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Europa League 2010-11
Topic Started: Jul 29 2010, 12:33 PM (1,683 Views)
Merengue
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Here are all of the first leg scores from the octave finals,

Benfica v Paris St Germain (2-1)
Dynamo Kiev v Manchester City (2-0)
Twente Enschede v Zenit St Petersburg (3-0)
CSKA Moscow v Porto (0-1)
PSV Eindhoven v Rangers (0-0)
Bayer Leverkusen v Villarreal (2-3)
Ajax Amsterdam v Spartak Moscow (0-1)
Braga v Liverpool (1-0)

I think the biggest surprise was the margin of Twente's win at home over Zenit. Puts Twente in good shape for next week's return leg. Dynamo Kyiv with a two goal win over Manchester City as Andrei Shevchenko showed he is not yet finished. Franco Jara with a late goal to give Benfica a narrow 2- 1 home win over PSG. That should be a very attractive return game. Porto with the away win in Moscow but I watched the highlights and CSKA Moscow ahd a goal wrongly ruled out for offside. But you have to like Porto's chances to advance now. Rangers did their job playing a 0-0 draw in Eindhoven but that series is not over yet as a goal scoringd raw sends PSV through. Villarreal, as Don Balon wrote, were impressive in winning away at Leverkusen. Nilmar with two nice finishes to win the game. Spartak Moscow with a valuable win on the road against an Ajax team who seem to be slipping in both the league and now in Europe. Braga got a first half penalty and that was enough to defeat liverpool 1-0. A good result for the upstarts from Portugal but they will not have it easy in the return game at Anfield.

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The Artful Codger
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Liverpool were pretty dreadful against Braga. At first I was wondeirng why Luis Suarez was not playing then it occurred to me he is cup tied from playing for Ajax earlier in the competition.

Andy Carroll did come on as a sub and caused some problems for Braga's defence which gives Liverpool some hope for the return leg. At home Liverpool can reverse a 1 goal deficit but they will have to play much better than they did in Portugal.

Dynamo Kiev were good value for their win over Manchester City. Shevchenko was their leader, he does not have the speed or mobility he once had but he is playing intelligently and has plenty of other players to do the running for him. 2 goals down with no away goals means City will have a difficult time overturning that reuslt.

Twente's victory margin over Zenit surprised me too. Looks like Twente, Villarreal, Spartak Moscow and Porto are practically in the next round. Dynamo Kiev are in a good psition too but not as secure as the clubs I just named. The other matchups i think are still too close to call.
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Simon
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City surprised me by losing 2-0, I heard Mancini say how frustrated he was with the soft two goals they conceded, although I haven't seen anything of the game so can't comment. Dynamo are very much in the driving seat there though. Turning it round isn't beyond City but it's a really difficult job - they're going to have to take some risks in attack, all the while knowing that any goal they concede could prove fatal.

I didn't see anything of the Liverpool game either, but Kenny Dalglish's post-match comments echo what AC wrote in his post - Dalglish said "when you play as badly as we did, you're grateful to only lose 1-0".

If Liverpool are to turn that one around, they'll need to do it without Gerrard, who is going to be out for the next month following a groin operation
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Merengue
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I saw extended highlights of several games last night and Dynamo Kyiv looked very good, nice passing and movement and of course good finishing. They have a comfortable lead going to Manchester City but far from a certain lead going there. Dynamo are more than just Shevchenko but he is the leader there. Contrary to his final few years at Milan and Chelsea, he seems to be closing out his career on a high note.

The CSKA Moscow-Porto game looked very interesting. And kudos to Vagner Love for having dark blue dreadlocks which matched CSKA Moscow's shirts! :D It was a good end to end game and while Porto does have a goal advantage plus an away goal going home, I would not count CSKA out just yet as a little better finishing last night and they could have won.
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Simon
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Just watched Manchester City's 1-0 win over Dynamo, sending them out 2-1 on aggregate.

