UEFA Cup News Archives

Luca Toni saved Bayern Munich’s blushes against courageous 10-man Getafe here Thursday with a late extra time double to put the German giants into the UEFA Cup semi-finals on away goals.

The high achieving Spaniards, who were down a man after just six minutes, produced another heroic performance after eking out a crucial 1-1 draw in the first leg of this quarter-final in Munich last week.

But despite going 3-1 up on the night in the opening minutes of extra time Italian World Cup winner Toni’s double left the aggregate score at 4-4 with the Germans going through on away goals.

They now face Zenit St Petersburg in the last four.

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Rangers stunned Sporting Lisbon in Portugal on Thursday with a 2-0 victory to book their place in the UEFA Cup semi finals.

French striker Jean-Claude Darcheville had put the Scottish side ahead against the run of play in the 60th minute and in injury time substitute Steven Whittaker scored a brilliant second to clinch the historic victory.

Rangers have never reached this stage in the competition before but their success came at a price.

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Zenit St Petersburg reached the UEFA Cup semi-finals on Thursday despite drawing a blank in their quarter-final return, a 1-0 reverse to German side Bayer Leverkusen.The result gave the Russians a 4-2 aggregate win after their surprise stroll in Germany, rendering academic the only goal scored by Leverkusen’s Russian star Dimitri Bulykin on 18 minutes.

Leverkusen keeper Rene Adler saved a late spotkick from the hosts’ Anatoli Timostschuk to give the Germans the win on the night but it was not enough to make up for their home hammering as Dutch coach Dick Advocaat steered Zenit through.

The Russians will next meet Bayern Munich for a place in the final.

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A superb goal in each half from Adrian Mutu ensured ACF Fiorentina progressed to the UEFA Cup semi-finals while recording their 50th victory in European competition at PSV Eindhoven.

With the Serie A side having to score to stay in the tournament after a 1-1 first-leg draw, they started in an adventurous 4-3-3 formation. This duly paid dividends when Mutu hammered in an unstoppable long-range free-kick seven minutes before half-time.

Eight minutes into the second half the Romanian international registered his sixth goal of this UEFA Cup campaign to end any lingering hopes PSV had of mounting a comeback. Sébastien Frey saving Timmy Simons’ penalty on 80 minutes summed up what was a frustrating night for Sef Vergoossen’s men.

Kevin Thomson is fit for Rangers’ UEFA Cup tie against Sporting Lisbon. I am so relieved because I thought he might be seriously injured. He took an awful clattering from Celtic’s Georgios Samaras when he deliberately moved his leg to the side so that he could make minimal contact with the Celtic player before throwing himself to the ground.

In my non-expert opinion that incident was as clear a dive as you will ever see. I feel that the injury and the carrying off were simply to divert attention away from what he did.

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The Santiago Bernabéu in Madrid will host the 2010 UEFA Champions League final, with UEFA awarding the same season’s UEFA Cup final to the Arena Hamburg.

The UEFA Executive Committee confirmed the selection of the two stadiums after its meeting in Liechtenstein on Friday but postponed a decision on the venues for the 2011 finals to allow members more time to consider the bids. The home stadiums of Real Madrid CF and Hamburger SV were chosen on the basis of capacity, facilities, accommodation and security among other considerations.

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Since taking over as manager of Zenit St. Petersburg, former Rangers and Dutch national team coach Dick Advocaat has led the club to new heights, including their first national top-flight championship in more than two decades last season.

Now, along with chasing a title repeat, the reigning Russian champions are chasing European hardware as well, and might be two Bundesliga sides away from a place in the UEFA Cup final.

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See, being eliminated from the UEFA Champions League isn’t the end of the world.

Rangers and Sporting both finished third in their respective Champions League groups, not good enough to advance to the knockout round, but enough to earn a place in the UEFA Cup round of 32.

Both teams have taken full advantage of their continued European stay, and now face one another in the UEFA Cup quarterfinals.

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First-timer meets long-timer in the quarterfinals of the UEFA Cup, as European newcomer Getafe face off against Bayern Munich.

While Getafe are experiencing Europe for the first time, Bayern have been there and done that, six times in fact (four European Cup/Champions League titles, one Cup Winners’ Cup title, and one UEFA Cup title).

