~~ Snip ~~
It is not wrong to be confident but I just want to remind that this kind of words we often encounter even in the previous 2 seasons for some big clubs in the Europa League such as Barcelona, Juventus, Napoli, Arsenal and even Manchester United but it is precisely unexpected clubs like Frankfurt and Sevilla who end up becoming Champions in the Europa League. We should be able to take some examples from this because not all big clubs have luck in the Europa League.
Liverpool are the clear favorites for now in the Europa League but during the knockout phase I think it will be different because it is not impossible that there are other big clubs in the Europa League (exiles from the Champions League) and even unexpected clubs can become champions again.
That's right and I agree with your opinion, the Europa League is full of surprises and sometimes more surprises than the Champions League. Many did not expect that Sevilla had collected more Europa League trophies than other favorite clubs, it is not impossible that this season there will be another surprise. Even though I also predict that Liverpool really deserves to be in first place as favorites, the improvement in performance shown by Laverkusen is worth considering.
It is true that clubs that are eliminated from the Champions League group phase will be stronger, and will make the European League more competitive. However, this will only be visible after the UCL group phase is completed, and will add to the list of favorite clubs in the European League.