To say Liverpool fans here in the Transfer Tavern took the Europa League quarter-final draw badly would be an understatement, with Kopites raging when they saw Manchester United land Anderlecht in the last eight.
And to be fair, they have a point, with the same stage of the competition last season one in which the Merseysiders had to get past Dortmund – a much tougher task than the Belgians, no disrespect to them – after knocking out Man United.
The official result of the #UELdraw… pic.twitter.com/0HJacqyLWX
— UEFA Europa League (@EuropaLeague) March 17, 2017
Their reward in the semi-finals was Villarreal – who were flying high in La Liga at the time – before a final against Sevilla, who, when they beat Jurgen Klopp’s men in Switzerland, scooped the trophy for the third time in a row.
By the looks of it, Man United’s toughest potential opponent beyond the quarter-finals could be Lyon. Although a good side, the Ligue 1 outfit are not quite of the same calibre as Dortmund of 2015/16 with Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang, Mats Hummels and Henrikh Mkhitaryan all in Thomas Tuchel’s XI.
As we mentioned, Liverpool fans took the draw badly and here are some of the best responses on Twitter…
#MUFC will have such a easier run in than #LFC did last year it’s really lucky
— OMDITSAJAY (@OMDITSAJAY7) 17 March 2017
It’s actually a joke how poor the Europa League is this season in comparison to last season.
— David (@DerKopite) March 17, 2017
LFC had to play, IN THIS ORDER, Man United, Dortmund, Villarreal and Sevilla. Because football is fair and stuff. https://t.co/XEgGwzXxXe
— Markus (@MBerg_lfc) March 17, 2017
United are very clearly winning the Europa League this year, and not meeting anyone even 1/100th as good as Dortmund along the way
— Graham (@_GS87) March 16, 2017
#LFC would have won this one. Not as tricky as last season whr thr was man u, dortmund, sevilla https://t.co/rHuR0xGZix
— Joey Choy (@Kangaroo_Dons) March 16, 2017
United nailed on to win this Europa League. The level of quality in the QF this year is a joke compared to last season.
— Zak Forster (@ZakForster_) March 16, 2017
