Champions League teams that can succeed in the Europa League

The Europa League will be back after the group stages this month, with clubs who dropped out of the Champions League facing the Europa League group runners-up to remain in the competition.

Liverpool, Bayer Leverkusen and AS Roma, among others, have remained the favourites to win the competition, but now that the Champions League campaigners have joined the competition, it becomes tricky to predict.

We expect to see some upsets along the way, however, it will not be so easy for the teams who have dropped from the higher competition, and this playoff will separate the men from the boys.

Clubs who dropped from the Champions League are generally more equipped than those who started in the Europa League, and most of them want to remain in European football until the end of the season, so they certainly will not allow anyone to eliminate them from this playoff stage.

But while shopping for Europa League tickets on Seatsnet, fans know not all the teams will be in the knockout stages of the competition after this playoffs.

In this article, we will discuss every club that has dropped to the Europa League and their chance of making the next round of the competition.

Galatasaray

Galatasary stunned Manchester United by winning at Old Trafford in the Champions League, and it seemed obvious they would qualify for the next round of that competition alongside Bayern Munich.

That win was the day we knew United were no good, so a team had to take the second spot after Bayern, who was brilliant as usual.

But FC Copenhagen, whom only a few people gave a chance to do well in the competition, ended the group stage as the second-best team in their group, and Galatasaray will continue in the Europa League.

They are first in the Super Lig table and will face Sparta Prague in this playoff stage. They are the favourites and should qualify for the next round.

Lens

Lens was in the same Champions League group as Arsenal, Sevilla and PSV, and they shocked everyone when they secured a 2-1 win against the Gunners at home.

That was expected to hand them a boost ahead of their other group games, but PSV still finished second ahead of them with a single point.

Lens were fantastic in Ligue 1 last season and would look to continue their European adventure in the Europa League.

However, their next opponent will be Freiburg, who gave West Ham a run of their money in the group stage of the competition.

The Germans finished just three points behind the Europa Conference League holders, so they will be tough nuts to crack in this fixture.

Braga

Braga was in the same group as Real Madrid and Napoli in the Champions League, so it was always going to be tough for them to reach the knockout stages of the competition.

Qualifying for it was even a big deal, and they finished third, above Union Berlin, but they were far off from second-placed Napoli.

The Italians had ten points, while Braga finished with just four points to drop to the Europa League.

They will hope for an easier ride in the Europa League, but that would be too hard to find because their first opponent is the impressive Qarabag side.

The Azerbaijani side finished their group second behind Bayer Leverkusen, but they only lost their two games to the impressive Germans.

This means Braga will face a team that knows how to win games, and this could make it hard for them to survive their opponents.

Benfica

Benfica was shockingly poor at the start of the Champions League campaign, and it eventually cost them a place in the knockout stage of the competition.

The Portuguese side has been superb in their domestic league all season and has remained at the top for much of the campaign.

But they could not take that form to Europe, where they struggled in a group that contained Inter Milan and Real Sociedad.

They now have a chance to stay in Europe for the next few months in the Europa League, but they must overcome the hurdle from Toulouse.

The French club was in the same group as Liverpool and surprisingly defeated Jurgen Klopp’s team at home in the group stages.

They were not so spectacular, and Liverpool made several changes to the team that suffered that defeat, but Benfica cannot be as complacent and uninterested as they were in the Champions League group stages.

This game will be tough, but they may not be very serious about it because they want to focus on winning their domestic league.

Feyenoord 

Feyenoord was in the same Champions League group as Lazio and Atletico de Madrid, and it was one of the closest groups in the competition.

Atleti finished first, with Lazio taking the second spot, but the Dutchmen faced serious competition from Celtic to make the Europa League playoff.

Credit to them, they had two points more than the Scottish side and secured passage to this stage of the Europa League, where they will face AS Roma.

Roma were in the final of the competition last season under Jose Mourinho and would feel they should have won it.

It never happened, and they have the less experienced Daniele De Rossi as their manager now.

This means Feyenoord has a chance of reaching the next round, but the players seem very happy to work with De Rossi so far and could give their best to help the former midfielder achieve success in the competition. 

AC Milan

When the Champions League draw was made, most people expected AC Milan to qualify for the knockout stage alongside PSG in their group of death which also included Newcastle United and Borussia Dortmund.

However, BVB became the team with the best performance in the group, and Milan was on the brink of a group stage exit from European competitions on the final match day.

But they won in England and moved above Newcastle in the group to finish in a Europa League playoff spot.

Milan has battled so many injuries this term, which has inevitably affected their performance in domestic and European competitions so far.

But their fans still expect them to make progress in the Europa League and move beyond the playoff stage, where they will face Rennes.

Young Boys

Young Boys were in the same group as Manchester City and RB Leipzig, and it was inevitable that they would struggle to reach the knockout stage of the Champions League.

They managed to finish third ahead of Red Star Brigade and have been rewarded with a playoff tie against Sporting Club.

This is arguably the toughest draw for any Champions League team, and Sporting are clear favourites to win this game.

The Portuguese side finished the Europa League group stages behind Atalanta and are now in superb form.

They are joint top of the league standings in their country and will head into this game with a lot of confidence.

Young Boys will struggle to come close to Ruben Amorim’s side if they compete at their best capacity.

Shakhtar Donetsk

Shakhtar Donetsk were in the same Champions League group as Barcelona and FC Porto, and it was always going to be very difficult for them to reach the knockout stage of the competition.

The other two clubs finished above them, not surprisingly, and they will continue their European adventure with a place in the Europa League knockout stages.

Their opponent in the playoff is Olympique Marseille, who are one of the toughest clubs they could face.

The Ligue 1 side was in the same Europa League group as Ajax and Brighton and finished behind the Premier League side to set up this clash.

Because Shakhtar Donetsk did well in the Champions League group stage and only missed out on the top spot by three points, they will be formidable opponents for OM to face, and it is one of the unpredictable clashes in this playoff.