Europa League Matchday 6 - Part 1
Werner Pichler
Group D
Hertha BSC Berlin - Sporting Clube de Portugal 1-0
(Kačar 70')
As expected, a poor game in a cold and very empty
Olympiastadion. In the knowledge that a scoreless
draw would be enough for them, Hertha played with
more confidence than in the Bundesliga.
Kačar scored with his hip after a cross from Nicu
to give Hertha their third Europa League victory
in a row and their first home win in over 4 months.
Apparently for the first time ever, all participating
German clubs are still in contention after the winter
break, only Wolfsburg was demoted to the Europa League.
SC Heerenveen - FK Ventspils 5-0
(Väyrynen 55', Elm 58', Sibon 77', 78', Janmaat 88')
Empty victory for Heerenveen. They will rue their
defensive lapses in their home match against Hertha.
Papadopoulos missed an empty net in the first half,
but after the break almost every cross spelled disaster
for the Latvians. Nevertheless, they should be pleased
with their first big European adventure.
Table
1 Sporting 3-2-1 8-6 11*
2 Hertha 3-1-2 6-5 10*
3 Heerenveen 2-2-2 11-7 8
4 Ventspils 0-3-3 3-10 3
Group E
PFC CSKA Sofia - AS Roma 0-3
(Cerci 45', 52', Scardina 89')
(Almost) Meaningless game nr. 1
Roma secured first place with this win in Bulgaria.
Lobonţ made a couple of fine saves before Alessio
Cerci scored a brace either side of half-time.
17-year-old Filippo Scardina scored an easy goal,
provided by Perrotta, minutes after coming on in his
senior team debut.
FC Basel 1893 - Fulham FC 2-3
(Frei 64' (pen), Streller 87'; Zamora 42', 45', Gera 77')
Fulham needed to win this match to qualify, and a brace
by Bobby Zamora just before half-time undid the Swiss,
both goals resulting from crosses by Riise.
A penalty awarded for a handball by Smalling (reminiscent
of the Abel Xavier penalty in the EURO semifinals 2000)
gave Basel some hope, but a quick counter attack and a cool
finish by Gera restored Fulham's lead. Late on Streller
headed in from a corner but Fulham held on.
Table
1 AS Roma 4-1-1 10-5 13
2 Fulham 3-2-1 8-6 11
3 Basel 3-0-3 10-7 9
4 CSKA Sofia 0-1-5 2-12 1
Group F
Panathinaikos FC - FC Dinamo 1948 Bucureşti 3-0
(Rukavina 54', Cissé 80', 85')
Dinamo needed to win to have any chance of qualifying.
They started lively, creating a couple of chances,
before a terrible terrible terrible mistake by Dinamo
goalkeeper Dolha killed any Romanian ambitions, he
let a harmless cross by Vintra drop right onto Rukavina's
foot. Late on Cissé finally scored his first Europa League
goals, although he was again offside for the first one.
SK Sturm Graz - Galatasaray AŞ 1-0
(Beichler 20')
Meaningless game nr. 2
With Baroš and Gökhan injured and Elano, Kewell, Nonda
and Arda not even making the trip to Graz, this was a
lacklustre Galatasaray team. Keita repeatedly tried to
play one-twos but was frustrated by uncomprehending
teammates, and the Gala defence was shambolic. Servet
allowed Lavrič a shot from close range parried by Aykut
but Beichler buried the rebound.
On the other side Schildenfeld gifted Aydın a gilt-edged
chance but with only Sonnleitner between him and
the goal line he hit the Sturm defender's stomach. Not
much happened in the second half.
Sturm remain unbeaten against Galatasaray in Europe
(two wins, two draws). A nice end to a hopefully
instructive European campaign.
Table
1 Galatasaray 4-1-1 12-4 13
2 Panathinaikos 4-0-2 7-4 12
3 Dinamo Bucureşti 2-0-4 4-12 6
4 Sturm Graz 1-1-4 3-6 4
Group J
Club Brugge KV - Toulouse FC 1-0
(Perišić 90'+1)
Seeing that Toulouse needed a win in this game, Brugge
controlled the match with surprising ease. In injury
time Vargas skinned Capoue on the right flank and set
up Perišić who slotted home to settle things once and
for all.
FK Partizan - FC Shakhtar Donetsk 1-0
(Diarra 6')
Meaningless game nr. 3
In the unreal scenery of a snow-covered and quite empty
Partizan stadium, Shakhtar interestingly showed up in
all-white dresses.
An error by Shakhtar's 'keeper Pyatov allowed Lamine
Diarra (who unlike most of the other Diarras
is not from Mali but from Senegal) to score and give
Partizan their first points in the campaign.
Table
1 Shakhtar Donetsk 4-1-1 14-3 13
2 Brugge 3-2-1 10-8 11
3 Toulouse 2-1-3 6-11 7
4 Partizan Beograd 1-0-5 6-14 3
Group K
AC Sparta Praha - FC København 0-3
(N'Doye 22', 30', Grønkjær 54' (pen); Red Card: Pamić (Pra) 60')
Sparta needed to win to qualify, but a brace by N'Doye,
dashed their hopes rather early on, both goals coming
from crosses by Vingaard.
Niklas Hoheneder (an Austrian), who already looked more
than woeful on the occasion of Copenhague's second goal,
clumsily fouled N'Doye in the area, Grønkjær scored from
the spot. Pamić tripped Grønkjær and was sent off with
a second yellow card to make the miserable evening for the
Czechs complete.
CFR 1907 Cluj - PSV Eindhoven 0-2
(Lazović 19' (pen), Amrabat 68')
Meaningless game nr. 4
Lazović was floored by Cluj 'keeper Peškovič, Bakkal put
the loose ball into the net but the referee denied the
advantage and gave the penalty instead - Lazović scored
anyway. A nice through ball by Toivonen put Amrabat clear
on goal and the Moroccan-Dutch made no mistake.
Table
1 PSV 4-2-0 8-3 14
2 FC København 3-1-2 7-4 10
3 Sparta Praha 2-1-3 7-9 7
4 Cluj 1-0-5 4-11 3
Group L
Athletic Club - Werder Bremen 0-3
(Pizarro 13', Naldo 20', Rosenberg 36')
(Almost) meaningless game nr. 5
Bilbao would have needed a 2-0 victory to win the group
ahead of Werder but that hope was soon dashed.
Pizarro muscled away Amorebieta to head in a Rosenberg
cross and an Özil freekick was met by Naldo who scored
his 9th goal of the season, not bad for a central defender.
Rosenberg latched onto a botched clearance by the unlucky
Amorebieta to score Werder's third and effectively kill
the game.
Bremen are a Europa League goal machine.
CD Nacional - FK Austria Wien 5-1
(Micael 23', 57', Mateus 33', Tomašević 61', Felipe Lopes 66';
Schumacher 21')
Meaningless game nr. 6 - but still, ouch.
Table
1 Werder Bremen 5-1-0 17-6 16
2 Athletic Bilbao 3-1-2 10-8 10
3 Nacional Funchal 1-2-3 11-12 5
4 Austria Wien 0-2-4 4-16 2
Sven Mischkies
> Apparently for the first time ever, all participating
> German clubs are still in contention after the winter
> break, only Wolfsburg was demoted to the Europa League.
Watch out, Serie A. ;)
Ciao,
SM
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