Foot & Soccer Soccer Match Reports, Football News
The Europa League belongs to Sevilla. The Spanish side claimed their fifth victory in the competition in 2016, with the first two coming in the old UEFA Cup.
The man at the heart of three consecutive wins was Unai Emery, who masterminded their enduring success to subsequently earn a move to Paris Saint-Germain. The final of the competition took place in St. Jakob-Park with Coke scoring twice in a 3-1 win over Jurgen Klopp’s resurgent Liverpool side.
CHANGES
The 2015-16 season was the first in which the winner of the Europa League automatically qualified for the Champions League group stage the following year. Augsburg, Belenenses, Gabala, Groningen, Midtjylland, Sion and Skenderbeu Korce made their Europa League group stage debut this season.
SUMMARY
Sevilla started the season in the Champions League, but finished third in a group containing Manchester City, Juventus, and Borussia Monchengladbach. Thereafter, they dropped into the Europa League and the title defence was on.
Five teams went through the group stage of the competition without losing a match – Liverpool, Napoli, Lazio, Schalke, and Sparta Prague. There were some surprises as the likes of Besiktas, Celtic, Ajax, Monaco, and last season’s finalists, Dnipro, failed to progress.
In the Round of 32, two former Champions League winners, Porto and Borussia Dortmund, faced off and it would be the Bundesliga outfit who would comfortably progress, 3-0 on aggregate. Tottenham managed to gain revenge on Fiorentina, who eliminated them the year previous, winning well in the second leg. Valencia recorded a comprehensive victory, obliterating Rapid Wien 10-0 on aggregate, Rodrigo among the goals. Manchester United overcame an embarrassing first-leg loss in Midtjylland to win well in the second leg, 5-1 at Old Trafford, Marcus Rashford announcing himself to English football with a double. A James Milner penalty pushed Liverpool past Augsburg, while Lazio, Villarreal and Bayer Leverkusen also progressed.
The Round of…
Source link : https://www.footballcritic.com/season-reviews/sevilla-claim-record-breaking-three-in-a-row-europa-league-2015-16/35
Author : [email protected] (Martin Macdonald)
Publish date : 2024-07-21 15:00:00
Copyright for syndicated content belongs to the linked Source.
