14.04. (Thu) 19:00 Spartak Moskva - Porto

DID YOU KNOW?

* Spartak Have won only once in four attempts this season in the Russian Premier League and haven't scored four goals in a game since August last year in a 4-2 win over Tom Tomsk.

* The Krasno-Belye's biggest win in European competition this season came against MSK Zilina in the Champions League group stage. The will need to go one better than their 3-0 win that night to progress past Porto.

* The men from Moscow have never lost to a Portuguese side in European competition on home soil.

* Spartak's out-an-out strikers Dzyuba, Welliton and Ari have scored only four goals between them in Europe since September. Captain Alex is their top scorer with three.

* Porto defeated CSKA Moscow 1-0 in the Luzhniki stadium in the last round of the Europa League

* Porto have never lost against a Russian side since the break-up of the Soviet League. They have won six and drawn one. (CSKA Moscow 0-0 in 2004).

* The Dragons scored five goals for the first time this season in Europe in the first-leg versus Spartak.

* Porto have failed to score in only one game this Europa League campaign, against Sevilla.

* The Portuguese champions' top scorer is Falcao, who has netted ten times in the Europa League, including two hat-tricks.

LAST MEETING

April 7, 2011: Porto 5-1 Spartak Moscow
The Portuguese champions took full advantage of slack defending from the Russians. Falcao opened the scoring and finished with to seal a hat-trick on the night. Valery Karpin's men did however look dangerous on the break, Welliton finding himself in strike range on numerous occassions but failed to find the net with the score still at 0-0.

PROBABLE LINE-UPS

Spartak Moscow: Dikan; Makeev, Rojo, Suchy, K. Kombarov; McGeady, Ibson, Carioca, D. Kombarov; Alex, Welliton

Porto: Helton; Fucile, Rolando, Otamendi, Pereira; Guarin, Fernando, Moutinho; Valera, Hulk, Falcao

Prediction

Spartak  1-1  Porto

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14.04. (Thu) 21:05 Sporting Braga - Dynamo Kiev

DID YOU KNOW?

* Dynamo Kiev have played 11 games against Portuguese sides, winning three, losing seven, and drawing one.

* The White-Blues have a very poor record in Portugal. They have recorded only one win, against Porto in 2008, and four losses in which they scored two goals and conceded 13.

* Roman Eremenko and Andriy Yarmolenko have played in every Europa League game for the Ukrainian outfit since the start of the season.

* Artem Milevskiy is Dynamo Kiev's top goalscorer in the competition with five goals.

* Oleg Gusev's own goal in the first leg was the 50th conceded by Dynamo Kiev in the Europa League and Uefa Cup.

* Braga have won six of their seven home games in Europe this season without conceding a single goal.

* All of Braga's four goals in the Europa League this season have been scored in the first half.

* Braga midfielder Hugo Viana played against Dynamo Kiev during his time at Newcastle United. The Portuguese played in the 2-0 loss to the White-Blues in Ukraine in 2002-03 Champions League first group stage.

* Braga have never been involved in a European penalty shoot-out.

* Alan is Braga's top goalscorer in the Europa League this season with two goals.

LAST MEETING

April 7, 2011: Dynamo Kiev 1-1 Braga

The hosts stormed into the lead through a superb Andriy Yarmolenko header, but Braga forced their way back into the game when Oleg Gusev deflected a shot from Lima past his own goalkeeper. Dynamo Kiev sent in Milan legend Andriy Shevchenko to turn the tables at half-time, but instead the striker got himself sent off and the home side had to settle for a 1-1 draw.

PROBABLE LINE-UPS

Dynamo Kiev: Shovkovskiy; Silva, Yussuf, Almeida, Popov; Vukojevic; Eremenko, Gusev, Yarmolenko; Kravets; Milevskiy.

Braga: Artur; Paulao, Garcia, Kaka, Silvio; Hugo Viana, Vandinho, Salino; Paulo Cesar, Alan, Lima.

Prediction

  Braga 1-1 Dynamo    

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14.04. (Thu) 21:05 PSV Eindhoven - Benfica

DID YOU KNOW?

