This years edition of
the Europa League has been filled with many twists, turns and dramatic games and
we will be in for some more mouth-watering action tonight as the second legs of
the semi-final ties will be played to determine the two teams that will compete
at St. Jakob-Park come May 18.
Out of the four teams
competing in the semi-finals, Villarreal is the only team never to have lifted
the Europa League trophy; which is something they would want to change as they go
to Anfield holding a slender one goal advantage over Jurgen klopp’s Liverpool
side. The first leg would have left the Reds frustrated after it appeared as
though they would be taking a goalless draw back home only to be denied by
substitute Adrian Lopez, who capitalized on an uncharacteristic lapse in
concentration by the Liverpool defence on the 90th minute.
Will the "Yellow Submarine" reach the final? (Pic: LiverpoolEcho)
Liverpool however,
can take inspiration from the many famous ‘Anfield European nights’ the most
recent being a thrilling 4-3 win against tournament favourites Borussia
Dortmund, we can expect another exhilarating climax to this tie as El Submarino
Amarillo (The Yellow Submarines) will do all they can to avoid becoming victims
to another famous Anfield European night. Emre Can will be fit to play but Liverpool
will have to make do without powerful defender Mamadou Sakho, while Marcelino will
be pleased to have a fully fit squad at his disposal.
Emre Can is back in the squad for the game. (Pic: Liverpool.com).
The other semi-final sees Ukrainian side Shakhtar Donetsk
travel to Seville to try and stop Unai Emery’s men from making history by
becoming the first team to win three consecutive European trophies since Bayern
Munich, who did it with the European cup(1974-1976). The first leg served up an
end-to-end, action-packed 2-2 draw in Lviv.
Sevilla are looking to get to their 3rd final in a row (Pic: SkySports)
Sevilla will
undoubtedly be favourites to go through to the final by virtue of the two
crucial away goals courtesy of Vitolo and Kevin Gameiro and also their near
perfect home record at Ramon Sanchez Pizjuan. Mircea Lucescu and his men will
feel hard done by after such a wonderful comeback against the odds only to fall
short at last, buoyed by their South American attacking trio Ferreyra, Taison
and Marlos; Shakhtar Donetsk will without a doubt still believe they can make it
to the final.
A great night of
football awaits us as these four teams battle it out for the coveted Europa
League final spots.
Sorry we did not bring you PLAYS OF THE WEEK last week, we had to sort out some technical issues and now that is behind us we can now focus on the sport we love; Football. It was another shocking week ranging from the FA Cup and other league games coming through, anyway let's get into it.
FLOP OF THE WEEK: Arsenal (FA Cup).
Earlier in the week the Gunners played their replay fixture against Hull and they went through the fixture easily seeing their opponents off 4-0 on the night. The victory got them a quarter-final tie against Watford, and as usual Arsenal tend to show their consistency of being inconsistent. They lost the game 2-1 which saw them get knocked out of the competition in which they were back to back winners over the last 2 years. Now they've slim hope of getting silverware this season as they're on the edge in the Premier League and Champions League.
GOAL OF THE WEEK: Dimitri Payet (West-Ham).
The french midfielder has been on sensational form for West-Ham all season and he kept doing his what he knows how to do best as he helped West-Ham get a replay in their 1-1 draw against Manchester United. Payet gave West-Ham the lead by scoring a beater of a free-kick, beating David De Gea from 30-35 yards. Enjoy the goal;
SAVE OF THE WEEK: David De Gea (Manchester United).
Without this man in goal for United this season, the Red Devils will not be alive in the top four race or still have a chance in the Europa League. This save showed how sharp and alert David can be but it was not enough to help Manchester United in their 2-0 Europa League win
MATCH OF THE WEEK: Sevilla V Villarreal (Spanish La Liga).
It was a good game for the neutral, goals, comebacks, cards and anything you could grace for in a Football game.
First-Half started and both teams attacked each other from the start, but it was not till the 23rd minute we saw the first goal, Vicente Iborra gave Sevilla the lead 1-0 to the home team. Six minutes later Congolese International Cedric Bakambu made it 1-1 by scoring the equaliser. It wasn't long before the same man made it 2-1 to Villarreal as the yellow submarines took control of the game. First half finished 1-2 as the visitors won the half.
