2010-11 UEFA Europa League Knockout Phase (32 teams)
Note: this post covers both European competitions this week. Above is the map of the 32 teams still alive in the Europa League. Near the bottom of this post, I link to and talk a bit about the match-ups in the 2010-11 Europa League Knockout Phase Round of 32.
Below are two gifs which are old content (from 10 January post, with attendance map, here), but their subject matter are the 4 matches to be played in the Champions League on Tuesday the 15th and Wednesday the 16th (first gif); and the 4 matches to be played on Tuesday the 22nd and Wednesday the 23rd (second gif)…
The following gif shows the 8 clubs involved in the first two match days of the 2010-11 Champions League Round of 16, on 15 and 16 February…
AC Milan v. Tottenham Hotspur
Valencia v. Schalke 04
Arsenal v. Barcelona
AS Roma v. Shakhtar Donetsk
Click on box below…
The next gif shows the 8 clubs involved in the second set of match days, on 22 and 23 February…
Lyon v. Real Madrid
FC Copenhagen v. Chelsea
Internazionale v. Bayern Munich
Marseille v. Manchester United
Click on box below…
…
The 2010-11 UEFA Europa League Knockout phase begins on Tuesday, 15 February with one match being played 2 days before the other 15 ties – which have 1st Leg matches on Thursday, 17 February – so as to avoid fixture congestion in the Greek city of Thessaloniki. Thessaloniki is Greece’s second-largest city, with a metro-area population of around 995,000 {2004 figure, National Statistical Service of Greece}. This Balkan port city has two clubs still alive in this competition…Aris Thessaloniki and PAOK Salonika. Both are members of Super League Greece. PAOK have won 2 Greek titles (in 1976 and 1985); Aris have won 3 Greek titles (their last in 1946). PAOK has the larger fan base, and are drawing in the 14,000s this season, and sit in third place. Aris can draw up to 12-13,000, but Aris’ attendances have plummeted this season to the 9,000-range, owing to their poor league campaign, where they are in 8th place, with a losing record.
Aris have been drawn against Manchester City. PAOK have perhaps the more winnable tie, versus CSKA Moscow.
Here are all the ties… UEFA_Europa_League_knockout_phase#Round_of_32
The marquee match-ups would be… Benfica v. Stuttgart, Sevilla v. Porto, Anderlecht v. Ajax, Liverpool v. Sparta Peague, and Rangers v. Sporting CP. Three other interesting ties are… Lille v. PSV [Eindhoven], Dynamo Kyiv v. Besiktas, and Napoli v. Villarreal. That first tie features the club that is in first place in Ligue 1 in France – Lille, who feature the Senegalese FW Moussa Sow (who leads Ligue 1 with 16 goals), and the Ivorian FW Gervinho (with 11 league goals). That last tie features two clubs that have a solid shot at Champions League Group Stage qualification next season – Napoli and Villarreal; and in fact, SSC Napoli have been playing so well that they have a credible shot at the Serie A title this season. Napoli, led by Slovakian playmaker Marek Hamsík, and Uruguayan scoring wizard Edinson Cavani (his 20 goals lead Serie A), are second in Italy right now, 3 points behind AC Milan, with 11 games remaining each. Villarreal, powered by the scoring tandem of the Brazilian Nilmar (10 goals in La Liga) and the American-born/Italian international Giusseppe Rossi (12 goals in La Liga), are in fourth, two points behind Valencia in third, and 7 points ahead of Athletic Bilbao in fifth.
In all, there are 17 countries with clubs in the final 32 of the 2010-11 Europa League. The Holders, Atlético Madrid, were eliminated in the Group Stage.
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Thanks to the contributors to the pages at en.wikipedia.org, ‘2010-11 UEFA Europa League‘.
Thanks to ESPN Soccernet and Soccerway.com for current attendance figures.
