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

There were a couple of notable thrashings in matches that we probably thought would have been closer affairs. Benfica, led by Javier Saviola and Oscar Cardazo tore Everton apart in the second half, for a 5-0 victory. Meanwhile, in the Ukraine, Shakhtar Donetsk showed their title winning form with a 4-0 win over Toulouse. Shakhtar’s victory was especially helpful for group mates Club Brugge, who are now very much in the race for second, after they dispatched Partizan Belgrade.

Villarreal appeared to have gained a momentary respite from their season long misery, but Tommaso Rochhi’s injury time winner, which after their first match day loss against Salzburg will be more welcome to Lazio fans than usual, has almost certainly jeopardized Ernesto Valverde’s employment. Red Bull Salzburg continued their perfect group stage form with a 1-0 win over Levski Sofia.

Group H continues to be rather unpredictable. Sheriff surprised Twente with a 2-0 win that actually put them ahead of the Dutch league leaders in second place. Steaua Bucharest continue to underwhelm in this group. A 1-0 loss to Fenerbahce, who now top the group, leaves Steaua bottom, with no goals scored.

Things in groups L and K pretty much stayed the same. Sparta Prague’s victory over CFR Cluj moved them into second place for now. PSV maintained the top spot with a win over Copenhagen.

Roma’s match at Fulham was televised by GolTV, but the first 45 minutes might have left their fans wishing that they were spared the ‘pleasure’. Tepid and unimaginative will suffice to describe a Roma side who were always on the back foot in the first half. A couple of close offside decisions spared Roma further damage. Roma started out brightly in the second half with the introduction of Pizarro and Perotta, and went on to dominate the second half. It looked like they would not be able to find a way past Fulham, even after they were awarded a penalty for a sloppy foul against John Arne Riise. Fulham goalkeeper Mark Schwarzer must have employed the guessing technique, as Jeremy Menez’s penalty was well struck towards the bottom left hand corner, but comfortably saved. Roma eventually grabbed a deserved equalizer at the last possible moment from a corner. This result, along with Basel’s win in Bulgaria, puts the Swiss club on top of the group, while Roma remains in third place.

Rapid Vienna’s bright start came to a screeching halt in Israel, where they were soundly beaten, 5-1, by Hapoel Tel Aviv. Rapid must regret not holding on to their lead against a less than imposing Celtic on match day 2, as they now drop to third in the group behind Hapoel and Hamburg, who won 1-0 at Celtic Park.

Hertha Berlin continued their odd campaign to introduce novel forms of suffering to the Hertha fan experience. A single Heerenveen goal was enough for the Eredivisie strugglers to take all three points home from Berlin with them. For their part, Sporting continue to effortlessly waltz through this group.

Lille continued their very impressive campaign with a 3-0 win against Genoa. This win puts Lille in command of the group, as Valencia could only manage a draw at home against bottom club Slavia Prague.

Ajax, who despite playing well in the group, had not won yet, finally made their performance count; they beat Dinamo Zagreb 2-1, which puts them on top of the group, ahead of Anderlecht on goal difference. Timisoara leave me wondering how they managed to knock Shakhtar out of the Champions League. Like their countrymen Steaua, they have not yet scored a goal; today they were fortunate to draw 0-0 with Anderlecht.

Finally, in Group F, any lingering hopes that Sturm Graz had were extinguished in a close match against Panathinaikos, while Galatasaray won comfortably against Dinamo Bucharest. Dinamo remain in contention, but they will have some work to do to progress from this group. They’re now a full three points behind second place Panathinaikos.

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

Group B
Valencia 1 – Slavia Prague 1
Lille OSC 3 - Genoa 0

Group C
Celtic 0 – Hamburg SV 1
Hapoel Tel Aviv 5 - Rapid Vienna 1

Group D
Ventsplis 1 – Sporting CP 2
Hertha Berlin 0 – Heerenveen 1

Group E
Fulham 1 – AS Roma 1
CSKA Sofia 0 – FC Basel 2

Group F
Galatasaray 4 – Dinamo Bucharest 1
Panathinaikos 1 – Sturm Graz 0

Group G
Red Bull Salzburg 1 – Levski Sofia 0
SS Lazio 2 – Villarreal 1

Group H
Sheriff 2 – Twente 0
Steaua Bucharest 0 – Fenerbahce 1

Group I
BATE 2 – AEK Athens 1
Benfica 5 - Everton 0

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

Group K
PSV Eindhoven 1 – FC Copenhagen 0
Sparta Prague 2 – CFR Cluj 0

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

Standings at uefa.com.

