EL: Lighting Up Europe

POT 4 TEAMS LIGHTING UP EUROPE

Martyn Hindley gives a review of recent UEFA Europa League group ‘Pot 4’ teams.

As Dundalk were warming up for their match against Arsenal in the Emirates Stadium, their opponents were busy making José Mourinho’s season just that bit more complicated. Royal Antwerp – who entered the UEFA Europa League draw with a co-efficient ranking almost one whole point lower than Dundalk – celebrated a 1-0 home win against Premier League Tottenham thanks to a goal from Israel’s Lior Rafaelov.

The success propelled them to the Group J summit, with the Belgians already having staged a secondhalf comeback to defeat Ludogorets Razgrad in Bulgaria. It’s proof that clubs from Pot 4 of the draw can spring a surprise and it isn’t

29 October 2020; Lior Refaelov wheels away after scoring what turned out to be the only goal of the game between Royal Antwerp and Tottenham

the only such example of the competitiveness of this phase.

CSKA Sofia boast the lowest ranking of the 48 clubs still standing and yet, they have already managed a point having shared the spoils with Berne’s Young Boys little over a week ago. And what about the Austrian upstarts Wolfsberger? Their 35 yearold skipper Michael Liendl nailed two of his side’s three penalties en route to a hat-trick as Feyenoord’s 50th anniversary of their European Cup win turned into an annus horribilis in Rotterdam as the rookies turned them over 4-1 on their own patch.

No points, but no despair either

Of course, co-efficient rankings are improved both by experience and results, so it stands to reason that competing as a Pot 4 club is a challenge. Ukrainian side Zorya Lugansk, Lech Poznan of Poland and Rijeka, of Croatia, all suffered backto-back defeats at the start of the Group Stage as with Sivasspor, but the latter are buoyed by having found the net four times thus far in losses away to Villarreal and the more seasoned Maccabi Tel-Aviv.

Omonia have a point after an opening draw in Thessaloniki against PAOK, where they had led at half-time. They would also surge ahead against 1988 European champions PSV Eindhoven on home soil on matchday 2 only for Donyell Malen to level things up and then pick the Cypriots’ pockets in the second minute of stoppage time.

French flair… inconsistently applied

Lille and Nice are both surprise entrants into pot 4 although the former don’t have to go too far back to revisit dramatic European successes; a Champions League upstaging of Manchester United and winning in the San Siro against AC Milan. It’s no shock therefore to see Lille poach four points from the first two matches, pocketing a stunning 4-1 success from their trip to Sparta Prague and a draw against Celtic.

29 October 2020; Mohamed Elyounoussi scored twice but Celtic were held by Lille

For their part, Nice bounced back from a 6-2 opening thrashing at the hands of Bayer Leverkusen to then record a win against Hapoel Be’er Sheva, a match played in the emotional backdrop of the terror attacks in the city.

Pot 4 clubs always need to go that one step further to achieve on the continental stage but this season to date, there are plenty of good signs for the relative rookies of the Europa League Group Stage.

Donyell Malen

Nice v Hapoel Be’er Sheva

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