Manchester City face a tough test in the Europa League group stages after they were drawn with Juventus. As well as the Italian giants, Roberto Mancini’s team also face Salzburg of Austria and Lech Poznan of Poland.

Liverpool had an unkind draw too, the Reds put into Group K along with Romania’s Steaua Bucharest, Italy’s Napoli and Utrecht of the Netherlands.
The draw saw the 48 clubs divided into 12 groups of four teams, with the top two from each set progressing.

Group J also looks extremely competitive, with Sevilla, Paris Saint Germain, Borussia Dortmund and Karpaty Lviv all competing for the top two places.
The group stage begins on 16 September and when it concludes three months later the top two teams from each group will go through to the final 32 – where they will be joined by the eight third-placed finishers in the Champions League group stage

Holders Atletico Madrid defeated Fulham in last season’s final and are in Group B, along with Bayer Leverkusen, Rosenburg and Thessaloniki.

Europa League Games (this is a partial Europa schedule. For the full schedule click here)
Thursday, September 16, 2010
Juventus v Lech Poznan – Buy Europa League Tickets
SV Salzburg v Manchester City - Buy Europa League Tickets
Bayer Leverkusen v Rosenborg - Buy Europa League Tickets
Lille v Sporting Lisbon - Buy Europa League Tickets
Anderlecht v Zenit St Petersburg - Buy Europa League Tickets
VfB Stuttgart v Young Boys - Buy Europa League Tickets
PSV Eindhoven v Sampdoria - Buy Europa League Tickets
Sevilla FC v Paris Saint-Germain - Buy Europa League Tickets
Liverpool v Steaua Bucuresti – Buy Liverpool Tickets
Napoli v FC Utrecht - Buy Europa League Tickets
FC Porto v Rapid Vienna - Buy Europa League Tickets

Thursday, September 30, 2010
Manchester City v Juventus –  Buy Man City v Juventus Tickets
Atlético Madrid v Bayer Leverkusen - Buy Europa League Tickets
Villarreal v Club Brugge - Buy Europa League Tickets
Sampdoria v Debrecen - Buy Europa League Tickets
Borussia Dortmund v Sevilla FC - Buy Europa League Tickets
Paris Saint-Germain v Karpaty Lviv - Buy Europa League Tickets
FC Utrecht v Liverpool - Buy Europa League Tickets

Thursday, October 21, 2010
Manchester City v Lech Poznan - Buy Europa League Tickets
SV Salzburg v Juventus - Buy Europa League Tickets
Atlético Madrid v Rosenborg - Buy Europa League Tickets
Lille v Levski Sofia - Buy Europa League Tickets
Sporting Lisbon v KAA Gent - Buy Europa League Tickets
Villarreal v PAOK Salonika - Buy Europa League Tickets
Anderlecht v AEK Athens - Buy Europa League Tickets
Borussia Dortmund v Paris Saint-Germain - Buy Europa League Tickets
Napoli v Liverpool – Buy Napoli v Liverpool Tickets

Thursday, November 4, 2010
Juventus v SV Salzburg - Buy Europa League Tickets
Lech Poznan v Manchester City - Buy Europa League Tickets
Bayer Leverkusen v Aris Salonika - Buy Europa League Tickets
AEK Athens v Anderlecht - Buy Europa League Tickets
Paris Saint-Germain v Borussia Dortmund - Buy Europa League Tickets
Sevilla FC v Karpaty Lviv - Buy Europa League Tickets
Liverpool v Napoli – Buy Liverpool v Napoli Tickets

Wednesday, December 1, 2010
Lech Poznan v Juventus - Buy Europa League Tickets
Manchester City v SV Salzburg - Buy Europa League Tickets
Atlético Madrid v Aris Salonika - Buy Europa League Tickets
Sampdoria v PSV Eindhoven - Buy Europa League Tickets

Thursday, December 2, 2010
Villarreal v Dinamo Zagreb - Buy Europa League Tickets
Borussia Dortmund v Karpaty Lviv - Buy Europa League Tickets
Paris Saint-Germain v Sevilla FC - Buy Europa League Tickets
Steaua Bucuresti v Liverpool - Buy Europa League Tickets
Rapid Vienna v FC Porto - Buy Europa League Tickets

