Europa League Matchday 6 - Part 1 (R), conclusions and outlook
Werner Pichler
Matches played on Thursday Dec 18:
Group A
NK Dinamo Zagreb - FC Timişoara 1-2
(Scutaru (og) 80'; Bucur 67', Goga 84')
Zagreb had to hope for an Anderlecht loss to have a
chance to qualify, so the result in Amsterdam made this
match pretty soon meaningless. Sivonjić was offside when
he delivered the shot deflected into his own net by
Scutaru, so Goga's winner 4 minutes later was poetic
justice.
AFC Ajax - RSC Anderlecht 1-3
(Emanuelson 77'; Lukaku 13', 22', Legear 43')
16-year-old Romelo Lukaku headed in two early goals to
become the third-youngest goalscorer ever in a UEFA
competition, with Ajax keeper Stekelenburg looking suspect
on both occasions. More comical defending gifted Anderlecht
a third goal before the break. Emanuelson drilled in a
curved shot from the corner of the penalty area to score
a consolation goal for Ajax.
Unlike the national team, Belgian club football looks
good this season, with Standard, Anderlecht and Brugge
in the round of 32.
Table
1 Anderlecht 3-2-1 9-4 11
2 Ajax 3-2-1 8-6 8-6 11
3 Dinamo Zagreb 2-0-4 6-8 6
4 Timişoara 1-2-3 4-9 5
Group B
LOSC Lille Métropole - SK Slavia Praha 3-1
(Cabaye 25', Gervinho 40', Obraniak 80'; Vlček 56')
Lille needed a victory against already eliminated Slavia
to be certain of qualification and a strong first half
ensured they did so.
Yohan Cabaye punished a defensive lapse by Trubila after
a corner and drilled in from short range. Gervinho scored
after good work from Frau. Slavia came out stronger after
the break, with Vlček scoring from a superb Grajciar
through ball. A great shot by the Franco-polonais Ludovic
Obraniak spared Lille nervous final minutes.
Genoa CFC - Valencia CF 1-2
(Crespo 51'; Bruno 45'+1, Villa 90'+5)
Genoa needed a victory, while a draw would have been enough
for Valencia.
Scarpi denied Villa a couple of times in the first half
before Valencia took the lead thanks to Bruno's awesome
looping header from the edge of the penalty box. Quick
thinking by Crespo found him alone in front of Àngel Moyà
to equalise. Genoa then tried to push forward but created
very little, while Valencia were awarded a doubtful penalty
for an alleged push on Joaquín, but Villa shot wide. In the
last minute of stoppage time Scarpi tried to punt the ball
upfield but shot it only as far as Villa who was lurking
around the center circle, he sidestepped Scarpi and scored
an empty-netter.
Like Germany, Spain has all participating teams still in
contention come February.
Table
1 Valencia 3-3-0 12-8 12
2 Lille 3-1-2 15-9 10
3 Genoa 2-1-3 8-10 7
4 Slavia Praha 0-3-3 5-13 3
Group C
SK Rapid Wien - Celtic FC 3-3
(Jelavić 1', 8', Salihi 19'; Fortuné 24', 67', McGowan 90'+1)
Meaningless game nr. 7 - but an entertaining one.
They don't call them Rapid for nothing - Jelavić first opened
the score 33 seconds into the game with an exact shot from
outside the penalty box, then deflected in Salihi's cross
seven minutes later, and finally ran through the Celtic
defence to set up Salihi for Rapid's third.
Excellent first 20 minutes by Rapid, then - nothing. Fortuné
left Hedl no chance with a great turn and shot, then Celtic
were denied a legitimate penalty. In the second half Fortuné
scored from McGinn's low cross and in stoppage time McGowan
punished Rapid's umpteenth defensive error to score a
deserved equaliser.
Hapoel Tel-Aviv FC - Hamburger SV 1-0
(Yeboah 23')
(Almost) meaningless game nr. 8
A very weak first half cost HSV top spot in the group. Samuel
Yeboah, nephew of Anthony, scored despite mishitting the ball
after Jansen misjudged a long ball by Gil Vermouth. HSV was
improved in the 2nd half but it wasn't enough to overcome a
spirited Israeli side.
Table
1 Hapoel Tel-Aviv 4-0-2 13-8 12
2 HSV 3-1-2 7-6 10
3 Celtic 1-3-2 7-7 6
4 Rapid Wien 1-2-3 8-14 5
Congrats to Hapoel. I would have loved for HSV to be drawn
against Salzburg, it would have made for a great storyline.
Group G
SS Lazio - PFC Levski Sofia 0-1
(Yovov 60')
Meaningless game nr. 9
Tasevski's through ball found Yovov who gave Levski their
first goal and first points in the group phase.
Villarreal CF - Red Bull Salzburg 0-1
(Švento 7')
Meaningless game nr. 10
Slovakian national player Dušan Švento ran onto a pass from
Cziommer and put the ball in from a tight angle. Red Bull sat
back in the 2nd half but held on to maintain their perfect
record.
6 wins in 6 games is certainly a vindication for Stevens'
philosophy but let's not forget that in the last CL
qualification round the same Salzburg team didn't stand a
chance against Maccabi Haifa - who subsequently finished
the CL group stage with 0 points and 0 goals.
Back in early October Sven asked if the Salzburg fans were
happy with the 1-0 wins coming under Stevens. I actually
daresay they are.
