Thursday, February 18, 2010

Fifteen Games On Europa League Docket

The opening week of knockout-stage action in UEFA's Europa League concluded with 15 games on Thursday.

At Villeneuve d'Asca, France:

Goals from Florent Balmont (3') and Pierre-Alain Frau (52') carried LOSC Lille Metropole to a 2-1 home win in game one of their two-match home-and-away series with Fenerbahce. The Turkish club, though, did get an away goal at 5 minutes from Gokcek Vederson.

At Enschede, Netherlands:

Theo Janssen scored the lone goal of the match at 39 minutes as FC Twente took game one at home 1-0 over Werder Bremen.

At Liege, Belgium:

Axel Witsel scored twice, with his successful 66th-minute penalty kick and his game winner at 82 minutes, to go along with Igor De Camargo's tally at 80 minutes, as Standard Liege defeated FC Red Bull Salzburg 3-2 in match one of their two-game set. The loss was the Austrian club's first in this competition after having been the only club in group stage play in either the Europa or Champions League to win all six of their contests. They still have a shot in this series, though, having scored twice (both tallies from Marc Janko at 4 and 45 minutes) on the road in this series.

At Villarreal, Spain:

Goals from Grafite (65', PK-84') enabled VfL Wolfsburg to gain a 2-2 road draw in game one with Villarreal. Marco Ruben's goal at 85 minutes, to go with Marcos Senna's 43rd-minute tally, enabled the Yellow Submarine to avoid a home defeat.

At Bruges, Belgium:

Dorge Kouemaha's goal at 56 goals provided all the game one scoring as Club Brugge blanked visiting Valencia 1-0 to end the Spanish club's 18-game European competition unbeaten streak.

At Amsterdam, Netherlands:

Amauri's double (32', 58') enabled Juventus to come from behind to post a 2-1 road win over Ajax Amsterdam in match one of their two-game series.

At Kazan, Russia:

Aleksandr Bukharov scored twice (14', 23') and Sergei Semak add one more for good measure (69') as FK Rubin Kazan, playing their first competitive match of 2010, blasted visiting Hapoel Tel-Aviv 3-0 in game one of their two-match set at home.

At Madrid:

Kader Keita's equalizer at 77 minutes provided a vital away goal as Fenerbahce gained a game one 1-1 road draw with Atletico Madrid. Jose Antnio Reyes scored for the hosts at 23.

At Berlin:

Javi Garcia's own goal at 33 minutes enabled Hertha Berlin, currently having a very rough season domestically, to gain a 1-1 home draw in match one with SL Benfica. The Eagles did score a goal for themselves at 4 minutes, courtesy of Angel Di Maria.

At Hamburg, Germany:

Marcell Jansen's successful penalty kick at 26 minutes provided all the scoring as Hamburg took match one at home over PSV Eindhoven 1-0.

At Liverpool, England:

David N'Gog provided the lone goal of game one at 81 minutes as Liverpool topped visiting Unirea Urziceni 1-0.

At London:

Fulham took match one at home against Shakhtar Donetsk 2-1. Zoltan Gera (3') and Bobby Zamora (63') each provided a goal for the Cottagers. The visiting Ukrainian club did get what may still prove to be a vital away goal at 32 minutes from Luiz Adriano.

At Copenhagen, Denmark:

Mamadou Niang (72'), Hatem Ben Arfa (84') and Charles Kabore (90') each provided a second-half goal as Marseille took match one 3-1 at FC Copenhagen's expense on the road.

At Bilbao, Spain:

Mikel San Jose's equalizer at 58 minutes enabled Athletic Bilbao to salvage a 1-1 home draw in match one with RSC Anderlecht. The visiting Belgian club did get what may still prove to be a precious road goal at 35 minutes from Lucas Biglia.

At Athens, Greece:

Djibril Cisse provided the game winner at 89 minutes, and combined with earlier tallies from Dimitris Salpingidis (67') and Lazaros Hristodoulopoulos (84'), lifted Panathinaikos to a come-from-behind 3-2 home win in game one with AS Roma. The visiting club from the Italian capital kept themselves very much alive in this two-match series, thanks to goals from Mirko Vucinic (29') and David Pizarro (PK-81')



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