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Tottenham Feeling Okay after a Balanced Europa League Draw

By Aaron Coe

Tottenham Hotspur's Welsh striker Gareth Bale (R) celebrates scoring the 0-2 goal with his team-mates Tottenham Hotspur's South Korean striker Son Heung-Min (L) and Tottenham Hotspur's French midfielder Moussa Sissoko (C) during the UEFA Europa League, last-32 first leg football match Wolfsberger AC v Tottenham Hotspur at the Puskas Arena in Budapest on February 18, 2021. (Photo by Attila KISBENEDEK / AFP) / ALTERNATIVE CROP (Photo by ATTILA KISBENEDEK/AFP via Getty Images)
Tottenham Hotspur's Welsh striker Gareth Bale (R) celebrates scoring the 0-2 goal with his team-mates Tottenham Hotspur's South Korean striker Son Heung-Min (L) and Tottenham Hotspur's French midfielder Moussa Sissoko (C) during the UEFA Europa League, last-32 first leg football match Wolfsberger AC v Tottenham Hotspur at the Puskas Arena in Budapest on February 18, 2021. (Photo by Attila KISBENEDEK / AFP) / ALTERNATIVE CROP (Photo by ATTILA KISBENEDEK/AFP via Getty Images) /
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When it comes to things like brackets and draws, more often than not they turn out seemingly imbalanced. However, after the Europa League Round of 16 draw in Nyon, Switzerland Friday afternoon, sometimes balance wins. Such must be the feeling for most of the draw, as things seemed to be pretty fair as far as an UEFA draw goes. All that said, Tottenham Hotspur have to feel good as the favorites going into their match-up with GNK Dinamo aka Dinamo Zagreb.

Big Names and Little Fish Together

There are definitely some well known teams playing at this point in the Europa League. Teams like Roma, Arsenal, Villarreal, and of course Tottenham all have followings worldwide. However in this particular edition of the Europa League the two biggest names left happen to be facing one another in Manchester United and AC Milan.

Interestingly while the names Man U and Milan are immediate identifiers of quality and their respective League Ranks are as well, UEFA does not necessarily see it that way. Despite being the two biggest names left in the competition and featuring the Zlatan going back to Old Trafford storyline, the match-up actually has the largest gap between team rankings left in the tournament.

Manchester United is currently second in the Premier League and ranked 8th by UEFA. Whereas AC Milan is currently second in Serie A and ranked 54th by UEFA. A 46 place difference in ranking exists between the two sides. But no matter the UEFA ranking, the storylines and traditions of the two should bring some action and WILL mean at least one more big name is gone from the competition.

The two draws everyone wanted got each other

When it comes to a competition like this teams are not likely to say aloud they want to play Molde the lowest ranked team left in the competition at 116th in UEFA but we know they did. If Molde was not going to be the choice, then Granada would be. Despite featuring in La Liga domestically, Granada is midtable (9th) and is the second lowest ranked team left in the competition.

As it ended up Granada and Molde were drawn together. The difference in ranking of 38 places is the second biggest gap in the round next to Milan and United. Also, like that other tie where at least one big name will be gone, thanks to this match-up, at least one “smaller” side will be left in the quarterfinals draw.

Tottenham Avoided Big Names

Overall Tottenham Hotspur did relatively well in being drawn against Dinamo Zagreb. Zagreb are currently first in the Croatian league and is where one Luka Modrić came to Spurs from. At 38th in UEFA and 1st in Croatia, Zagreb is no pushover, but certainly is not Roma or Shakhtar Donetsk – who drew each other.

As the 17th and 16th ranked teams in UEFA, it is the closest match-up in terms of rankings. Roma and Shakhtar Donetsk is also the only tie that pits two top 20 teams, although there are six still in the competition.  Likewise, the match between Villarreal (30) and Dynamo Kyiv (32) pits two top 30 teams against one another who happen to only be two spots apart in the rankings.

Interestingly the difference in ranking between Spurs (14) and Zagreb (38) – 24 – is the exact same as the difference in ranking between Arsenal (11) and Olympiacos (35). Talk about some balance.  Ajax (19) and Young Boys (48) are a bit further apart in terms of rankings whereas Slava Praha (39) and Rangers (55) are pretty close.

Remember the rankings are an artificial concoction of UEFA

Ultimately, the rankings are based on a five year running total of coefficient scores along with a factor of your league. With that in mind, maybe AC Milan is better than their rank having risen of late, whereas a club like Tottenham may not be quite as good having dropped off the last couple of seasons.

Overall the draw seems reasonable and some big names must fall and some little names must advance, so who can really ask for more. Now it is up to Tottenham to take to that task of preparing for and beating Dinamo Zagreb to get to one last draw. As a competition Spurs kind of have to win, Dinamo Zagreb is all that matters for now.

Round of 16 Match-ups

Ajax (19)                              vs            Young Boys (48)

Dynamo Kyiv (32)             vs            Villarreal (30)

Roma (17)                           vs            Shakhtar Donetsk (16)

Olympiacos (35)                vs            Arsenal (11)

Dinamo Zagreb (38)         vs            Tottenham (14)

Manchester United (8)  vs            AC Milan (54)

Slava Praha (39)                vs            Rangers (55)

Grananda (78)                   vs            Molde (116

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