Europa League Latest! 2/27/2014.

First off I hope everyone is having a great week thus far - happy Thursday and a pleasant weekend to you! Now, for why you all are reading: a round-up of the results from today's Europa League games. Fiorentina were able to see off Esbjerg on aggregate despite a well-fought performance by the Danish side away from home. The fact that Esbjerg left it until the 1st minute of stoppage time of the 2nd half indicates that their Italian hosts were much the better team. All the same, they did hold off wave after wave of assaults from Fiorentina. The Italians had about double the possession and the opportunities as their Danish guests. After a tense 1st half, Josip Ilicic was the man to put Fiorentina ahead in the 47th minute from a set-piece. It should be said that the first leg's 1-3 scoreline in favor of Fiorentina allowed them to play a controlled match to say the least.

Onwards to another Italian representative, Juventus! After a 2-0 home victory, the Europa League Final hosts could well have considered themselves on their way to the next round. Their opponents, Trabzonspor of Turkey, didn't seem to have much in the tank as they hosted Juve and witnessed another 2-0 result, again in the favor of the Italians. Arturo Vidal opened the scoring in the 18th minute while Pablo Osvaldo tacked on a 2nd in the 33rd minute to sink the hopes of many a Trabzonspor fan. The victory means that it will be two Italians facing each other in the next round: Fiorentina hoping to perform well against their domestic rivals.

As for Maccabi Tel-Aviv versus Basel, a 0-0 first leg meant the Swiss side had an advantage going into the return leg at home. The hosts frankly dominated the match, taking a majority of possession but more importantly using it to great effect: Valentin Stocker opened the scoring account in the 17th minute and Basel never looked back. Marco Streller plucked two more peaches in the 2nd half - the 60th and 71st minutes respectively - to make it Basel's night. While Maccabi Tel-Aviv did show some life at the end of the game, they never really looked like the kind of team that deserved to make it into the next round.

Who will Basel be facing though? That'd be Salzburg, of Austria, who absolutely went to town on the Netherlands' Ajax. Following a first leg that saw Ajax lose 0-3 at home, I must admit that opinions were low that they would be able to mount a comeback. And - well - those thoughts were validated with Salzburg winning 3-1 at home. Sure, the Dutch side did have more of the possession, but attempts were very clearly in Salzburg's favor. It all started falling apart in the 56th minute when Mike van der Hoorn put the ball into his own net. True, the Austrians looked the better side throughout the 1st half, but the floodgates finally broke with Sadio Mane making it 2-0 in the 66th minute and Jonatan Soriano striking Salzburg's 3rd in the 77th. While Davy Klaassen did bring the visitors one back in the 82nd minute, it was smooth sailing for the hosts. The lack of any clinical goal-scorers should probably noted as Ajaxs' most pressing problem. That and their defensive frailty that is.

Over to Iberia now where Benfica convincingly dealt with their opposition - PAOK - by a 3-0 scoreline for a 4-0 aggregate. In all honesty though, two things should be noted about the Greeks: first of all, goalkeeper Panagiotis Glykos was the only reason that the scoreline was not more embarrassing. Having said that, much of the blame for why PAOK ended up losing as badly as they did was because Kostas Katsouranis was sent off in the 69th minute. A minute later, Nicolas Gaitan was celebrating Benfica's first goal of the night and Lima and Lazar Markovic added one each in the 78th and 79th minutes respectively. Would the Greeks have been able to pull something out of the hat if their captain had remained on the field? I doubt it. But it happened and Benfica will be facing Tottenham Hotspur in the next round!

Winning 3-2 on aggregate, Spurs honestly edged Ukraine's Dnipro. It could very well have gone the other way. Roman Zozulya actually put the Ukrainians ahead in London for all of about eight minutes of the 2nd half after scoring in the 48th minute. While Christian Eriksen equalized for Spurs in the 56th, the Ukrainians finally broke in the 65th minute: Zozulya had been sent off 2 minutes earlier and Emmanuel Adebayor found a brilliant run of form to make it 3-1 on the day. Unlucky for Dnipro but well deserved for Adebayor and his Spurs teammates.

