Thursday, February 17, 2011

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17-02-2011 19:00 Benfica - Stuttgart

German Jinx

Benfica are aiming to enhance their standing in Europe with a strong run in the Europa League, having all but given up their hopes of the domestic title. Stuttgart stand in their way on the route to the last 16, and two fascinating matches of football are in prospect.

The Lisbon side will probably feel that they should have achieved more in the Champions League, in which they were one of the teams to fall in the group phase. Third was attained behind Schalke and Olympique Lyonnais in a rather mediocre Group B, bettering only Hapoel Tel Aviv, and even then only thanks to a late strike from OL in a match they had no control over.

German opposition in the form of die Koenigsblauen were the only team to overcome Jorge Jesus’ side twice, so there will be an air of wariness approaching Thursday’s encounter, even if Stuttgart’s domestic form leaves much to be desired.

The Aguias, on the other hand, are well on course to retain their Champions League status, even if the domestic crown is likely to head to unbeaten Porto. Since a heavy and embarrassing 5-0 defeat to the league leaders in November, they’ve recorded seven successive victories and established a comfortable 12 point gap to city-rivals Sporting.

Only in sporadic bursts have Benfica shown their true muscle in Europe, but against ailing Bundesliga opponents, they’ll hope to record another confidence-boosting result.

Underdogs

UEFA Cup runners-up in 1988-89, Stuttgart are now a side who have fallen a long way from the elite level of the European game. They may still be battling valiantly in the Europa League, but their Bundesliga form this season has been miserable and sees them maroon in the bottom two of the table, staring relegation in the face.

Christian Gross and Jens Keller have both been accounted for by the club’s poor results, and it is now Bruno Labbadia who is leading the Schwaben, though he’s not having much luck either and has actually presided in a further fall in the team’s fortunes since taking charge in mid-December.

A 4-2 defeat last weekend by Nuremberg leaves Stuttgart in a very unhealthy position indeed, though this is a side that have exploded into life at times this term, recording 7-0 and 6-0 victories over Borussia Moenchengladbach and Werder Bremen respectively. Europe has also been a fertile field for the league strugglers, who won five out of their six group stage matches.

“We are the underdogs. We will need to be compact and patiently wait for our chance,” Labbadia told his side’s official website. “In our current situation, it can only be an advantage for the team to get away for two or three days and have the opportunity to clear their thoughts.”

The glamour of Thursday night’s encounter will certainly be an ideal chance for the Germans to relax and produce their best football in a relatively pressure free environment, allowing them to be at their most dangerous.

TEAM NEWS

Benfica

New additions Weldon and Jose Luis Fernandez are both ineligible for this encounter. Additionally, Javier Saviola has a one-match ban to serve.

Stuttgart

The visiting team have a number of issues going into this game. Christian Gentner and Pavel Pogrebnyak lead a list of injuries that is also inhabited by Arthur Boka, Johan Audel and Mamadou Bah, while Timo Gebhart is also sidelined.

Ciprian Marica won’t feature, having been relegated to the reserves following a training ground bust-up.

Prediction
Benfica should be good enough to win this encounter, but it would be foolish to write-off any German club in a competition in which Bundesliga sides tend to thrive. Stuttgart certainly approach this match as underdogs though.

Benfica 2-1 VfB Stuttgart

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17-02-2011 21:05 Sevilla - Porto

Working Under Intense Pressure

Sevilla have collapsed this season and are now picking up the pieces and trying to repair the damage. Once threatening to break the eternal Real Madrid-Barcelona duopoly in Spain, the Andalucians have been reduced to fighting for a place in Europe this campaign.

Gregorio Manzano's side head into tonight's encounter on the back of a 3-2 away defeat to Racing Santander that stretched their winless run in all competitions to five matches. Sevilla have lost three of those and have won just two of their last nine competitive fixtures.

Currently placed outside the top-six in the Spanish Primera Division table and out of the Copa del Rey, Sevilla's chances of making it back into Europe next campaign are slim, and star striker Luis Fabiano knows that they will have to pull themselves out of the pit.

"This is the biggest match of our season," said the Brazilian. "We know a win could change everything. We are struggling but are the same players that won the UEFA Cup twice and we're in this together."

Eying An Upset In Spain

While Sevilla have struggled this campaign both domestically and in Europe, Porto have cruised. The Portuguese giants lead the league standings in the domestic arena by a massive 11 points and have yet to lose a league encounter this season.

Having scored 46 goals and conceded just seven in 20 league matches, Andre Villas-Boas' side will head into tonight's match brimming with confidence. Porto won the 2003 UEFA Cup in Seville and will hope to invoke the spirit of that day and inflict a defeat on the hosts.

Sevilla striker Alvaro Negredo is fully aware of the strength and threat of Porto and warns, "They [Porto] are very strong and physical in attack, with a lot of quality players. But we have to focus on ourselves and not look at our opponents.

"Porto are a huge club in their league and it's good that they respect us. They know they will come up against a great Sevilla, who are playing at home with the support of their fans."

TEAM NEWS

Sevilla

Luis Fabiano is expected to start and so will Frederic Kanoute alongside him in attack. Jesus Navas will be deployed along the flank.

Porto

Falcao, Cristian Rodríguez and Alvaro Pereira has been included in Villas-Boas’ squad for the game in Seville. Maicon and Mariano are unavailable.

Prediction
Sevilla are struggling this season and Porto will eye an upset tonight. However, the Spanish side do have the European experience and know how to carve out victories under such circumstances, and they should get one tonight.

