UEFA Cup Group Stage, MatchDay #5, Continued

Group stage play in the 2008-09 UEFA Cup concluded Thursday.

Group A:

At Paris:

Peguy Luyindula's double (8', 86') helped propel Paris Saint Germain to a 4-0 home fistbeating of FC Twente to lift the French club into the knockout stage of the UEFA Cup. Despite losing, the Dutch club will also play in the Round of 32.

At Santander, Spain:

Jonathan Pereira (20'), Oscar Serrano (30'), and Juan Valera (54') provided the scoring as Racing Santander defeating visiting Manchester City 3-1. Nevertheless, the Spanish club has been eliminated from European competition, while the Citizens still finished atop Group A.
FINAL GROUP A STANDINGS:

1. Manchester City (GP: 4; GD: +1; PTS: 7)
2. FC Twente (GP: 4; GD: -3; PTS: 6)
3. Paris Saint-Germain (GP: 4; GD: +2; PTS: 5)
4. Racing Santander (GP: 4; GD: +1; PTS: 5)
5. FC Schalke (GP: 4; GD: -1; PTS: 4)

Manchester City, FC Twente, and PSG advanced to the knockout stage of the UEFA Cup.


Group B:

At Athens, Greece:

Four different goal scorers each scored once---Dudu (55'), Luciano Galletti (PK-68'), Vassilis Torosidis (87'), and Diogo Luis Santo (88')---as Olympiacos cracked opened what had been a scoreless deadlock into a 4-0 home frontier-styled fistbeating of Hertha Berlin to lock up a berth in the UEFA Cup's knockout stage.

At Lisbon, Portugal:

Olexandr Rykun scored the only goal of the match as FC Metalist Kharkiv won Group B with a 1-0 road win over eliminated SL Benfica.

FINAL GROUP B STANDINGS:

1. FC Metalist Kharkiv (GP: 4; GD: +3; PTS: 10)
2. Galatasaray (GP: 4; GD: +3; PTS: 9)
3. Olympiacos (GP: 4; GD: +6; PTS: 6)
4. Hertha Berlin (GP: 4; GD: -5; PTS: 2)
5. SL Benfica (GP: 4; GD: -7; PTS: 1)

FC Metalist Kharkiv, Galatasaray, and Olympiacos advanced to the knockout stage of the UEFA Cup.

Group C:

At Genoa, Italy:

Jonathan Bottinelli scored the only goal of the match at 75 minutes as Sampdoria locked up a berth in the UEFA Cup knockout stage with a 1-0 home win over Sevilla, and in the process, knocked the two-time cup winners out of the competition.

At Stuttgart, Germany:

Sami Khedira (5'), Roberto Hilbert (49'), and Ciprian Marica (72') each tallied once as VfB Stuttgart laid claim to a UEFA knockout stage berth with a 3-0 home thumping of Standard de Liege, whom, despite losing, still finished atop Group C.

FINAL GROUP C STANDINGS:

1. Standard de Liege (GP: 4; GD: +2; PTS: 9)
2. VfB Stuttgart (GP: 4; GD: +3; PTS: 7)
3. Sampdoria (GP: 4; GD: -1; PTS: 7)
4. Sevilla (GP: 4; GD: +3; PTS: 6)
5. Partizan Belgrade (GP: 4; GD: -7; PTS: 0)

Standard de Liega, VfB Stuttgart, Sampdoria advanced to the knockout stage of the UEFA Cup.

Group D:

At Nijmegen, Netherlands:

Collins John (75') and Jhon van Beukering (78') provided the second-half scoring as NEC Nijmegen clinched a Round of 32 UEFA Cup berth with a 2-0 home win over Udinese (who still finished at the top of Group D).

At London:

Second half goals courtesy of Luka Modric (67') and Tom Huddlestone (74') enabled Tottenham Hotspur to bounce back from a two-goal halftime deficit to gain a 2-2 home stalemate with Spartak Moscow to clinch a berth in the Round of 32 in the UEFA Cup. The Russian club's European campaign has ended.

FINAL GROUP D STANDINGS:

1. Udinese (GP: 4; GD: +2; PTS: 9)
2. Tottenham Hotspur (GP: 4; GD: +3; PTS: 7)
3. NEC Nijmegen (GP: 4; GD: +1; PTS: 6)
4. Spartak Moscow (GP: 4; GD: -1; PTS 4)
5. Dinamo Zagreb (GP: 4; GD: -5; PTS: 3)

Udinese, Tottenham Hotspur, and NEC have advanced to the knockout stage of the UEFA Cup.

The draw for the first two knockout rounds of the UEFA Cup, as well as the first knockout round of the UEFA Champions League, will take place on Friday.