Biggest Competition for the Europa League?

[Lufti]

At about 00:38 AVB says we're probably facing the biggest team left in the competition now. But are they really the biggest / best team in the competition? I personally would have said Chelsea would be a more difficult task to overcome even with Benitez at the helm. Then there's Benfica, Fenerbache, Zenit and Lazio who are all decent teams too. (No doubt Spurs King thinks Bordeaux are the best team left ) The remaining fixtures are:

Anzhi Makhachkala v Newcastle United​

Steaua Bucharest v Chelsea​

Viktoria Plzen v Fenerbahçe​

VfB Stuttgart v Lazio​

Tottenham Hotspur v Internazionale​

Levante UD v Rubin Kazan​

FC Basel v Zenit St. Petersburg​

Benfica v Girondins Bordeaux​

 

[MightyModric]

They are most definitely the biggest team left in the competition however not the best (because we're the best, obviously).

If we win this tie, we'll have beaten 2 massive clubs and we'll have the momentum to go all the way

 

[3Dnata]

I would have said Liverpool and they aren't even in it.
I can see where he's coming from though and I don't mean Portugal.

 

[mpickard2087]

Its either them or Chelsea.

Off topic, but looking at those fixtures and who's left this competition is really wide open. I think the majority of the teams have a pretty realistic chance of winning it.

 

[ClintEastwould]

if we get past inter i think it is inevitable we will face chelsea at some point.

can you imagine the headlines?

 

[TheAmerican]

I would say that the two most dangerous teams left in the competition are Anzhi and Chelsea (excluding our fixture). I am surprised Anzhi hasn't been brought up yet. They are 2nd in the Russian league and Eto'o has 9 goals in Europa so far. I expect them to walk past Newcastle.

 

[ItsBoris]

if we get past inter i think it is inevitable we will face chelsea at some point.

can you imagine the headlines?

I would love us to face Chelsea. The more big games, intense games we play the better. It's about learning how to win under pressure.

I think besides us and Inter, Chelsea are the best team on paper but Lazio would be the toughest to beat.

 

[ClintEastwould]

I would love us to face Chelsea. The more big games, intense games we play the better. It's about learning how to win under pressure.

I think besides us and Inter, Chelsea are the best team on paper but Lazio would be the toughest to beat.

I would also love it. Knock the ****s out of europe ourselves after they did the same to us, and some revenge for andre as well. Just saying, the headlines would be quite something....

"Chelsea and Tottenham in europa league semi final clash of revenge"

 

[Lufti]

I would say that the two most dangerous teams left in the competition are Anzhi and Chelsea (excluding our fixture). I am surprised Anzhi hasn't been brought up yet. They are 2nd in the Russian league and Eto'o has 9 goals in Europa so far. I expect them to walk past Newcastle.

I'm not so sure. 2nd in the Russian League while sounding commendable in principle isn't actually that great an achievement in what is essentially a 4 team (maybe 5) team league including Zenit, CSKA, Spartak and Rubin. When you consider the manager and money they have at their disposal. They also didn't look great against Liverpool who of course we should consider ourselves better than I think they'll be another team like PSG who will need a few years before they're really a top team, and to be honest I wouldn't be surprised if Newcastle overcame them. Newcastle can be a very good team, they've just got a disease we used to have, whereby they have the ability to play very well on their day, it's just that this comes far too rarely. But you never know.

I would say Fenerbache are big underdogs - they have some decent players including Sow, Yobo, Kuyt, Mereiles, Krasic, the great Reto Ziegler and a few decent Turkish players. Turkish sides' biggest strength though is their work rate and their massive support making games at their ground a very difficult fixture. Not to mention they topped a group with Gladbach and Marseille fairly comfortably.

 

[absolute bobbins]

if we get past inter i think it is inevitable we will face chelsea at some point.

can you imagine the headlines?

Spurs v Chelsea at the Amsterdam arenA would be awesome!

Headline the day after we win it would be...

PUT THAT IN YER PIPE AND SCHMOKE IT! AVB to Roman after Spurs Europa League triumph in Amsterdam.

As you can tell, I don't work for a paper