Liverpool and Tottenham Would Be Wise to Make Europa League a Priority

When the Europa League final is contested in Warsaw on 27 May there will be more than just a shimmering trinket on offer for the winning team. Whoever lifts the Coupe UEFA—as the trophy is officially named—will also secure a passage into next season’s Champions League.

And so Liverpool and Tottenham’s ears have pricked up, as both teams scramble for a seat at European football’s top table. Of course, the Reds have already crashed out of the Champions League this season, dropping down into the Europa League from the group stages, with Spurs scrambling for a top-four finish in the Premier League.

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So while the Europa League might not have ranked high on the teams' priority lists earlier in the season, both Brendan Rodgers and Mauricio Pochettino would be foolish to dismiss the competition as merely a sideshow to their Premier League ambitions. 

Of course, the question of whether UEFA has improved the Europa League by offering a place for next season’s Champions League to the winners is debatable. In trying to make the Europa League relevant UEFA has in fact prompted the opposite effect. The Europa League is now officially recognised by its governing body as a second-rate competition.

The Europa League, to be frank, is a mess. UEFA may have rebranded the competition as recently as 2009, but its format has never been so muddled, and its place in the European game never so unclear.

But none of this is the concern of either Liverpool or Spurs. For them the Europa League offers an alternative way to achieve their objective of qualifying for the Champions League this season. Although such focus on the continent could hinder their domestic exploits.

“We want to play as many games as we can,” said Rodgers ahead of his side’s Europa League last 32 tie against Besiktas, via Sami Mokbel of the Daily Mail. “It will be tough but when you’re winning games it gives you energy. We had tough games this week but the players have been brilliant and came through it well.

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“Now we’ll recover and look forward to the Europa League because it’s a competition, like the FA Cup, we want to do well in.” If this season does come down to the Europa League or FA Cup for Liverpool, then there should only be one choice—even if there is a romantic allure about sending off legendary captain Steven Gerrard at the FA Cup final.

The way Liverpool are playing right now, winning 10 of their last 16 games in all competitions, it’s a very real possibility that Rodgers’ side won’t need Europa League success to qualify for next season’s Champions League. And that is the predicament for Rodgers.

Prioritising the Europa League is a gamble. Both Liverpool and Spurs would need to play nine more games between now and May if they are to triumph in Warsaw, and seal a Champions League place for next season. Fixture congestion could become a real issue for both sides.

“There is no doubt that you’re always playing catch-up,” Rodgers continued. “It can be tough. But it’s a European competition, so it’s a very prestigious tournament. And a Champions League place for the winner makes it more attractive but there is still a long way to go before you can think of that.”

For Liverpool, two tricky round-of-32 ties against Besiktas come in between season-defining Premier League games against Southampton and Manchester City. Will Rodgers have the depth of squad to fight on both fronts?

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Spurs also have crucial Premier League games against West Ham and Manchester United, as well as the Capital One Cup final against Chelsea, coming up. How will Pochettino and his players respond to playing so many high-intensity games in such a short space of time? There is still the understandable urge to put the Premier League before anything else, even if the Europa League provides the same opportunity and ultimate prize.

But the Europa League can provide a platform for more than just Champions League qualification. Look at how Chelsea have used winning the competition in 2013 as a springboard to Premier League supremacy under Jose Mourinho, and even more pertinently how Atletico Madrid and Diego Simeone used it to spark a dynasty. 

Rodgers is correct in that sense. Winning games can only be a positive thing, regardless of which tournament or competition they come in. If their squads can withstand the demands of competing on two or three fronts down the final stretch of the season, then they might find that Europa League success provides them with much needed momentum domestically too. 

Although Pochettino has publicly declared his derision for the Europa League, openly admitting last season that he did not see the competition as an attractive proposition for Southampton.

Pochettino said last season, while at Southampton—as per Sky Sports:

"

It hasn’t changed. In my opinion the Europa League is not an attractive competition. That is my personal opinion. I’m not talking about anyone else, it’s my personal opinion and as Mauricio Pochettino there is no interest in the Europa League.

I think it is a competition that kills you in the sense that there are a lot of mid-table teams that put a lot of effort into the Europa League and then are not able to do anything in the league. They are not able to compensate for that bad run of form in the league, so it brings them down.

"

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However, Spurs chairman Daniel Levy has reassured fans that the club does indeed take the Europa League seriously, claiming that Pochettino is keen to make a run deep into the competition’s latter stages, via Matt Law of the Telegraph. As he should be, given the prize on offer for the winners. 

The Europa League is indeed a second-rate tournament that lacks any true identity. Statues will not be cast of the players who help win it, but it does harness the force of ambition; the idea that lifting the trophy in Warsaw might lead to better things. Maybe that’s what UEFA wanted from the competition all along.