2012/13 Europa League thread

[Lineker]

St Johnstone will learn the identity of their Europa League opponents when the second qualifying round draw is made on Monday.

It is Saints' third time in European compertition, where they enjoy an unbeaten home record.

However, the Perth side are unseeded for the draw and could face some potentially tricky opponents.

Among the clubs they could face are Norway's Rosenborg, Polish side Legia Warsaw and 2010 Dutch champions Twente.

Second qualifying round first-leg ties will be played on 19 July.

Also among the list of potential opponents are last season's Champion League surprise package, APOEL Nicosia of Cyprus, who reached the quarter finals of the competition, topping a group containing Porto, Zenit St Petersburg and Shakhtar Donetsk before eliminating Lyon in the round of 16.

But, perhaps the most exotic opponents could be Russian side Anzhi Makhachkala, who were beaten by Rangers in their only previous European foray.

Anzhi, from the northern Caucasus region of Dagestan, is owned by billionaire Suleyman Kerimov, and are managed by former Chelsea boss Guus Hiddink with former Barcelona star Samuel Eto'o among their players.

However, due to unrest in the area related to conflict in neighbouring Chechnya, Anzhi are based just outside Moscow, and fly in to Makhachkala only on matchdays.

Saints first played in Europe in the 1970-71 Uefa Cup when they knocked out German side Hamburg and Vasas Budapest of Hungary before losing to Zeljeznicar Sarajevo of the then Yugoslavia.

After finishing third in the Scottish Premier League in season 1998-99 Saints qualified for the Uefa Cup where they succumbed 6-3 on aggregate to Monaco after defeating Finnish side VPS Vaasa.

Will we take it seriously this year? Depends on who we appoint as the new manager, I suppose. I'm not bothered either way but top 4 has to be the primary objective. Winning this would be lovely though.

[GoGo Yubari]

Honestly, on paper it's a really strong, surprising Europa League lineup this year.

[METALMAN]

Surprising?

[Lineker]

St Johnstone will face Turkish side Eskisehirspor in the Europa League second qualifying round.

It is Saints' third time in European competition, where they enjoy an unbeaten home record.

The Perth side's opponents qualified for Europe after Besiktas were banned by Uefa from European competition due to financial issues.

However, the Istanbul club has appealed to the Court of Arbitration for Sport, who have yet to issue a decision.

The first leg will be played on 19 July in Turkey with the return leg on 26 July at McDiarmid Park.

Eskisehirspor were founded in 1965 and have finished as league runners-up in Turkey on three occasions.

Former Rangers striker Kris Boyd signed for them in July 2011, but played only two matches before leaving in December of that year, claiming he had not been paid.

Saints first played in Europe in the 1970-71 Uefa Cup when they knocked out German side Hamburg and Vasas Budapest of Hungary before losing to Zeljeznicar Sarajevo of the then Yugoslavia.

After finishing third in the Scottish Premier League in season 1998-99 Saints qualified for the Uefa Cup where they succumbed 6-3 on aggregate to Monaco after defeating Finnish side VPS Vaasa.

[Lineker]

St Johnstone will face Eskisehirspor in their Europa League qualifier after Besiktas had their one-year ban from European competition confirmed.

The Court of Arbitration for Sport suspended a further one-year ban for five years.

But it backed Uefa's ban for next season after the 13-times Turkish champions were ruled to have breached licensing regulations.

The first leg of the second qualifying round tie will be played on 19 July.

St Johnstone will travel to the Ataturk Stadium before the Turks visit McDiarmid Park a week later.

A St Johnstone statement said they are "now waiting on absolute confirmation from Uefa, but it looks certain that our Europa League opponents will be Eskisehirspor".

"On such confirmation being received, the club will then be in a position to firm up details such as kick-off time and travelling arrangements," they stated.

Besiktas were banned in May after European football's governing body scrutinised the club's accounts in the second and third quarters of 2011.

CAS said in its ruling that the club owed millions of euros in transfer fees, salaries, social security contributions and taxes at the end of March 2011.

The ruling means that Besiktas cannot take part in this year's Europa League qualifying tournament despite having finished fourth in the Turkish league last season.

CAS also maintained a 200,000 euros fine, with half of that amount also suspended for five years.

[Lineker]

St Johnstone face an uphill struggle to reach the Europa League third qualifying round after a 2-0 defeat by Eskisehirspor in Turkey.

The Turkish side took the lead through a deflected Alper Potuk drive shortly before half-time.

A second deflected goal from Veysel Sari put the home side firmly in the driving seat.

However, a positive second-half display from the Saints will give them some hope for the return leg on 26 July.

The Perth side, minus the injured duo of captain Dave Mackay and new striker Gregory Tade, struggled with unusually high temperatures in Anatolia.

After only a minute the Turks carved out a chance when a cross from the right was volleyed just wide of the post by Patrick Malecki.

