Europa League: great expectations for autumn

“After the first batch, I thought it couldn’t be worse,” admitted Rapid coach Dietmar Kühbauer, Rapid coach, after the draw, in which his club had two opponents they could beat: Norwegian champion Molde FK and Irish champion Dundalk FC awarded. “In the end, it must be said that it is a good group for us that we cannot complain about. But that does not mean that we believe that it will be easy for us. We will try to move forward, and ours should too.” Be your destination, ”said the Burmese, marking the route.

At eighth place, Arsenal have had a messy season in the Premier League, but thanks to their FA Cup triumph they still secured the international ticket. This season the “Gunners”, with Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang, Granit Xhaka and Mesut Özil among the most famous players, are fifth after three rounds. “When I think of the Emirates Stadium, playing there, my heart opens,” said Kühbauer full of anticipation. Austrian clubs have competed four times in the European Cup against the 13-time English champions, with two wins and two losses.

Duel with ex-Haaland-Club Molde

With Molde he goes against the four-time reigning Norwegian champions. Only one place was lost in the group stage of the Champions League due to the away goals rule in the duel with Ferencvaros Budapest. “I watched the game, they don’t have a bad team,” warned Kühbauer del Molde, former Dortmund club striker Erling Haaland.

The big unknown is with Dundalk, the 14-time Irish champion. After the tie against Celje in the CL classification, the hurdles Inter Club d’Escaldes, Sheriff Tiraspol and Klaksvik were overcome with difficulty in the Europa League classification.

Thalhammer expects a comparison with Mourinho

Dominik Thalhammer can compete with an outstanding training buddy. The draw gave LASK with Tottenham and star coach José Mourinho the known opponents they had expected. The great north London club were in the final of the Champions League last year and can be considered a favorite for one of the two promotion spots. Bulgarian champions Ludogorez Razgrad and Royal Antwerp of Belgium came out of the drums like other opponents of the Linz team.

“With Tottenham we have drawn an absolutely first-rate team that has a coach in José Mourinho who has brought a lot of innovation in football and has had great success,” Thalhammer said in an initial reaction. The Portuguese had “inspired” him. He had already competed with Manchester United in the Europa League round of 16 when he made his debut as Linz’s head coach, and now the athletes are heading to London.

Tottenham dotted with stars

The Spurs recently signed a superstar, Gareth Bale. The Welshman arrived at his ex-club on loan from Real Madrid. The Tottenham team is also dotted with internationals such as the French world champion goalkeeper Hugo Lloris, the English national team players Dele Alli and Harry Kane or the South Korean star Son Heung Min. After finishing sixth in the last season of the Premier League, the club had to go through the mills of the Europa League. Qualification, like the 7-2 win against Maccabi Haifa in the play-off, was sovereign.

In addition to Tottenham’s “charisma”, Thalhammer saw the other opponents at eye level. Ludogorez moved up to the Europa League as a loser in the second qualifying round of the Champions League. Antwerp reached fourth place in Belgium’s upper house last season, the fixed place for the Europa League came from winning the Belgian Cup. “It will be a great challenge for us, a challenge we are looking forward to,” he said looking into the fall.

WAC wants to go even further this time

WAC will once again face CSKA Moscow, Dinamo Zagreb and Feyenoord Rotterdam in the group stage. Although this time the big name is missing, it does not facilitate the task. In their Europa League debut last year, WAC won an away win against Borussia Mönchengladbach and two draws against AS Roma, but then withdrew last in the group. This time, coach Ferdinand Feldhofer’s team expects even more.

The opponent with the most successful international history is Feyenoord with star coach Dick Advocaat. The Rotterdam club won the European Championship and the World Cup in 1970 with coach Ernst Happel and midfielder Franz Hasil. Last season in the Dutch league, which was canceled due to the coronavirus pandemic, finished Feyenoord in third place behind Ajax Amsterdam and AZ Alkmaar and was thus, like WAC, firmly qualified for the group stage.

CSKA Moscow also saved the rankings thanks to fourth place in the Russian Premier League. For Dinamo Zagreb, on the other hand, the group stage of the Europa League means relegation: the Croatian series champions surprisingly lost 2-1 in the third qualifying round for the Champions League at Ferencvaros Budapest. After all, the Europa League play-off at home against Flora Tallinn was won 3-1 on Thursday.

UEFA reopens stadiums to fans

The group stage begins in three weeks on October 22 and ends on December 10. There was positive news from UEFA on Thursday, especially as spectators are once again allowed in the group stage. What is less gratifying for Rapid, LASK and WAC is that the UEFA-approved regulation for up to 30 percent of stadium capacity is not allowed in Austria due to the official restriction of a maximum of 3,000 fans.

“We are in dialogue with politicians and we are convinced that, as UEFA or Germany are doing, it makes much more sense to focus on capacity as a percentage. Over the edge of 3,000 is not convenient for us, ”said business manager Christoph Peschek, describing his point of view. More than half of Rapid’s budget is related to game day. “The economic damage is enormous and, with current regulation, it is definitely in the double-digit million range,” Peschek said.