UEFA Cup 2007/2008

[Clrnc]

rangers lucky last night. the goalie was superb.

werder launched a super onslaught on rangers right from the first min but walter's smith defensive act worked damn well

 

[Mostarac]

The quarter-finals and semi-finals have been drawn. In the semi-finals, the winner in the Leverkusen match will take on the winner from the Bayern match, and the winner from the Rangers match take on the winner from Fiorentina`s match. Its still looking good for the dream final, Bayern-Fiorentina.

Leverkusen-Zenit.
Rangers-Sporting.
Bayern-Getafe.
Fiorentina-PSV.

 

[clockwork orange]

All tough to call. Think Bayern is most likely of all teams to go through. Getafe will probably miss Granero & Pablo Hernandez.

Zenit, Sporting & PSV can do what they like in the first leg: sit back & hit them on the break.

 

[Clrnc]

my pick is the first leg's home team all to go through

 

[Mostarac]

I think Bayern have got the most difficult opponents, Getafe have been brilliant in the UEFA Cup this season and will provide them with problems. However, like most, I expect Bayern to advance. I think Leverkusen, Sporting, Bayern and Fiorentina will advance.

 

[USgoonergirl]

I think Leverkusen, Rangers, Bayern and Fiorentina will go through.

Should be interesting though.

 

[DREVAK]

Now this I did not see coming. Leverkusen are getting demolished by Zenit Petersburg. 1 – 4. And it is not over yet. 75th minute. The first half ended 1 – 1 after Arshavin gave the visitors the lead early and Kiessling equalized with about half an hour gone. But pretty much only minutes after the break, Zenit scored their second. Then third on the sixtieth minute. Moments later, the fourth. I have expected the German side to do better, much better, than that!

And it's all over now. With no change to the scoreline. What is there to say? I didn't expect that. I would have thought Leverkusen would not lose. And I definitely underestimated Zenit. You don't win by three goals by accident. Well, most of the time. So, Bayer Leverkusen 1 – 4 Zenit Petersburg. Bring on Rangers against Sporting. Or Bayern versus Getafe. Or possibly the best of the three, Fiorentina against PSV.

 

[Mostarac]

Luca Toni is fantastic, 28 goals so far for Bayern in his first season in Germany. Needless to say who scored Bayern`s goal against Getafe.

 

[Clrnc]

what a performance from the russian champions. simply phenomenal. bayer is very good at home this season, but zenit tore them apart totally.

arshavin is a great player, can we lay our hands on him?

watching bayern play now, they got 2 great wingers in ribery and schweinsteinger, got 2 good fullbacks, got 3 great strikers, 2 decent centerbacks. quite a good team actually

 

[DREVAK]

A quick update, Fiorentina took the lead in the second half thanks to Mutu, only to see Koevermans make it level a few minutes later. I did not see why, but apparently Gomes the PSV goalkeeper was substituted. In other news Bayern still lead 1 – 0 against Getafe and I would be surprised if they throw it away. And finally the Rangers – Sporting game is still goalless but does not lack in aggressive behaviour. About twenty minutes left in all matches.

 

[Mostarac]

Getafe deserved much more than 1-1 against Bayern tonight. Some of the chances they missed in the 2nd half were incredible. Having said that, Bayern had two dangerous counter-attacks to show for in the 2nd half which they wasted after sloppy final passes. Getafe have been fantastic in Europe this season and are one of the favourites to take it now. That De la Red is some player, fantastic passing and technical skills on that guy, he owned the Bayern midfield totally tonight. He reminds a lot of Pirlo, some of his passes were ridicilously well done. Typical Real-policy to get rid of him last season. Too bad Fiorentina wasted their home advantage tonight, from what I read, they were the more aggressive team tonight. Advantage PSV, but Fiorentina can still do it in the return match. Sporting with quite a good chance aswell after getting 0-0 in Glasgow.