In the first batch of games, Red Bull Salzburg scored another surprise victory. Unlike their late smash and grab against Lazio, the caffeinated advertisements enjoyed a comfortable 2-0 victory against Villarreal, who continue a terrible start to their season. For their part, Lazio took out their frustration over the first day result by beating Levski Sofia 4-0. Now that Villarreal and Lazio are due to face off on the next match day, the Austrians have a chance to take control of the group, which if you don’t profit from Red Bull, is just terrible.

Club Brugge rescued a point against Toulouse in stoppage time. The Belgians vastly improved on their performance against Shakhtar two weeks ago. Last seasons UEFA Cup champions dominated Partizan Belgrade just as they did Club Brugge; Shaktar won 4-1. If Brugge or Partizan have the slightest hope of getting out of this group, they’ll probably want all six points available when they play each other.

Steaua Bucharest still haven’t scored a goal in their group; their match with Twente ended goalless. Fenerbahce rebounded from their defeat to Twente with a 1-0 over Sheriff.

Memo to GolTV: the number of Argentines playing probably isn’t the best criteria for choosing a game to televise. Benfica and their La Liga castoffs were wasteful with the chances they had against AEK Athens, who won 1-0. In the group’s other game, Everton survived a bit of a scare against BATE, eventually winning 2-1.

In the remaining early games, Werder Bremen, PSV, and Copenhagen beat Athletic Bilbao, Cluj, and Sparta Prague, respectively, and Austria Vienna drew with CD Nacional.

In the second, US televised game, Valencia beat Genoa in a rather entertaining affair. Despite Genoa benefiting from a clear offside goal and a penalty, Valencia were impressive enough to win 3-2. In addition to the usual fine performances from David Villa and David Silva, Ever Benega was excellent for Valencia as well. Elsewhere in the group, Lille put in an impressive performance of their own; they hammered Slavia Prauge 5-1.

Hertha Berlin lost again. Sadly this counts as an improvement, as they only lost 1-0. Fortunately for the Berliners, Ventsplis and Heerenveen drew 0-0, which means the second spot behind Sporting, who are clearly the strongest team in the group, remains wide open.

Anderlecht’s late equalizer against Ajax kept them on top of their group, while Dinamo Zagreb moved into the second spot after dispatching Timisoara 3-0.

Roma rebounded from their abject performance against Basel with a 2-0 win over CSKA Sofia. Basel could not keep their positive momentum going, as they suffered a lackluster, 1-0 defeat at Fulham, who currently top the group.

The great Celtic revenge match against Rapid Vienna turned out to be a 1-1 letdown, though the look on some faces after Rapid went ahead almost immediately must have been good for a cheap laugh or two. Hamburg’s 4-2 victory against Hapoel Tel Aviv means that Celtic, for now, sit on the bottom of this group.

Finally, things remain pretty tight in Group F. Galatasaray were held to a 1-1 draw by Sturm Graz, and Panathinaikos downed Dinamo Bucharest. These results leave Galatasaray, Panathinaikos and Dinamo separated by a point, and Sturm at the bottom, but not completely hopeless yet.

Group A
Anderlecht 1 – Ajax Amsterdam 1
Timisosara 0 – Dinamo Zagreb 3

Group B
Valencia 3 – Genoa 2
Slavia Prague 1 – Lille OSC 5

Group C
Celtic 1 – Rapid Vienna 1
Hamburg SV 4 – Hapoel Tel Aviv 2

Group D
Sporting CP 1 - Hertha Berlin 0
FK Ventsplis 0 – Heerenveen 0

Group E
Fulham 1 – FC Basel 0
AS Roma 2 – CSKA Sofia 0

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

Group G
Red Bull Salzburg 2 – Villarreal 0
Levski Sofia 0 – SS Lazio 4

Group H
FC Twente 0 – Steaua Bucharest 0
Sheriff 0 – Fenerbahce 1

Group I
AEK Athens 1 – Benfica 0
BATE 1 – Everton 2

Group J
Shakhtar Donetsk 4 – Partizan Belgrade 1
Toulouse 2 – Club Brugge 2

Group K
PSV Eindhoven 1 – CFR Cluj 0
FC Copenhagen 1 – Sparta Prague 0

Group L
Werder Bremen 3 – Athletic Bilbao 1
Austria Vienna 1 – CD Nacional 1

Group standings here.