* PSV defeated Scottish side Rangers 1-0 on aggregate in the third round of the Europa League to reach the quarter-finals. They won the second leg 1-0 away after drawing the first match at home 0-0.

* Marcelo has featured in all of PSV's European games this term, but is only one booking away from a suspension.

* The Eindhoven side haven't won a European tournament since beating Benfica in the final of the European Cup in 1988.

* Hungarian winger Balazs Dzsudzsak is PSV's top scorer in the competition with four goals.

* PSV are unbeaten at home this European campaign, recording four wins and two draws in Eindhoven.

* Benfica defeated French outfit Paris Saint-Germain 3-2 on aggregate in the third round of the Europa League to reach the quarter-finals.

* The Aguias have won only one from their five European away matches this season, defeating only Stuttgart.

* Jorge Jesus' men are still unbeaten in the Europa League after entering the competition in the round of 32.

* Eduardo Salvio is Benfica's top scorer in the Europa League with three goals.

* Benfica's next European loss will be their 100th defeat in European club competitions.

LAST MEETING

April 7, 2011: Benfica 4-1 PSV
The Portuguese side dominated play from the first whistle and picked up the lead ten minutes before half time through Pablo Aimar. An Eduardo Salvio brace then gifted Benfica a three-goal lead before Zakaria Labyad pegged one back. Javier Saviola eventually made it 4-1 well into stoppage time.

PROBABLE LINE-UPS

PSV: Isaksson; Manolev, Marcelo, Rodriguez, Bouma; Hutchinson, Bakkal, Labyad; Lens, Berg, Dzsudzsak

Benfica: Roberto; Maxi Pereira, Luisao, Sidnei, Coentrao; Salvio, Javi Garcia, Aimar, Gaitan; Saviola, Cardozo

Prediction

Benfica showed that they're the better side of the two in the first leg of this quarter-final encounter by beating PSV 4-1. The Dutch side have the home advantage though this Thursday and they'll be eager to show what they're capable of. It seems pretty much impossible for the Eindhoven side to turn the tie around, but a small win could definitely be on the cards, especially since the Portuguese giants don't really need a positive result.

PSV Eindhoven 1-0 Benfica

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14.04. (Thu) 21:05 Twente - Villarreal

DID YOU KNOW?

* Twente are unbeaten in six European games at home, winning twice and drawing four times.

* Luuk de Jong is the Tukkers’ top scorer in the Europa League with three goals.

* Midfielder Denny Landzaat was a member of the AZ team that eliminated Villarreal in the 2004-05 quarter-finals of the UEFA Cup.

* Forward Arnold Bruggink featured in Spain with Real Mallorca in the 2003-04 campaign.

* Villarreal have not lost their last three away encounters in Europe, having won twice and drawn once.

* Goalkeeper Diego Lopez has played every minute of the Yellow Submarine’s Europa League campaign.

* The Yellow Submarine are three short of scoring their 100th goal in UEFA Cup and Europa League.

* Juan Carlos Garrido’s side are unbeaten in their last seven Europa League matches.

LAST MEETING

April 7, 2011: Villarreal 5-1 Twente

Villarreal were in total control of the first-leg encounter between the two sides. Carlos Marchena broke the deadlock as early as the 22nd minute and a couple of minutes before half-time Borja Valero doubled the advantage. Nilmar scored in injury time and netted his second on 80 minutes after Giuseppe Rossi had etched his name on the scoresheet. Marc Janko reduced the deficit to 5-1 with an injury time goal.

PROBABLE LINE-UPS

Twente: Mihaylov; Douglas, Wisgerhof, Onyewu, Tiendalli; Brama, Landzaat, Janssen; Ruiz, De Jong, Chadli

Villarreal: Lopez; Mario, Kiko, Musacchio, Capdevila; Valero, Marchena, Bruno, Cani; Nilmar, Ruben

Prediction

Twente are as good as out of the Europa League but they will stage a good fight against Villarreal at home. The Spanish side went down 5-0 to Valencia in the Primera Division on Sunday evening and will hope to bounce back. A narrow victory for the Dutch champions looks to be the most likely outcome.

Twente 2-1 Villarreal

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