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The second leg of the Europa League semi-finals is over. Aston Villa is coached by Emery, who is known as the "King of the Europa League". They defeated Nottingham Forest 4-0 at home and achieved a comeback with a total score of 4-1 to advance to the final. This is Emery's performance. He has reached the Europa League final for the sixth time in his coaching career. Three of them were when he led Sevilla to win the championship. One of them was when he was coaching the Yellow Submarine. The only time he failed was when he coached Arsenal in 2019 and lost to Chelsea in the final.
Another semi-final was also a comeback. Freiburg defeated Braga 3-1 at their home court and successfully advanced to the final with a total score of 4-3. They will compete with Villa in Istanbul on May 20 for the final championship.
During the process, the final team of the UEFA Cup was also successfully decided. They returned to Crystal Palace at home and defeated Shakhtar Donetsk 2-1. The total score in the two rounds was 5-2 to achieve a double defeat against the opponent. In another match, Rayo Vallecano defeated Strasbourg 1-0 in an away game, also advancing with a double victory over their opponents. The final will be held in Leipzig on May 27.
Europa League semi-final scores
Aston Villa 4-0 (4-1 overall) Nottingham Forest
36' Watkins, 58' (points) Buendia, 77'80' McGinn
Freiburg 3-1 (aggregate 4-3) Braga
(Braga red card: 7'Dogeles)
19'72'Kübler, 41'Manzenby/79'Paul Victor
Europa League final matchup
Freiburg vs Aston Villa
May 21, 03:00 Beijing time
UEFA Cup semi-final scores
Crystal Palace 2-1 (5-2 overall) Shakhtar Donetsk
Twenty-five minutes (own goal), Pedro Enrique, fifty-two minutes, Ismaila Sarr, thirty-four minutes, Eguinaldo!
Strasbourg 0-1 (0-2 overall) Rayo Vallecano
42'Alemão
UEFA Cup final matchup
Crystal Palace vs Rayo Vallecano
May 28, 03:00 Beijing time
Entering the final stage of the three major European Cups this season, many teams in the Premier League have become major players. Arsenal successfully reached the Champions League final, Villa also reached the Europa League final, and Crystal Palace also reached the UEFA Europa League final. There is a possibility that the Premier League can win all three championships. The outrageous theory that the Premier League is like the European Super League seems to be getting closer to reality.
One thing worth mentioning is that when the Premier League launched a comprehensive campaign against Europe's three top cup competitions, Spain, known as the "Invincible Fleet", did not disappear during this period. In fact, among the six teams in the finals of this season's European football club competitions, four are controlled by Spaniards, including Enrique, who coaches the Paris team, Arteta, who coaches the Arsenal team, Emery, who coaches the Villa team, and Inigo Perez, who coaches the Rayo Vallecano team.
Even if Braga had not received a red card in the first 7 minutes and thus played one less player, it is difficult to say whether Freiburg could successfully achieve a comeback. If Braga (whose head coach Bissons is Spanish) enters the final, then there will be 5 Spanish coaches among the 6 teams in the final, and both the Champions League and Europa League will be taken over by Spanish coaches.
With Rayo Vallecano's victory, La Liga has locked in the league with the second-best performance in the European competition this season. Like the Premier League, it will receive the fifth Champions League place next season. This allows Atletico Madrid, which has just been eliminated from the Champions League, to ensure its qualification for next season's Champions League four rounds in advance.
The Premier League is showing a three-pronged trend, and it is very likely that 6 teams will compete in the Champions League again next season. In extreme cases, 10 teams can participate in the European competition (including 6 teams in the Champions League, 3 teams in the Europa League, and 1 team in the UEFA Europa League). According to the current situation, the top 5 will definitely participate in the Champions League. If Villa wins the Europa League and does not enter the top 4, the Premier League will get 6 Champions League tickets. If Crystal Palace wins the UEFA Europa League, they will qualify for the Europa League.
If Villa wins the Europa League and ranks fifth in the league, this situation is likely to have a more significant impact on the Premier League championship situation and the competition for European war qualifications. First of all, Bournemouth, Brentford and Brighton all have the possibility of qualifying for the Champions League in this situation, because the point difference between them is very small, only 2 points at most. Even the gap between 11th-ranked Fulham and Bournemouth is only 4 points, so the competition in the European competition is particularly fierce.
If Villa is in sixth place, there is actually not much difference. The difference is that according to the regulations set by UEFA, since the Premier League will obtain an additional Champions League quota, then Villa's fifth place is equivalent to gaining a quota to enter the Europa League based on league results, and this Europa League quota is to be distributed to other leagues. In the same way, if Villa is sixth, it will be offset by a European League quota. Based on the above situation, the top 6 teams in the Premier League can participate in the Champions League. If Villa is ranked 5th, there will be 2 teams participating in the Europa League and 1 team will participate in the UEFA Europa League. If Villa is ranked 6th, there will be 3 teams participating in the UEFA Europa League. The conditions that need to be met for the Premier League to obtain 10 European spots are that Crystal Palace wins the UEFA Champions League and Villa wins the UEFA Europa League and is ranked outside the top six.
In fact, Villa generally has no worries in the Champions League. It has been accused of giving Tottenham a try, and the last round of the Premier League happens to be the weekend after the Europa League final. Therefore, it is not unusual for Villa to give Manchester City a chance. However, Manchester City must first survive the previous games. This weekend they will first face Brentford, followed by the FA Cup final, followed by Bournemouth. These teams are all teams that will fight hard for the European War and even the Champions League! Looking at Arsenal's schedule (West Ham, Burnley, Crystal Palace), gun fans will laugh out loud.
In addition, given that the last round of the Premier League is after the Europa League final, according to Sky Sports speculation, Brentford may deliberately lose to Liverpool, and Brighton may also deliberately lose to Manchester United, in order to ensure that Villa does not enter the top 4. But it’s too early to tell now, after all, the situation is changing at any time, but what is certain is that there will definitely be no shortage of topics and traffic in the final rounds of the Premier League.