The other Round of 16 tie will be a face-off between Sevilla and Real Betis after the two Spanish clubs beat back stiff competition from Maribor and Rubin Kazan respectively. In the former, the Slovenians could well have tallied several more strikes if they had their heads on right - Sevilla were not the most well-put-together side today. All the same, Maribor were hammered Jose Antonio Reyes and Kevin Gameiro on either side of the half before the Slovenians finally got through, courtesy of Dare Vrsic in the 2nd minute of stoppage time of the 2nd half. As for Betis' showdown with Kazan, the Spaniards didn't have any easy time against the Russians. Betis' advantage in terms of possession eventually allowed them to tally a couple of their attempts - arriving through Nono and Ruben Castro in the 45th and 64th minutes.

In France, yet another game was decided by a booking with Chornomorets Odesa of Ukraine holding their own until Evgeniy Zubeiko was sent-off with a second yellow in the 76th minute. Jumping on a glorious opportunity, Lyon finally broke the deadlock that had lasted almost 180 minutes with Alexandre Lacazette striking with 10 minutes left to play. Lyon will then face Plzen who saw off Shakhtar Donetsk by an aggregate score of 2-3. While Luiz Adriano helped the Ukrainians keep it close, the Czech Republic will have a representative in the Round of 16 thanks to Daniel Kolar and Milan Petrzela.

In my opinion the tie of the Round of 32 was the one that saw Eintracht Frankfurt and Porto punch out a 5-5 aggregate scoreline with the Portuguese side claiming victory thanks to away goals. It was certainly the way football was meant to be played. As sorry as I am to see Frankfurt drop out, they performed at an excellent caliber. Porto will be facing Napoli in the Round of 16 after the Italians defeated England's Swansea by a scoreline of 3-1 after going 0-0 in England. Insigne, Inler, and Higuain were the ones who made it happen for the Italians - promising an exciting tie when the Mediterranean countries face-off.

After beating Dynamo Kyiv 2-0 in Ukraine, Valencia held onto a 0-0 draw in Spain to set-up a date with Bulgaria's giant-slayers Ludogorets who took down Lazio by an aggregate score of 4-3. Scoring early and often, I am really enjoying seeing how far the Bulgarians can go; I wouldn't mind seeing them take Valencia down too! Roman Bezjak is definitely the engine of the machine: 5 goals to his name in this year's competition and he has the support of other unknowns such as Virgil Misidjan and Juninho Quixada. If Vladislav Stoyanov and his defenders can keep things a little tidier in the back, we just might see a miracle.

Last but certainly not least, Anji Makhachkala vs AZ Alkmaar! While certainly putting two of the remaining minnows into the same Round of 16 birth should prove competitive, I would be surprised to see either of these teams make it through the Quarter Final stage. Nevertheless, Russia's sole representative in the Europa League is Anji who got by Genk (of Belgium) through a combination of luck - an own goal to open the scoring in the 64th minute - and skill, courtesy of Olexandr Aliyev. As for AZ, they remain the last team from the Netherlands at this stage of the competition. The fact that they were tested so strenuously by Slovan Liberec of the Czech Republic would lead me to tip the Russians as the side who reach the Quarter Finals. Make sure to check back here next week for more of the action!

Champions League 11/26/2013

What a brilliant round of fixtures we saw today! With goals in all but one of the match-ups, let's get right down to business! In the first game of the day, Zenit St. Petersburg were able to tie Atletico Madrid 1-1 in a tight affair in Russia that saw the hosts dominate their guests in terms of possession with 62% of the ball. Zenit also had more opportunities than Atletico though all in all it was a very good game. Atletico continue their unbeaten run as Zenit must wait until the final match of the group-stage to achieve their qualification hopes. Probably the most surprising result was Basel's 1-0 victory in Switzerland over Chelsea to deny the English side a place in the knock-out round at least for today. The hosts waited until the dying minutes of the match to strike through Mohamed Salah in the 87th minute setting up a nail-biting final minutes as the Blues tried to equalize unsuccessfully. The 0-0 draw between Steaua and Schalke in Romania, however, means that any of the top three teams in Group E can make it to the next round depending on the results of the final group games which will poise Schalke against Basel and Chelsea welcoming Steaua to England. Wrapping up Group G really quickly, Porto tied 1-1 with Austria Wien meaning the Austrians have no hope of progressing while Zenit and Porto will be eying one another for the 2nd position spot into the next round. Up in Scotland, Celtic essentially banged their head into a wall for 90 minutes as attempt after attempt went wanting and AC Milan struck three times to sink the B'hoys. In the other Group H fixture, Ajax were surprising victors over Barcelona in an affair in Amsterdam that ended 2-1 for the Dutch. In the process, Ajax knocked Celtic out of contention and set-up a mouth-watering final match with Milan-Barca and Ajax-Celtic deciding who will make it out of this contentious group. Last but certainly not least: Group F. With the likes of Arsenal, Dortmund, and Napoli, it was always going to be a close one and it has proved nothing less! As Marseille continued their dismal form, going 5 games without securing a single point in the table, Arsenal completed a 2-0 match-up against the French side. In the other match-up, Dortmund and Napoli put on a grand display with the Germans securing a 3-1 victory over their Italian competitors. The result means that Arsenal take poll position at 12 points as Dortmund and Napoli each have 9. Depending on how the last set of games go, any of the three teams may well make it through. Given their terrible form thus far, Dortmund should feel confident going to Marseille on December 11th while Napoli will hope that they perform better at home when they host Arsenal on the same day. Keep an eye out for the games coming tomorrow!

