The best-performing underdogs in the Europa League this season

The Europa League group stages close this week, and some outstanding teams have defied the odds to do well.

Most clubs in the competition this season were expected to do well, but not all have met expectations.

Meanwhile, there are other sides that we never thought could challenge around the top of the standings and they have done exactly that so far.

It has been an exciting season in the Europa League, watching players like Mohamed Salah deliver some dazzling performances in front of us.

Romelu Lukaku and Paulo Dybala have also been key players for AS Roma and they are some of the top players to watch in the competition this term.

These are well-known teams and players, but other clubs and players have proved too good to be underestimated and are making a case for themselves to be considered important.

We expected the likes of Salah, Lukaku and Victor Boniface to challenge for the top scorer award in the competition this term, but the leading scorer in the Europa League so far has been Joao Pedro and Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang.

Auba is an established player who deserves praise for refusing millions in Saudi Arabia to play in France for Olympique Marseille.

However, Pedro has just moved to Brighton and previously only had experience in domestic competition: the Premier League and the Championship.

But he has done very well in the Europa League this term and is driving Brighton towards making a very good impression in the competition.

Several other clubs have made their fans buy Europa League tickets, and we discuss them in this article.

Freiburg

Freiburg was put in the same group as Olympiacos and West Ham and only a few people had expected them to reach the knockout stages of the competition because of the quality of the opponents in the group.

However, before their final group game of the season against West Ham, they have already secured qualification for the knockout stages.

The Germans won four of their opening five games and have the same points as the Hammers heading into the knockout round.

It is an impressive term for them in the competition and they have shown that German teams need to be taken seriously in European competitions. 

Brighton

Brighton was the darling of most football fans in England last season, and they exceeded expectations by qualifying for the Europa League.

Although they play a superb and brave style of football that sees them go toe to toe with the elites of the Premier League, the Seagulls are relatively inexperienced in Europe.

This was obviously supposed to be a disadvantage for them in the group stage of the Europa League, especially after drawing Ajax, AEK Athens and Olympique Marseille in the same group.

Roberto de Zerbi is a very good manager, but he also lacks European experience, and we expected his team to struggle in the competition, considering the pedigree of the opponents they faced in the group.

But Brighton have been consistently good in Europe so far and by their final group game against Marseille, they have already qualified.

The Seagulls have 10 points and OM has 11, but if they win the game between both clubs on matchday six, they will finish the group as the winners.

This will be a huge achievement for a team still doing well in the Premier League and could even end the term in Europe again.

Real Betis

Manuel Pellegrini is one of the finest managers in European football and did a brilliant job at Manchester City before now.

The Chilean is already 70, but he continues to do a good job on the bench and his latest team is Real Betis of Seville.

His side entered the Europa League as one of Spain’s European campaigners and was expected to struggle in a group that also had Rangers and Sparta Prague.

They have not been in the best shape when compared to other competitors, and they even lost two of their five opening group games.

But they top their standings in group C and have scored the most goals among all the clubs in that group at the moment.

The group is tight as they, Rangers and Sparta can still qualify for the knockout stages depending on their respective results on the final day of the group stage.

But Betis faces Rangers at home and is likely to win that game and secure their spot in the next round of the Europa League.

Toulouse

Toulouse is struggling in Ligue 1 this season but is about to qualify for the knockout stages of the Europa League alongside Liverpool in Group E.

The Frenchmen need a draw in their final group game of the campaign against LASK and will qualify for the knockout stages.

When the group draw was made, Liverpool immediately stood out and we all expected them to defeat every single team in the group or at least not lose any game.

But that was never the case, no thanks to Toulouse, who pulled off an upsetting win when the Reds visited them in France.

The Ligue 1 side won a pulsating game 3-2 after a late goal for Liverpool was ruled out by VAR.

This has put Toulouse in a position to qualify for the knockout stages of the Europa League and it is hard not to see them make it.

Rennes

Rennes is another Ligue club that has defied the odds to do well in the Europa League this season, and they are at the top of Group F ahead of Villarreal.

Considering how impressive Panathinaikos were in the Champions League qualifiers before they dropped down to the Europa League, we expected them to challenge for the knockout stages in the group.

However, Rennes are top, with Villarreal, who won the competition not so long ago, second in the group.

Rennes has suffered just a defeat in the group stage so far and will host Villarreal in their final group game to confirm themselves as winners of the group.

It is a game you want to buy the ticket for because Villarreal has it all to play for in that game and will not want to lose no matter what happens.

Slavia Prague

Slavia Prague is the pride of the Czech Republic and it is a club that often plays in the Champions League as a representative of their country.

This term, they are in the Europa League and were placed in the same group as Jose Mourinho’s AS Roma.

We all know the Portuguese manager is one of the most successful managers in European football, so he certainly was expected to lead the Romans to the top of the group.

However, Prague had other ideas and simply refused to allow the Italians to rule over everyone in the group.

After five matches, they are leading the group ahead of their final group game of the season against Servette FC.

Servette has already lost two and won one of their five group games so far and Slavia is expected to defeat them in front of their fans.

This means no matter what result Roma gets in their game against Sheriff, Slavia will be the group winners, which is impressive considering the difference in the quality of both squads.

These clubs have been brilliant in the group stage of the Europa League so far and it will be interesting to see how they perform in the next round.