Wednesday, December 15, 2010
Sevilla FC v Borussia Dortmund - Buy Europa League Tickets
Liverpool v FC Utrecht – Buy Liverpool Tickets
Napoli v Steaua Bucuresti - Buy Europa League Tickets

Thursday, December 16, 2010
Juventus v Manchester City – Buy Juventus v Man City Tickets
Bayer Leverkusen v Atlético Madrid - Buy Europa League Tickets

After an entertaining 2 days of Uefa Champions League action, attention shifts back to Europe’s second tier club competition the Europa League. Tonight Liverpool host Atletico Madriod while Hamburg SV travel to Craven Cottage to face Fulham. This will be a night of tense emotion as all clubs involved will be looking to make it through to the final. 

Liverpool’s only realistic chance of ending the season with some silverware depends on the outcome of their return leg fixture against Ateletico Madrid at Anfield tonight.

Trailing by a solitary goal, Liverpool will have to beat Atletico without serial striker Fernado Torres, who is out for the rest of the season, while David Ngog and Dirk Kuyt are also serious doubts with the pair facing back and calf injuries respectively. 

In the face of such problems, Liverpool coach Rafael Benitez is expected to start Dutch Winger Ryan Babel in a forward position, if both Kuyt and Ngog don’t recover in time. Babel expressed his delight at playing the role of striker saying:

“Playing as a striker is a nice role because I spent all my youth there so that’s why I like it,” Babel said in a press conference ahead of the tie with the La Liga outfit. “It’s a very big game and another chance to win something and to make a success of this season, which is definitely important for the club and also for the players.”

Fresh from a 4-0 thrashing of Burnley on Sunday, Rafa Benitez is very confident that his boys can make it through to the final and at least make something of their disastrous season.

Atletico Madrid on the other hand have already made it through to the final of the Copa del Rey and they will be looking to improve their chances of getting another trophy by eliminating the reds. Atletico last won a major trophy 14 years ago when they bagged the Spanish League title and both the Kings and Copa del rey titles.

Atletico were also winners over the weekend beating Tenerife 3-1. Although the win does not give them any hope of  getting into a champions League spot, it does gives them a lot of confidence ahead of tonight’s clash.

With dangerman Sergio Aguero returning into the squad after his  suspension, Qique Flores is expected to line up his squad in a 4-4-2 formation that includes: De Gea in goal, Ujfalusi, Perea, Antonio Lopez, Alvaro Dominguez; Simao, Paulo Assuncao, Raul Garcia, Reyes; Forlan and Aguero.

Liverpool boss Rafa Benitez will line his troops in a 4-3-2-1 formation that will include: Reina, Agger, Carragher, Kyrgiakos, Johnson; Mascherano, Lucas; Gerrard, Benayoun, Babel, and either Ngog’ and Kuyt.

My prediction, 2-0 in favour of Liverpool.

Phot credit: from samalmarr

With volcanic ash still spewing from the volcano in Iceland the skies over Europe are still cloudy, but airlines have run test flights and found no damage to their planes’ engines.  This coupled with the ability to travel by train and ferry in Europe has caused UEFA to allow the matches in the Champion’s League on Tuesday and Thursday to go on as scheduled.

They are also trying to figure out what to do in the Europa League as they said in a statement:

“A decision will be taken in the coming days about Thursday’s two UEFA Europa League matches: Club Atletico de Madrid v Liverpool FC and Hamburger SV v Fulham FC, as well as for the UEFA Futsal Cup finals in Lisbon from Friday. However, Sunday’s UEFA Women’s Champions League semi-final between Umea IK and Lyon in Sweden was postponed as the French side were unable to travel.”

This year’s Champion’s League might go down as the “volcano championships” when it’s all said and done.  Plus, it’s interesting that we have the ability to do this travel in the 21st century so even a volcano that cancelled tens of thousands of flights can’t stop international soccer.

Now, as to the effect it has on the teams I think that will be minimal.  There’s no reason in the world to think that the teams can’t handle a little travel diversion.  Sure, it’s annoying, but this didn’t happen suddenly RIGHT before a match.  The clubs have had a couple days to figure out what to do.

