Europa League - Group J Preview Nov 4th, 2010
The Group J of Europa League houses the likes of Sevilla, Borussia Dortmund, Karpaty Lviv and Paris St. Germain of France. It is another tight group as only three points separate the top three sides with European minnows Lviv failing to register even a single
point in the competition so far.
Here is a preview of tonight’s matches:
Sevilla vs. Karpaty Lviv
(Estadio Ramón Sánchez Pizjuán (Sevilla) - Thursday November 4th, 2010)
Gregorio Manzano, the new coach of Sevilla learned a new lesson in slick passing football at the hand of Barcelona at the weekend in Spanish La Liga where they lost to the reigning champions by a whopping 5 goals to nil.
But, tonight’s opponents for the Los Plangananas are no Barcelona and are in fact minnows in this competition. With Sevilla badly bruised by the Blaugaranas, one fears for the pride of the Ukrainian side.
Sevilla will be entertaining Lviv in front of the home fans at the Ramon Sanchez Pizjuan without the services of Jesus Navas and Antonio Palo but should still have enough fire power to get past the Ukrainian minnows.
Sevilla have a midweek meeting next week with the high flying Los Che in the La Liga and the coach may decide to rest some of his big stars for the game tonight. But that decision can prove to be a costly one as a loss will severely hamper Sevilla’s chance
of progressing into the next round.
Antonio Palop, the Sevilla goalkeeper is still out with injury and along with him are Romaric and Fedrico Fazio on the treatment table but despite a depleted squad, Sevilla are hopeful that they can get a result tonight.
The Spanish side came out victorious in the reverse fixture two weeks ago at the Carpathian Mountains by a solitary goal and cannot afford to take anything for granted for this tie.
Karpaty showed great fighting spirit against Borussia Dortmund when they lost 4-3 to the Bundesliga leaders but their lack of experience in Europe may just come to haunt them against a side of Sevilla’s pedigree.
PSG vs. Borussia Dortmund
(Parc des Princes, Paris (Paris) - Thursday November 4th, 2010)
Parc des Princes in France will host another mouth watering encounter of Group J with Paris Saint Germain taking on German high fliers Dortmund.
PSG are the current leaders of the group but are only one point ahead of Sevilla and two ahead of Dortmund. A defeat tonight for PSG will throw the group split wide open.
PSG showed defensive vulnerabilities in their last league game against Montpellier and any defensive frailties tonight will be punished severely by the Germans. Both sides are unbeaten in the competition so far and if Dortmud are to progress to the next
round, they will have to conjure up a win.
Die Borussen’s last outing in the league was against FSV Mainz when they beat the Bundesliga leaders 4-2 to claim the top slot in Bindesliga.
Lucas Barrios and Mario Goetze gave stellar performances in that game. Much will depend on the duo tonight if Dortmund are to do anything good in Spain.
PSG’s main strength is their aerial prowess and dogged defending but Dortmund will have to find a way around their opponents tonight at all costs as a loss will have serious repercussions for them.
Clubs
Pld
W
D
L
F
A
+/-
Pts
1
Paris Saint-Germain FC
3
2
1
0
4
1
3
7
2
Sevilla FC
3
2
0
1
2
1
1
6
3
Borussia Dortmund
3
1
1
1
5
5
0
4
4
FC Karpaty Lviv
3
0
0
3
3
7
-4
0
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