Sevilla 2-1 Porto

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17-02-2011 21:05 Sparta Praha - Liverpool

Up Against Tough Opponents

Sparta Prague will know that Liverpool sailed through their group to make their way to the Generali Arena, and that was accomplished despite a fair amount of rotation from former boss Roy Hodgson.

But the Czechs are no pushovers, as evidence of the same is present in their past games in the group stage of the Europa League.

The hosts had to endure a difficult 3-0 loss to CSKA Moscow in the Russian capital, but went on to recover and go unbeaten in their next four games in the tournament. That they edged out Serie A side Palermo to occupy second spot in Group F and ensure progression is proof enough that their opponents would be best advised not to take things easy.

Still, on paper, they go into the first leg of the double header as underdogs, and a victory at home would likely give them enough inspiration to push forward with what would be a famous result.

Reds Looking To Push Further

This game will be new boss Kenny Dalglish’s baptism in the Europa League, as all previous games in this competition saw former manager Roy Hodgson at the helm.

Domestic troubles saw the Merseyside club divorcing the current West Brom boss, as they brought in club legend Dalglish to take charge until the end of the season.

The Merseyside outfit have since had a new lease of life under the care of the new boss, and are currently unbeaten in six games in all competitions.

But they may have been dealt a blow as previous reports point towards skipper Steven Gerrard being unable to make the starting line-up due to fitness concerns, though it could be argued that the boss could continue Hodgson’s rotation policy and give the captain a rest.

Dalglish could also bench Raul Meireles for this game, as the former Porto midfielder was suffering from a slight virus during the recent 1-1 draw with Wigan Athletic. Dirk Kuyt could also be benched to give some much needed experience to the team’s younger forwards.

But all said and done, Liverpool are the stronger side and a loss will likely result in a big dent in confidence.

TEAM NEWS

Sparta Prague

The Czech side are likely to put forth a strong line-up, as that is arguably the only way through which they can hold their own against Liverpool.

Sionko looks set to start on the right side of midfield for Sparta, while Keric is expected to partner Kadlec in attack.

Possible starting XI: Zitka; Brabec, Bondoa, Hejda, Pamic; Sionko, Vacek, Husek, Podany; Keric, Kadlec.

Liverpool

There are reports concerning skipper Steven Gerrard’s fitness, with suggestions that the talismanic midfielder may not be able to play any part in this game. But manager Kenny Dalglish could employ some rotation and yet manage to pull off a positive result.

Luis Suarez is ineligible and will play no part in this game, while Jonjo Shelvey is sidelined. Jay Spearing is still recovering from an injury.

Possible starting XI: Reina; Kelly, Carragher, Kyrgiakos, Johnson; Maxi, Lucas, Poulsen, Jovanovic; Cole; Ngog.

Prediction

  Sparta Praha 1-1 Liverpool

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17-02-2011 21:05 Rangers - Sporting Lisboa

Sporting Looking To Save Their Season

Back at home, Rangers are well in-touch of Celtic in the race for the Scottish Premier League. The Gers are five points behind their fierce rivals, but have two games in-hand on the Bhoys.

Sporting on the other hand, are having another very poor season with very little left to play for – except holding on to third place which would actually be an improvement on last season’s fourth-placed finish – as they find themselves 23 points behind league leaders FC Porto and 12 points behind second-placed Benfica.

Despite their poor domestic season, Sporting did get through their Europa League group with relative ease as they finished top with 12 points, four ahead of second-placed Lille, so they aren’t to be regarded as pushovers.

Sporting will have the advantage in this tie in terms of having the second leg in Lisbon, however, Rangers will be looking to score as many goals as possible as Ibrox, and judging by last weekend’s 6-0 hammering of Motherwell, they are already in goal-scoring mood.

However, given by what both sides have left to play for domestically, Sporting are likely to be the most well rested over the course of the two legs and could be hungrier as the Europa League will pretty much shape their season from now on.

History Is On Rangers' Side

Facing Sporting could be seen as a good omen by superstitious supporters as on Rangers’ most successful of European runs, the Gers have beaten their Portuguese counterparts on both occasions.

In 1972, Rangers won the Cup Winners’ Cup and they beat Sporting on aggregate on their way to lifting the trophy.

More recently however, the Gers beat them 2-0 on aggregate in 2008 after a 2-0 away win and a 0-0 draw at home as the Scots progressed all the way to the final of the then-UEFA Cup, where they lost to Russian giants Zenit St Petersburg.

TEAM NEWS

Rangers

The Glasgow giants shouldn't be missing too many players for this tie and may be able to call on Steven Naismith, who, despite being substituted during last weekend's 6-0 hammering of Motherwell, could play.

Lee McCulloch (knee) is definitely out after a cyst in his knee got too bad to continue playing through the pain barrier and is having surgery this week in order to determine whether he will be available again this season, but Kyle Lafferty could feature after being cleared of glandular fever.

Possible starting XI: McGregor; Whittaker, Bougherra, Weir, Papac; Weiss, Davis, Bartley, Lafferty; Diouf; Healy.

Sporting CP

Sporting's injury worries appear to be coming to an end with the likes of Leandro Grimi, Marat Izmailov, Jaime Valdes and Yannick Djalo all looking to be recovering.
However, only the latter has made the squad for the Europa League tie, with the match coming too soon for the other three.

Possible starting XI: Rui Patricio; Joao Pereira, Carrico, Anderson Polga, Evaldo; Djalo, Zapater, Mendes, Maniche, Vuckevic; Helder Postiga.

Prediction

  Rangers 1-1 Sporting