This means the players should have been smart enough to get more rest and get themselves prepared to play under these circumstances.

I applaud UEFA and the individual clubs for getting it together and making sure that this Championship can go on as planned.  This is an impressive move by a sporting body–one you don’t see that often in the world of sports.

photo credit: Clearly Ambiguous

When Valencia forward Juan Mata said that their Europa League tie against against fellow Spanish club Atletico Madrid would produce a significant number of goals, i was very skeptical. Considering the number of injuries and suspensions that both clubs faced a barren draw is what i had envisioned.

However, not only did the tie live up to its billing, it also set fans up for an interesting return leg fixture.  A late David Villa goal salvaged a 2-2 draw for Valencia that gives the hope when they head to the Vicente Calderon stadium in a week’s time for the return leg fixture.

All the goals were scored in the second half with the last two for either side coming in the span of ten minutes. And as these two teams were playing their all at the Estalla, another former La Liga player Ruud Van Nistelrooy ensured his club Hamburg beat Belgian club Standard Liege to curv out an advantage ahead of their return leg fixture.

Van Nistelrooy who fired the winner, seems to have rediscovered his form in the Bundesliga. Liverpool on the other hand were not very lucky. The reds suffered a 2-1 defeat to Benfica in game that saw Ryan Babel red carded for indecent behavior. Liverpool now have to make it work at Anfield or otherwise count it another tournament that they have been disgracefully eliminated from.

Both of Benfica’s goals came from Oscar Cardozo while Daniel Agger was on the score sheet for Liverpool. It seems like 2-1 was the popular score margin as Fulham edged out VfL Stuttgart by the similar margin at Craven Cottage.

Bobby Zamora and Damien Duff were on target for Fulham while Alexander Madlung ensured that Stuttgart have hope going into the second leg fixture. After overcoming Juventus in the round of 16, Fulham seem to have infused the momentum that allowed them to win beat a rather indifferent Juventus. That said, the return leg of these fixtures will definitely be a joy to watch especially the all Spanish tie.

Photo credit: Alvaro Isidoro

Tonight’s all Spanish Europa League quarter final fixture between 3rd place Valencia and 10th place Atletico Madrid should be an entertaining fixture considering the fact that both these teams are way off the pace in the La Liga title race.

Coming off yet another bad result over the weekend, Valencia will want to erase the memories of the 3-0 drubbing they received at the hands of Real Zaragoza. This is the second time in as many weeks that the club have lost 3-0 the first coming at the hands of Barcelona.

Atletico have not had a good run in the league either albeit they have reached the final of the Copa Del Rey. They now have to win either of these two titles to  come the nerves of their fans. It gets even harder for the Madrid outfit as they try to secure that final Champions League spot.

Valencia’s forward Juan Mata has however warned fans to expect a barrage of goals at the Etsadio Mestalla. “It will be a game with a lot of goals, similar to the match against Werder Bremen,” said Mata on the club’s website. “They are two teams with similar characteristics, and there is the potential for a heavy scoreline over the two legs.”

I do not fully agree with that statement at least for this tie. Los Che have a long injury list that includes David Albelda, Miguel and Jeremy Mathieu not to mention the suspension of Ever Banega and the ineligibility of Alejandro Dominguez. David Villa, David Navarro and Carlos Marchena are all doubts for this tie.

Atletico will miss the services of Jose Antonio Reyes. Reyes  scored one of his teams goals during Saturday’s 3-2 loss to city Real Madrid and his runs on the flanks will definitely be missed. Add Tiago, Juan Valera and the ineligible Ibrahima Balde to that list and the match becomes a very open fixture. My prediction for this match is a 1-1 draw.

Photo Credit: buJenin

Attention shifts back to Europe’s second tier club competition with Fulham welcoming the Bianconeri to Craven Cottage for their return leg fixture of their last 16 tie. Juventus won this match 3-1 two weeks ago and they are in pole position to progress to the quarter finals.