This interpretation of events does as much for reinforcing the ironclad, financially based caste system among the clubs of Europe as it does for the purposes of information. By taking pains to make sure we know that the big brand names aren’t involved, it’s almost as if the competition is divided into the ‘real’ portion where the teams you know and love face off against each other, and the pointless, substandard portion featuring unknown minnows. Casting the early qualifying rounds as a kind of obligatory, burdensome sideshow for the little guys is, on some level, helping to create the very atmosphere in which corruption seems justifiable on some level to the eventual participants.

Since match fixing is a serious breach of sporting morals and rules regardless of who commits it, the names should ultimately be of secondary importance. Granted, there is an obvious difference in impact when names like Juventus, Marseilles, or Genoa are involved than, hypothetically, the champions Belarus, but the fact that match fixing is allegedly occurring in Europe’s biggest competitions should balance out the difference in name recognition.

Hopefully the recent reorganizations of the qualifying process will remedy this atmosphere. We probably remain a long way off from a return to the days of seeing the super rich clubs in danger of being knocked out by a relatively unknown Eastern European opponent, but the new format has certainly made reaching the group stages a plausible goal again, which should remove any modicum of an excuse for engaging in match fixing.

I definitely need to start off with an apology to FC Basel. Granted it’s difficult to keep tabs on in depth information from the Swiss league, so my pessimistic assessment of Basel was based primarily on their exploits in last season’s Champions League. Needless to say, I was way off. Basel defeated a very middling Roma with an energetic, at times scrappy, attacking display. Stocker and Streller were particularly good for Basel. Roma’s scoring opportunities were mainly limited to set pieces. Even during periods when they controlled possession, they created very little from open play. Overall, a fully deserved 2-0 victory for an impressive Basel.

Another surprise took place in group C; Rapid Vienna comprehensively took down Hamburg, 3-0. After they knocked out Aston Villa, the days of underestimating them were over, but defeating a Hamburg team that has been looking very good in the Bundesliga, should make any remaining stragglers fully aware of their presence. In related good news for Rapid, Celtic started off their campaign with a loss in Israel.

Everton, Athletic Bilbao, Galatasaray, Shakhtar Donetsk, Genoa, Cluj, and Benfica all started off their group stage campaigns with comfortable victories. Anderlecht won 2-0 in Croatia despite their opponents, Dinamo Zagreb controlling most of the game.

Some of the day’s victories were closer affairs. Despite putting fourteen shots on target, Dinamo Bucharest had to wait until the 80th minute for the only goal of the game, courtesy of Gabriel Tamas. Sporting Lisbon emerged victorious from a back and forth contest with Heerenveen thanks to a Liedson hat trick. Toulouse downed Partizan Belgrade by the same scoreline. Claudio Pizarro grabbed a late winner for Werder Bremen against CD Nacional. Werder would probably be happier with the result if they hadn’t blown a two goal lead. Villarreal only needed a Nilmar goal to see off Levski Sofia. Twente fought back from a goal down against Fenerbahce for a 2-1 win in Turkey. Marc Janko scored in extra time (as I was typing) to take all three points for Salzburg against Lazio.

There were a few draws that will leave a lot of the participants unsatisfied. Sparta Prague took an 87th lead against PSV only to concede a 90th minute penalty that Jonathan Reis equalized from. Lille and Valencia exchanged late goals in a 1-1 draw. Hertha Berlin continue their quest to usurp the ‘Germany’s Most Disturbing Home Videos’ crown from ‘trouser gallery.’ They drew 1-1 with Ventspils. Fulham reserves held CSKA Sofia, 1-1. Ajax and Steaua Bucharest began their group stage campaigns with scoreless draws against Timisoara and Sheriff.

For the record, the extra officials made no discernable contribution to either of the televised games.