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It’s been a turbulent decade for Fiorentina, but it’s happy times in Florence again, as the Viola are winning both domestically and continentally.

Along with challenging for a place in next season’s UEFA Champions League, Cesare Prandelli’s side are set to face three-time defending Dutch champions PSV in the quarterfinals of the UEFA Cup next week.

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Uefa’s Control and Disciplinary Committee has imposed a fine of £2,520 on Lyon for “incidents of an unsporting nature”.

This comes after an incident at the Stade Gerland during the first leg of the Lyon-Manchester United Champions League 2nd round last month where a fan behind the Lyon goal targeted Cristiano Ronaldo with a laser pen. However, Uefa made it a point to clarify that “there was no suggestion Ronaldo’s health could have been affected by this incident” - how thoughtful of them.

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With now only 8 teams remaining in each respective tournament, UEFA’s headquarters in Nyon (Switzerland) will host the draws on Friday afternoon for the Quarter-Finals and Semi-Finals of the 2007/08 UEFA club competitions, the UEFA Champions League and the UEFA Cup.

The UEFA Champions League draw will be made at 13.00CET and conducted by the UEFA General Secretary (David Taylor) and the ambassador for the final in Moscow on May 21^st (Russian goalkeeping legend Rinat Dasaev). The UEFA Cup draw will follow at 14.00CET and will be conducted by Mr Taylor and the ambassador for the May 14^th final in Manchester (1964 European Footballer of the Year Denis Law).

Soccerlens brought to you the draw LIVE as each of the 4 UEFA Champions League and UEFA Cup matches were drawn. FULL RESULTS after the jump
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PSV Eindhoven 0 - 1 Tottenham Hotspur (1-1 agg, PSV win 6-5 on pens)
UEFA Cup Round of 32, Second Leg

Juande Ramos’ grip on the UEFA Cup was finally relinquished at the Phillips Stadion, almost three years to the day the Spaniard first scooped the trophy on this very ground, with former club Seville.

Ramos approached Tottenham’s second leg, round of 16 fixture with PSV Eindhoven still hopeful of leading his side to May’s final in Manchester to fight for his third UEFA Cup title in succession. Unfortunately for manager and team, Spurs were denied progression into the quarter-finals of the competition, despite clearly being the better side on the night. How the north Londoners wish they could have performed as well as they did this evening in the first leg tie with PSV at White Hart Lane last Thursday.

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Friday, 22 February, 2008.

A very good morning to you, dear Soccerlens readers. Got an email this morning from Hugo telling me that he was emailing a few organisations to see if he could find some slaves for us. Or something to that effect. I’m pleased, of course, but a bit concerned Hugo - are we going for this or this?

Anyway, on to the real stuff.

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It was a great night, for the most part, for British sides in the UEFA Cup on Thursday night, as four of the five British participants still in the competition advanced to the round of 16.

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BBC Scotland unimpressed with their recent decision regarding the broadcast of this week’s UEFA Cup matches.

As some will know, Rangers take on Panathinaikos in Greece on Thursday and Bayern Munich play Aberdeen at the Allianz Arena in Germany that same day. But unfortunately for non-travelling fans, both matches are contested at roughly the same time. Which means that the BBC can only broadcast one - out of interests of “fairness” to viewers.

They’ve gone for the Rangers match. Which means that any Aberdeen fans unable to make the journey to Germany won’t be able to watch the second leg of the tie, where they still have a chance of making it to the last 16.

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Things are looking good for the English clubs in the UEFA Cup after Everton, Tottenham, and Bolton each won the first legs of their round of 32 ties.

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Nine goals conceded in two games, only two scored. Numerous injuries, confidence low, and a visit from Bundesliga leaders Bayern Munich. Sounds like the sort of thing nightmares are made of. But Jimmy Calderwood and his Aberdeen side almost made it a dream come true with a fantastic performance against the tournament favourites in the UEFA Cup.

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After 3.75 million votes were cast by 277,985 users, the uefa.com Team of the Year 2007 has been revealed last week.

After much thinking and a lot of videotape viewing (mostly Champions League matches probably), the UEFA writers have come up with 60 nominations, which were then submitted to the general public of the uefa.com website. Users were asked to select eleven players and one coach to make up the Finest team of 2007.