Table
1 Salzburg 6-0-0 9-2 18
2 Villarreal 3-0-3 8-6 9
3 Lazio 2-0-4 9-10 6
4 Levski Sofia 1-0-5 1-9 3
Group H
FC Steaua Bucureşti - FC Twente 1-1
(Kapetanos 18'; Stam 35')
Twente keeper Boschker was far too slow to close down
a tentative cross from Nicoliţa, an error punished by
Kapetanos. On the other side of the pitch Zapata probably
should have done better on a long range effort by Ronnie
Stam (no relation).
Fenerbahçe SK - FC Sheriff 1-0
(Uğur 15')
Sheriff needed a victory but had no chance against
Fenerbahçe, especially after Uğur Boral had scored early
with an emphatic shot. Roberto Carlos came on late in the
game for what was probably his last match in Europe.
Table
1 Fenerbahçe 5-0-1 8-3 15
2 Twente Enschede 2-2-2 5-6 8
3 Sheriff Tiraspol 1-2-3 4-5 5
4 Steaua Bucureşti 0-4-2 3-6 4
Group I
Everton - FC BATE Borisov 0-1
(Yurevich 75')
Meaningless game nr. 11
And how meaningless it was, with Moyes giving five youngsters
their first league debuts. Duffy deflected Yurevich's long
range shot to finish what I suppose must be considered a
successful European campaign for BATE.
SL Benfica - AEK Athens FC 2-1
(Di María 45', 73'; Blanco 84')
Meaningless game nr. 12
Menezes shot a penalty against the post. Di María beat Saja
with a wicked shot, then hit the crossbar with a lob before
adding a second after a nice pass from Carlos Martins. Blanco
punished some lax defending to score a consolation goal.
Table
1 Benfica 5-0-1 13-3 15
2 Everton 3-0-3 7-9 9
3 BATE Borisov 2-1-3 7-9 7
4 AEK 1-1-4 5-11 4
Top scorers of the group stage:
Llorente (Bilbao) 6
Gervinho (Lille), Pizarro (Bremen), Micael (Nacional),
Frei (Basel) 5
Legear (Anderlecht), Reis (PSV), Saviola (Benfica), Óscar
Cardozo (Benfica), N'Doye (København), Berg (HSV), Perišić
(Brugge), Luiz Adriano (Shakhtar), Jelavić (Rapid Wien) 4
Most fouls committed: Badelj (Dinamo Zagreb), Mbengué
(Toulouse) 21
Most fouls suffered: Muniain (Athletic) 22
Most offsides: Cissé (Panathinaikos) 18
My conclusions after the first group stage of the Europa
League:
I really like it, but 12 groups are too many. It dilutes
the potential interest of the match-ups and also the quality
of play, which is clearly far below the Champions League.
Also, playing two rounds in December has big disadvantages in
many parts of Europe. Apart from that, I think it has been a
real success in terms of showcasing European club football
in a wider scope than the usual Champions League suspects.
Also, as has been mentioned, the round of 32 resulting from
this group stage looks very interesting indeed.
Draw for the round of 32, with collective RSS predictions
(including mine)
HSV - PSV
Athletic - Anderlecht
RSS says: HSV and Anderlecht, then HSV
Rubin Kazan - Hapoel Tel Aviv
Villarreal - Wolfsburg
RSS says: Rubin and Villarreal, then Rubin
Atlético - Galatasaray
Everton - Sporting
RSS says: Galatasaray and Everton, then Galatasaray
Hertha-Benfica
København - Olympique Marseille
RSS says: Benfica and Marseille, then Benfica
Panathinaikos - Roma
Standard Liège - Red Bull Salzburg
RSS says: Roma and Salzburg, then Salzburg
Lille - Fenerbahçe
Liverpool - Unirea Urziceni
RSS says: Lille and Liverpool, then Liverpool
Ajax - Juventus
Fulham - Shakhtar Donetsk
RSS says: Juventus and Shakhtar, then Juventus
Brugge - Valencia
Twente - Werder
RSS says: Valencia and Werder, then Valencia
This is a very even draw, in my opinion. Should make for an
interesting knock-out stage.
And finally, the current UEFA ranking, courtesy of Bert's
site:
Season 2009/2010
1 Spain 12.928 (7/7 still qualified)
2 Italy 12.285 (5/7)
3 Germany 12.250 (6/6)
4 England 12.214 (6/7)
5 France 11.000 (4/6)
6 Austria 9.125 (1/4)
7 Netherlands 8.583 (3/6)
8 Portugal 7.500 (3/6)
9 Turkey 7.200 (2/5)
10 Greece 7.100 (2/5)
Total
1 England 76.142
2 Spain 74.757
3 Italy 61.195
4 Germany 58.374
5 France 49.740
6 Russia 42.458
7 Romania 39.491
8 Ukraine 39.350
9 Portugal 35.796
10 Netherlands 35.713
Ciao,
Werner
Enzo
Come on, moustache! Give him another few friendly caps, willya?
Negredo has done very little this season.
> Gervinho (Lille), Pizarro (Bremen), Micael (Nacional),
> Frei (Basel) 5
> Legear (Anderlecht), Reis (PSV), Saviola (Benfica), Óscar
> Cardozo (Benfica), N'Doye (København), Berg (HSV), Perišić
> (Brugge), Luiz Adriano (Shakhtar), Jelavić (Rapid Wien) 4
>
> Most fouls committed: Badelj (Dinamo Zagreb), Mbengué
> (Toulouse) 21
> Most fouls suffered: Muniain (Athletic) 22
The kid's drawing all kinds of attention. I hope he gets
MH less points than Canales gets for me!