Still keeping an eye on this tournament which has now reached the quarter-final stages: AZ Alkmaar v. Benfica Alkmaar started off in the Europa League 4th qualifying round and went on to top group L. They then played Slovan Liberec in the round of 32 (2-1 on aggregate) and Anzhi Makhachkala in the round of 16 (1-0 on aggregate). I don't know much about Alkmaar other than they don't score many and don't concede many. In 6 group games they scored 8 and conceded 4. They seem to have had a fairly easy passage through to the QF. Benfica have dropped down from the Champions League after coming third behind Paris St Germain and Olympiakos . How did they manage that? Olympiakos are naff. Benfica dumped PAOK Salonika out in the RO32 (4-0 agg) and Tottenham in the RO16 (5-3 agg). I imagine Benfica will be favourites to reach the semis. Basel v. Valencia Basel fell out of Champions League after coming third behind Chelsea and Schalke 04. They beat Maccabi Tel Aviv 3-0 on agg in the RO32 and then Red Bull Salzburg 2-1 on agg in the RO16. The second leg of this game was held up for 12 minutes when Basel 'ultra' supporters hurled missiles at the Salzburg players. The Basel captain and club president had to appeal for calm before the game could continue. Then there's our group buddies, Valencia, who we beat 3-0 on their own patch but went on to win the group. They've since beaten Dynamo Kiev 2-0 on agg and Ludogorets Razgrad (who?) 4-0 in the RO16. A tough tie to call, but I hope Valencia progress as we've got common ground. FC Porto v. Sevilla Porto came out of the Champions League in third spot behind Athletico Madrid & Zenit St Petersburg. They seem to have had an exciting RO32 tie with Eintracht Frankfurt which ended 5-5 on aggregate and going through on away goals (2-2 at home, 3-3 away). Then they beat our own conquerors, Napoli, in the RO16 3-2 on agg. Sevilla started in the Europa League 3rd qualifying round, the same as ourselves, and went on to top Europa League group H with a 3-3-0 record. Since then they've beaten NK Maribor of Slovenia 4-3 on agg in RO32 and then won a penalty shoot-out 4-3 against fellow Spanish team Real Betis after finishing 2-2 on agg in the RO16. Porto would appear to have better quality and are probably favourites to progress. Lyon v. Juventus Lyon arrived in the Europa League group stages by getting beaten in the Champions League Qualifying play-off round by Real Sociedad. Lyon went on to top Group I of the Europa League with a 3-3-0 record. They've since beaten Chornomorets Odessa (another who??) 1-0 on agg in the RO32 and Viktoria Plzen (a Champions League drop-out team) 5-3 on agg in the RO16. Finally, Juventus. Another failed Champions League side coming third behind Real Madrid and Galatasaray. They have beaten Turkish side Trabzonspor 4-0 on agg in RO32 and then fellow Italians Fiorentina, 2-1 on aggregate. With the final of the Europa League due to be played in Turin on 14th May in their home stadium, Juventus will be desperate to progress further. Can't see anything other than a Juventus win here. My predictions Benfica, Valencia, Porto & Juventus for the semi-finals. Ideally, I'd like Sevilla to win the tournament, as any team that starts in the 3rd qualifying round and battles through to the final deserves to win it. Failed Champions League teams are parasites.
Basel are playing Valencia behind closed doors apparently, after their fans' antics in Salzburg. ...and Basel are 2-0 up!!
Final first-leg scores: AZ Alkmaar 0 Benfica 1 Basel 3 Valencia 0 Porto 1 Sevilla 0 Lyon 0 Juventus 1
Couldn't agree more. How many sports tournaments allow the losers a second chance of a trophy? Ridiculous.
See one of my earlier rants about this competition http://www.not606.com/showthread.php/222798-Europa-League-Is-it-Fair
I don't mind the Champions League teams coming into it personally. I remember playing in a rugby 7's tournament for my school when I was a kid and the format was that the teams who lost in the first round went into a group of their own with their own mini tournament. I had no problem with that either.
