2022/2023 EL Group D: Braga - Malmö - Union Berlin - St Gilloise

[Dragonite]

Congratulations Saint-Gilloise and Union Berlin!



Saint-Gilloise keeps pulling bigger and bigger rabbits out of their hat. First a win against pot 3 opponent Union Berlin, then another win against pot 2 opponent Malmö, and now they could even win against pot 1 opponnent Braga!!!


And Union Berlin won in Sweden despite playing in numerical disadvantage for the entire second half!

Malmö is now in a losing streak of 4 EL matches (Wolfsburg x2, Braga and Saint-Gilloise), the longest in its EL history alongside another from 2011 (AZ Alkmaar, Austria Wien and Metalist Kharkiv x2).

Malmö's EL losing streak is 5 EL matches now.

In CL they're also in a winless streak of 9.


Are Malmö here (and/or Dynamo Kyiv in EL Group B) going to become counter-examples that "it's easier to collect points in EL than in CL"?
Both got 0-1-5 in CL last season, both so far have 0-0-3 in their EL groups now.

If they end up with 0-0-6 or 0-1-5 here, then the excuses that "it's impossible to defeat CL giants" become ridiculous, even against EL opposition they're still harmless.

[Jua Ferreira]

prediction:

Braga
Union Saint-Gilloise
Union Berlin
Malmö

Union Berlin fell short of expectations and failed to get points in the first two games. The 3rd matchday of the group has become extremely important for Malmö+Union Berlin. Although I predict the Belgian team in the 2nd place, no one can deny that Union Berlin has the power to win the remaining 4 matches.

Malmö is out.
For USG, I gave them less chance as I couldn't quite predict the strength of the USG, but they got 4 points from Braga and now 1 win away from winning the group and they seems strong enough to get that win in Sweden. I would say that USG to get 1rd spot. I really wonder who's going to take 2nd spot.

[bugylibicska]

To win the group:

Union St.Gilloise 1.36
Union Berlin 5.50
Braga 6.00

The Belgians need a point to secure advancement. Interesting race among 3 teams, Malmo just made up the numbers.

Union St.Gilloise 10
Braga 7
Union Berlin 6
Malmo 0

Next: Union Berlin - Braga, Malmo - Union St.Gilloise.

[Dragonite]

Third round in a row that Saint-Gilloise recovers from a disadvantage!

In round 2 they were losing 0-1 and 1-2 but recovered to win 3-2. They in round 3 they were losing 0-1 and recovered to win 2-1. And now in round 4 they were losing 1-3 at half-time but recovered to draw 3-3!


Malmö is the only team in EL that can't even finish third placed anymore.

The last nail in their coffin was Lomotey, that entered in the 81st minute, then in the 87th minute fouled Behrens inside the penalty box gifting Union Berlin a penalty kick from which they scored their goal, and then he was sent off in the 90th minute.

But Lomotey can't be the scapegoat for Malmö disastrous EL.

He didn't play a single minute in the first three matches, and in the fourth he played nine minutes.

He is suspended won't play this week against Saint-Gilloise, so if they lose again it won't be his fault.

[bugylibicska]

Union St.Gilloise qualified and won the group and Union Berlin with their 3rd win in a row can follow them. If Braga beat Malmo as expected Union Berlin also must win in Belgium, a draw not enough, because of Braga's superior goal difference.

Union St.Gilloise 13
Union Berlin 9
Braga 7
Malmo 0

Next: Union St;Gilloise - Union Berlin, Braga - Malmo.

[Dragonite]

Congratulations Saint-Gilloise!


They already won this group this group. And at the moment they're the third best team in EL, only behind Real Sociedad (15 points) and Freiburg (13 points and +10 GD). Betis also has 13 points and +5 GD, but they have 9 goals scored and Saint-Gilloise has 11.

A scenario where Saint-Gilloise ends up as the best team in EL group stage isn't unrealistic. Real Sociedad may lose against Manchester United, Freiburg not win in Azerbaijan, Saint-Gilloise win 1-0 against Union Berlin and Betis also win 1-0 against HJK.


While Saint-Gilloise is close from being the best team in EL, Malmö is close from being the worst. At the moment only Omonoia has worse results, both have 0 points but Omonoia's GD is -8 while Malmö's is -7.

They're also close from being the worst ever Malmö in EL history. The worst ever was 1 point and -11 GD in 2011/2012 in a group with AZ Alkmaar, Austria Wien and Metalist Kharkiv. If Malmö loses in Portugal this time it will be even worse, 0 points.


But the most interesting thing left in this group isn't if Saint-Gilloise is the best team in EL or if Malmö is the worst team in EL or worst ever Malmö.

It's the indirect fight for the second place between Union Berlin and Braga.

Braga must win and hope that Union Berlin doesn't win in Belgium to get the second place, otherwise Union Berlin will get it.


If Braga can't get the second place, we'll finally have a Portuguese team in Conference League.

[matt]

One of the most interesting groups. For me:

Braga
Union Berlin
Union Saint-Gilloise
Malmo

Malmo last as expected, but USG made a crazy debut in an european group stage, winning the group. Union Berlin had the last word against Braga, unlike my prediction.

[rpo.castro]

Braga screw up their campaing in the double header against USG. They should have made more points they could have easily done it: in the home match Braga was winning at 86' and let the play broke for attack-counter attack instead of controlling the pace, and in the away game they were winning 1-3 at HT.
Then the 1st place was almost a mirage and looking for teams coming from CL, 3rd place would be better than 2nd. In Germany in a match with almost no chances a ridicolous penalty changed the result and the faith was almost decided.

Braga should and could have passed, this is only the second time I think Braga didn't past ELGS, but I prefer going to ECL instead of ELKO (1st place and EL L16 would be different).

USG was 1st but I still think Union Berlin is better then them, even if Berlin had lost and ended 3rd. Braga has a stupid tatic with only 2 men on midfield.

[Dragonite]

Congratulations Union Berlin!


They won in Belgium and kept the second place.

Huge improvement in just one year. Last season they couldn't advance from a Conference League group with Feyenoord, Maccabi Haifa and Slavia Praha. And this season they progressed from this EL group with Braga, Malmö and Saint-Gilloise.

What's next, they'll play the 2023/2024 CL and win their group there?!

For now, Ajax is what's next. They'll have some problems, two starters left (Ryerson and Haraguchi), and another two are suspended for the first match (Trimmel and Haberer). But their January signings also seem to be good (Juranovic, Roussillon and Laidouni).

I don't believe that they'll go any further, but to be honest I also didn't believe that they would even get this far and somehow they did it!


I should also congratulate Braga for qualifying to the Conference League playoffs.


If it's any consolation, they were the best 3rd placed team.

But "qualifying to the Conference League", "best 3rd placed team"... none of these erase the embarrassment of Braga not advancing from this EL group and finishing behind two debutants.

The only thing that can erase it is a long Conference League campaign, preferably culminating with Braga winning the trophy.

Prediction:
1. Braga
2. Malmö
3. Union Berlin
4. Saint-Gilloise

I was wrong about everything here... Braga wasn't first, Malmö wasn't second, Union Berlin wasn't third and Saint-Gilloise wasn't last. Not even turning this upside down would fix it, because Braga and Malmö's positions would still be wrong.