With the season's end coming closer and closer, the picture for who could win the Europa League is becoming clearer. Find out our picks for the Europa League favourites.
Last Updated: 17/03/23 at 9:45 am
The Europa League is getting towards the final stages, with the quarter-finals coming up as the next round, which means only eight teams will be left.
With that, we are taking a look at the teams who will be involved in the quarter-final draw and labelled who we think could be the favourites to win the Europa League title this season.
Manchester United
Revitalised and dangerous
One of football’s all-time greatest sides, Manchester United have had a few years of mediocrity but seem to finally be on their way to rebuilding their squad to become challengers once again in England and on the European stage.
Under the guidance of Erik Ten Hag, United have started to find their footing again this season and are looking to challenge in every competition. They have already secured their first piece of silverware with the Carabao Cup. They will be looking to add to that this season, particularly with a piece of European silverware.
Their Europa League competition has gone well for them so far. In the group stage, they finished second in their group, matching first-placed Real Sociedad but losing out on the top spot due to goal difference, with just one goal in it.
This meant they had to play in the knockout round playoffs, where the eight teams who finished second in their groups had to play the eight teams who finished third in their Champions League groups and subsequently drop down to the Europa League. The playoffs determine who goes through to the full knockout round stage of the competition.
Man United were drawn quite possibly the hardest matchup possible, going up against La Liga leaders and Spanish heavyweights Barcelona.
The first leg showed how tough the challenge was going to be to overcome Xavi’s Barca side, finishing 2-2 at the Camp Nou.
In the second leg at Old Trafford, United went a goal down early through world-leading striker Robert Lewandowski. But they fought back, equalising before the half, and eventually finding the winner in the 73rd minute and winning the tie 4-3 on aggregate.
The Round of 16 saw them up against Real Betis. The first leg at Old Trafford was a dominant performance, winning 4-1. The second leg in Spain was mainly a formality, holding onto their three-goal lead and even extending it by winning 1-0, taking the tie 5-1.
Man United have a strong squad that looks capable of going up against anyone. For Ten Hag and for the entire team, they will look at winning the Europa League as a strong indication that Manchester United is back for good.
They last won it in 2018 under Jose Mourinho, who now manages AS Roma, and made the final again in 2021 but unfortunately lost on penalties to Villareal.
Manchester United are having a strong season, one that will hopefully see them push on and return to the United of old. A win in the Europa League is absolutely not off the cards this season.
Sevilla
Masters of the competition
When you talk about the best teams in the Europa League, there simply is no team better than Sevilla. The Spanish side may not be one of the leading teams in their country, but like Real Madrid in the Champions League, Sevilla seem to know the key to winning the Europa League.
They have the record for most wins in the history of the competition, having won it six times with all wins coming after 2000, doing the double in 2006 and 2007, the treble in 2014-2016, and then most recently winning it in 2020.
Sevilla didn’t actually start the competition in the Europa League, but instead were one of the teams who dropped down from the Champions League. They finished third in their group, which also featured Manchester City, Borussia Dortmund, and Copenhagen.
Going down to play in the Europa League knockout round playoff, they faced PSV in a very close contest.
The first leg at their home saw them win easy, taking a 3-0 win to Eindhoven. But the second leg proved a bit trickier, with PSV getting two goals late and pilling on the pressure to scare the Rojiblancos. They were able to hold on, though, and advanced to the Round of 16.
In the Round of 16, the first leg at their home of the Ramón Sánchez Pizjuán Stadium saw them win 2-0 against Turkish side Fenerbahce. They lost the second leg 1-0 but still went through 2-1 on aggregate.
As we said earlier, no team is better in the competition than Sevilla. They seem to have an innate ability to succeed and go far in the tournament, so expect them to do so again this year.
Sevilla have a number of top players, some who shone on the world stage at the World Cup last year.
Yassine Bounou and Youssef En-Nesyri were both part of the history-making Morocco side that finished fourth, while Marcos Acuna was part of the Argentina squad that won the World Cup. Alongside other top players like Alex Telles and Ivan Rakitic, they are sure to advance and do well.
AS Roma
Reigning ECL Champions
AS Roma are the reigning champions of the newly-formed Europa Conference League, winning the first edition of the competition.
The side, led by the self-proclaimed ‘Special One’ Jose Mourinho, have looked strong the last two seasons, and are very much in with a shout of finishing in the top four of the Serie A this season - something they haven’t done since 2018.
Roma received automatic qualification to the Europa League by winning the Europa Conference League last season.
They finished second in their group, meaning they had to go through the knockout round playoffs, where they faced Red Bull Salzburg.
In the first leg in Salzburg, they fell to a 1-0 loss. But all was not lost, as the second leg would be at their home, and they managed to overturn the deficit, with Andrea Bellotti and Paulo Dybala finding the two goals they needed to get and stay ahead and win the tie.
The Round of 16 produced a tough matchup, coming up against Real Sociedad. The first leg was at home for them, and they managed to get the result they needed, taking a 2-0 lead into the second leg.
In the second leg, they faced a strong fight from Sociedad, who dominated the game. But Roma were in top form, holding back their opposition to a goalless draw and seeing through the tie.
Roma will be tricky customers for any side they come up against, so don’t bet against them in their campaign to winning another European trophy this season.
How to watch Europa League games live
One of the teams we haven’t mentioned you may still yet make it through their Round of 16 tie is Juventus. The Italian side made it through their tie against Freiburg 2-0.
However, we are not including them as Juventus have had a rough season, with a points deduction mid-way through in the league and financial issues plaguing them.
We feel more confident in saying that at least one of the four teams above will be in the final.
Every game is serious at this point in the competition, and no lead is truly safe when it comes to the second leg. This makes for unmissable action.
You can watch some of the best teams in the competition with premium hospitality to some of the teams still left in the Europa League, including:
- Manchester United
- AS Roma
- Juventus
This includes the teams’ Europa League quarter-final fixtures, with the tickets and packages available after the draw on Friday 17th March is complete.
Be sure to come back to Seat Unique after the draw is complete to get your tickets for the teams listed above who are still in the contest.
Buy Manchester United hospitalityBuy Juventus FC hospitalityBuy AS Roma hospitality
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