The Europa League final tournament in NRW will be decided without German participation. Again. Four teams from four countries are still there: two very big names in European football, a record winner and a triumphant underdog from Ukraine.
Cologne (dpa) - Four teams, one goal: The Europa League final tournament in North Rhine-Westphalia is entering the decisive phase with the semifinals.
Sevilla FC, Manchester United, Inter Milan and Shakhtar Donetsk want to celebrate the title at the final in Cologne on August 21. The German press agency sheds light on the chances of the top teams from Spain, England, Italy and the Ukraine.
FC SEVILLA: The Europa League is something like the favorite competition of the club from Andalusia. The Spaniards have already won the title three times, and there were two triumphs in the previous UEFA Cup competition. The total of five successes mean a record in Europe. Julen Lopetegui's team struggled against Wolverhampton Wanderers for a long time in the quarter-finals, but in the end they deserved to win thanks to a late goal from top scorer Lucas Ocampos.
Sevilla play clever, experienced, often even to the limit of fairness - and often compensate for the class of opponents with better individual players. That can also succeed against Manchester United on Sunday evening in Cologne. Or, to use Lopetegui's words: "Manchester are a great team, a good club, but we have the same ambitions."
MANCHESTER UNITED: Similar to Sevilla, the Red Devils had problems with an - even bigger - outsider in the round of the last eight. United had to go into extra time against FC Copenhagen and won there with a penalty from Portuguese Bruno Fernandes. On paper, coach Ole Gunnar Solskjaer's team with Inter Milan is one of the biggest title aspirants.
Stars like French world champion Paul Pogba, England internationals Marcus Rashford and Harry Maguire or striker Anthony Martial speak for Manchester. The third of the previous Premier League season also has an open account with Seville: In 2018, the Spaniards threw the English record champions in the round of 16 from the Champions League.
INTER MILAN: Defensive stability paired with offensive force: Inter Milan impressed in the quarter-finals against Leverkusen and could have won more than 2: 1. Especially Sturm-Kante Romelu Lukaku, who scored in all of his past nine Europa League games, again showed a very strong performance and could never be brought under control by the Bayer defense. The Belgian could become a key player in the race for the title.
Ten years after triumphing in the Champions League final against FC Bayern, the Italians, once spoiled for success, want to finally win an international trophy again. "I am very happy that Inter have managed to make it back to a European semi-final after ten years," said defender Diego Godín, who has already won the Europa League twice with Atlético Madrid. In the semifinals, Inter are favorites against Donetsk, but the Milanese have to be careful.
SCHACHTJOR DONEZK: Because the Ukrainian champions have been extremely strong in the Europa League so far. After the sovereign victories against Wolfsburg, the team of Portuguese coach Luis Castro also dealt with the staid FC Basel on Tuesday in Gelsenkirchen 4-1. Schachtjor was relegated to the Europa League as third in the Champions League group, but based on previous impressions, he has a real chance for the title there. For the third time after 2008/09 and 2015/16, the eleven, peppered with numerous Brazilian ball artists, are in the semi-finals of the Europa League and the UEFA Cup.
The duel with Inter on Monday in Düsseldorf should be extremely interesting. Shakhtar is not lacking in self-confidence. "We played fantastic football against a good team," said Castro enthusiastically after the win over Basel. The eleven have been unbeaten in all competitions for eleven games. Striker Júnior Moraes is looking forward to Inter: "I think we can reach the final. If you want to test yourself, you have to play against the best teams at this level."
© dpa-infocom, dpa: 200812-99-139370 / 2
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