Liverpool and Leverkusen are competing in the Europa League – Al-Ittihad

Paris (AFP)

The English clubs Liverpool, Bayer Leverkusen in Germany, Atalanta in Italy, Marseille in France, and Real Betis in Spain on Thursday are seeking to qualify for the quarter-finals of the European Football League (Europa League) when they enter the fifth and penultimate round.
The winners of the eight groups qualify directly to the final 16, and the second-place finishers go into a play-off against the third-placed teams in the Champions League group stage, while the third-place finishers in the “Europa League” move to play a play-off with the second-place finishers in the “Conference League.” Reaching the final price of the last.
In Group E, Liverpool hopes to return to the winning streak that stopped at three when it suffered an unexpected loss to its direct pursuer, French club Toulouse, 2-3, in the fourth round.
Liverpool maintained first place, despite the loss, with 9 points, two points ahead of Toulouse, and 5 points behind Saint-Geloise of Belgium, who is in third place.
German coach Jurgen Klopp’s team needs to win against its guest, Austrian LASK Linz, and Toulouse’s stumble against its guest, Saint-Geloise, to ensure its qualification to the last 16, before its final match against the Belgian team in the last round.
In the eighth, Bayer Leverkusen, who is leading with a full score of four consecutive victories, needs an orphan point in its journey against Hacken of Sweden to secure first place and the direct qualification ticket, and it also has the opportunity to qualify, even in the event of a loss, provided that its direct pursuers are tied by a difference of six points, the third Norwegian born and its host, Kara. The second Azerbaijani bag in their struggle for runner-up.
Leverkusen is achieving its best start in its history in the league with 11 wins, including 8 in a row, compared to one draw, while it did not lose in 18 matches in various competitions this season.
Atalanta, the leader of Group D with 10 points, can secure first place and direct qualification, if it wins over its only direct competitor, Sporting of Portugal, which is three points behind it.
Austria’s Sturm Graz, third with four points, will welcome its guest, Poland’s Rakov Czestochowa, who is in last place with only one point.
In turn, Real Betis has the opportunity to finish the group stage in one of the first two places if it wins over Sparta Prague, the third Czech Republic, with four points, and snatches the direct qualification card, if its direct pursuer falters by two points, Scottish Glasgow Rangers, runner-up in the 2022 edition, against its guest, Aris Limassol. Cypriot.
Rangers are counting on their unbeaten record at home in the continental competition, where they won seven and tied once in their last eight matches.
Rangers lost to Aris 1-2 in Cyprus in October in the second round, but before appointing Belgian Philippe Kleiman, who has maintained his record since then without loss.
His English captain, James Tavernier, said after the 1-1 draw with Aberdeen in the league on Sunday, “It is an important match at Ibrox, as we need to get three points, to be in a good position in the group, and this is all our main focus now.”
In the second, Marseille hopes to break the jinx that befell it in its last four matches in the league, where it did not taste victory, and to triumph over its guest, the wounded Dutch Ajax Amsterdam, to ensure at least one of the first and second places, or to grab the direct qualification ticket, if its direct pursuer, Brighton, of England, falters against the club. Hosted by AEK Athens of Greece.
Ajax, the four-time European champion, is going through a results crisis at the local and continental levels, although it has achieved three victories and a draw in the last four local matches since John van’t Schip was appointed coach.
Marseille leads with seven points, one point ahead of Brighton, which is seeking revenge against its Greek host, who defeated it at home 3-2 in the first round, in order to continue its adventure in its first European participation ever.
In the first, the fifth round will be decisive for its leaders, West Ham United of England and Freiburg of Germany, when the former will be the guest of Serbian Bachka Topola and the latter will host Olympiacos of Greece.
Both teams are aiming to earn the three points to ensure that they finish the group stage in one of the first or second places before their expected summit in the final sixth round in London.
West Ham, led by Scottish coach David Moyes to win the Conference League title last season, occupies the lead with 9 points, equal to Freiburg, and their draw guarantees them first and second places.
At six, Rennes, the leader of France (9 points), will finish the group stage in first or second place, if it wins over Maccabi Haifa, the last Israeli, with an orphan point with a lesser match, or even if it draws in conjunction with the third Greek Panathinaikos (4 points) not winning over its host. Spain’s Villarreal is second (6 points from 3 matches), which in turn needs a win in order to qualify.
In the seventh, the leaders, Slavia Prague of the Czech Republic and Roma of Italy, the runner-up of the competition last season and the champion of the “Conference League” 2021, (9 points each) will be heavy guests over the Moldova’s Cherif Terrasol and the Swiss Servette Geneve with the goal of three points, to ensure the first and second places and postpone the direct card decision to The last round.