Son Heung-min's Tottenham will face Dutch AZ Alkmaar in the round of 16 of the Europa League.
The UEFA held a draw for the Europa League round of 16 on the 21st (Korea time). There are only two English clubs that have made it to the round of 16: Tottenham and Manchester United. Two teams came from Spain, Real Sociedad, Athletic Clube, SS Lazio, AS Roma, and AZ Alkmaar from the Netherlands. Germany's Eintracht Frankfurt, France's Olympique Lyonnais, Czech Victoria Plzen, Greece's Olympiacos, Norway's FK Bohdo/Glimt, Türkiye Penerbache, Scottish Rangers, and Romania's FCSB also made the round of 16.
Of course, domestic fans are interested in Son Heung-min's Tottenham. Analysts say Son Heung-min, who has been running tirelessly every season with a desperate dream of winning the Tottenham uniform at Leverkusen in 2015, is the only hope and big chance to achieve his dream of a trophy. Alkmaar finished fifth in the Dutch league this season, beating Turkiye famous Galatasaray 6-3 in the combined score of the first and second games to advance to the round of 16. If Tottenham beats Alkmaar and reaches the quarterfinals, they will compete with the winner of Ajax-Frank Frankfurt's round of 16 and advance to the semifinals.
With soccer fans paying keen attention to Tottenham's chances of winning the Europa League, betting company Bookmaker predicted Tottenham's chances of winning the championship were the highest. The company, which had expected Tottenham's chances of winning early on, did not make this prediction even after the announcement of the round of 16. Opta, a soccer statistics company, cited Lazio as the team with the highest chance of winning. The probability of winning is 20%. He was then ranked second with a 13.2% chance of winning alongside Tottenham and Athletic. Manchester United's chances of winning the championship were only 7.3%.At the official press conference ahead of the Ipswich expedition on the 23rd, Tottenham manager Angie Postecoglou was asked about the Europa League match. A reporter checked the dividend rate on the bookmaker site before coming here. Do you know which team is at the top of the Europa League winning probability list?" In response, Postecoglou responded, `I don't make a bet. To be fair, you can't both play and bet in football. I have no idea," he replied. Reporter "Bookmaker put Tottenham as the most likely favorite in the Europa League. Why is that?" asked Postecoglou again. "The only thing I know about bookmakers is that they are people who make money from betting. So they know what they're talking about, so there must be some reason behind it. But it doesn't affect me whatsoever."
"I'm having a very difficult season. I also saw a demonstration outside the stadium last week. Injuries continued, the results were sluggish in the Premier League, and the performances of the two Cup tournaments (Carabao Cup, FA Cup) were not achieved as desired. However, I still feel like it's an opportunity to achieve something special this season when injured players come back, but is the answer a little while ago a message to remind the players?" asked Postecoglou, "I don't need to awaken the players. We always talk about these things together," he replied immediately. "I also know that you're saying that the last two cup tournaments didn't go well. But we reached the semi-finals of the Carabao Cup. He did not lose the tournament, and lost the FA Cup (32 strongest teams) away from Aston Villa. But I also have an objective view of what is left of us this season,' he said, hinting at his ambition for the Europa League. "That's right. Europe has always been in our minds, we've done really well and we've seen how important it is to be in the quarterfinals and even how important it is to be in the semi-finals. Two games off in the last two weeks helped, and we were rewarded for it (with two consecutive league wins)." "That's right. The Europa League is important. But the importance of the league cannot be ignored. There are still 12 to 13 games left and from our point of view we can never be satisfied with the ranking we are in the league right now. "Our form this season has been inconsistent, but now we still have an opportunity to influence the league again." He made it clear that he wanted to boost the league's ranking at the same time as well as Europa League propaganda. "We have a natural break that will help. Also, as the reporter said, the return of injured players is good news. So it's a very good opportunity for us," he sang of hope.
Reporter Jeon Young-ji sky4us@sportschosun.com
◇2024-2025 Europa League Round of 16
Tottenham (England)-AZ Alkmaar (The Netherlands)
Real Sociedad (Spain)-Manchester United (England)
Lazio (Italy)-Victoria Plzen (Czech Republic)
Fenerbahce (Turkiye)-Rangers (Scotland)
OLYMPIACOS (Greece)-Baud/Glimt (Norway)
FRANKFURT (Germany) - Ajax (The Netherlands)
AS Roma (Italy)-Atlantic Clube (Spain)
FCSB (Romania) - Olympique Lyon (France)
This article was translated by Naver AI translator.
