MANCHESTER UNITED will fly the English flag tonight when it faces Spanish Villarreal in the Europa League final.
The Red Devils are the only British team to have enjoyed a prominent participation in this century’s European secondary festival, and many have been forgotten.
Five Englishmen have won the Europa League since their inception as the UEFA Cup in 1971: Tottenham Hotspur, Liverpool, Ipswich Town, Chelsea and the Red Devils.
But even more of them have enjoyed long runs, Wigan Athletic and Birmingham City, which have competed in Europe as league clubs.
Here, SunSport has decided on 8 forgotten groups that have represented England on the continent this century.
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Euros from the dream team
Former Ipswich champion experienced a resurgence at the beginning of the century, completing fifth in the Premier League to qualify again for Europe.
And George Burley’s team did so in the 2001–02 tournament, beating the Moscow Torpedo and Helsingborg before succumbing to Inter Milan in the third round.
The Tractor Boys were relegated from the Premier League that season, but still qualified for Europe due to the fair play rule, achieving the moment as a club at the moment.
Blackburn was accustomed to Europe before relegation to the Premier League in 2012, suffering defeats to eventual finalists Celtic in 2002–03 and Turkish Genclerbirligi the following season.
The efforts of the rovers of this century came here with Mark Hughes in 2006-07, when they defeated Basel, Wisla Krakow, Feyenoord and Nancy to succeed in the playoff phase, where they lost Bayer Leverkusen.
Blackburn enthusiasts might not have to forget their 2007-08 crusade – waste for AEL in the first circular – we are sure they will be pleased to travel to Greece on those days.
Bolton had two brilliant UEFA Cup races in the 2000s, achieving the last 32 with the wonderful Sam Allardyce in 2005-06.
But the Trotters’ biggest European adventure came with Gary Megson two years later, getting a 2–2 draw against Bayern Munich at the Allianz Arena and getting rid of Atletico Madrid to triumph in the eighth round.
How have times been fixed?
Aspect of the Premier League Southampton has not had time in the Europa League since the turn of the century, losing to Steaua Bucharest in 2003-04 and Midtjylland in the 2015-16 play-offs.
But the Saints made history the following season, beating Inter Italiano 2-1 at St Mary’s at the organization level thanks to Virgil van Dijk’s tie and a purpose opposite his team.
Claude Puel’s team continued to suffer pain in the organization’s last match, tying 1-1 against Israeli side Hapoel Be’er Sheva at 3rd, missing by the slightest margin.
Portsmouth for Europe in 2007-08 after winning the FA Cup.
They faced AC Milan, who had won the Champions League two years earlier and faced Dida, Andriy Shevchenko, Clarence Seedorf and Kaká in their organizational setting at Fratton Park.
The game ended 2-2 thanks to a purpose defeated through Filippo Inzaghi, with Andrea Pirlo left on the bench (in case he was wondering).
Fulham has played three games in Europe since the turn of the century, however, their effort in 2009-10 was very impressive.
Roy Hodgson’s appearance reached the Europa League final after beating Vetra, Amkar Perm, Basel, CSKA Sofia, Shakhtar Donetsk, Juventus, Wolfsburg and Hamburg.
It was a streak, ended by Atletico and a purpose of Diego Forlán in overtime.
Fulham is the only wonderful team in England to qualify for the latter, as Middlesbrough achieved the feat in 2005–06.
Steve McClaren, in his last project before appointing england manager, led Boro to victories over Skoda Xanthi, Grasshopper, Dnipro Dnipropetrovsk, Litex Lovech, Stuttgart, Rome, Basel and Steaua Bucuresti to succeed in the final.
They were humiliated in The Spotlight of Seville, 4-0 against the Spanish giants.
Championship Millwall is the luckiest English team to qualify for the UEFA Cup.
The London club had the luckiest cup in history when it reached the FA Cup final in 2004 facing a single Premier League team.
Manchester United comfortably won the final 3-0, but as the Red Devils had already qualified for Europe, the ultimateists won the prize and lost to the Hungarians of Ferencvaros in the first round.
Championship Birmingham, which qualified after winning the League Cup, almost ran out of a position in the 16 after scoring 10 points in 2011-12.
In the same season, The FA Cup finalist Stoke City has been eliminated in the last 32 games through Valencia.
FA Cup winners Wigan took pride in collecting problems at the organization level as a second-tier club in 2013-14, beating Maribor.
Swansea City, champions of the League Cup, beat VALENCIA 3-0 at Mestalla before Napoli in 2013–14.
Hull City, a FINALIST in the FA Cup, failed to advance beyond the play-offs in 2014-15, against Lokeren.
And neither did Burnley in 2018-19, against Olympiacos.
The wolves had a very good crusade in 2019-20, wasting Seville in the quarter-finals.
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