The Europa League play-offs start this week, but Liverpool have no fixtures scheduled. Jurgen Klopp’s hopes of ending his splendid tenure as Liverpool manager and winning another European trophy rest on this season’s Europa League.
The German manager shocked the football world last month by declaring that after eight-and-a-half years at Anfield, United can go from strength to strength as they continue to fight for honors on all four fronts.
Last season’s fifth-place finish meant there would be no Champions League football on Merseyside this season, but Klopp’s men are still doing well in the Europa League. The Reds finished Group E after winning four of six games to qualify for the play-offs and were able to rest a number of players in their second straight defeat.
Play resumes on Thursday when the play-offs begin after the winter break, but Liverpool will not be involved. Why aren’t Liverpool playing in the Europa League this week?
Liverpool will not be playing in the Europa League this week as they won Group E in the group stage. The first knockout stage of the competition is known as the playoffs and involves 16 teams. Participating teams include the eight teams that won the group stage and the eight teams that finished third in their group and were eliminated from the Champions League.
A draw has been held to determine who will play who in the second round of the playoffs, which will take place on Thursday 15 February and Thursday 22 February. If the second-placed team in the Europa League group is ranked higher than the third-placed team in the Champions League, this means that the Europa League runner-up will play the second leg at home.
The Europa League champions each played against the third-place team in the Champions League, but could not play against other teams in the same national association (eg Marseille could not play against RC Lens). The play-off winner will progress to the last 16 as group winners, with Liverpool continuing to compete in the competition.
As group winners, the Reds will play the second leg at Anfield on Thursday, March 14, with the first leg taking place a week earlier on Thursday, March 7. The draw for the round of 16 will take place on Friday in February, 23.