Champions League Leading Up to Thanksgiving! (11/25/2013)

After all of the exciting international action, we return to the club level with the latest round of the Champions League taking place tomorrow, Tuesday the 26th. The match-ups are thrilling as always and have the potential of deciding who we'll see in the knock-out rounds. Russia's Zenit St. Petersburg greet Atletico Madrid of Spain in a match-up between Group G's top two. Having said that, the 7 point gap between Madrid who are up top and Zenit who presently hold 2nd contributes to the must-win nature of the match: Portugal's Porto will be hosting Austria Wein in a game that should go the way of the Portuguese. If that is the case and the Spaniards claim victory in Russia, the table would have Madrid untouchable with 15 points and Porto in 2nd with 7. Austria Wein are playing for pride at this point with just a point to their name as a loss for Zenit would drop them to 3rd with just 5 points and a game to play.
Over in Group E, Switzerland's Basel host England's giants Chelsea. Despite the imperfect nature of Chelsea's qualification campaign up to this point, they sit top of the group with 3 points over 2nd place Schalke. Basel, in 3rd, have 5 while 4th position Steaua Bucuresti have 2. The home field advantage should help the Swiss side, though I cannot see them overpowering the Blues. Over in Romania, Steaua will hope for a better performance against Germany's Schalke at home though the latter side are arguably the favorites.
Group H's bottom of the table Celtic will hope to put on a show in Glasgow when they face Italy's AC Milan. Though typically better at home, I can't help but feel the Scots will fall to the power of the Italians. Nevertheless, the hope of qualification may spur Celtic to victory - 3 points and a Barcelona victory against Ajax would position Celtic in 2nd a point above Milan. I doubt it'll happen but I'll be cheering for them! Group leaders Barcelona sit tidy with 10 points and should play well in Holland when they face-off against 3rd position Ajax who have 4.
Rounding up the action tomorrow, Group F has co-leaders Arsenal taking on bottom-of-the-table Marseille at home in England. With 0 points up to this point, I think the French side would be incredibly lucky to get through the 90 minutes with a draw. The other side with 9 points, Napoli, travel to Germany as they face 3rd place Dortmund who have 6. Victory for the Germans would move them up to at least 2nd thanks to a superior goal difference than their Italian counterparts. With that in mind, the performance over the weekend by the Gelsenkirchen side was not confidence-inspiring: losing 3-0 at home to Bayern Munich! I would not say that Napoli are quite at Bayern's level, and their recent performances have been less than ideal. Based on the team-sheets, the continued losses of Mats Hummels, Marcel Schmelzer, and Neven Subotic will hurt the Germans - particularly defensively. At the same time, Marek Hamsik's injury on the Napoli side decreases their goal-scoring options. In the end, the Italians arguably have a greater depth in terms of goal-scoring, but the match will be decided by the defenses. Enjoy the games and look for more tomorrow!

