UEFA Cup Group B Preview

By: Ian Rose | October 10th, 2007

This is the second in an eight part series outlining each of the UEFA Cup groups, and making my predictions for each and every UEFA Cup group stage match.

Group B is, in order of seeding:
Panathinaikos (Greece), Locomotiv Moscow (Russia), Atletico Madrid (Spain), Copenhagen (Denmark), and Aberdeen (Scotland)

The matches:
Panathinaikos v. Aberdeen, 25 October
Aberdeen has a tough draw overall, but having their first match away to the first seed is gutting. Home win for the Greeks.

Locomotiv Moscow v. Atletico Madrid, 25 October
Maybe the most important match of the group, but a slim home win for the Russians.

Aberdeen v. Locomotiv Moscow, 8 November
As much as I respect Locomotiv, I think the Pittodrie hopeful will pull Dons to a draw here.

Copenhagen v. Panathinaikos, 8 November
Copenhagen beat Lens here, and I can see them taking all the points in front of a delighted crowd. Home win.

Atletico Madrid v. Aberdeen, 29 November
Unless things change massively in the next six weeks, Aberdeen just won’t have enough. Home win.

Locomotiv Moscow v. Copenhagen, 29 November
Even coming from a cold climate, Moscow is not going to be inviting. Home win.

Copenhagen v. Atletico Madrid, 5 December
Atletico will get their breakthrough win in Denmark. Away win.

Panathinaikos v. Locomotiv Moscow, 5 December
A tough one to call. I’ll give the slight advantage to the Greeks at home, so let’s say a thin home win.

Atletico Madrid v. Panathinaikos, 20 December
Atletico seal their advancement with a huge win here over the Greek favorites.

Aberdeen v. Copenhagen, 20 December
The Danes are not frightened easily, but this is the best chance for Aberdeen to get all points, and Jimmy Calderwood will know it and plan accordingly. Home win.

If all of these games go as predicted, which is about as likely as me buying Arsenal, here’s how the table will look, with advancing teams in bold:

Atletico Madrid (8 points)
Locomotiv Moscow (7 points)
Panathinaikos (6 points)
Aberdeen (4 points)
Copenhagen (3 points)

This is a strange group, with no clear front runner, but I definitely see the top three advancing. Copenhagen feels more like a spoiler (taking out Lens) than a real contender, and as much as my heart wants to predict an Aberdeen run, my head wins out this time. They just don’t have the depth, and their offense is severely lacking. Like I said, the top three are so close in this group that the order could go any possible way, but I’ll tip Atletico, who are on relatively good form both domestically and in Europe, to take the group, with Locomotiv just behind, and the top-seeded Panathinaikos in third. There’s another draw after this round, so order doesn’t matter much anyway.