Mario Balotelli was the villain of the piece. Firstly there was a lengthy and highly comical period of time when he was trying to get his bib on before the match (take a look at the top video - what's he playing at? http://www.panenka.fr/mario-baloltelli/ ), and then on a more damaging note for City he was presented with a close range tap-in that he blasted way over the crossbar before getting himself sent off after about half an hour with a crazy flying kick into the chest of a Kiev player.

City then had to play for an hour with 10 men. They scored through a Kolarov free kick and showed plenty of perspiration but not enough inspiration in looking for a second goal. By the final 10-15 minutes they were dead on their feet, and getting frustrated by Dynamo's time-wasting.

So City go out, but the damage doesn't stop there. Their game with Chelsea at the weekend is of much greater importance than tonight's game, as it's important for City's medium to long-term project that they are playing CL football so that they can attract the calibre of player they're after. That Chelsea game is VERY important in that regard, and although City's recent record against them is great, you would have to fancy Chelsea against these exhausted City players.

Oh, Mario!
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Don Balon
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All of the 2nd leg scores, with two legged totals:
Manchester C. 1 - 0 Dynamo Kyiv (1-2 total)
Paris S.G. 1 - 1 Benfica (2-3)
Spartak Moscow 3 - 0 Ajax Amsterdam (4-0)
Zenit St. Petersburg 2 - 0 FC Twente Enschede (2-3)
FC Porto 2 - 1 CSKA Moscow (3-1)
Liverpool 0 - 0 Braga (0-1)
Rangers 0 - 1 PSV Eindhoven (0-1)
Villarreal 2 - 1 Bayer Leverkusen (5-3)

Simon has already described how Manchester City went out but Liverpool and Rangers joined them after both were unable to win at home after last week playing 0-0 draws away from home.

Villarreal and Porto each followed their away wins with home victories to advance, Benfica advanced vs PSG in perhaps the clsoest encounter of the 8 octave final games while Zenit won at home 2-0 over twente but that was not enough to overcome twente.

So the 8 teams advancing to the quarterfinals are:

Dynamo Kyiv
Benfica
Spartak Moscow
Twente
Porto
Braga
PSV Eindhoven
Villarreal

3 Portuguese clubs in the final 8. My money would be on either Porto or Villarreal to win it all followed by Dynamo Kyiv or Spartak Moscow.
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Nkono
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I think Don Balon's choices for favorites make sense. Porto are in great form in their domestic league and just got through eliminating a pretty tough CSKA club. To me the biggest surprises today were Liverpool's elimination and Rangers losing at home. Note to Don Balon, Liverpool drew today but lost 1-0 away last week. The reverse of Rangers who tied in the Netherlands but then lost at home today. I sort of expected Ajax would give Spartak Moscow a better match but after losing last week they had little chance of advancing.

PSG had their opportunities in both legs vs Benfica but could not take advantage of them and thus went out 3-2 on aggregate. Jara's long range goal last week for Benfica in injury time ended up being the difference in the series.
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The Artful Codger
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With Luis Suarez Cup tied and gerrad out injured, Liverpool were just awful against Braga. The Portuguese team were orderly but Liverpool's only idea of attack was long balls forward to Andy Carroll. That just will not get it done. If anything I think these two matches vs Braga proved how valuable Suarez has now become. Liverpool's only hope of getting into Europe now is to finish in 5th place and right now they are 6 points behind Tottenham, who have a match in hand.

Balotelli really is a fool isn't he? Not even Mancini who brought him in at Inter seems able to control his temper. I do not see Man City keeping him if a club like Milan come in with a decent offer this summer.
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Merengue
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The quarterfinal matchups,

Porto - Spartak Moscow.

Benfica - PSV Eindhoven.

Villarreal - Twente.

Braga - Dynamo Kyiv.

The semifinals would match the Porto-Spartak winner against the Villarreal-Twente victor and Benfica-PSV vs Braga/Dynamo Kyiv.