Group A
Ajax Amsterdam 0 – Timisoara 0
Dinamo Zagbreb 0 – Anderlecht 2

Group B
Lille OSC 1 – Valenica 1
Genoa 2 – Slavia Prague 0

Group C
Hapoel Tel Aviv 2 – Celtic 1
Rapid Vienna 3 – Hamburg SV 0

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

Group E
CSKA Sofia 1 – Fulham 1
FC Basel 2 – AS Roma 0

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

Group G
Villarreal 1 - Levski Sofia 0
SS Lazio 1 – Red Bull Salzburg 2

Group H
Steaua Bucharest 0 – Sheriff 0
Fenerbahce 1 – FC Twente 2

Group I
Benfica 2 – BATE 0
Everton 4 – AEK Athens 0

Group J
Club Brugge 1 – Shakhtar Donetsk 4
Partizan Belgrade 2 – Toulouse 3

Group K
CFR Cluj 2 - FC Copenhagen 0
Sparta Prague 2 – PSV Eindhoven 2

Group L
Athletic Bilbao 3 – Austria Vienna 0
CD Nacional 2 – Werder Bremen 3

GROUP A: Ajax Amsterdam – Anderlecht- Dinamo Zagreb- Timisoara

GROUP B: Valenica- Lille OSC – Slavia Prague- Genoa

GROUP C: Hamburg SV- Celtic- Hapoel Tel Aviv- Rapid Vienna

GROUP D: Sporting Lisbon- Heerenveen- Hertha Berlin- Ventspils

GROUP E: AS Roma- FC Basel- Fulham- CSKA Sofia

GROUP F: Panathinaikos – Galatasaray – Dinamo Bucharest – Sturm Graz

GROUP G: Villarreal – SS Lazio – Levski Sofia – Red Bull Salzburg

GROUP H: Steaua Bucharest – Fenerbahce – FC Twente – Sheriff

GROUP I: SL Benfica – Everton – AEK Athens – BATE

GROUP J: Shakhtar Donetsk – Club Brugge – Partizan Belgrade – Toulouse

GROUP K: PSV Eindhoven – FC Copenhagen – Sparta Prague – CFR Cluj

GROUP L: Werder Bremen – Austria Vienna – Athletic Bilbao – CD Nacional

We’ve definitely been graced with some interesting match ups and concurrent storylines. Unlike in that other continental tournament, it’s also a bit more difficult to say with any certainty who the quarterfinalists will be based on the group stage draw (and yet, I’m about to say who’s going to advance like I’m doing anything other than making an educated guess.)

Group A should be a matter of Ajax and Timisoara ultimately advancing. Dinamo Zagreb are, of course, no pushovers, and would have no problem pouncing if Ajax or Timisoara performed at less than their best. Anderlecht is something of an unknown quantity here. They were utterly abject and completely out of their depth against Lyon, but they did handle an opponent, Sivasspor, that was more on this competition’s level with some ease. I think anything short of a superhuman performance will see the former giants exit without embarrassing themselves.

Group B appears to be the winner in the ‘group of death’ sweepstakes. In all honesty, it might be a stretch to imagine Slavia Prague doing anything more than playing spoiler, but we could easily see Valencia or Genoa drop out of Europe very early.

Hamburg will be pleased with the Group C draw. If they can avoid any slip ups against Celtic at home, they should emerge as group winners without serious complications. Meanwhile, those of us who read a lot of British press will have to suffer more delusions of grandeur on Celtic’s part. Hopefully Rapid Vienna and Hapoel will handle Celtic at home as well, and give us a fresh face in the knockout stages.

Hertha Berlin’s draw avoided sheer terror, but replaced it with gnawing unease. On paper, Hertha and Sporting should be fighting amongst themselves for the top spot, but I would be dishonest if I said I didn’t worry about losing in Latvia or Holland.

Roma, were, again, handed a manageable draw. Roma, who have had their last four European campaigns ended by English opposition (Middlesboro, Manchester United twice, and Arsenal) will have to test themselves against Fulham. If either of the two were to falter, I would expect CSKA Sofia to be the more likely candidate to take advantage.

Group F has the potential to be a very volatile affair, and not in a good way. Three hotbeds of intense passion, which on numerous occasions has crossed the line into very real violence, have been put together in the same group. Sturm Graz, incidentally, must be thrilled about these away trips. In pure football terms, this looks like the end of the line for Sturm. Without watching the Greek, Turkish, or Romanian leagues on a weekly basis, picking the two teams to advance is too close to call.