 

[Clrnc]

and sporting was very dangerous against rangers as well.

for now, only one team is confirmed into the semis, and that is zenit. but i predict getafe, sporting, PSV, to follow the russians through

 

[tam1886]

I didn't think Sporting were any more dangerous than Rangers. They had one or two decent chances but no more than that. Rangers had them pinned back for almost the whole game, but were poor all night so they never turned that possession into goals or chances. Sloppy tackling, even sloppier passing and a lack of good chances may have just dented Ranges hopes of going through. Good thing is we didn't concede the away goal, which may turn out to be vitally important.

Veloso was the stand out for me tonight. He controlled the midfield, even though he hardly had the ball. He stopped Rangers playing, he organised those around him well, and even though Rangers had more of the ball, Veloso seemed to be the one controlling what was happening. Their defence was good too, however, they weren't put under heavy enough pressure, and I'd have like to see the goalie tested a bit more.

The second leg looks like it's going to be a very interesting affair. Rangers may have Cousin back by then, but they need to freshen up the squad anyway as those players looked dead on their feet after about 80 mins. It looked more like the end of extra time than the end of 90 mins from some of the Rangers players. It's going to be a very difficult challenge for them, and it's balanced in Sporting's favour. I don't see Rangers getting many chances at all considering how poor they were and how little they created tonight. You never know though, it only takes one chance, and they proved in Lyon that they can do the business away from home.

 

[Mostarac]

Even though it is, to use an old cliche, only half-time, I expect Getafe, Zenit, Sporting and PSV to advance now. For me, the most impressive teams in the tournament have been Getafe and Zenit so far.

 

[tam1886]

Have Getafe really been that good? I kinda expected Bayern to romp home with this trophy.

Sounds like Laudrup and Jensen are doing some job with them.

 

[Mostarac]

Getafe have been very solid throughout the tournament. Very solid team in Europe this season, not as solid in the league but a domestic cup final beckons for them again. Tactically, they are very good, balanced but still playing free-flowing football. The thing which has impressed me the most is how good they seem technically, players such as De la Red, Granero, Pablo Hernandez, Braulio and Albin have all been very impressive. The weak point Getafe have are their goalkeepers it seems, once highly-rated Ustari looks like a clown, while Abbondanzieri is not what he used to be. If Getafe get past Bayern, they will surely be the main favourites.

 

[tam1886]

They've certainly surprised me so far. I can't say I've seen them play, but I've been keeping my eye on their results since JJ and Laudrup took over. They've had some pretty good wins from what I've read, I'll need to make more of an effort to watch them either on tv or a stream.

I said it somewhere else before, but the interview in last months Arsenal magazine with Jensen was interesting. He spoke a good bit abuot Getafe and what him and Laudrup are trying to do there.

 

[Mostarac]

Jensen is a great guy. You should have seen him on the bench tonight, he was practically living the match on his own on the bench. Laudrup is Laudrap, elegant tactician who has always been a gentleman. He has a great future ahead of him as a manager, and will probably manage his old club Real sooner than later.

 

[EMIR8_SOLDIER]

Yeh our old boy jensen has really impressed me with his charismatic mentally hes instilled and laudrup who is creating a really big name for himself around europe, its no wonder chelsea and real are after him. Just impresses me the more I see his team play as his tactics are so accute yet timed perfectly during matches. And as a man himself, he stays away from all the media hype and most of all has respect from all sets of players

 

[EMIR8_SOLDIER]

On a side note, big praise goes to zenit, whom I tipped to beat villareal and marsielle and now make it to the final due to the experience of the man himself, **** Advocaat

Like hiddink, both been around for years but always believed in playing football the correct way whilst winning things too

Dicks another one of those master tacticians with the knowledge and discipline of seeing danger way before it happens and can read the game inside out

Arshavin played like he was sending a sign to Arsène, come and get me...Like nedved, equally good on both feet and can play on any wing...Hes a real team player like sagna with a hungry mentality, need more of those types we do