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Europa League 2013-14: Dnipro (UKR), Benfica (POR)/PAOK (GRE)

Re: Europa League 2013-14

If this competition wants more prestige it needs to pare itself down big-time. IMO half these teams should already be eliminated and we should now be at last 16....

Dnipro v Tottenham
Real Betis v Rubin Kazan
Swansea v Napoli
Juventus v Trabzonspor
Maribor v Sevilla
Viktoria Plzen v Shakhtar Donetsk
Chornomorets v Lyon
Lazio v Ludogorets
Esbjerg v Fiorentina
Ajax v FC Salzburg
Maccabi Tel-Aviv v Basle
Porto v Eintracht Frankfurt
Anzhi v Genk
Dynamo Kiev v Valencia
PAOK v Benfica
Slovan Liberec v AZ Alkmaar

This should not be the reward for a tortuous league-phase winner. One round too many IMO.
 
Re: Europa League 2013-14

Someone mentioned earlier our next round would be Genk/Anji, but that appears to be incorrect:

....

Slovan Liberec /AZ Alkmaar v Anzhi/Genk

Lazio/Ludogorets v Dynamo Kiev/Valencia

Porto/Eintracht Frankfurt v Swansea/Napoli

Chornomorets/Lyon v Viktoria Plzen/Shakhtar Donetsk

Maribor/Sevilla v Real Betis/Rubin Kazan

Dnipro/Tottenham v PAOK/Benfica

Maccabi Tel-Aviv/Basle v Ajax/FC Salzburg

Juventus/Trabzonspor v Esbjerg/Fiorentina

...........

Tough Last 16 if we make it past Juande, although in fairness there are a few tougher trips for sure.
 
Re: Europa League 2013-14

So now that AVB's gone, can we give this competition the respect it deserves?
 
Benfica are a decent Team. unlucky not to go through to the knockout stage of the Champions league. Last years Europa Cup Finalists. Amazing stadium in Lisbon ( although it looks like the gooner ground ) thats a nice tie if we make it through. Can someone confirm to me that if we was to make it then we would play the first game away? as we was drawn first?
 
Its ok bit of google can do a lot of things.

Possible round of 16 mathup = Tottenham v Benfica Thursday 13th March & Benfica v Tottenham on Thursday 20th March.

Half my family are from Portugal and i have been hoping we would get Benfica for a while as they all support them. So hope i can make that match in Lisbon.
 
Don't really care much for this competition. I doubt the players will either, we got rid of the only manager who actually cared about it.
 
Agree that there are probably two matches two many. I can't decide about the competition though: does it help by making you into a club who is always in Europe - or does it hinder by completely ****ing up your chances in the Premier league?
 
am looking forward to a possible game against Benfica - will defo be in for that away trip
 
the **** part is over. The knockout phase is when it gets interesting. I hope with the size of our squad we can still take it seriously. I want trophies not just top 4 finishes.
 
Agree that there are probably two matches two many. I can't decide about the competition though: does it help by making you into a club who is always in Europe - or does it hinder by completely ****ing up your chances in the Premier league?

If we do get into the CL it will help us to be seeded in pot 2. Being used to playing midweek matches isn't bad either. I'd rather we were in the EL than nothing, a whole week is too long to wait between matches.
 
am looking forward to a possible game against Benfica - will defo be in for that away trip

Had a look at Dnipro, best flight I could find was £400 rtn with Austria airlines and a stopover. Flights to Lisbon are £80-90 at the mo but obviously two teams have to win unless you fancy a random trip to Portugal if it doesn't happen.
 
Had a look at Dnipro, best flight I could find was £400 rtn with Austria airlines and a stopover. Flights to Lisbon are £80-90 at the mo but obviously two teams have to win unless you fancy a random trip to Portugal if it doesn't happen.

Might be worth the gamble if you can get a good price. My mates family have a villa in Lisbon so am dying for this one to happen :D
 
Dnipro is a bit of a slog in terms of travel but realistically we should have too much for them. Benfica hopefully in the next round is a great tie between two clubs that have a strong european pedigree and exactly the sort of tie we should want.

Estadio da Luz is an amazing ground. I went to Lisbon for a long weekend in May 2012 and did the tour of the ground which was absolutely class.
 
I wouldn't underestimate Dnipro. Currently it's top-2 Ukranian club.
I'm looking forward to the trip.
 
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