Champions League November 6th 2013

More thrilling action today as Porto will be hoping for more success than their Portuguese counterparts Benfica had yesterday. They face off against Zenit St. Petersburg who have proven staunch opponents in the past several meetings between the two sides. I would tip the Russians to seize victory based on their record thus far in the competition as they stand a point above the Portuguese side. Atletico Madrid's match against Austria Wein should be a far more straightforward affair with at least 1 goal separating the two sides. The injuries on both sides might make for a tentative match-up though the hopeful return of Leo Baptistao should prove positive for the Spaniards as he has found goal once in 5 games for the Madrid side. The likes of Diego Costa, Arda Turan, and Gabi should be enough to swing the game in Atletico's favor. Barcelona-Milan will likely be a critical affair with 3 points for the Spaniards arguably sufficient to get them through to the next round. 3 for Milan would put them at the top of the group. I would suggest a draw or a Milan victory given the injury problems Barca have gone through with Isaac Cuenca, Ibrahim Afellay, and Jordi Alba side-lined and Adriano and Gerard Pique operating at less than 100% efficiency. Nevertheless, the likes of Messi and Neymar alone should give Milan a run for their money. A strong defense will be critical for the Italians. Dortmund v.s. Arsenal is a crucial showdown in Group F with the two and Napoli tied at 6 points each. If Marseille have any hope of putting in a good showing this year internationally, they will have to really impress in Italy as they travel to fight Napoli. Their odds are not good, shall we say. Returning to the bout in Germany, Arsenal will be hard pressed after losing in England to the Germans. Injuries on both sides will force both coaches to reconsider their tactics with the likes of Theo Walcott, Lukas Podolski, Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain, and Jack Wilshere missing for Arsenal alone. Sebastian Kehl, Lukasz Piszczek, Ilkay Gundogan, Mats Hummels, and Marcel Schmelzer are all at various fitness levels for Dortmund. My prediction is that Dortmund will either claim victory or settle for a draw. The arguable minnows of Group E, Basel's match against Steaua Bucuresti should see at least a goal as the return of Valentin Stocker bodes well for the Swiss side. The fact that 3 points would put Basel into contention for a qualification spot should motivate them to success at home. As for the other Group E match-up, Chelsea will be expecting victory at home despite the loss of Fernando Torres and Ryan Bertrand. Their German opponents Schalke will be missing Klaas-Jan Huntelaar and Jefferson Farfan; although whispers of Adam Szalai, Roman Neustadter, and Kyriakos Papadopolous putting in a shift will excite Gelsenkirchen fans. At the end of the day, Chelsea should win the match by a goal. Celtic's road game against Ajax is relatively difficult to call with both sides missing players such as creative talent Bojan Krkic and defensive stalwarts Adam Matthews and Steven Mouyokolo. I think the home field advantage might tip the affair in the Dutch side's favor as the Scots are notoriously poor performers abroad. Enjoy the games!

Exhilarating domestic action!

Well, if you thought the European championships are the only interesting thing still happening in soccer, you'd be completely wrong! Yesterday we had the likes of Barcelona edging Levante 1-0, Real Madrid managing Real Betis 3-1, and Valencia obliterating Malaga by a 5-1 scoreline. Elsewhere, Fulham had a fierce match against visiting Arsenal which ended with the Gunners eking through by a 0-1 score. Over in Germany, Leverkusen absolutely destroyed Hoffenheim with 5 goals to the good as Bayern humiliated their hosts Hannover by a 1-6 scoring deficit. As Dortmund beat Mainz 2-0, Schalke were upset by their hosts Eintracht Frankfurt 1-0. Last but not least, Porto defeated Moreirense 0-3 away from home to stay within a point of 1st place Benfica. As for the action of today, Espanyol were able to score 2 against Getafe in Spain while the real thrillers came in England. After all, with the line-ups of Tottenham v.s. Manchester City and Liverpool v.s. Chelsea - today was always going to be exciting. While the greater result has turned out to be Spur's 3-1 victory over visiting City; Liverpool have an exciting game on their hands as they stand at a 1-2 deficit to the Blues. Over in Germany, Stuttgart were able to get a goal over visiting Freiburg in a 2-1 victory as Fiorentina scored 4 to Torino's 3 to earn three points in Italy. Over in Naples, Napoli got the three points from Cagliari in a 3-2 thriller as Sochaux and Bordeaux finished 2-2. As fun as these games have been though, make sure to keep an eye on these games too: Benfica v.s. Sporting - the Lisbon grudge-match - PSG v.s. Nice, Juventus against Milan which poses two of the arguably most quality Italian sides against one another today, and Sevilla take on Atletico. Hope you keep enjoying the games!