Alessandro Del Piero was the mastermind of their victory and his performances have left Alberto Zaccheroni with no other option but to include him in his squad for tonight’s game. Juventus have had one of their worst seasons in a very long time. This has left the club fighting for a top four finish and a spot in the lucrative Champions League.

The extent of Juve‘s woes fully came to light on Sunday when they were held to a 3-3 draw by bottom side Siena in Turin. The ironical thing is that Juve were leading 3-0 after only playing 10 minutes. The blew their lead to earn a point at the end of the 90 minutes.

The Bianconeri will however be encouraged to know that their 3 goal advantage over Fulham guarantees them one foot in the quarters. Fulham on the other hand have an uphill task. Although they have the away goal, breaking down Juve’s defense will be very hard.

Fulham’s silver lining could be that Juventus face a number of injuries and a suspension to some of its key players. Giorgio Chiellini, Martin Caceres, Sebastian Giovinco, Michele Paolucci and Amauri are all out through Injury while Nicola Legrottaglie is suspended.

The Londoners warmed up for this game by losing 3-0 to League leaders Manchester United on Sunday. Fulham will ensure they get the most of a weakened Juventus and at least progress to the quarters.

Juventus will play a 4-4-2 formation with their probable line up looking like this Del Piero and Trezeguet in attack, Diego, Sissoko, Marchisio and Melo in midfield. Juve’s defense will include Grygera, Cannavaro, Zebina and de Ceglie. Chementi will be in between the posts.

Fulham on the other hand are more likely to play a 4-4-1-1 formation. Bobby Zamora will be the lone striker with Gera close behind him. The midfield will have Duff, Baird, Etuhu, and Dempsey. Kelly, Hangeland, Konchesky and Hughes will be in defense and Schwarzer in goal.

This game will most likely end in a 2-1 win in favour of Juventus. This however is not the only game of the night. Other fixtures to keep an eye on are:

Sporting Lisbon vs Atletico Madrid

Weder Bremen vs Valencia

Wolfsburg vs Rubin Kazan

Anderlecht vs Hamburg

Olympique Marseille vs Benfica

photo credit: B Rosen

Let’s use our heads people!

There seems to be some confusion over what some people thought were harsh and uninformed comments about Fabio Capello.  Listen, I know what a good Soccer mind is and that’s not at question.  I know he won Serie A like 5000 times.  I get it!  Here’s the problem:  What do we know now?

For example:  Liverpool starts there Europa League campaign today.  They saay they’re ready to breakout from this pathetic season.  Do you believe them?  I’m going with what I know…they’ll have a hard time.

Real Madrid is gunning for another United player and all I can do is go with what I know.  They’re a bad version of the Yankees in Soccer.  They can collect all the talent in the world and it won’t matter.  Do you REALLY think they’ll catch up to Barca?

So, when Fabio Capello creates a firestorm around his English National Team by stripping John Terry of his captaincy instead of being smart and getting the whole team together and doing some “damage control” I can only have one reaction:

What’s happening right now is stupid.  You can tell me he won Serie A 10,000 times and you’d get the same answer from me.  He’s being an idiot NOW.  Not yesterday.  Yesterday he was a genius.  Today…he’s foolish.

Look at Real Madrid.  You can tell me they’ve won LaLiga 5 million times (I’m not looking up the stats by the way) and it won’t matter.  Right now…they are moving in the wrong direction with the wrong intent. 

I can only work off the knowledge I have right now.  Right now they’re trying to cannibalize other teams in hopes of fixing internal problems that they have.  That’s dumb.  What else can we say?

For future.  Let’s think about what’s going on right now.  We can romanticize the past…but that was then and this is now.

Today I’m reading an article at MLSnet.com about Dallas committing to what the writer called “attacking” soccer.  I like to call it “Soccer at warp speed”.

Let me give you some background.  Soccer was the only sport I played as a kid and I played like a lunatic.  We ran hard, we kicked hard, we tackled hard (I even once broke a kid’s leg slide tackling him.  It was probably just bad luck our parts, but I wasn’t messing around and neither were my teammates.)

Then I sat down to watch most of UEFA 2008 with my infant (because she didn’t sleep in those days) and we caught a ton of matches (most of them featuring the Spaniards) where they were all over the place and I found myself saying “Now, that’s how you play!”  It caught on in our house quickly and we watched with delight as the Spanish team won UEFA 2008.