Group G seems simple enough: Villarreal to advance with the other three fighting for second. Lazio have been wildly inconsistent on a season to season basis in recent times. If they’re in one of their funks for whatever reason, energy drink branding synergy football club should go through with Villarreal.

For me, the big story in Group H is Twente. Will this be the beginning of a young team establishing themselves in Europe (until the G-14 clubs start waving dollars again,) or will it be a case of difficult trips to Romania and Turkey being a step to far for them to get out of this group?

The first instinct with Group I is to say Benfica and Everton, but AEK and BATE won’t simply roll over. Depending on how the domestic season is going in England, we could very well see a reserve squad being sent out sooner than ever (in fairness, Everton have been less inclined to do this than other English clubs.) Under normal conditions, let’s stick with Everton and Benfica and see what happens.

Everyone probably wishes they were in Group J. Shakhtar Donetsk and Toulouse are just in a different class than Club Brugge and Partizan Belgrade right now. If Brugge or Partizan got out of the group, it would be very big news indeed.

Group K is going to be another closely contested affair. PSV, who haven’t been overly impressive in any competition so far, could very well be a high profile casualty from this group. They could just as easily stay the course they’re on and win every game 1-0 though.

Finally, in Group L, it’s very tempting to declare that Nacional might throw a wrench into the works, based on their elimination of Zenit St. Petersburg. Russian clubs have not exactly been having a good summer in Europe however. Again, let’s go with the conservative guess, and say Werder Bremen and Bilbao will go through, and wait for any surprises.

PAOK 0 – Heerenveen 0 (PAOK 1 – Heerenveen 1)
Dinamo Zagreb 0 – Hearts 2 (Dinamo Zagreb 4 – Hearts 2)
Werder Bremen 2 – Akotbe 0 (Werder Bremen 8 – Akotbe 3)
Everton 1 – Sigma Olomouc 1 (Everton 5 – Sigma Olomouc 1)
BATE 4 – Litex Lovech 0 (aet) (BATE 4 – Litex Lovech 1)
NAC Breda 1 – Villarreal 6 (NAC Breda 2 – Villarreal 9)
Lech Poznan 0 – Club Brugge 1 (Lech Poznan 1 – Club Brugge 1) *Club Brugge advance on penalties
Fulham 0 – Akmar Perm 1 (Fulham 3 – Amkar Perm 2)
Galatasaray 1 – Levadia 1 (Galatasaray 6 – Levadia 1)
FK Teplice 1 – Hapoel Tel Aviv 1 (FK Teplice 2 – Hapoel Tel Aviv 3)
Metalurh Donetsk 2 – Austria Vienna 3 (aet) (Metalurh Donetsk 4 – Austria Vienna 5)
FC Twente 0 – Qarabag 0 (FC Twente 3 – Qarabag 1)
AS Roma 7 – MFK Kosice 1 (AS Roma 10 – MFK Kosice 4)
Dinamo Moscow 1 - CSKA Sofia 2 (Dinamo Moscow 1 – CSKA Sofia 2)
Racing Genk 2 – Lille OSC 4 (Racing Genk 3 – Lille OSC 6)
PSV Eindhoven 1 – Bnei Yehuda 0 (PSV Eindhoven 2 – Bnei Yehuda 0)
Lazio 0 – Elfsborg 1 (Lazio 3 – Elfsborg 1)
Trabzonspor 1 – Toulouse 0 (Trabzonspor 2 – Toulouse 3)
Partizan Belgrade 2 – MSK Zilina 0 (Partizan Belgrade 3 – MSK Zilina 1)
FK Baku 1 – Basel 5 (FK Baku 2 – Basel 8)
Ajax Amsterdam 2 – Slovan Bratislava 1 (Ajax Amsterdam 7 – Slovan Bratislava 1)
Shakhtar Donetsk 2 – Sivasspor 0 (Shakhtar Donetsk 5 – Sivasspor 0)
Brøndby 1 – Hertha Berlin 3 (Brøndby 3 – Hertha Berlin 4)
Athletic Bilbao 1 – Tromsø 1 (Athletic Bilbao 4 – Tromsø 3)
FK Sarajevo 1 – CFR Cluj 2 (FK Sarajevo 2 – CFR Cluj 3)
Rapid Vienna 1 – Aston Villa 2 (Rapid Vienna 2 – Aston Villa 2)
Steaua Bucharest 2 – St. Patrick’s 1 (Steaua Bucharest 5 – St. Patrick’s 1)
Sparta Prague 1 – NK Maribor 0 (Sparta Prague 3 – NK Maribor 0)
Zenit St. Petersburg 1 – CD Nacional 1 (Zenit St. Petersburg 4 – CD Nacional 5)
Genoa 1 – Odense BK 1 (Genoa 4 – Odense BK 2)
Dinamo Bucharest 3 – Slovan Liberec 0 (Dinamo Bucharest 3 – Slovan Liberec 3) * **Dinamo Bucharest advance on penalties
Guingamp 1 – Hamburg SV 3 (Guingamp 2 – Hamburg SV 8)
FC Sion 2 – Fenerbahce 2 (FC Sion 2 – Fenerbahce 4)
Sturm Graz 1 – Metalist Kharkiv 0 (Sturm Graz 2 – Metalist Kharkiv 1)
Slavia Prague 1 – Red Star Belgrade 2 (Slavia Prague 4 – Red Star Belgrade 2)
Benfica 1 – Vorskla Poltava 2 (Benfica 5 – Vorskla Poltava 2)
Vaslui 0 – AEK Athens 3 (Vaslui 2 – AEK Athens 4)
Stabæk 1 – Valencia 4 (Stabæk 1 – Valencia 7)

