What to look out for in the UEFA Europa League quarter-final first legs | UEFA Europa League

Vengeance is in the air as the UEFA Europa League reaches the last eight. Feyenoord and Roma meet in a repeat of last season’s UEFA Europa Conference League final, while Manchester United meet one of the few Spanish sides they have defeated in recent seasons. Sporting CP are keen to pick up where they left off against Arsenal in the last round and Belgium new signing Union Saint-Gilloise are returning to Germany.

In this post, presented by Enterprise Rent-A-Car, we pick some key talking points ahead of the quarter-final first legs.

Quarterfinals: April 13, 2023
Feyenoord – Roma (18:45 CET)
Man United v Sevilla (21:00 CET)
Juventus vs Sporting CP (21:00 CET)
Leverkusen – Union Saint-Gilloise (21:00 CET)

What to look out for

Rashford leads United against Spain
Marcus Rashford is in the form of his life. He surpassed his best goalscoring season in February, overtook Cristiano Ronaldo for European goals for Manchester United in March and is hoping to snag a trophy or two in May. Among Europe’s top five leagues, only Erling Haaland and Kylian Mbappé have scored more goals this season. And bad news for Sevilla: the Englishman is becoming more and more accustomed to playing against teams from La Liga.

Rashford didn’t feature against Real Sociedad in the group stage, but he scored as United beat Barcelona 4-3 on aggregate in the knockout stage play-offs, and has struck in every leg in the last 16 against Betis. Now the 25-year-old has his sights set on Seville. When the six-time winners of the competition ended United’s Europa League ambitions in the 2019/20 semi-finals, Rashford played on the wing. Now he is the main actor.

Feyenoord ready for Roma rematch
Revenge may be a dish best served cold, but fate has decreed that Feyenoord must take his lukewarm after being drawn against the side they defeated 1-0 in last season’s Europa Conference League final has. It was a game that was narrowly decided, with Netherlands manager Arne Slot lamenting that “you need a bit of luck and we didn’t get it”. There’s no reason to think the rematch will be any different.

Dutch leaders Feyenoord have not lost since early November, defeating Shakhtar 7-1 in the round of 16 second leg. Roma, on the other hand, have been fickle but remain in the top four in Italy and can beat anyone on their day – at least at home. The Giallorossi struggled away from home. If Feyenoord want to avenge that latest defeat, they may have to wreak havoc on their own turf in Rotterdam.

Find your form in a sporty way
It’s been a fun season at Sporting CP. Sometimes they roared like the lion on their chest: at home against Tottenham and away in Frankfurt in the group stage of the Champions League, in the Round of 16 Battle Royale against Arsenal. Other times it was more of a whimper: in the Portuguese League Cup final in January, in the fall of the European Cup in the autumn, in the league clashes.

But could everything come together at the right time? Former Portugal striker Nuno Gomes believes so. “They are in the middle of their best part of the season,” he warns Juventus. “And the attack is dangerous – not a specific player, but multiple threats. They’re deadly in transition.” To the Italians, that will sound all too similar to Sporting’s city rivals Benfica, who beat them twice in the autumn.

The future looks bright for Union SG
Only two teams have won more Belgian Premier League titles than Union SG, but up until a few years ago that past glory had faded as faded as the photos scattered around the club. Then everything changed. After almost half a century, Les Unionistes were promoted back to the top flight and it was as if they had never been away as they narrowly missed their comeback with a 12th league title (and their first since 1935).

A debut season in UEFA competition was their reward and Union SG have backed the manor house here too. Karel Geraerts’ young, multinational team won their Europa League group ahead of Union Berlin and defeated the Bundesliga high-flyers 6-3 overall in the round of 16. your salary? Another trip to Germany, this time against midfielder Leverkusen.