Europa League Match Day 2 Preview
After a frantic day two of the Champions League that saw a record 13 penalties being awarded, the focus now shifts to Europe’s second tier completion as there are some mouth watering matches on show tonight.
Group A will host the biggest match of the night as the European Giants will take on the challenge from one of the newest forces in football trying to make a name for themselves.
The Olympic in Turin will host a clash of mammoth proportions as Manchester City will play the biggest match in their history and that too against former European Champions.
Juve will hold no fears for the match against City as they are well equipped to deal with the new found riches of Manchester City. Vincenzo Iaquinta, Allesandro Del Piero, Georgio Chiellini, Felipe Melo and Amauri are all fit for the clash and ready to teach
Mancini’s side a lesson in football.
On paper Juve look a very formidable side but their form on the pitch has not been great in recent weeks as they are lagging behind the likes of Roma, Inter, and AC Milan in the La Liga. But this is a different competition all together and will provide them
with an opportunity to get things right in the season.
In another big match of the night Sevilla will host the German side Borrusia Dortmund at Ramon Sanchez Pizjuan. Seviila are struggling miserably in the Spanish La Liga and their season will turn into a disaster if they fail to cope up with the challenge
tonight at home.
Sevilla are languishing in the bottom half of the La Liga table after 5 matches and if they fail to win tonight there will be immense pressure on Jose Maria Del Nido. Kanoute, Fabiano, Jesus Navas, Zakora and Capel are all fit for the tie tonight and will
take part in the match.
Defending Champions Atletico Madrid will look to cement their place at the top of their group after their opening night win. The Los Rojiblancos welcome German Side Bayer Leverkusen tonight at Vincente Calderon and even after the sale of Sami Khedira and
Mesut Ozil, the German side are still strong and proved it with an opening night win against Rosenborg.
Over in group K, Liverpool will pit their wits against Dirk Kuyt’s ex employers FC Utrecth tonight. Liverpool drew their opening match against Steau Bucharest 1-1 and if Roy Hodgson’s side are to have any real hopes of making it to the next round of the
Europa League then they must win the clash tonight.
Liverpool manager Roy Hodgson has rested Steven Gerrard for the clash while an out of form Fernando Torres has travelled to Netherlands for the all important clash. David Ngog who has scored 6 goals in 6 games this season for Liverpool will be partnering
Torres upfront in the clash while Joe Cole, Milan Jovanovic and Christian Paulsen are all likely to feature for Liverpool.
The group wise fixtures of Match Day 2 are as follows:
Group A: Juventus V Manchester City, Red Bull Salzburg V Lech Poznań
Group B: Bayer Leverkusen V Atlético Madrid, Aris Tehssaloniki V Rosenborg
Group C: Levski Sofia V Sporting, Lille V Gent
Group D: Dinamo Zagreb V PAOK, Club Brugge V Villarreal
Group E: AZ V BATE, Dynamo Kyiv V Sheriff
Group F: Sparta Praha V CSKA Moscow, Lausanne V Palermo
Group G: Anderlecht V Hajduk Split, AEK V Zenit
Group H: Stuttgart V Odense, Getafe V Young Boys
Group I: Debrecen V Sampdoria, PSV V Metalist Kharikiv
Group J: Sevilla V Borussia Dortmund, Karpaty V PSG
Group K: Liverpool V Utrecht, Napoli V Steaua
Group L: Porto V CSKA Sofia, Beşiktaş V Rapid Wien
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