*Slovan Liberec were awarded a 3-0 first leg victory because of crowd violence.

Austrian clubs had an outstanding day of results. Aston Villa, Metalist Kharkiv, and Metalurh Donetsk were dumped out by their Austrian opponents, which were Rapid Vienna, Sturm Graz, and Austria Vienna, respectively. Unless I’m overlooking something, this is probably the most noteworthy achievement by an Austrian club in Europe since Salzburg reached the 1994 UEFA Cup Final. In times when smaller leagues are usually left to reminisce about past glories, this is a refreshing turn of events. Time to break out the Ultravox and/or Falco and celebrate.

Hertha succeeded in sending me, and probably a few others, into fits of despair before deciding that scoring a goal was not necessarily a quantum mystery that required the combined efforts of Stephen Hawking and Carlos Castenada to unravel. They overcame Brøndby, barely, 4-3 on aggregate.

Most of the big teams involved, Everton, Benfica, Villarreal, Valenica, Genoa, Hamburg, and Werder Bremen, for example, had decisive advantages from the first leg to see out. One that didn’t, Roma, might as well have, as they went up by three goals in eight minutes to start off another 7-1 second leg victory.

A couple of ties ended in penalty shootouts. Club Brugge restored a measure of pride for Belgian football (besides Anderlecht’s result against Lyon, cup winners Genk were soundly beaten by Lille) by knocking out Lech Poznan. The other shootout result must be causing some red faces at UEFA headquarters. Dinamo Bucharest, who in my opinion were very fortunate not to be expelled from the competition, made the most of their second chance. They reversed the committee mandated 3-0 home defeat before moving on in the shootout.

The draw for the group stage of the competition will take place tomorrow.

PAOK 1 – Heerenveen 1
Dinamo Zagreb 4 – Hearts 0
Werder Bremen 6 - Aktobe 3
Everton 4 – Sigma Olomouc 0
BATE 0 – Litex Lovech 1
NAC Breda 1 – Villarreal 3
Lech Poznan 1 - Club Brugge 0
Fulham 3 – Amkar Perm 1
Galatasaray 5 – Levadia 0
FK Teplice 1 – Hapoel Tel Aviv 2
Metalurh Donetsk 2 – Austria Vienna 2
FC Twente 3 – Qarabag 1
MFK Kosice 3 – AS Roma 3
CSKA Sofia 0 – Dinamo Moscow 0
Genk 1 – Lille OSC 2
Bnei Yehuda 0 – PSV Eindhoven 1
Lazio 3 – Elfsborg 0
Trabzonspor 1 – Toulouse 3
Partizan Belgrade 1 – MSK Zilina 1
FK Baku 1 – Basel 3
Ajax Amsterdam 5 – Slovan Bratislava 0
Sivasspor 0 – Shakhtar Donetsk 3
Brøndby 2 – Hertha Berlin 1
Athletic Bilbao 3 – Tromsø 2
FK Sarajevo 1 – CFR Cluj 1
Rapid Vienna 1 – Aston Villa 0
Steaua Bucharest 3 - St. Patrick’s 0
NK Maribor 0 – Sparta Prague 2
CD Nacional 4 – Zenit St. Petersburg 3
Genoa 3 – Odense BK 1
Dinamo Bucharest – Slovan Liberec MATCH ABANDONED
Guingamp 1 – Hamburg SV 5
FC Sion 0 – Fenerbahce 2
Sturm Graz 1 – Metalist Kharkiv 1
Slavia Prague 3 – Red Star Belgrade 0
Benfica 4 – Volska Poltava 0
Vaslui 2 – AEK Athens 1
Stabæk 0 – Valencia 3

