The profile of AEK’s opponents in the Europa League groups

The -probably- worst possible draw was had by AEK in its return to groups of European events. His team Matias Almeida entered the second group and will face him AjaxMarseille and Brighton by Roberto De Cerbi, three teams of level… Champions Leaguewhich make it difficult for the Union even for the goal of the third place that leads to the “32” of the Conference League.

See the profile of AEK’s opponents:

Ajax

Ajax, there is no doubt that they are one of the best teams in the Europa League groups and the favorite in the Union group, with huge experience and -mainly- history in European competitions, as let’s not forget that it counts four conquests Champions League (1971, 1972, 1973, 1995).

The Dutch club was founded in 1900, is based in Amsterdam and has won the league 36 times, the cup 20 times and the super cup nine times. It also counts a Cup Winners’ Cup (1987), a UEFA Cup (1992) and two European Super Cups (1973, 1995). The seat of “Ianda” is the state-of-the-art “Johan Cruyff Arena”, with a capacity of 55,865 seats, which before the death of the “Flying Dutchman” was known as the “Amsterdam Arena”.

Last season, the Ajax she did not meet high standards of performance – always according to his level – finishing in 3rd place Eredivisie and at -13 from the champion, Feyenoord. This season in Europe started with a qualification against Ludogorets after winning 4-1 in Bulgaria and in Holland the 1-0 defeat did not affect them. At the same time, in the league it counts two games with a win and a draw.

As far as the competitive part is concerned, the coach of the club since June is the Dutchman, Maurice Stein, who was until last year on the bench of Sparta Rotterdam, making a very good run finishing in 6th place. This summer, Ajax made several sales, as the Muhammad Qudous (43 million), Edson Alvarez (38 million euros), Jurien Timber (40 million), while the “flagship” of the team in recent years, O Dusan Tadic.

At the same time, it was strengthened with the former center forward of PAOK, Chuba Akpom (12.3 million), Gaston Avila who did not play in AEK’s games with Antwerp (12.5 million euros) and Josip Soutalo (20.5 million) from Dinamo Zagreb who played in the first match with the Union. The stock market value of “Aianda” amounts to 187 million euros and the “star” among many quality players is Steven Bergwinewho wears the armband and has extensive experience with the Dutch national team and the Premier League in their shirt Tottenham.

Marseille

The team drawn with the “yellow and black” from the second capacity group is special, as the Marseille a few weeks earlier he was left out of the Champions League by Panathinaikosin a rematch-thriller where he led with two of his goals Aubameyang, but Fotis Ioannidis’ penalty sent the game into extra time and in the penalty shootout Brignoli said no to Geduzzi, with the trefoil players making it 5/5 and getting a massive advance. At the same time, let’s remember that the organized people of Marseilles are fraternized with the world of AEK.

The French team was founded in 1899, is based in Marseille and has been crowned champions nine times, while being the only French team to have won the Champions League. At the same time, it has participated in three UEFA Cup and Europa League finals, having hosted the legendary “Velodrome” with a capacity of 67,394 seats.

Last season it was competitive, finishing in 3rd place with 73 points and -12 behind the champion, Paris Saint-Germain, while domestically it has made a good start with seven points tied for first place with Monaco.

The stock market value of the club reaches 259 million euros and the coach is the experienced Spaniard, Marthelino, who left the benches of Spanish teams after many years. This summer he made very strong transfers with Kodogbia, Lodi, Malinowski and Arith, while supreme of all is the terrible, Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang who showed his quality in the rematch with Panathinaikos.

Brighton

It is a given that every team would like to avoid the third capacity group Brightonas the whole of it Roberto De Cerbi she makes leaps and bounds every year and in her first European distinction she aims for a distinction.

The “Seagulls” were founded in 1901 and count the conquest of one title, the Charity Shield in 1910, while 70 years later they reached the final of the FA Cup, but did not win in the end. The venue where they compete is the historical, “Falmer Stadium” which for sponsorship reasons in recent years is called Amex, with a capacity of 31,865 spectators. Last season he made an impressive run in the Premier League and finished in 6th place, ahead of Tottenham and Aston Villa, securing a ticket to Europe’s second-tier competition. This year’s season has started with two wins and one loss and with six points it is in 6th place and -3 from the top.

Roberto De Cerbi has been Brighton’s manager since September 2022 and with his work, the world of the team has managed to forget him Graham Potter. The Italian stands out for the teams he creates without a lot of money at his disposal, which play excellently on the counter-attack and have a very good blocking function.

In the summer transfer window Brighton saw McAllister, Robert, Sanchez and Caicedo to leave by putting in its coffers an amount of around 180 million euros, while it was strengthened with the Balembas, Everbugen, Igor and Mazilu. At the same time, the strongest transfer was Joao Pedro who was acquired instead. 34 million euros from Watford, while Dahoud and Milner were acquired as free agents. Finally, the English team made a great transfer with his loan Ansu Fati from Barcelona.