I think of these quarterfinals, Porto-Spartak and Benfica-PSV are the most intriguing games.
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Sporting
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Seems like Portuguese clubs can be pleased with themselves after last night's first legs (big home wins for Porto and Benfica, an away draw for Braga) , along with Villareal who thumped Twente 5-1.
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Yogi
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Yes it was a good night for Portuguese clubs, and Villarreal should have no complaints either. Very impressive win for Porto last night vs Spartak Moscow and radamel falcao in particular was deadly in front of goal. Strangely like the Champions League, there were 3 blowouts which have all but decided their two leg series while one away team obtained a good result putting them in good shape for leg 2. So like the Champions League, little drama remains in these quarterfinal second legs. Hopefully the semis will be closer in both competitions.
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valenciano
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Sporting,Apr 7 2011
08:50 PM
Seems like Portuguese clubs can be pleased with themselves after last night's first legs (big home wins for Porto and Benfica, an away draw for Braga) , along with Villareal who thumped Twente 5-1.

Europa League? Sounds more like the Iberian League this year! :lol:

Could be 3 Portuguese and 1 Spanish club in the semifinals. Too bad the draw could match Porto & Villarreal, for me the two strongest clubs left, in the semifinals.
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Manzanares
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It will be the Iberian league as all 4 Iberian teams advanced to the semifinals, no drama with Porto, Benfica and Villarreal advancing but Braga went through on away goals after tying 0-0 at home with Dynamo Kyiv. So the semifinals will be:

Porto-Villarreal
Benfica-Braga

Porto-Villarreal looks like the anticipated final. Should be an exciting twolegegd series. Or at least I hope so after the lack of excitement in these quarters.
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Hector
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Tomorrow night the semifinals start with all eyes on the Porto-Villarreal series which should really be a thriller. Tough game to call with both clubs looking to me as being pretty even.

Today is the 5th anniversary of a goal scored by the late Antonio Puerta in the semifinals vs Schalke which sent Sevilla to the final of the then UEFA Cup, a competition which Sevilla eventually won. Viewing this clip still makes me emotional:

http://www.marca.com/2011/04/27/futbol/equ...1303906902.html

iPuerta amigo Sevilla esta contigo!
iPuerta amigo, Sevilla esta contigo!
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Manzanares
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Semifinal, first leg results
Benfica 2-1 Braga
Porto 5-1 Villarreal

Benfica with a single goal win in their all Portuguese semifinal in the Iberian, I mean Europa League semifinals. Oscar Cardozo was the figure for Benfica, he had a goal correctly called back for offside in the first half, in the second his header hit the post then was headed in by Benfica's defender Jardel. Braga tied it shortly after with their own headed goal by Vandinho but Cardozo won the game with a curling free kick. A 2-1 result gives hope for both clubs but Braga have to like their chances only down a goal and with an away goal in their favor. Remember this is the team which knocked out Liverpool and Dynamo Kyiv in the last two rounds.

But the story of the day was in Porto where the home team went down just before the half to Villarreal when Nilmar fed Cani to score with a header. In a pretty even first half, Villarreal had a lot of success attacking Porto's left flank but the newly crowned portuguese champions made halftime adjustments and tied the game up just 4 minutes into the half when Radamel Falcao was brought down by Villarreal's goalie Diego Lopez for a penalty. Lopez received a yellow card on the play and Falcao converted the penalty kick. Then Freddy Guarin who had an excellent game in midfield headed in a rebound of his own shot to put Porto 2-1 up and Villarreal then just folded like a patio chair.

Wide spaces appeared in Villarreal's defense and Porto just picked them apart, Hulk beat Catala down Villarreal's left and crossed for Falcao to score a 2nd goal. Then Falcao got a third diving to head in a Guarin free kick with Villarreal's defense just standing and watching and late in the game Falcao headed in his 4th goal of the night and his team's 5th from a corner kick.

A highly impressive performance from Porto who are overwhelming favorites for the title now as they made a joke out of this first leg. I know Villarreal were missing Capdevila and Gonzalo in defense but I did not expect them to fall apart the way they did from Porto's offensive blitz. But I recommend watching Porto, they are an enjoyable team to watch play.
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