Ranking the Europa League Knockout Stage

You didn't think we were going to miss this opportunity, did you? The return of the Champions League means the return of the Champions League's cooler little brother - because the Europa League, like the UEFA Cup before it, is where the cool kids hang out. Europe's most exciting club competition, back with a Round of 32 that contains some explosive match-ups and some players to watch. We take a look at some of the tournament favourites - AC Milan, Manchester United, Napoli and Leicester City; some dark horses - Lille OSC, PSV Eindhoven, Shakhtar Donetsk, Villarreal; and the most exciting teams to watch - Real Sociedad, RB Salzburg, Bayer Leverkusen and SC Braga; as well as a bit of a deeper dive on some of our players to keep an eye on, namely Yusuf Yazıcı and Wenderson Galeno. In place of Things We Love, there's a whole opening segment dedicated to the appointment of Marco Rose as the next Dortmund boss, why German clubs have a habit of announcing deals like this and Dayot Upamecano's move to Bayern before the window in which they happen, and what the former Salzburg man will have to do to turn things around at the Westfalenstadion. There's also, of course, a Melon of the Week (for an entire fanbase, no less), some love for Pancake Day, and a Gibberish Rankings where Sam talks about everyday scenarios that make him happy. It's Ranks! See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices And remember, if you’d like more from the Rank Squad, including extra podcasts every Monday and Friday (including our weekly Postbox taking a look at the whole weekend of football) and access to our brilliant Discord community, then why not join us here on Patreon? Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.