Europa League: Welcome to the historic all-English final

HISTORIC CHAMPIONS L EAGUE QUALIFIER

According to UEFA regulations, the Europa League winner will qualify for the Champions League next season. However, if that team has already qualified for the Champions League through the final ranking of the national championship, that place will not be transferred to another team. This year, both Tottenham and MU have played poorly in the Premier League, certainly finishing the season in the bottom half of the rankings. So whichever team wins the upcoming Europa League final will be the sixth representative of the Premier League in the Champions League next season. This is a historical detail because no country has ever sent more than 5 teams to the Champions League in a season.

MU (left) is considered to have a better chance of winning the Europa League.

PHOTO: AFP

Originally, England and the other leading European football powers only had 4 places in the Champions League. But under the current format, UEFA granted a 5th place to the 2 countries with the most successful representatives in the 3 European cups. This year, the Premier League just got a 5th place through this route, now it has added a 6th place through the Europa League as mentioned above. Exactly 1/6 of the total teams in the Champions League next season will be English representatives. And more than half of the Premier League will appear in the 3 European cups next season - terrifying in terms of quantity!

On the other hand, the Europa League final has never been as important as it is now. The honor of winning the championship is just a small matter, getting a ticket to the Champions League is the matter of survival. As everyone knows, the Champions League has now been expanded, with at least 8 matches for each team in the league stage. The money for sharing television copyright, along with other economic benefits, has therefore skyrocketed. For MU, being able to participate in the Champions League or not is a difference worth tens of millions of pounds, from pre-signed sponsorship contracts. In general, the upcoming Tottenham - MU final has been valued at around 100 million pounds, it is not known which side will gain, or lose!

WHO IS BETTER?

There were no surprises in the second leg of the semi-finals. At home, Norwegian side Bodo/Glimt beat Porto in their opening game, or consecutively defeated AZ, Olympiacos, Lazio to reach the semi-finals of the Europa League. The artificial turf and harsh climate in the Arctic Circle make every away team discouraged. But Tottenham overcame that challenge to beat Bodo/Glimt 2-0, 5-1 on aggregate. Although MU seemed to struggle, they eventually won 4-1 at home against Athletic Bilbao, reaching the final with a total score of 7-1. Thus, MU is the only team unbeaten in the 3 European Cups this season (14 matches in the Europa League), although they have lost 16 matches in the Premier League.

When asked about the contrasting form in the two international and domestic arenas, Tottenham coach Ange Postecoglu emphasized: "There should be no comparison, because each tournament has its own characteristics." Perhaps MU fans are also waiting for this exact sentence to strengthen their spirit. It seems that MU is worse than Tottenham in the domestic arena. MU lost 0-3 to Tottenham at home in the Premier League, then lost 0-1 in the second leg, and lost 3-4 in the League Cup. But now, the prospects of winning the Europa League for both sides are equal, if not to say MU is slightly better.

The betting market is placing MU as the favorites before the final. Traditionally, MU is very experienced and always knows how to win when in difficult situations, or when in bad form. They were once the champions with the lowest points in the history of the Premier League. Both times they won the championship in the Champions League era, MU did not win in the official match time, or were 0-1 down until the 89th minute! Not long ago, MU also played poorly in the Premier League and qualified for the Champions League next year thanks to winning the Europa League. This is exactly where Tottenham is lacking. In the past 40 years, Tottenham has only played 1 match in the final of European Cups.

Source: https://thanhnien.vn/europa-league-chao-don-tran-chung-ket-toan-anh-lich-su-185250509182522993.htm