schwaben were lucky with last night results. FC Kopenhagen finished 3rd with same amount of points as Stuttgart,8 , but Germans were better in matches between this two clubs. FC Molde sits at the bottom with 6 points.
Group F – In this very hard group for them, Dnipro was best team and one of the biggest surprises in this year competition with 5 wins and only one loss, away at Sao Paolo. They played attacking, attractive football and at they deserve to be 1st, ahead of Napoli and PSV, who was eliminated. Napoli did enough to progress and AIK Stockholm finished last in this group, as we expected.
Group G – Football world was probably expected to see Basel and Sporting in next round, but Genk was played very well and finished 1st without losing a game, with 12 points total. The Swiss side will play at spring in Europe and Videoton from Hungary were hard team to beat, they even won against Sporting and Basel, in process. Last year semi-finalists  ,  Sporting, dumped out from Europe with very poor display.
Group H – Without any real troubles, Rubin and Inter will continue playing in this year competition. The Russians were solid in all games, especially against Inter, who in the other hand, decided to give a chance to some younger players in Europa League, but that was more then enough to challenge for the title at the end of EL season. Partizan Belgrade and Neftchi Baku didn’t had quality and strength  to compete in this group and they were settled with 3 points each.
Group I – Olympique Lyon showed absolutely fantastic form and football and they won 1st place like piece of cake and they earned 15 points, more then any other team in this year competition, with only one draw against Sparta, in Prague. Strong Czechs deserved to be in last 32. cause they were better than Atletic Bilbao, another big disappointment . Shmona from Israel are last, with 2 points.
Group J – Lazio and Tottenham were favourites to win this group and they surely fulfilled expectations. They played uninteresting 0-0 in both of their games between each other and Panathinaikos were not good enough to cause any problems to them. Maribor from Slovenia start was impressive, with 3-0 win against PAO, but that was all they could do.
Group K – Another great team from Eastern Europe, Metalist Kharkov, topped the group with Bayer Leverkusen finished below them. The Ukrainian team is combined of couple of Brazilians and they play very attractive football, similar to Shakhtar’s. They were lost their last match against weak Rapid Vienna, but that match didn’t had a competitive significance. The Aspirin boys from Leverkusen were great too and they will be hard opponent to any club in last 32. Rosenborg finished 3rd and Rapid is last with just 3 points.
Group L – We could say that we expected better performance from Twente, but they finished last, not recording a win. Steve McClaren’s talented side  didn’t show good football and they deserved to be out. Hannover is 1st with 12 and Levante 2nd with 11 points. Helsingborg, with last match win at Twente, finished 3rd.
Liverpool, Lyon, Atletico, Inter, Tottenham, along with UCL teams like Chelsea, Benfica and Zenit are amongst the strong contenders to win this year Europa League, but like I said before, beware of Eastern forces Metalist, Dnipro, Anzhi and even Steaua.
With 8 teams from Champions League, the draw will be very interesting on 20th December.
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