Like the Champions League, the Europa League is entering its final line. The second most important factory will start the quarter-final stage tomorrow (Thursday), when at the hotspot, hot Barcelona will host Eintracht Frankfurt at the Commerzbank Arena. West Ham will host Lyon, Braga the Rangers and Leipzig the Atlanta.
Frankfurt – Barcelona
A day before the meeting, it was reported that Barcelona representatives had reached an agreement with Ronald Arauha’s representatives on a contract extension. The brakeman will sign a contract until 2026 and his upgraded salary will range from 3 to 4 million euros per season. Regardless, the Catalans are expected to sign stopper Anders Christiansen, who is ending his contract at Chelsea, in the coming weeks.
Beyond that, Xavi has released the roster for the game, which indicates that Memphis DePay will be absent due to a strain on the muscle. The Dutch striker hereby joins Luke de Jong (Corona), Serginio Dest, Sergi Roberto, Anso Patti and Samuel Omititi as unfit. Danny Alves is not registered in the Europa League as I remember.
Barça come into the game after 8 wins in the last nine games, in great form. Frankfurt coach Oliver Glasner argued ahead of the match: “This is the most important game of my career. We do not want to defend for 90 minutes 30 meters from our goal, but to show our qualities.”
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— FC Barcelona (@FCBarcelona_es) April 6, 2022
West Ham – Lyon
After the big win over Sevilla, David Moyes’ team believes they can go all the way and will try to take advantage of their home advantage against the French team. Argentine Manuel Lancini will be the significant absence of the Hammers, while Peter Boss will have a full squad, with Musa Dembele, Hossam Awar and Lucas Fakta set to open. Lyon have never won in London (draw and two losses) and will try to change the balance.
Leipzig – Atlanta
An attractive battle between two teams that came to the factory after being relegated from the Champions League. Atlanta ousted Leverkusen in the previous round, so the East Germans need to take that into account. Leipzig is very encouraging from the 1: 4 over Dortmund in the league and dreams of a first European title ever. Atalanta is ranked seventh in Serie A and sees the Europa League as a kind of refuge for the difficulties it is experiencing in the league.
Braga – Rangers
The Scots will try to recover from the 2-1 loss to Celtic at Old Firm and will have to do so without Alfredo Morelos, their leading striker who was injured in the international break and is not expected to return this season. Anyway Giovanni Van Bronckhorst’s side are having a great European season after ousting Dortmund the Red Star in previous stages. Braga is ranked fourth in the Portuguese league and will be missing its 16-year-old winger, Roger Fernandez.