Thursday Hoddle of Coffee, Soccer News and Notes, May 4, 2017

Man United will be in Galicia today to visit La Liga side Celta Vigo in the Europa League semifinal. A favorable result would set the Red Devils up well to meet Ajax in the Europa League final as the Dutch club is almost certain to go after winning their first leg 4-1 against Lyon yesterday. This is a big match for United as, after their draw and Liverpool’s win last weekend, they are looking like the team that will be shut out of the top four. This means the Europa League is their best shot at making next year’s Champions League.

As far as what this means for Spurs, the biggest point is how this would affect our group draw for next season. United being in the Champions League pushes us down a further rung in the seedings for pot 2. It also means that there is one more pot 2 team we cannot draw for the group stage, which makes it more likely that we would draw a lethal opponent who falls into pot two, such as Barcelona, Dortmund, Atletico, or PSG.

What I’m saying is that you have more than just spite to justify rooting for Celta today. :)

Short hoddle today as I’ve had a long day with other projects and haven’t had time to do much soccer reading. Sorry!