After the Champions League, last night we found out the semifinal pairings in the other two continental competitions, the Europa League and the Conference League, with English representatives enduring a complete nightmare.
Despite three of the last five European champions being English teams, Premier League sides have suffered a real nightmare this season in all competitions.
In the Champions League quarterfinals, we bid farewell to Manchester City and Arsenal, and last night Liverpool and West Ham experienced the same fate in the Europa League. Thus, Aston Villa remains the sole representative of England in Europe, and that too in the weakest in terms of quality European competition – the Conference League.
Adding to this, Manchester United and Newcastle were eliminated as the last in their Champions League groups, highlighting how tough this season has been for English football. This will be the first time in nine years that no English team will play in the semifinals of the two strongest European competitions.
Last night, we learned all the semifinal pairings in the Europa League and the Conference League, and they look like this:
Europa League:
Marseille – Atalanta
Roma – Bayer Leverkusen
Conference League:
Aston Villa – Olympiacos
Fiorentina – Club Brugge
Just a reminder, the Champions League semifinals will feature Paris Saint-Germain – Borussia Dortmund and Real Madrid – Bayern Munich.
