2012/13 Europa League thread

Now that the lineup is set it is time for the tournament proper to finally start up. The first games will start on September 20th. Here are the groups

Group A

Liverpool (England)
Udinese (Italy)
Young Boys (Switzerland)
Anzhi Makhachkala (Russia)

Group B

Atlético Madrid (Spain)
Hapoel Tel Aviv (Israel)
Viktoria Plzeň (Czech Republic)
Académica de Coimbra (Portugal)

Group C

Marseille (France)
Fenerbahçe (Turkey)
Borussia Mönchengladbach (Germany)
AEL Limassol (Cyprus)

Group D

Bordeaux (France)
Club Brugge (Belgium)
Newcastle United (England)
Marítimo (Portugal)

Group E

Stuttgart (Germany)
Copenhagen (Denmark)
Steaua București (Romania)
Molde (Norway)


Group F

PSV (Netherlands)
Napoli (Italy)
Dnipro (Ukraine)
AIK (Sweden)

Group G

Sporting CP (Portugal)
Basel (Switzerland)
Genk (Belgium)
Videoton (Hungary)

Group H

Internazionale (Italy)
Rubin Kazan (Russia)
Partizan (Serbia)
Neftchi Baku (Azerbaijan)

Group I

Lyon (France)
Athletic Bilbao (Spain)
Sparta Prague (Czech Republic)
Ironi Kiryat Shmona (Israel)

Group J

Tottenham Hotspur (England)
Panathinaikos (Greece)
Lazio (Italy)
Maribor (Slovenia)

Group K

Bayer Leverkusen (Germany)
Metalist Kharkiv (Ukraine)
Rosenborg (Norway)
Rapid Wien (Austria)

Group L

Twente (Netherlands)
Hannover 96 (Germany)
Levante (Spain)
Helsingborg (Sweden)

pretty tough group for us, Group A is also very strong

With the first rounds being played tomorrow it is the proper time to bump this thread.

Some upsets from today's fixtures, I ignore all 0-0 draws because they are usuallly total crap.

Dnipro (Ukraine) 2-0 PSV (Netherlands)
Athletic Bilbao (Spain) 1-1 Shmona (Israel)
Maribor (Slovenia) 3-0 Panathinaikos (Greece)

The 2nd round of group games are being played today!

Would say Leverkusen have been the better team so far. Hit the woodwork.

Dawson, 1-0 Spurs.

A few of these halftime scores seem a little shocking to me;

Helsingborg 2-0 Twente

Videoton 3-0 Sporting Lisbon

Udinese

1-0 Shelvey!!!

TOTO <3

Now that was a nice looking own goal.

Ohhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh Di Natale.

Somehow I cannot see this possibly ending 2-3.

Weather130 wrote:A few of these halftime scores seem a little shocking to me;

Helsingborg 2-0 Twente

Videoton 3-0 Sporting Lisbon

And our manager got sacked for it.

SportingCP wrote:

Weather130 wrote:A few of these halftime scores seem a little shocking to me;

Helsingborg 2-0 Twente

Videoton 3-0 Sporting Lisbon

And our manager got sacked for it.

It seems that the only thing going right for Sporting is their B team. Last I checked they were in 2nd place so perhaps some of those guys need to be called up to the 1st team. Something has to be done here.

Time to bump this thread back to life, for the first time ever I am going to watch a Slovene side play, (NK Maribor) this is exciting!

I forgot to bump this thread but we already have some interesting results today.

Academica 2-0 Atletico Madrid

AIK 1-0 PSV

FC Copenhagen 0-2 VfB Stuttgart

Udinese 2-3 Young Boys

The goal Spurs conceded.

1-1 at half time.

Copenhagen were a bit embarrassing, similar to Nordsjælland yesterday.

However i expect VfB will get a big fine (not as big as Bendtner's underpants stunt) as they started firing fireworks at the field towards the end of first half.

[youtube][/youtube]Wow watch this amazing goal from Joey Barton. When he is not stomping or stepping on others the kid has some talent.

One cannot forget about the Europa League draw also being made today. Things look interesting here.

Round of 32 - to be played February 14 & 21

BATE Borisov	v	Fenerbahce
Inter Milan	v	CFR Cluj
Levante	v	Olympiakos
Zenit St Petersburg	v	Liverpool
Dynamo Kiev	v	Bordeaux
Bayer Leverkusen	v	Benfica
Newcastle United	v	Metalist Kharkiv
Stuttgart	v	Genk
Atletico Madrid	v	Rubin Kazan
Ajax Amsterdam	v	Steaua Bucuresti
FC Basel	v	Dnipro
Anzhi Makhachkala	v	Hannover
Sparta Prague	v	Chelsea
Borussia Monchengladbach	v	Lazio
Tottenham Hotspur	v	Lyon
Napoli	v	Viktoria Plzen

Round of 16 - to be played March 7 & 14

Napoli/Viktoria Plzen	v	BATE Borisov/Fenerbahce
Dynamo Kiev/Bordeaux	v	Bayer Leverkusen/Benfica
Newcastle United/Metalist Kharkiv	v	Anzhi Makhachkala/Hannover
Borussia Monchengladbach/Lazio	v	Stuttgart/Genk
Inter Milan/CFR Cluj	v	Tottenham Hotspur/Lyon
Atletico Madrid/Rubin Kazan	v	Levante/Olympiakos
Zenit St Petersburg/Liverpool	v	FC Basel/Dnipro
Sparta Prague /Chelsea	v	Ajax Amsterdam/Steaua Bucuresti

Zenit - Liverpool and Spurs - Lyon gotta be the ties of the round along with Bayer - Benfica and Gladbach - Lazio.

Not much help being seeded in this tournament, good opponents more or less equally split.

If ajax does as expected and sends out Steaua and Chelsea doesn't screw up in Cechs home i guess ill be going down there in March unless some money clears up for going in Feburary as well

Here is another interesting bit of information.

Top 10 attendances


RankTeamSumMatchesAverage

1	Steaua București	148.651	3	49.550
2	Borussia Mönchengladbach	131.443	3	43.814
3	Fenerbahçe	131.115	3	43.705
4	Liverpool	117.260	3	39.087
5	Metalist Kharkiv	111.453	3	37.151
6	Hannover 96	106.400	3	35.467
7	Athletic Bilbao	95.356	3	31.785
8	Newcastle United	85.743	3	28.581
9	Dnipro Dnipropetrovsk	85.003	3	28.334
10	Tottenham Hotspur	84.673	3	28.224

Relatively impressive that they are able to get that many supporters for Steaua, supposedly the ticket prices are next to nothing but it isn't their home ground and it is shared with bitter city rivals Dinamo for important matches. I guess that it might factor in for Steaua that they are by far the most popular club in Romania (More than Ajax is in Netherlands)

I doubt Ajax can pull that big a crowd against them at home, so we'd have to blow them out to not get walled by the support they have at home as they might get hopes of European glory again now 26 years later.

Not the easiest draw for Ajax but certainly could have been worse, the seed and unseeded sides were almost equally bad meaning that it was total luck if you got a "good" draw as there were strong and weak sides spread more or less evenly.

Bale scores a free-kick right before half-time.

1-0 Spurs.

Weather130 wrote:Time to bump this thread back to life, for the first time ever I am going to watch a Slovene side play, (NK Maribor) this is exciting!

Holy fuck, a ridiculous vollied goal by Umtiti.

Napoli lost to Plzen (from the Czech Republic 0-3. That is crazy

I will be seeing Plzen live soon Weather, I will have to let you know how it goes!