After celebrating the team's entry into the semi-finals, Southampton fans began to pay attention to the other three opponents, and then someone sighed like this...
No wonder.
Last season's Europa League semi-finals were three Portuguese teams plus one Southampton. This season's Europa League semi-finals are three Spanish teams plus one Southampton.
Valencia eliminated Eredivisie team AZ Alkmaar 5-2 in two rounds.
Atletico Madrid eliminated Metalist of the Ukrainian Super League 4-2 in two rounds.
Athletic Bilbao defeated Sporting Lisbon in the Portuguese Super League 3-2 in two rounds.
So in this way, besides Southampton, there are three La Liga teams entering the semi-finals...
And they are all strong teams.
Valencia was eliminated from the Champions League, Atletico Madrid was the Europa League champion two years ago, and Athletic Bilbao is quite good at playing in cup competitions - otherwise they would not have won the most Copa del Rey in Spain.
team.
Southampton's opponent is Valencia, while Atletico Madrid and Athletic Bilbao will fight against each other.
"We are experienced! We will definitely be the champions this season!"
After seeing this news, many Southampton fans showed their psychological advantages.
However, La Liga fans soon began to point out the absurdity of this argument-last season, Porto and Benfica, the two strong teams in the Portuguese Super League, killed each other first, and then gave you a chance. Now Southampton is facing each other.
It's Valencia, not Athletic Bilbao. There will never be another opportunity like this!
Athletic Bilbao fan who was shot while lying down:???Are you polite?
"We still have three Premier League games to play before the first leg against Valencia... We don't care about this now." Noriya said in an interview.
Of course, everyone else knows that Ji Ya's words are just to cool down the temperature. Valencia is not a weak team. Now they are firmly ranked third in La Liga. Although the gap between the top two is a bit big, but the third
The position is quite stable.
From this perspective, the current situations of Valencia and Southampton are quite similar...
In the semi-finals, they can show their best form.
Southampton continued to be winless in the next round of the league - after adjusting most of the starting lineup, they drew 0-0 with Newcastle at home. This draw reduced Southampton's lead over Arsenal to five points.
points, but still seven points ahead of Tottenham...
In this round of the league, it was Tottenham's turn to lose the chain. They played the mid-table team Sunderland 0-0 away from home and could only watch as Southampton continued to lead them by seven points.
There are still six rounds left in the league, and the advantage of seven points is actually not small. Moreover, among the opponents in the remaining six rounds, there are only two strong teams, Manchester United and Liverpool. Against these two strong teams at the same time, it is still the last two rounds of the league...
By that time, the situation in Southampton should have been settled.
Sure enough, after this draw, Southampton's main lineup, which had been rested for almost ten days, performed well in the next round of the league. They beat Queens Park Rangers, who were fighting for relegation, to the ground, even though they were on the road.
, they still achieved a three-to-zero victory.
Tottenham lost again. They lost to Norwich, which allowed Southampton to expand their lead to ten points. Although Arsenal is still chasing behind them, the difference between third and fourth in the Premier League is
It's not very big either.
Another week later, Southampton once again won a 3-0 victory at home. Blackburn were now ranked 19th, but they still did not have the backbone of a relegation team. At St. Mary's Stadium, they lost
He has no temper at all.
This round it was Arsenal's turn to encounter Waterloo. They lost 1-2 at home to Wigan Athletic, while Tottenham seized the opportunity to defeat Bolton and were only one point behind Arsenal!
The battle for fourth place seems to be getting fierce again.
The two biggest rivals are losing their way. Southampton is now eight points ahead of Arsenal and ten points ahead of Tottenham. There are only four rounds left in the league. Not to mention keeping the top four, even third place seems to be theirs.
What's in the bag.
The championship battle seems to have begun to settle. Manchester United is now a full five points ahead of Manchester City, with four rounds to go. This advantage is actually quite large!
However, Noriya no longer cares about this. After all, Southampton's current third place position can be said to be quite stable. All his attention has been put on the Europa League.
Defending the Europa League is also an amazing achievement!
At least it is an achievement that has not been obtained, and at least 480 achievement points will be obtained.
Ji Ya will also work hard for this number.
The advantage of the Europa League is that the games start relatively late. For example, Southampton’s game in this round of the league was moved one day early and ended on April 14, while the Europa League games did not start until April 20.
This basically means that all the main players have rested.
As for the next league game that will be played on the 22nd, it doesn't matter. Anyway, Southampton's position is very stable now, and Noriya can just go directly to the full bench.
Although this Valencia team no longer has the strength to compete for the championship before, it is still firmly in the top four. Their head coach Emery is also considered a young and promising young coach. He was born in 1971 and is now only four years old.
Ten years old, of course compared to Ji Ya who is only twenty-eight years old now, all the young marshals are decrepit.
"They are used to using a 4-2-3-1 tactic, with left winger Alba being the source of their offense. However, their goals are the same as ours, relying on multiple points to score and there is no fixed scoring point, so we pay attention to not being too defensive.
The meaning, how to tear open the cracks in their defense and score goals is an issue we need to pay attention to." Noriya said to the players.
"Boss, I think our goals have found their form recently, so this is not a problem." Ronaldo said to Noriya.
"Really? Then it depends on your performance. This game is our home court. We must win and get enough goal difference. Do you understand?" Ji Ya laughed, and then vigorously
He waved his arms.
"of course!"
The players waved their fists one after another. They are not very interested in the league now. The third position is very stable, and it is difficult to catch up with the top two, so their attention is on the Europa League.
This should be the last time we play in the Europa League! Next year we will play in the Champions League! So shouldn’t we cherish this opportunity?
They really cherish the rest of the Europa League this season.
