[Epoch Times, November 5, 2022](The Epoch Times reporter Li Rongshi comprehensive report) The three major cup competitions hosted by UEFA in the 2022-2023 season – the Champions League, the Europa League, and the Europa League group stage have all ended a few days ago. The Premier League team emerged as the top winner, with all seven participating teams advancing to the knockout rounds. The Serie A teams also performed well, with three teams entering the Champions League round of 16, and two teams each going on to compete in the Europa League and Europa League.
Eight British and German teams advance to Champions League round of 16
Among the teams that advanced to the top 16 of the Champions League, Chelsea, Tottenham and Manchester City from the Premier League qualified first in the group, and Liverpool ranked second in the group and may face strong enemies in the knockout stage. Of the Bundesliga teams, only Bayern Munich advanced to the top of the group, with the other three teams Eintracht Frankfurt, Leipzig and Dortmund all in second place.
In addition to Juventus, the four Serie A teams joined hands to advance to the Champions League knockout rounds. Among them, the Serie A “leader” Naples beat Liverpool and ranked first in Group A. AC Milan and Inter Milan are second in the group. This is the first time AC Milan has advanced to the top 16 of the Champions League again after a lapse of nine years; and it is not easy for Inter Milan, who are in the “group of death”, to beat Barcelona to advance.
The La Liga team decided in the penultimate round that only Real Madrid advanced, and the other three teams were eliminated in advance. The last time there was only one “single seedling” in La Liga in the last 16 of the Champions League was in the distant 1998-1999 season. In the end, Barcelona and Sevilla will play in the Europa League, while Atletico Madrid will be eliminated from the bottom of the Champions League group stage for the first time in history. You must know that the same group with Atletico Madrid is not a top five league team. Porto ranks first, Bruges ranks second, Leverkusen ranks third, and the “Sheet Legion” is the bottom of the pack. Club Brugge from the Belgian league has reached the Champions League round of 16 for the first time in history.
Porto and Benfica from the Portuguese Super League both qualified first in the group, which is gratifying. In particular, Benfica beat Paris Saint-Germain and Juventus and won the group top with an unbeaten record, which is quite surprising. Paris has 4 wins and 2 draws in the group stage, and they remain unbeaten with Benfica, but they are second in the group due to the disadvantage of away goals. It is worth mentioning that Paris is the only team in the top five European leagues that is still unbeaten in all competitions this season.
Champions League third place in the Europa League
After the Europa League group stage, the first place in the eight groups will directly enter the Europa League round of 16 knockout; The third place in the UEFA Cup group stage will compete with the second place in the UEFA Cup group for the UEFA Cup knockout play-offs.
The first teams in the eight group stages of the Europa League directly advance to the knockout stage are: Arsenal, Fenerbahce, Betis, San Giros, Royal Society, Feyenoord, Freiburg, Phelan Tswaros.
The eight teams that will move to the Europa League for the third place in the Champions League group stage are: Ajax, Bayer Leverkusen, Barcelona, Sporting Portugal, Salzburg, Shakhtar Donetsk, Sevilla, Juventus s.
The third-placed teams in the Europa League group will participate in the Europa League play-offs: Bode Shine, AEK Larnaca, Ludogorets, Braga, Sharif, Lazio, Karabakh, Trabzonspor.
The Premier League is the No. 1 League in Europe
After the UEFA Champions League, Europa League, and Europa League group stage all ended, the seven teams that participated in the three European competitions in the Premier League were all qualified, and no team was out. The Premier League is worthy of the title of the first league in Europe. In the Champions League group stage, Manchester City, Liverpool, Chelsea and Tottenham joined hands to qualify. Only Liverpool advanced as the second place, and the other three teams won the first place in the group.
Arsenal and Manchester United, who missed the Champions League last season, represented the Premier League in the Europa League this season, and Arsenal successfully won the first place in the group; Manchester United finally failed to overtake the Royal Society, ranking second in the group and had to participate in the knockout play-offs. West Ham United represented the Premier League in the UEFA Europa League, easily won 6 consecutive victories in the group stage, accumulated 18 points, advanced to the top of the group, and has the hope of hitting the UEFA Champions League.
The Serie A team has performed well this season, showing a revival. The duo of Naples and Milan successfully advanced to the last 16 of the Champions League and performed better than expected. Juventus dragged its feet and finally relied on Benfica to “help” to get the Europa League seat. This season, Juventus is indeed unlucky. The season has not yet started. It has been plagued by injuries. As many as 11 people have missed the final round of the Champions League. Roma defeated Ludogorets 3:1 in the final round and qualified for the Europa League play-offs with second place in the group. Lazio and Fiorentina will continue to compete in the UEFA Europa League.
In the three major European Cups this season, the La Liga and Ligue 1 teams have performed poorly as a whole. Real Madrid continued to prop up the facade of La Liga. Barcelona and Sevilla missed the top 16 of the Champions League and had to play the Europa League. Atletico Madrid suffered an unprecedented bottom out. Of the two Ligue 1 teams participating in the Champions League, Marseille came out last, leaving only Paris; in the Europa League, both Rennes and Monaco from Ligue 1 faced the test of the play-offs.
Responsible editor: Zheng Huang#