The top domestic European leagues are back in action following the months-long break due to the pandemic, and the major cup competitions like the Europa League are set to follow suit.
UEFA have confirmed that this season’s Europa League will return in August to complete the campaign. But because of the long delay caused by the pandemic, there will now be significant changes to the competition moving forward. This includes the tournament’s format as well as the venues, which will all be in Germany.
Let’s take a look at all the different changes to expect once the Europa League finally gets back underway.
New Europa League tournament format
First thing’s first, the Europa League is currently in the round of 16. Six of the eight round-of-16 ties have already been played their first legs, while the Inter Milan-Getafe and Sevilla-Roma ties have yet to be played after they were suspended due to the pandemic.
The six last-16 ties which have already started will use the regular two-leg aggregate format to decide the winner. However, the Inter-Getafe and Sevilla-Roma ties will become a single-elimination tie.
When all the round-of-16 ties have been completed, the Europa League will move on to the ‘final eight’ tournament, which will take place in Germany.
This final eight tournament will see the quarter-final stage onward become straight knockout matches instead of the usual two-legged ties to limit the number of matches.
Europa League’s Germany venues, dates set
As for the venue of the final eight tournament, all of the knockout matches from the quarter-finals onward will be held in four separate cities across Germany.
These host cites and their respective stadiums are the RheinEnergieStadion in Cologne, the Merkur Spiel-Arena in Dusseldorf, the MSV-Arena in Duisburg, and Schalke’s Arena AufSchalke in Gelsenkirchen.
UEFA has yet to decide whether the other last-16 matches will still be played at teams’ home stadiums or on neutral territory in Germany. The Inter-Getafe and Sevilla-Roma times will most likely be played on a neutral stadium in Germany.
The new venue of the 2020 Europa League final will be at the RheinEnergieStadion in Cologne. The Stadion Energa Gdańsk in Gdansk, Poland was originally scheduled to host the final, but it will instead host next year’s final.
The 2019-20 Europa League will resume on August 5 and 6 with the remaining last-16 matches. As noted earlier, the venues for those matches are still to be determined.
The quarter-finals matches are scheduled to take place on August 10 and 11. The semi-finals will be held one week later on August 16 and 17. Then, the final is set for Friday, August 21 at the RheinEnergieStadion.
Europa League Round of 16 situation
The Europa League 2020 odds like Manchester United and Basel’s chances to make it through to the quarter-finals, and rightly so.
Ole Gunnar Solskjaer’s side created several Europa League 2020 highlights as they thrashed Austrian side LASK 5-0 in the first leg away from home. Odion Ighalo, Daniel James, and Juan Mata gave the English giants a commanding lead, and two more stoppage-time goals from Mason Greenwood and Andreas Pereira have likely put that tie well out of reach.
And now, United look set to have stars Paul Pogba and Marcus Rashford for the Europa League knockout round. The two were out due to injuries and wouldn’t have been available if not for the long pause in play.
Meanwhile, Basel beat German side Eintracht Frankfurt 3-0 at Frankfurt after goals from Samuele Campo, Fabian Frei, and Kevin Bua. Another German side in VfL Wolfsburg are also in danger of crashing out after losing 2-1 at home to Shakhtar Donetsk.
The only German club out of the three who are looking good to make it through to the next round are Bayer Leverkusen, who have a commanding 3-1 lead over Rangers after the first leg in Scotland. However, Leverkusen have not been in great form since returning and are in danger of missing out on a Champions League spot.
Elsewhere, Wolverhampton Wanderers still have a decent shot to make it through. They are currently tied 1-1 with Greek giants Olympiakos after the first leg. And Turkish side Başakşehir have a 1-0 lead to defend in the second leg against FC Copenhagen.
In the two last-16 ties that will now be knockout matches, Inter Milan should like their chances of getting past Spanish side Getafe, who have failed to win their first three games since returning to action.
But by far the most competitive match remaining is the one between Roma and Sevilla. SBOBET odds are not yet up for that game, but they figure to be quite close.
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