When it comes to European competition, most football fans focus their attention on matters in the Champions League, because of the football teams involved, the players and prestige of being crowned the best. To win the Champions League, as a fan, is one of the most wonderful experiences in football, but as the competition begins to resemble a closed shop with every passing year, it’s Europe’s secondary competition that provides the greater excitement.
While some may argue that the Europa League isn’t worth the fuss – a view seemingly held in England – matchday four provided yet more evidence of why it should be rated more favourably. It’s not just about the teams you haven’t heard of; it’s about the competitive nature and the number of goals you can see across any match.
If we take a look at the Champions League Group Stage this season, you would be hard pressed to find a group that hasn’t been predictable and after Matchday four we knew five of the Round of 16 participants. Maybe this is a case for the abolition of the Group Stage phase but it hardly paints the Champions League as a competitive competition.
Contrast that with the Europa League and the overall picture couldn’t be any more different. Yes, four teams have the qualified for the Round of 32 but what about the supposed big teams who are in trouble and the smaller teams looking to take their place? Manchester United lost on matchday 4 to Fenerbahce and are in danger of not qualifying from a group that most would have expected them to walk through.
Look at the incredible story in Group D from Irish side Dundalk who sit second or Azerbaijani side Qarabag who may be the first team from the country to qualify for the knockout rounds. What about Inter Milan languishing at the bottom of Group K facing almost certain elimination?
Everywhere you look in the Europa League there are stories to be told of teams, who many will not have heard of, upsetting the natural order in football. It’s exciting to see and refreshing in an age where the gap between bigger and smaller clubs seems to be growing at an alarming pace.
It’s not about just stories, though, it’s also about the number of goals in the Europa League compared to the Champions League. Though it is unfair to compare each matchday, as the Europa League has more teams competing in the Group Stage, a casual glance at the Champions League results tends to show a low number of goals-per-game compared to the Europa League.
Matchday four in the Europa League featured a few crazy scorelines with Athletic Bilbao beating Genk 5-3 while Ukrainian side Shakhtar Donetsk matched the same scoreline with their victory over Gent and Anderlecht were comfortable winners over Mainz by a 6-1 margin. While football shouldn’t turn into a basketball style game with crazy scorelines like those mentioned above all of the time, it is welcoming to see a few teams attacking rather than playing safe.
In the Champions League, if you would have written down 16 qualifiers from the Group Stage it would have largely matched the current standings, but in the Europa League, it increasingly resembles the cup competition equivalent of the English Premier League where predictions rarely match up to the final result.
The Champions League will always be the most prestigious European competition with the better players, the better teams and the better sponsorship but what about competition? When the same teams dominate the competition and it’s rare for any other club to defeat them, it’s tough to call the Champions League competitive.
There are new teams ready to take the limelight and ready to establish themselves on the European football map. Maybe the defending isn’t the best but at least they attack and take risks rather than playing safe like their Champions League counterparts. The Europa League may be the ‘poorer relation’ but with more goals and less predictability, maybe it’s time to tune in on Thursday nights.
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