The Europa League may be considered the poor relative of the UEFA Champions League, but in 2022-23 there are some incredibly massive teams taking part, and the knockout round play-offs include one stunning stellar clash that everyone wants to witness live and in person.
Once the group stages are taken care of, there is the small matter of the giants who finish in third place in their respective Champions League groups, with these teams then dropping into the Europa League, where they invariably become among the favourites to win the competition.
In 2022-23 this is definitely the case. Massive teams, including Barcelona, Juventus, Ajax, and Sporting Lisbon, have joined those teams who finished second in their Europa League groups, and they’ll meet in the newly created knockout round play-offs.
This season, and onwards, the teams who finished top of their Europa League groups get to sit this one out and are safely ensconced in the Europa League Round of 16. Mikel Arteta’s Arsenal being one such team that is already in the draw for that one.
The Europa League knockout round play-offs draw led to a number of very interesting clashes, with one match standing out in particular.
2022-23 Europa League Knockout Round Play-Offs
- Barcelona vs Manchester United
- Juventus vs Nantes
- Sporting Lisbon vs Midtjylland
- Shakhtar Donetsk vs Rennes
- Ajax vs Union Berlin
- Bayer Leverkusen vs Monaco
- Sevilla vs PSV Eindhoven
- Red Bull Salzburg vs Roma
Barcelona vs Manchester United Set for Titanic Battle
This fixture has come at the right time for Erik ten Hag’s men, with Manchester United getting to play the second leg at home, and if you want to get your hands on tickets for this fantastic clash, you can do so here.
Barcelona vs Manchester United tickets will be in high demand for this one, and it is arguably the biggest game that the Europa League has seen in a long while.
Manchester United’s Dutch boss has seen his Old Trafford side put together an exemplary sequence of results on either side of the World Cup break. They’ve won 11 of their last 13 games in all competitions, with their only loss coming away at in-form Arsenal.
England international Marcus Rashford has been in the best form of his career, and the departure of Cristiano Ronaldo has seemingly helped the team to gel better, and they are now pretty much safely into the EFL Cup Final and will face West Ham in the FA Cup fifth round while still very much fighting for a place in the top four.
Barcelona are also looking very consistent right now, with boss Xavi taking the Nou Camp team back to the summit of La Liga.
This is sure to be a keenly fought clash, and one you’d typically see in Champions League action, and the two teams have, of course, met in some glorious games in that competition in the not-so-distant past.
In 2009 they played each other in the final, with Pep Guardiola’s side coming out on top 2-0 in Rome and then two years later, in the 2011 final, they met at Wembley in a game that was more evenly balanced but still saw the Catalan side run out winners.
Other Exciting Europa League Clashes
There are a host of other fixtures of note, but perhaps the next most interesting will see Juventus play French side Nantes knowing that winning the Europa League might be their best way of getting back into the Champions League after the Turin side were hit with a 15 point penalty that saw them drop down the Serie A table.
Ajax vs Union Berlin will be a real tussle, not least because the German side are having one of their best-ever seasons and currently sit second in the domestic title race, a title they have never won before.
Sevilla, six-time winners of the trophy, will play Dutch side PSV Eindhoven and the Spanish side will hope to make a significant improvement on their domestic form, which is patchy at best.
Jose Mourinho’s AS Roma, who are fighting for a top-four finish in Italy, play Austrian side Red Bull Salzburg and the Portuguese boss is a former winner of the competition, having led Manchester United to the trophy in 2016-17.
How Can I Get Europa League Tickets?
If you want to see your team in action in the Europa League or just fancy taking in one of these great matches as a neutral, then SeatPick can undoubtedly help you get the tickets you want.
We have a large inventory of tickets as our platform works with a large number of the most trusted resellers, which means that our users are well-placed to shop for tickets that meet their needs and their budget.
If you want to check out the availability of Europa League tickets, simply click here to peruse what’s on offer.
