Europa League Group Stage Overview

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With the 2022/23 Europa League group stage complete, we can look back at the group stages in more detail. In total, there were 130 matches played in the group stage of the Europa League and 64 of those games ended with a home win.

40 of the 130 fixtures ended with an away win and there were 26 draws, which is only 20% of the group games played in the Europa League this season.

In terms of excitement, the group stages of the Europa League provided plenty of goals. There were 344 goals in total across the 130 matches, meaning an average of 2.65 goals per game.

58% of the goals were scored by teams playing at home, while 42% of the goals were scored by teams playing away. If we continue to see over 2.5 goals scored per match in the knockout stages, the Europa League is going to be a thrilling competition to watch.

If we look at some of the top performing teams, Real Betis ended the group stage with the most points, having amassed 16 points from a possible 18.

They finished top of their group and the only dropped points for Real Betis came at home against Roma. Arsenal, Real Sociedad, and Manchester United all finished on 15 points.

Interestingly, Real Sociedad and Manchester United were in the same group, meaning the latter has been forced into the playoff despite having enough points to win the majority of the other Europa League groups.

Two clubs finished the Europa League group stage without a point to their name as Omonia Nicosia and Malmo exited the competition on 0 points. HJK Helsinki and Dynamo Kiev were both eliminated with just 1 point.

In terms of goal scoring, PSV Eindhoven topped the charts with 15 goals scored in their 6 Europa League group games. Fenerbahce, Freiburg, and Feyenoord all scored 13 goals.

Union Berlin and Real Sociedad were the best performing teams defensively and finished the group stages having conceded only 2 goals in 6 matches.

Looking at individual player performances, Santiago Giménez of Feyenoord and Vitinha of Braga lead the way in the top goal scorers chart having scored 4 goals each in the group stages of the Europa League. The assists table is led by Evander of Midtjylland with 5 assists, while Anastasios Bakasetas of Trabzonspor is one behind on 4 assists.

The most exciting group from a neutral perspective was Group F as all four teams finished on 8 points. Goal difference and goals scored was used to separate the teams, with Feyenoord and Midtjylland progressing at the expense of Lazio and Sturm Graz.

The most exciting round of fixtures took place in the fifth round of games in Group B. Both matches ended in a 3-3 draw, with Fenerbahce coming back from 3-0 down at home against Rennes and Dynamo Kiev scoring two late goals against AEK Larnaca to take a point.