Nicosia (AFP)
Barcelona, the Spanish club, renewed under the leadership of coach and legend Xavi Hernandez, hopes to continue its flurry of positive results, when it hosts Eintracht Frankfurt in the first leg of the quarter-finals of the European League “Europe League” tomorrow.
The Catalan team enters the match, delighted with a series of positive results and wonderful offensive performances, headed by a bitter defeat against its traditional rivals, Real Madrid, with a clean four, to announce its strong return to the arena after a period of decline in its level.
Barcelona has not been defeated in the last 13 matches in various competitions, and 14 in a row in the league.
The Catalan club started the current season in the European Champions League, but finished third in its group to complete the journey in the “European League”.
Barcelona is also seeking to improve its record against German teams at home in European competitions, because it played six matches, winning only one, drawing twice and losing three.
Since Xavi took over the training of his former team last November, the “Blaugrana” has risen from ninth to second place, after its victory over Seville 1-0 last Sunday with a wonderful goal by young midfielder Pedri, to take the runner-up at the expense of the Andalusian club.
In general, his new players shine in the front line, namely Gabonese Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang and Ferran Torres, who were transferred to him in the last winter transfers from Arsenal and Manchester City, respectively, and French winger Osman Dembele has regained his previous level.
Xavi said, “I am very happy to reach the quarter-finals and we deserve it. I do not see my team as a candidate for the title. We do not know much about this competition or about our competitors, as is the case with the Champions League. We are definitely one of the contenders for the title. We reached the quarter-finals.” It feels great, that’s all.”
Barcelona beat Galatasaray in the final price and Napoli of Italy in the qualifying playoff.
As for Frankfurt, which occupies a middle position in the German League, it previously reached the semi-finals of this competition in 2019 and lost to Chelsea, who crowned the title, and it also passed another Spanish team in the previous round, Real Betis, one of the leading teams in “La Liga”.
The match between West Ham and Lyon at the Olympic Stadium in London.
West Ham eliminated an important obstacle in the previous round when he toppled Seville, the Spanish specialist in this competition, after winning the title six times (a record), and also prevented him from playing the final scheduled at his stadium, “Ramon Sanchez Pesjuan” on May 18.
West Ham wants to restore the glories of the sixties, led by its inspiring captain, Bobby Moore, “the captain of the England team that won the 1966 World Cup” when he was crowned champion of the European Cup Winners’ Cup in 1965, knowing that he reached the final of the same competition in 1976 and lost to Anderlecht of Belgium.
Veteran West Ham coach David Moyes succeeded in finding a homogeneous combination of midfielder Declan Rice and top scorer Michael Antonio, and he is competing strongly for European seats in the local league this season.
Lyon will miss its Cameroon striker, Karl Toko Ekambi, due to his infection with the Corona virus, and he is the second best scorer in his team this season (13 goals, including 6 in the Europa League).
And the confrontation seems equal between German Leipzig and its Italian guest, Atalanta, and both of them starred in European competitions in the last two seasons. Both of them have competed for the first places in the local league in recent seasons, and the Portuguese Braga will meet at home with the Scottish Rangers.