Sport Today

(The draw for the Second Knockout Round follows.)

First Knockout Round, First Leg

Played Wednesday, February 16:

Parma (Italy)                 0-0  VfB Stuttgart (Germany)
Sporting Lisbon (Portugal)    2-1  Feyenoord (Holland)
Partizan Belgrade (Serbia)    2-2  Dnipro (Ukraine)
Valencia (Spain)              2-0  Steaua Bucharest (Romania)
Ajax (Holland)                1-0  Auxerre (France)
Panathinaikos (Greece)        1-0  Sevilla (Spain)
Shakhtar Donetsk (Ukraine)    1-1  Schalke 04 (Germany)

Played Thursday, February 17:

Graz AK (Austria)             2-2  Middlesbrough (England)
Heerenveen (Holland)          1-2  Newcastle United (England)
FC Basel (Switzerland)        0-0  Lille (France)
Alemannia Aachen (Germany)    0-0  AZ Alkmaar (Holland)
CSKA Moscow (Russia)          2-0  Benfica (Portugal)
Fenerbahce (Turkey)           0-1  Real Zaragoza (Spain)
Olympiakos (Greece)           1-0  Sochaux (France)
Dynamo Kiev (Ukraine)         0-0  Villarreal (Spain)

Played Thursday, February 24:

Austria Vienna (Austria)      0-0  Athletic Bilbao (Spain)

First Knockout Round, Second Leg

Played Thursday, February 24:

Middlesbrough (England)       2-1  Graz AK (Austria)
(4-3 on aggregate)
Newcastle United (England)    2-1  Heerenveen (Holland)
(4-2 on aggregate)
Lille (France)                2-0  FC Basel (Switzerland)
(2-0 on aggregate)
VfB Stuttgart (Germany)       0-2  Parma (Italy)
(0-2 on aggregate)
Feyenoord (Holland)           1-2  Sporting Lisbon (Portugal)
(2-4 on aggregate)
AZ Alkmaar (Holland)          2-1  Alemannia Aachen (Germany)
(2-1 on aggregate)
Dnipro (Ukraine)              0-1  Partizan Belgrade (Serbia)
(2-3 on aggregate)
Steaua Bucharest (Romania)    2-0  Valencia (Spain)
(2-2 on aggregate, Steaua Bucharest advances 4-3 on penalties)
Auxerre (France)              3-1  Ajax (Holland)
(3-2 on aggregate)
Benfica (Portugal)            1-1  CSKA Moscow (Russia)
(1-3 on aggregate)
Real Zaragoza (Spain)         2-1  Fenerbahce (Turkey)
(3-1 on aggregate)
Sevilla (Spain)               2-0  Panathinaikos (Greece)
(2-1 on aggregate)
Schalke 04 (Germany)          0-1  Shakhtar Donetsk (Ukraine)
(1-2 on aggregate)
Sochaux (France)              0-1  Olympiakos (Greece)
(0-2 on aggregate)
Villarreal (Spain)            2-0  Dynamo Kiev (Ukraine)
(2-0 on aggregate)

Playing Sunday, February 27:

Athletic Bilbao (Spain)        -   Austria Vienna (Austria)

Second Knockout Round draw:

Middlesbrough (England)        -   Sporting Lisbon (Portugal)
Sevilla (Spain)                -   Parma (Italy)
Steaua Bucharest (Romania)     -   Villarreal (Spain)
Lille (France)                 -   Auxerre (France)
Olympiakos (Greece)            -   Newcastle United (England)
Shakhtar Donetsk (Ukraine)     -   AZ Alkmaar (Holland)
Partizan Belgrade (Serbia)     -   CSKA Moscow (Russia)
Aust. Vienna/Ath. Bilbao       -   Real Zaragoza (Spain)

Lille (France)                 -   Auxerre (France)
Aust. Vienna/Ath. Bilbao       -   Real Zaragoza (Spain)

Where is UEFA when we need them to avoid confrontations from club from
the same country !! or at least a full draw every round.

Sucks

What do you propose though? That no teams from the same country meet at all
till the final? This is for the final 8 teams. Having so many teams from the
same country would make it near impossible not to have some teams meet
eachother. You got two Spanish, English and Grench teams etc. No, I think it
is completely justigied that some teams from the same country face
eachother.

Scorpio

That will be great for France UEFA coefficient!

UEFA made 2 draws in once last time. We already knew who was going to
play who. Did they want to save on***tail appetizers? Why not a full
draw after each round?
If it happens, it happens, but why avoiding it in the CL and not in the
UEFA?

And there is no 2 Grench teams left, and no 2 Freek teams left neither
:-))

I don't know why they drew two rounds at once. Perhaps it had something
to do with rewarding the group stage winners and having them avoid each
other until the QF ?

However, since the numbers of teams from one country could be as high as
nine, it is impossible to guarantee absolutely that they will not meet
each other until the QF. This is different from the CL, where the
highest possible number of teams in the knockout round from one country
would be 4.

Surviving:

3rd placed teams from CL:

3 (Shakhtar, CSKA, Olympiakos )

Group stage winners:

4 (Newcastle, Middlesborough, Lille, Alkmaar)
5 if Bilbao go through

Group 2nd placed:

5 (Steaua, Zaragoza, Villareal, Auxerre, Sevilla)

Group 3rd placed:

3 (Sporting, Parma, Partizan) plus Austria Wien if they win

Quite well balanced, actually. Would seem to indicate that the bottom
half of CL teams are certainly no better than the top 20-30 UEFA cup teams.