As in the previous round, there were a couple of surprises to start off with. In the last twenty minutes of their game, Roma went from having a comfortable 3-1 advantage to bring back to Rome to 3-3. Rapid Vienna defeated Aston Villa, which was the standout among a fairly good day by current Austrian standards.

Ajax, Everton, Galatasaray, and Hamburg all coasted to victory in their matches.

Russian football continued to have a bad summer in European competition. Dinamo Moscow’s 0-0 draw with CSKA Sofia was the best of the day’s result. Amkar Perm were beaten by Fulham and former UEFA Cup winners Zenit St. Petersburg were on the wrong side of a 4-3 goal fest against Nacional of Portugal.

On a note of personal annoyance, Hertha proved any of us who were filled with anxiety about Brøndby correct, for now. They will have to overturn a 2-1 deficit in Berlin next week.

For the most part, it seems like this is the point in the competition where many of the charming minnows and mid sized teams that have done well to get to this point are going to bow out.

In general, the draw was very kind to the big teams. Of course my team, Hertha Berlin ended up with one of the dangerous unseeded sides, Brøndby, while fellow Bundesliga clubs Werder Bremen and Hamburg enjoyed far better luck.

The Austrian representatives were handed stiff tests. Sturm Graz and Austria Vienna will face the metalworking sides of Kharkiv and Donetsk, respectively, and Rapid Vienna was paired with ‘top four’ pretenders Aston Villa in a tie with a nice early 80s retro ring to it.

If you have any particular wish to see Belgian clubs in the group stage, hope that Lyon sends Anderlecht out of the Champions League, because Genk and Club Brugge will have some serious work to do to get past Lille and Lech Poznan.

St. Patrick’s reward for sensationally knocking out Krylya Sovetov was an even more difficult Eastern European opponent, Steaua Bucharest. Everton supporters might want to see if there are any bargain priced English-Czech phrasebooks available in Aberdeen, as they’ll try their luck against Sigma Olomouc. Scotland’s last team in the competition, Hearts, will take on Croatian champions Dinamo Zagreb, while Fulham will travel to the edge of Europe, Perm is the easternmost Europe-based club in Russia, to battle Amkar Perm.

The draw for this round has put together a lot of potentially interesting match ups. How interesting they end up is going to be dependent on the performance of the underdog sides. Given the manner in which the third round played out, I wouldn’t hold my breath waiting for many shocks to occur.

Even close games from the first leg produced rather one sided victors today. There were a few close matches sprinkled in though, and one major surprise.

