Football Leagues » Europa League » Europa League April 2011
Europa League April 2011
Early adieu for British clubs - will Twente continue to impress?
Ozren Podnar
The British contingent has been weeded out of the Europa League despite brave efforts from Manchester City and Rangers. Liverpool on the other hand made an infamous exit in the round of sixteen after failing to score in 180 minutes against an unheralded Sporting Braga of Portugal.
Rangers scraped through against the European regulars od Sporting Lisbon, scoring the vital away goal in the 90th minute of the second leg. In the following round, Dutch giants PSV Eindhoven proved too much of an obstacle in what turned to be a revenge for the 1978/79 elimination by the Scots. On both occasions, the first leg finished goalless, only to the visitors to grab the key win in the second leg.
This time it was PSV who left Ibrox with a 1-0 victory on the way to the last eight.
Manchester City found Dinamo Kiev to be a handful in the away match (2-0 to Shevchenko, Milevskiy, Aliev etc.), but at the City of Manchester they would have had a fair chance if Mario Ballotelli hadn't pulled another stunt, getting himself sent of after 32 minutes for a kung-fu kick into an opponent's chest. An undermanned City could only manage a 1-0 win, insufficient to overcome the Ukrainian obstacle to the quarter-finals.
Twente Enschede have been the most pleasant surprise of the first two spring rounds. The Dutch champs knocked out two far wealthier opponents in Rubin Kazan and Zenit St. Petersburg. Regardless of their superior firepower, the Russian teams' was still sluggish from the long winter sleep, as the Russian winter break does not lift until early March. Against an opponent in an uninterrupted action like Twente not even the powerhouses like Rubin or Zenit had a fair chance.
Incidentally, the Dutch leaders won last year's League championship under Steve McClaren, but are doing just fine after Michel Preud'homme replaced the Englishman. who took over at Wolfsburg and was sacked by mid-season.
Europa League results and fixtures
Round of 32
Aris Salonika vs Manchester City 0-0 0-3
Sparta Prague vs Liverpool 0-0 0-1
Rangers vs Sporting Lisbon 1-1 2-2
Metalist Harkiv vs Bayer Leverkusen 0-4 0-2
Lech Poznan vs Sporting Braga 1-0 0-3
Rubin Kazan vs Twente Enschede 0-2 2-2
Napoli vs Villarreal 0-0 1-2
Benfica Lisbon vs Stuttgart 2-1 2-0
Besiktas vs Dinamo Kiev 1-4 0-4
Basel vs Spartak Moscow 2-3 1-1
Lille vs PSV Eindhoven 2-2 1-3
Sevilla vs Porto 1-2 1-0
Young Boys vs Zenit St. Petersburg 2-1 1-3
PAOK Salonika vs CSKA Moscow 0-1 1-1
BATE Borisov vs Paris SG 2-2 0-0
Anderlecht vs Ajax 0-3 0-2
Round of 16
Dinamo Kiev vs Manchester City 2-0 0-1
Sporting Braga vs Liverpool 1-0 0-0
PSV Eindhoven vs Rangers 0-0 1-0
Ajax vs Spartak Moscow 0-1 0-3
Bayer Leverkusen vs Villarreal 2-3 1-2
Twente vs Zenit 3-0 0-2
CSKA Moscow vs Porto 0-1 1-2
Benfica Lisbon vs Paris SG 2-1 1-1
Quarter-finals (April 7 and 14)
Porto vs Spartak Moscow
Benfica Lisbon vs PSV Eindhoven
Villarreal vs Twente
Dinamo Kiev vs Sporting Braga
Semi-finals
Dinamo/Braga vs Benfica/PSV
Porto/Spartak vs Villarreal/Twente
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