Most Humiliating European Defeats for English Clubs

Most Humiliating European Defeats for English Clubs

Arsenal recently tasted embarrassment when they lost their Round of 32 First Leg tie against BATE Borisov, 1-0. The Belarussian side sit a mere 120th in the Euro Club Index, while the Gooners occupy 15th. Can Arsenal turn it around in the second leg? You’ll find the latest odds, here: https://www.betfair.com/exchange/plus/football/competition/2005

In honour of this humiliation, here are some of the other most embarrassing defeats for English clubs in the Europa League…

2017/18: Everton 1-5 Atalanta
Everton were already eliminated from the group stages of the Europa League, prior to facing Atalanta at Goodison Park. The Italians were unbeaten and had already won on home soil 3-0, while Everton had yet to win a single group game. Atalanta were two goals up and had Alejandro Gomez’ penalty saved, before the Toffees pulled one back through Sandro Ramírez. But conceding three goals in the closing five minutes left the English club in a sticky situation and consigned caretaker boss, David Unsworth’s side to their heaviest defeat in Europe.

2017/18: Arsenal 1-2 Östersund
Arsenal are no strangers to disappointment or embarrassment when it comes to European football. But despite winning the first-leg of their round of 32 tie against Swedish outfit Östersund 3-0, there were moments in the second-leg that the minnows believed the unthinkable could happen. Two goals in 70 first-half seconds from Hosam Aiesh and Ken Sema threw the tie in the balance – but thankfully Sead Kolasinac fired home in the second-half to send the North Londoners through, 4-2 on aggregate. In true Emirates style, Wenger’s side were booed off at half-time and full-time.

2015/16: Midtjylland 2-1 Manchester United
Despite previously knocking out Southampton in the play-off round, Midtjylland weren’t a club that English fans were particularly familiar with. The Danes came second in their group, finishing behind Napoli and faced English opponents in the round of 32 in Manchester United. The Red Devils went ahead through Memphis Depay, but a goal in each half put the Danes ahead 2-1 at the end of the first-leg, to give them their greatest ever result. Thankfully for United, the embarrassment was short lived and they went on to win the second leg 5-1.

2010/11: Lech Poznań 3-1 Manchester City
In their reverse fixture, Manchester City had beaten Lech Poznań 3-1 – but it didn’t stop their opponents gaining revenge in their back yard. Relatively unknown, Lech had previously drawn against Italian giants Juventus – and clearly weren’t to be underestimated in their group. With four minutes to go, the game was tied at 1-1 (after Emmanuel Adebayor levelled for City), but the Polish side netted twice to send their fans into raptures – celebrating with that famous backs-to-pitch bounce, which City eventually adopted. Both clubs went through to the round of 32.

2010/11: Braga 1-0 Liverpool
In 2011, Liverpool found themselves knocked out of the Europa League in the round of 16, at the hands of Portuguese side Braga. Liverpool were on the road for the first-leg – and also on the ropes after a penalty by Alan put Braga ahead. Back at Anfield, Liverpool were unable to turn around the one-goal deficit, with Andy Carroll making his first full start after joining from Newcastle United. The underdogs held on for a memorable win – eventually going all the way to the final and losing out to fellow Portuguese side FC Porto.

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