Onto The UEFA Cup…
Free…and the feast of underachieving sides currently competing in it. Generally, I like the UEFA Cup because it’s relatively random and gives smaller sides the chance to win some silverware. However, when I heard that UEFA are changing the name of this trophy to UEFA Europa League simply to “boost appeal”, I had to stop myself laughing so much. I mean, seriously, can you imagine a pre-season team talk by the managers? “Right lads! Instead of languishing 5th from the bottom this season, we’re going to go for a place in Europe – in the UEFA Europa League! We weren’t interested when it was the UEFA Cup as that is an instrument of the poor, the weak and the nobodies! But this brand new UEFA Europa League, this is truly the work of the Gods and we must be in it for this reason!” My response is “What the fuck??” I don’t understand the attempted logic behind this move because the competition is still the same, nothing else changes but the bloody name! Perhaps this is more magic from the irrepressible twat that is Michele Platini? Who knows? More to the point, who cares? Let’s stone him anyway!
Also, in regards to last night’s results – I’m feeling a little unlucky. I had half a mind to back Panathinaikos at Internazionale purely because Panathinaikos have only really performed well in Europe this year and Internazionale have been somewhat haphazard. However, I decided to back the bigger, better side because I figured they may disprove my previous thoughts. How wrong I could be, eh?! Well done to the Greeks anyway, I knew they had it in them, even if this belief has only arrived a very convenient time!
Thursday’s PicksColombian Futbol Profesional:
Deportivo Cali vs America de Cali (6)
Deportivo Pereira vs Atletico Junior (5)
UEFA Cup:
CSKA Moscow vs Lech Poznan (8)
MSK Zilina vs Slavia Prague (7)
Galatasaray vs Metalist Kharkiv (7)
NEC Nijmegen vs Tottenham Hotspur (5)
Schalke 04 vs Manchester City (6)
Club Brugge vs Saint-Etienne (4)
Dinamo Zagreb vs Spartak Moscow (5)
Olympiakos Piraeus vs SL Benfica (6)
Partizan Belgrade vs Standard de Liege (5)
Paris Saint-Germain vs Racing Club de Santander (7)
Rosenborg vs Valencia (4)
Sampdoria vs VFB Stuttgart (5)
Hamburg vs AFC Ajax Amsterdam (6)
Deportivo la Coruna vs Feyenoord Rotterdam (8)
Portsmouth vs AC Milan (5)
Braga vs VFL Wolfsburg (4)
European U19 Championship Qualifiers:
Denmark U19 vs Cyprus U19 (7)
Georgia U19 vs Czech Republic U19 (5)
Enjoy