I got to thinking “Shouldn’t everyone play like that?”  ”What if US Soccer looked more like that?”  Perhaps that would give American fans the blood and gore they’re looking for.  You know what?  Even if it doesn’t bring American fans into the fold (which feels like an impossiblity) it should show us what fun Soccer can be and how inspired you can play.  The Spaniards did more than win UEFA 2008…they won it with flair.  They opened the flood gates.

Well, when Dallas is scoring 4 2nd half goals in a 6-3 win you KNOW they are on to something.  This is one of those times that I hope Soccer in America is more like American Football (a copycat league.)  If everyone started playing like Dallas did, the games would instantly get more competitive across the board.  Imagine a tour de force Soccer match that makes you feel like you’re watching a Tennis Match.  More back and forth than you can stand.  The crowd in stitches for all 90 minutes.  The players collapsing at the end of matches in exhaustion.  Coaches having the change their entire substitution strategies.  That’s exciting stuff!

I know, I know, everyone has their own style of play, but really?  How can you argue with 4 2nd half goals?  I know I can’t.  Even if you can, you can’t argue with the excitement that “Soccer at Warp Speed” brings along with it.  It’s its own party!

Dallas, congratulations to you!  You may have uncorked massive potential in the MLS that could erupt into an offensive renaissance that we haven’t seen before.  Keep it up fellas!

Tottenham‘s conquerors Shakhtar Donetsk took a big step towards the last four of the UEFA Cup after beating Marseille 2-0 in their quarter-final first leg. Tomas Hubschman set the Ukrainian side on their way in the first half and Rodrigues Jadson added a second after the break as Shakhtar continued their impressive run.

Shakhtar beat Spurs and CSKA Moscow in the last two rounds and looked superior to their visitors, who went into the game on the back of an eight-match unbeaten run in the French Ligue 1 which included six wins.

Werder Bremen also took a step towards the semi-finals thanks to a 3-1 win over Udinese. It could have been a perfect evening for the Bundesliga side as two goals from Diego and one from Hugo Almeida put them firmly in control of the tie, but a Fabio Quagliarella strike three minutes from the end gives Udinese hope. The away goal gives the Bianconeri a glimmer of hope for the return at the Stadio Friuli next Thursday.

Dynamo Kiev will be slight favourites heading into next week’s second leg against Paris St Germain after holding out for a goalless draw at the Parc des Princes. PSG edged the first leg in the French capital, but they will rue not taking advantage of a number of openings they created in an open first half. But Dynamo probably deserved a draw overall and will fancy their chances of finishing the job next Thursday, given their redoubtable form at home this season.

In the other game Manchester City slumped to a 3-1 first leg defeat against high-flying Hamburg despite having taken a 35-second lead. Stephen Ireland put Manchester City in front after just 35 seconds, only for defender Joris Mathijsen to equalise shortly afterwards. City goalkeeper Shay Given kept his side in the game with some magnificent saves, but a handball by Micah Richards allowed Piotr Trochowski to stroke his side in front from the penalty spot. Jose Paolo Guerrero struck late on to put his side firmly in the driving seat prior to the return leg on April 16.

AC Milan were dumped out of the UEFA Cup after throwing away a two-goal lead in their last-32 second-leg clash with Werder Bremen. Having drawn the first leg 1-1 in Germany, there was some pressure on the Italians going into the return match. First-half goals from Andrea Pirlo and Alexandre Pato seemed to set Milan on a smooth path into the next round only for Claudio Pizarro’s brace to put Bremen through on away goals.

Bremen will face St Etienne in the next round after Les Verts progressed with a 5-2 aggregate victory over Greek champions Olympiacos. Superb long-range strikes from Dimitri Payet and Ilan gave St Etienne a two-goal lead at the Stade Geoffroy Guichard before Oscar struck a late consolation for the Greeks in a 2-1 loss on the night.

