Manchester United fans were relieved to miss out on the Europa League after Champions League elimination.

The Champions League campaign proved to be a disaster for Manchester United, finishing bottom of the group with just one win out of six.

Remarkably, up until the final group game, United were still in with a chance of qualification, with second, third and fourth spots up for grabs.

Failure to beat Bayern Munich meant second was impossible, and then the result between Copenhagen and Galatasaray sent United down into fourth spot.

For fans fed up with the gruelling Europa League slog, this was not necessarily a bad thing. It has not done Galatasaray much good either.

A fight breaks out between the two teams at the end of the match the UEFA Europa League 2022/24 match between Galatasaray A.S. and AC Sparta Prag a...
Photo by Murat Akbas/ dia images via Getty Images

Galatasaray eliminated

The attraction of dropping down into the Europa League is the potential to win silverware, but as Manchester United have found out in this competition, with the exception of 2017, it is an arduous task.

Galatasaray ended up pipping Manchester United to third spot in the group and dropped down into the Europa League.

Their adventure is over at the first possible hurdle, after a meltdown in the Czech Republic last night.

Galatasaray had won the first leg against Sparta Prague with a 3-2 scoreline, and went into the tie looking to defend that lead.

Up until the 74th minute of last night’s game, they retained an advantage, with the second leg tied at 1-1.

And despite enjoying less possession, Sparta Prague made them pay for failure to take their own chances, going on to win the game 4-1.

This meant a 6-4 aggregate scoreline, with Galatasaray immediately eliminated from the competition at the last 32 stage.

Premier League boost

The Europa League is a competition which is taxing on Premier League hopes. In recent weeks, Manchester United have been on a strong run, aided by playing just once a week.

Considering the club’s ongoing injury issues at full-back, this sparser fixture schedule has been helping – although there is a midweek FA Cup game next week.

United are attempting to chase down a top four spot and qualify for the Champions League, and in turn, avoid the Europa League.

The cycle begins again. But when you are in the Europa, it is a competition which is hard to win, and hard to get out of (unless you are Galatasaray).

This only ends up draining resources, and enhances the chance of the club ending back in the same competition next season. This year, Manchester United were better off out of it.

Not that it ended up doing Galatasaray any favours either.

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