Group Stage: Match Day 4

By: Dan | November 5th, 2009

It’s match day four in the Europa League. While we’re very much in the business end of the group stage at this point, some groups are no closer to being decided than they were on match day one.

Here in the US, the major televised early game was, for some reason, Hamburg v. Celtic. The first half was fairly open and, at times, frantic. Both clubs created several clear goal scoring opportunities that were denied by fine work from Frank Rost and Lukasz Zaluska. In the second half, Hamburg were more careful with their possession and their superiority became more evident, as they continued creating chances, while Celtic, forced into more intense defending, had few attacking forays to speak of. Ultimately, Hamburg couldn’t find a way to break the goalless draw. The result means that, as the announcer incessantly reminded us, Celtic are not mathematically eliminated. They would, of course, need a very improbable set of results to entertain the fantastical notion of advancing. The scoreless draw is helpful, though, to Hapoel Tel Aviv. The Israeli side soundly defeated Rapid Vienna again to move to the top of the group. Rapid also look to be in trouble now, as they will have to shock Hamburg again and defeat a Celtic side who are presumably still revenge minded.

Group B was turned on its ear by today’s results. Lille have jeopardized the excellent work they’ve done so far by losing in Genoa. The French side fought back from a two goal deficit only to concede an injury time winner. Valencia, meanwhile, squandered their own two goal lead in the final ten minutes against bottom dwelling, ten man Slavia Prague. This combination of results leaves Lille in first place with seven points, with Genoa and Valencia level on six, so the final two match days should be pretty frantic in this group.

Group A is one of the groups that is essentially decided already. Dinamo Zagreb were deducted points earlier this week because of crowd disturbances during their match at Timisoara. The deduction left Dinamo with no points and Timisoara with two. Anderlecht and Ajax took full advantage by winning today. Anderlecht, who missed a number of chances to leave Romania with all three points two weeks ago, dispatched Timisoara at home. Ajax, for their part, beat Dinamo, behind closed doors, in Croatia. This leaves Ajax and Anderlecht level on eight points, six points clear of third placed Timisoara.

Group F also reduced the final two match days to formalities with today’s results. Sturm Graz suffered another battling defeat, this time at home to Panathinaikos. Galatasaray continued to dominate the group; they won 3-0 away to Dinamo Bucharest.

Roma moved into second place in group E, after downing Fulham at the Olimpico. Fulham took an early lead through a Diomansy Kamara penalty. Before halftime, Roma just missed out on an equalizer and Fulham just missed out on going two goals up. The match was changed by Erik Nevland’s early second half dismissal. John Arne Riise leveled the match and Stefano Okaka Chuka grabbed the winning goal. Fulham actually ended up with nine men after Paul Konchesky was shown the red card in injury time. Basel maintained their grasp on first place with a 3-1 win over whipping boys CSKA Sofia. With the three contending clubs still to play head to head again, this group is far from being decided.

Stop the presses in group D; Hertha Berlin have won a game. Again, you are not reading this incorrectly, Hertha Berlin scored three goals, while their opponents Heerenveen, managed only two. In typical Hertha fashion though, their first win since August doesn’t do anything tangible for them, aside from the morale boost. I do have to say that Hertha displayed a resiliency that they have obviously been lacking this season. Despite going behind very early in the game, and going behind a second time after controlling significant periods of the game, they actually came back to win. Sporting are still coasting in this group, despite dropping their first points with a draw against Ventsplis today. Hertha are level with Heerenveen, with Ventsplis one point behind. The matter of coming out of the group with Sporting will probably not be decided before the final match day.

The 3:00 televised US game was Villarreal v. Lazio, which after a closely contested match two weeks ago, which featured a dramatic late winner from Tommaso Rocchi, looked promising. Since the last match day, however, Villarreal have started recovering some form, and they turned this match into a rout within fifteen minutes. A long range, Robert Pires free kick bounced past Lazio keeper Bizaarri in the third minute. Then, Lazio’s Roberto Baronio was dismissed almost immediately after the restart. Villarreal extended their lead through Cani and a Robert Pires penalty. Lazio were handed a lifeline just after the half hour when Villarreal defender Gonzalo was sent off after bringing down Rocchi in the area. Pasquale Foggia sent the resulting penalty crashing against the crossbar, though. Villarreal had several more chances to move even further ahead before the first half ended. The second half was more subdued, although substitute Mauro Zarate pulled a goal back for Lazio. The brief glimmer of hope only lasted for ten minutes; Villarreal were awarded another penalty, converted by substitute Guiseppe Rossi after Cani was chopped down. The 4-1 victory moves Villarreal into second place in the group. Lazio now face a daunting, must win encounter with Salzburg, in Austria, on match day five. Salzburg, for their part, won at Levski Sofia.

Fenerbahce and Twente remained in the top two group H spots, although Twente left it until very late to take all three points from Sheriff. The Moldovans are not out of contention yet, but, assuming they win against last place Steaua, they’ll probably have to avoid losing when they play Fenerbahce again.

Everton had revenge on their minds after their humiliation in Portugal two weeks ago, but it was not to be. The 2-0 margin of victory was not as shocking, but Benfica are now alone at the top of group I. AEK and BATE drew 2-2, so Everton remain in second place.

Shakhtar Donetsk maintained their perfect form in group J with a 2-0 victory over Toulouse. Club Brugge also won, 4-2, at Partizan Belgrade. Brugge occupy second place for now. As they face another match with runaway leaders Shakhtar, their match with Toulouse will be pivotal in deciding who will advance from the group.

PSV and Sparta Prague are separated by a point at the top of group K. PSV could only draw with Copenhagen, while Sparta needed six minutes of extra time to grab a winning goal in Cluj. No one is mathematically out of the running in this group yet. Although with a three point gap between second and third place, PSV and Sparta Prague control their own destinies.

Finally, in group L, Werder Bremen are through to the knockout stage after netting two late goals against a stubborn Austria Vienna. Bilbao needed a late penalty to draw level with Nacional. The draw keeps Bilbao four points above Austria Vienna.

Group A
Anderlecht 3 - Timisoara 1
Dinamo Zagreb 0 – Ajax 2

Group B
Slavia Prague 2 – Valencia 2
Genoa 3 – Lille OSC 2

Group C
Hamburg SV 0 – Celtic 0
Rapid Vienna 0 – Hapoel Tel Aviv 3

Group D
Sporting CP 1 – Ventsplis 1
Heerenveen 2 – Hertha Berlin 3

Group E
AS Roma 2 – Fulham 1
FC Basel 3 – CSKA Sofia 1

Group F
Dinamo Bucharest 0 – Galatasaray 3
Sturm Graz 0 – Panathinaikos 1

Group G
Levski Sofia 0 – Red Bull Salzburg 1
Villarreal 4 – SS Lazio 1

Group H
FC Twente 2 – Sheriff 1
Fenerbahce 3 – Steaua Bucharest 1

Group I
AEK Athens 2 – BATE 2
Everton 0 – Benfica 2

Group J
Toulouse 0 – Shakhtar Donetsk 2
Partizan Belgrade 2 – Club Brugge 4

Group K
FC Copenhagen 1 – PSV Eindhoven 1
CFR Cluj 2 – Sparta Prague 3

Group L
Werder Bremen 2 – Austria Vienna 0
CD Nacional 1 – Athletic Bilbao 1