Biggest Europa League Quarter-Final Upsets

The UEFA Europa League has often been overlooked in favour of its more illustrious older brother, the Champions League. In fact, for Premier League clubs especially, featuring on a Thursday night rather than Tuesday or Wednesday was cause for mocking by opposition supporters. Those days are long gone.

A decade ago, the decision was made by UEFA that the winner of the Europa League would receive a spot in the following year's Champions League. And ever since that, the competition has been ramped up. One only needs to take a look at this season's action for confirmation of that.

The Ongoing Europa League Season

Both Tottenham Hotspur and Manchester United are now prioritizing the Europa League over their domestic matters, knowing that the competition represents the last remaining opportunity to save each club's respective seasons. Both have struggled in the Premier League this term and are languishing in the bottom half of the table. However, if they can win Europe's secondary tournament, they will secure a spot in the big time next term.

Luckily for them, online sport betting sites think that both outfits have a chance of going all the way this season. The Red Devils and Spurs are currently listed as the second and third favourites with Bovada's sport betting odds, being priced at +350 and +400 respectively. Both of them are behind the +275 favourites Athletic Bilbao, whose state-of-the-art San Mames stadium will host the final this year.

With the tournament now reaching the quarter-final stage, however, all three frontrunners will have to beware of any potential slip-ups. As history tells us, the last eight is a place where shockers can happen.

Atalanta Stun Liverpool

Last season, Liverpool was a huge favourite to win the Europa League. The Reds were top of the Premier League and were en route for a famous quadruple of sorts. But Italian side Atalanta wasn't intimidated by the high-flying Merseysiders.

Despite Jurgen Klopp's vast array of superstars such as Mohamed Salah and Virgil van Dijk, the Italian outfit took the fight to the Premier League giants in the first leg on enemy territory at Anfield. Liverpool were shellshocked on their own patch and couldn't quite believe what was happening.

Towering striker Gianluca Scamacca gave the visitors a shock lead on the half-hour mark. The hosts then pressed for an equalizer, but it never came, and the big Italian hitman added a second 15 minutes after the restart. Mario Pašalić then unbelievably added a third seven minutes before full time, and Atalanta had one foot in the semifinals, knowing that the second leg was on home turf.

Unfortunately for them, they lost the return fixture 1-0, but that was good enough to secure progression to the final four with a stunning 3-1 aggregate victory. They would then go on to win the competition, upsetting the unbeaten Bayer Leverkusen in the final thanks to Ademola Lookman's blistering hat trick in Dublin.

Frankfurt Takeover the Nou Camp

Much like Liverpool last season, back in 2021/22, Barcelona was the overwhelming favourite to win the Europa League. The Blaugrana are far more accustomed to not just featuring in the Champions League but winning it. However, the departure of superstar Lionel Messi at the start of the campaign left them reeling.

It certainly caught the attention of the bookies too, with Bovada’s tantalizing tweet recognizing just how important this was.

Without their talismanic icon, the Catalonians exited the top tier of European football after finishing third behind Bayern Munich and Benfica. As a result, they dropped into the Europa League and instantly became the favourites to lift the trophy. The first task at hand was Turkish outfit Galatasaray and Barca duly passed that test with a 2-1 aggregate victory. In the quarterfinals, they met Eintracht Frankfurt and a 1-1 draw in Germany left them an odds-on shot to progress.

However, something unbelievable happened in the second leg on home turf at the Nou Camp. The powers that be within the Barcelona ticket office, either knowingly or unknowingly, sold 30,000 tickets to Frankfurt supporters. As a result, the club's fans literally took over the famous stadium, and their support was a catalyst for what would transpire on the pitch.

The Bundesliga side raced into a 2-0 first-half lead, and by the 67th minute, Filip Kostic's second of the night made it three. Barcelona would bounce back with two goals in injury time, but it was too little too late, and Frankfurt emerged victorious against all odds. As Atalanta would do two years later, the Germans also went on to win the competition, beating Rangers on penalties in the final in Seville.

Fulham's Fairytale Run

Back in 2010, Fulham were featuring on the continental stage for the first time. In the Round of 16, they stunned Italian giants Juventus, winning 4-1 in the return fixture at Craven Cottage to progress. In the quarterfinals, however, they arguably had an even more difficult task when they met reigning German champions Wolfsburg.

The Meisterschale holders had a fearsome strike force of Edin Dzeko and Brazilian striker Grafite, a double act that had plundered some 54 goals en route to Bundesliga glory the previous term. However, they were stunned inside 30 seconds when Bobby Zamora gave Fulham a shock 1-0 in the first leg in the Volkswagen Arena. It was a lead they wouldn't surrender, and then they went on to win the second leg 2-1 as well, sealing their spot in the semifinals and continuing their fairytale debut run.