Now, unlike awards such as L’Équipe’s All-Star Best XI of 2007 (voted by journalists) this award was made by popular vote, so even if you don’t agree with the selections (and I’m sure none of you will 100% ) know that this team was chosen democratically. Nevertheless, feel free to give your 2 cents (and fire away your insults) in the comments section.
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The UEFA Cup group stage wrapped up this week, with the rest of the slots for the competition’s round of 32 being filled.

There was at least one place up for grabs in several of the eight groups, which meant for several sides, there was much to celebrate the past two nights, and for others, nothing but disappointment and heartbreak.

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So another UEFA Cup match has been hit by, well, bottles. Thursday night’s group game between Belgian side Anderlecht and Tottenham Hotspur, might have ended in a 1-1 draw with both sides expressing gladness at the result but the missile throwing misdemeanors throughout the match was hardly something to savor.

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The Champions League qualification format has been changed (for the 2009-2012 period), the Champions League final has been shifted to a Saturday (thank god), the Intertoto Cup has been abolished (will Newcastle ever play in Europe again?) and the Uefa Cup has been revamped.

For all the bluster against Platini, the first major change he’d been pushing for has come to pass. Let’s look at the details:

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Bolton weathered a second half onslaught from a Bayern Munich side inspired by the talismanic Franck Ribery to claim a highly impressive UEFA Cup point at the Allianz Arena tonight.

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Bayern Munich is both the most popular and most loathed club all over Germany – a true touchstone (almost requirement) for a club considering itself national. However, is it the arrogant, prideful trio of Jancker-Effenberg-Basler or the much more likable Scholl-Tarnat-Elber triumvirate, which truly represents the Bavarian club? I am not here to judge, but I do know one thing for sure.

Football is a simple game; 22 men chase a ball for 90 minutes and at the end, the Germans Bayern win.

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So the draw for the UEFA Cup group stage has recently been confirmed, and tournament favourites Bayern Munich have landed one of the more challenging tests - however, will be fairly confident of securing the points to get them through in the top 3. The strongest group on paper is arguably C, with Villareal and AEK both with recent Champions League experience, and Fiorentina experiencing something of a renaissance in Serie A. So it’s prediction time I guess - do you agree with me though?

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After a week of anticipation for all the three people that care, the draw for the UEFA Cup took place today. The English Premier League teams involved were Tottenham Hotspur, Bolton Wanderers and Everton; all of them drawn into groups of varying degrees of difficulty.

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The Champions League has long reverted from being a competition for the ‘Champions’. From the top leagues across Europe, we are now used to seeing as many as four teams representing one nation.

The format has undoubtedly been successful. The Champions League is not only where the money is, but each evening of football provides the viewer with some of the highest quality entertainment – even outstripping the international game in terms of the level of ability on display. Gone are the days when we would see the likes of Skonto Riga as the whipping boys of the group. Nowadays each of the six initial games are closely fought affairs involving the best clubs around.

However, what has this meant for Europe’s secondary competition – the UEFA Cup?

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Hello everyone! Your Italian Calcio expert Marco Pantanella is back, ready to begin his second week here on Soccerlens.

Up on the menu today we’ve got a full report on the mid-week Champions League matches for Milan, Inter, Roma and Lazio, and full review of the Italian league week-end in which matchday nº4 of the Serie A was played.

Let’s begin with the European Cups.

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Alright, so none of you really care; Tottenham Hotspur thrashed Cypriot team Anorthosis Famagusta (a side most will not have heard of) 6-1 at White Hart Lane during Thursday’s matches.

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Who will take up the gauntlet laid down by Sevilla’s progression to the Champions League? And which clubs will be considered UEFA Cup favourites out of the first-round participants (i.e. not the Champions League dropouts)?

The first batch of UEFA Cup matches takes place this evening, with the competition as strong as ever, although it will undoubtedly suffer from the absence of the great performers of the past two years, double-champions Sevilla (who may well find their way back into the competition if they fail to finish in the top two of their Champions’ League group – a mechanism which in my opinion is debatable, but a debate that we shall leave for another day).

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