Ajax substitute Leonardo scored a late equaliser to earn Marco van Basten’s side a 1-1 draw against Fiorentina – a 2-1 triumph overall. The Viola went ahead through Alberto Gilardino’s second-half strike and the match looked to be heading into extra-time before Leonardo snatched a deciding goal. Next up for the Amsterdammers is a last-16 clash with Marseille, who advanced thanks to a dramatic 7-6 win on penalties after their tie against FC Twente had finished 1-1 over two legs.

The French side’s tenacity paid off when Hatem Ben Arfa levelled the aggregate scores in the 24th minute but, when neither side found a winner, it took 16 penalties to settle the tie with Modeste M’Bami converting the winning kick.

A Jerome Rothen strike and two from Peguy Luyindula were enough to see Paris St Germain through 5-1 on aggregate – 3-1 on the night – against Wolfsburg at the VW Arena. Makoto Hasebe pulled one back for the Wolves in the second period but it did little to mask the one-sided nature of the tie.

Braga eased through to a last-16 meeting with PSG after holding Standard Liege to a 1-1 draw in Belgium to progress 4-1 on aggregate. Trailing 3-0 from the first leg, the hosts worked hard in their search for goals but their only breakthrough came from Dieudonne Mbokani 11 minutes from time, and that was swiftly cancelled out by Luis Aguiar.

Manchester City‘s next opponents will be Danish side AaB Aalborg, who cruised through after blitzing Deportivo La Coruna with three goals in four first-half minutes to secure a convincing 6-1 aggregate win. Trailing 3-0 from the first leg, the miracle looked on when Sergio’s deflected shot put Depor ahead in the 38th minute.

However, within seven minutes of that strike the tie had been well and truly settled as AaB netted quickfire goals through Luton Shelton, Andres Johansson and Thomas Enevoldsen to seal a 3-1 win. Second-half goals from Simone Pepe and Antonio Di Natale helped Udinese come from a goal down to defeat Lech Poznan 2-1 and advance 4-3 overall.

The Serie A outfit will face Zenit St Petersburg in the next round after the defending champions beat Stuttgart 2-1 for the second week running. Viktor Fayzulin and Igor Semshov were the men on target for Zenit, either side of a Timo Gebhart strike for the Bundesliga team.

Artem Kravets hit a brace as Dynamo Kiev drew 2-2 at Valencia to advance 3-3 on away goals. Kravets got the visitors off to a dream start with a 34th-minute opener. Goals from Carlos Marchena and Asier Del Horno swung the match back in the Spanish side’s favour, but Kravets had the final word, claiming a crucial second goal for Dynamo after 73 minutes to set up an all-Ukrainian tie with Metalist Kharkiv.

Sergey Valyaev and Jackson Coelho netted as Metalist booked their place in the next round with a 2-0 win over Sampdoria, 3-0 overall. 

Hamburg cemented their progress with a 1-0 home victory against NEC Nijmegen. Ivica Olic’s early goal made absolutely sure of the result following a 3-0 win in Holland for Martin Jol’s team last week. The Bundesliga side will face Galatasaray in the last 16 after Sabri Sarioglu slammed home a last-minute winner for the Turkish side at the expense of Bordeaux.

Gala looked like they were going out on away goals when Bordeaux scored twice in the space of a minute, through Marouane Chamakh and Fernando Cavenaghi, to draw level at 3-3 with a quarter of an hour remaining. But Turkey full-back Sabri smashed a low 20-yard shot into the corner with seconds remaining to settle an amazing tie. The game had started at breakneck speed, David Bellion opening the scoring after only 11 seconds for Les Girondins, but Gala recovered superbly and goals from Arda Turan (two) and Harry Kewell put them in the ascendancy.

Craig Bellamy’s two goals means Manchester City are the only English team in the last 16 of the UEFA Cup as they beat FC Copenhagen 2-1 on the night and 4-3 on aggregate. The striker got both goals in the space of seven second-half minutes as City booked a clash with Aalborg.

Aston Villa crashed out after a 2-0 defeat at CSKA Moscow saw them eliminated 3-1 on aggregate. Meanwhile Giovani dos Santos’ stunning strike against Shakhtar Donetsk was not enough to prevent Tottenham‘s second string from joining Villa in exiting the competition as they drew 1-1 to go out 3-1 on aggregate.