Second-Half started the same way both teams attacking each other as usual but this time Sevilla put more pressure on their opponents. The pressured payed off and Sevilla got their equaliser when Victor Ruiz put through his own goal and the score became 2-2. Sevilla did not rest on their laurels and they pushed for another goal which they got rewarded for when Yevheniy Konoplyanka scored a worldie goal to make it 3-2 to Sevilla. It was time for Villarreal to respond but it was to no avail as Sevilla scored another goal in the 90th to clear all doubts. Jose Antonio Reyes got the 4th goal for the home team.
MANAGER OF THE WEEK: Quique Sanchez Flores (Watford).
Watford have had a above average season so far and they've copped it with a FA Cup semi-final ticket in which they play Crystal Palace. They got to this stage by beating Arsenal 2-1 in their quarter-final tie against Arsenal.
TEAM OF THE WEEK: Paris Saint Germain (Ligue 1).
They wrapped up the title this past weekend in style as they beat Troyes 9-0 in their Ligue 1 fixture. With 8 games to go, this is the fastest any team in France has won the league in their history. Congratulations.
COMBINED TEAM OF THE WEEK:
GK: Gianluigi Buffon (Juventus).
The Italian veteran kept a clean sheet in Juventus 1-0 win over Sassuolo in their weekend fixture and that was his 10th clean sheet in a row for his team which records at 903 minutes. He needs 4 more minutes to break the current record held by AC Milan great Sebastiano Rossi's record.
RB: Allan Nyom (Watford).
He had a solid game for his team against Arsenal as he helped to knock the gunners out of the FA Cup. He totally isolated Alexis and challenged him on every take on the Arsenal forward had. Nyom has been one of Watford's key players all season.
CB: Craig Cathcart (Watford).
The Centre-back had a smashing as he made last ditch tackles to stop Arsenal's shots on goal. Cathcart has been one of the unsung performers for Watford this season.
CB: Timm Klose (Norwich).
The former Wolfsburg player did not give Aguero any breathing space as Norwich were able to crop out a point in their 0-0 draw against the Citizens. It's an added point for Norwich as they look to survive in the Premier League.
LB; Danilo D'Ambrosio (Inter-Milan).
The full-back has been consistent for all the blue side of Milan all season and he showed how good he has been by getting one of the two goals scored by Inter in their win over Bologna in the Serie A. Never doubt a late call up from his country.
CM: Adrien Rabiot (PSG).
The player must have settled his nerves and put his head in the game and this week his quality told. He scored in his team's 2-1 victory over Chelsea which saw them qualify for the Champions League quarter-finals, plus he scored in PSG's 9-0 demolition of Troyes which saw them win the Ligue 1 title.
CM: Dele Alli (Tottenham).
The young sensation had a simple calm and collected game in Spurs 2-0 victory over Aston Villa. The young cub set up both goals for his compatriot Harry Kane as Tottenham continue to push Leicester City for the league title.
LW: Marco Reus (Dortmund).
The tricky forward scored a brace in his team's Europa League fixture against Tottenham (Dortmund 3-0 Tottenham), He also scored in Dortmund's 2-0 win over Mainz in their weekend Bundesliga fixture.
RW: Lionel Messi (Barcelona).
The little magician scored a goal and made up 3 as Barcelona continued their rout sharing spree, this time they beat Getafe 6-0 in their La Liga fixture over the weekend. Arsenal be wary
ST: Romelu Lukaku (Everton).
The Everton forward was able to break his jinx of not scoring against his old club by scoring a brace against Chelsea as his goals knocked the blues out of the FA Cup. Romelu is having the best season of his young career so far, he has notched up 25 goals.
ST: Zlatan Ibrahimovic (PSG).
He scored a milestone of goals this week, scored 1 in PSG's 2-1 win over Chelsea in the Champions League and he scored a double brace in PSG's 9-0 win over Troyes which saw them wrap up Ligue 1 in style.
PLAYER OF THE WEEK: Zlatan Ibrahimovic (PSG).
At the age of 34 his numbers are still on the top, infact this should be his best tally season in his career. The veteran swede has scored 35 goals in 38 appearances this season and he has also scored a 100 goals in Ligue 1, that is in 4 seasons with the capital club. As he said he can play till his 40 and the feature on fine wine seems to be a feature of the swede's as well.