FK Sarajevo 2 – Helsingborg 1 (FK Sarajevo 3* – Helsingborg 3) *Sarajevo advances on penalties
Fredrikstad FV 2 – Lech Poznan 1 (Fredrikstad FV 3 – Lech Poznan 7)
HNK Rijeka 0 – Metalist Kharkiv 2 (HNK Rijeka 1 – Metalist Kharkiv 4)
KAA Gent 1 – AS Roma 7 (KAA Gent 2 – AS Roma 10)
SC Vaslui 1 – Omonia 1 (SC Vaslui 3 – Omonia 1)
Slavija Sarajevo 1 – MFK Kosice 3 (Slavija Sarajevo 1 – MFK Kosice 5)
IFK Goteborg 1 – Hapoel Tel Aviv 1 (IFK Goteborg 2 – Hapoel Tel Aviv 4)
PSV Eindhoven 1 – Cherno More 0 (PSV Eindhoven 2 – Cherno More 0)
Metalurh Donetsk 3 – NK IB Ljubljana 0 (Metalurh Donetsk 5 – NK IB Ljubljana 0)
Valarenga 1 – PAOK 0 (Valarenga 2 – PAOK 2)
APOP 2 – Rapid Vienna 2 (aet) (APOP 3 – Rapid Vienna 4)
Honka 1 – Qarabag 2 (Honka 1 – Qarabag 3)
Vaduz 0 – Slovan Liberec 2 (Vaduz 0 – Slovan Liberec 3)
St. Patrick’s 2 – Krylya Sovetov 3 (St. Patrick’s 3 – Krylya Sovetov 3)
Randers 1 – Hamburg SV 0 (Randers 1 – Hamburg SV 4)
Tromso 2 – Slaven Belupo 0 (Tromso 4 – Slaven Belupo 1)
Brondby 2 – Legia Warsaw 2 (Brondby 3 – Legia Warsaw 3)
Vojvodina 2 – Austria Vienna 4 (Vojvodina 3 – Austria Vienna 5)
CSKA Sofia 1 – Derry City 1 (CSKA Sofia 2 – Derry City 1)
Steaua Bucharest 3 – Motherwell 1 (Steaua Bucharest 6 – Motherwell 1)
MSK Zilina 1 – Hadjuk Split 0 (MSK Zilina 2 – Hadjuk Split 1)
SC Braga 0 – Elfsborg 2 (SC Braga 1 – Elfsborg 4)
Aberdeen 0 – Sigma Olomouc 3 (Aberdeen 1 – Sigma Olomouc 8)
Rabotnicki 0 – Odense BK 3 (Rabotnicki 3 – Odense BK 7)
Sevojno 0 – Lille Metropole 2 (Sevojno 0 – Lille Metropole 4)
Petrovac 0 – Sturm Graz 5 (Petrovac 1 – Sturm Graz 7)
Fenerbahce 1 – Budapest Honved 1 (Fenerbahce 6 – Budapest Honved 2)
Bnei Yehuda 1 – Pacos de Ferreira 0 (Bnei Yehuda 2 – Pacos de Ferreira 0)
Club Brugge 1 – Lahti 1 (Club Brugge 4 – Lahti 3)
Athletic Club Bilbao 2 – BSC Young Boys 1 (Athletic Club Bilbao 2 – BSC Young Boys 2)
KR 1 – Basel 3 (KR 3 – Basel 5)
Galatasaray 6 - Maccabi Netanya 0 (Galatasaray 10 – Maccabi Netanya 1)
Dinamo Tbilisi 2 – Red Star Belgrade 5 (Dinamo Tbilisi 4 – Red Star Belgrade 5)
Polonia Warsaw 1 – NAC Breda 3 (Polonia Warsaw 1 – NAC Breda 4)
Vetra 0 – Fulham 3 (Vetra 0 – Fulham 6)

St. Patrick’s defied all expectations by knocking out Krylya Sovetov. Most people, myself included, thought that their 1-0 win last week would be a nice but fleeting memory before the Russian side crushed St. Patrick’s at home. Krylya actually went three goals up before St. Patrick’s got two goals back within five minutes of each other. They were able to hold on to complete the incredible upset.

Gent’s supporters offered more resistance against Roma than their players did. The fans responded to Marko Suler’s dismissal just before halftime with a missile barrage, but Gent clearly didn’t have it in them to give Roma another battle. Roma won by an unfortunately familiar scoreline, 7-1.

Red Star Belgrade, who looked done for, after losing in Tbilisi last week and conceding two first half away goals today, staged a successful comeback. An 88th minute Dejan Lekic goal proved the difference between bowing out with a face saving win, and winning the tie.

Brondby, Athletic Bilbao, and PAOK all advanced on away goals. Rapid Vienna needed extra time to get past APOP of Cyprus, and in the closest tie of the round, FK Sarajevo eliminated Helsingborg on penalties.

No one is going to have to wait very long to find out where to book their next plane ticket. The draw for the playoff round, which includes the first batch of Champions League drop-outs (welcome back Shakhtar) takes place tomorrow. The unseeded group has some potentially unwelcome opponents that include Dinamo Moscow, Genoa, Metalurh Donetsk and Brondby.