Rangers and Sporting move on to quarters

By: Ian Rose | March 13th, 2008

   

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With a fantastic individual performance by keeper Allan McGregor, Rangers have moved on to the UEFA Cup quarterfinals over Werder Bremen 2-1 on aggregate. A late goal in Lisbon for Sporting CP also put them over a toothless Bolton 2-1.

So, the last eight in the tournament are:

Rangers (Scotland)
Sporting CP (Portugal)
Fiorentina (Italy)
PSV Eindhoven (Holland)
Bayern Munich (Germany)
Getafe (Spain)
Zenit St. Petersburg (Russia)
Bayer Leverkusen (Germany)

That’s eight teams from seven leagues, just like in 2006, when it was Romania who had the only multiple entries. Awesome. Teams like Hamburg and Everton, who had great runs in the tournament, are done, and some might say that Bayern Munich is now a clear favorite, but really, it’s almost anyone’s tournament. The draw for the remaining rounds is tomorrow, and I’ll have the bracket up here on the site then. Who is going to have to go to Ibrox? Who will face the tough trip to St. Petersburg? And, of course, who will be the next side to line up against Bayern? It’s going to be a fantastic couple of rounds.

Category: UEFA Cup

   

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Comments  

• john |  March 13th, 2008 at 3:21 pm

  
  
  

  Interesting that not a single English team made it through to the next stage, nor a French team. In fact, after Lyon’s early exit from the CL, France is out of all the European cup tournies.

  I would love to see Bayern face Fiorentina at some point in the competition, I think that would be a thrilling match.

  

• Jan |  March 13th, 2008 at 3:38 pm

  
  
  

  It’s the second season in a row that no English team made it to the quarter final of the UEFA Cup.

  I think experience with the specific nature of those competitions and sometimes just a bit of luck go a long way for a team to be successful in Europe. That’s what e.g. the big four is setting apart from the other EPL teams, who take turns in the UEFA Cup.

  

• Inara |  March 13th, 2008 at 9:21 pm

  
  
  

  John: France just sucks in Europe. Even Intertoto Cups are a bit of a reach in the Hexagon. And I say this as a Ligue 1 supporter.

  ::cries::

  

• Ian |  March 13th, 2008 at 9:56 pm

  
  
  

  See what you’ve done, John, now you’ve gone and made Inara cry … er, I guess France did that … again … See what you’ve done, France?

  

• dumitru |  March 13th, 2008 at 10:27 pm

  
  
  

  i would love to see a fiorentina-bayern final.i think they are also the strongest teams left.getafe and psv should not be underrestimated too.

  

• tony |  March 14th, 2008 at 1:51 am

  
  
  

  i hink da gers will go all the way and lift the cup in manchester mon the gers!!!!

  

• declan |  March 14th, 2008 at 1:53 am

  
  
  

  i hink that the gers r sh*t nd they will never get past the next round mon the bhoys