However, despite that early scare, and Eskisehirspor dominating possession, Saints limited the home side to shots from distance throughout the early period of the match.

The Eskisehirspor players claimed for a penalty as the ball appeared to strike the arm of Fraser Wright, but the referee was unmoved.

Malecki was active on the left wing for the hosts and Saints were fortunate former Celtic player Diomansy Kamara could not connect properly with a fizzing far-post cross from the Pole.

Saints manager Steve Lomas had clearly opted for a conservative formation, with only Sean Higgins up front, and a weak Jamie Adams header was the sum total of the visitors' attacking intent in the first half.

The thin blue line of the St Johnstone defence was breached five minutes before the break when Alper's shot was deflected past the stretching Alan Mannus into the bottom left-hand corner of the net.

Saints opened the second half with more attacking intent, and Liam Craig tested goalkeeper Ruud Boffin with a long-range free-kick, but it was a comfortable save for the Belgian.

Goalscorer Alper then spurned a great chance with Saints temporarily down to 10 men after Wright took a knock in the visiting box.

The forward raced past the challenge of two Saints defenders but Mannus blocked his low shot from close range.

Shortly after, however, Veysel raced in from the right wing, and his low effort from a tight angle was deflected past Mannus by the unfortunate Wright.

The visiting defence lost some cohesion after the loss of the second goal and Mannus had to look smart to save another close range effort from former Dortmund defender Dede.

Lomas changed his system as the game reached its closing stages and the visitors searched for a way into the tie.

New signing Nigel Hasselbaink replaced the largely ineffective striker Higgins and fellow forward Steven May came on for midfielder Jamie Adams.

And stand-in captain Murray Davidson almost handed Saints a last-minute lifeline when he dribbled into the home six-yard box, but his ball across the face of goal was taken off the toe of May by a defender.

The second-half display will have given Saints fans encouragement, but the two-goal deficit could prove challenging to overturn.

Eskisehirspor: Boffin, Angelo, Dede, Cetin, Potuk, Zengin, Malecki, Gucer, Sari, Karadeniz, Kamara.

Subs: Erdogan, Bahtiyaroglu, Guven, Nuhiu, Tello, Eser, Kara.

St Johnstone: Mannus, Callum Davidson, Wright, McCracken, Miller, Cregg, Millar, Murray Davidson, Craig, Adams, Higgins.

Subs: Tuffey, Anderson, Hasselbaink, Robertson, Moon, May, Scobbie.

Referee: Ante Vucemilovic (Croatia)

[Hobo]

It's possible that Liverpool could get drawn against current Airtricity League leaders Sligo Rovers in the third round.

Not likely but possible.

[DavidMarrio]

Draws tomorrow ain't it?

[Hobo]

Pretty sure it is yeah. Dundee United is another possibility.

And Arsenal.

Arsenal Kiev that is.

[Lineker]

Liverpool will today discover their opponents for the Europa League third qualifying round, with the draw due to take place at 1230 BST.

The Reds are seeded in pot two and could face the following teams: NK Osijek (Cro) or Kalmar FF (Swe); FC Arsenal Kyiv (Ukr), FC Spartak Trnava (Svk) or Sligo Rovers FC (Irl); FK Renova (Mkd) or FC Gomel (Blr); Dundee United FC (Sco); Maccabi Netanya FC (Isr) or KuPS Kuopio (Fin).

The draw for third qualifying round of Champions League is at 1100 BST and features Celtic, Motherwell, The New Saints and Shamrock Rovers.

[Hobo]

Liverpool vs Renova or Gomel.

No chance of Liverpool at The Showgrounds then.

[Colly]

Silly question based solely on the subtitle, but what channel is the Europa League on this year? Don't say ITV, I'd rather it be channel 5. Not BBC either actually. Fuck, just tell me its ESPN and I'll be happy.

Edited July 20, 2012 by Colly

[Lineker]

ITV, afaik.

[Adam]

Yeah it's solely on ITV this year.

[Colly]

Which worryingly means with Spurs and Liverpool involved Newcastle will end up on the not even standard definition quality ITV4. Rats.

[Lineker]

There is an ITV4 HD?

Former European champions FC Internazionale Milano, Liverpool FC and Olympique de Marseille were among the stellar names in Friday's UEFA Europa League third qualifying round draw in Nyon.

Five-time European Champion Clubs' Cup winners Liverpool face a trip to either FK Renova or FC Gomel, while Inter, who have won Europe's premier club competition on three occasions, could open their latest European campaign against HNK Hajduk Split should the Croatian side overcome Skonto FC of Latvia.

Marseille, who triumphed in the inaugural UEFA Champions League 19 years ago, play Eskişehirspor or Saint Johnstone FC. Meanwhile, APOEL FC, who made such a splash by reaching the 2011/12 UEFA Champions League quarter-finals, are looking to repeat the trick in the UEFA Europa League. First, though, they must finish off FK Senica in order to take on KF Tirana or Aalesunds FK.

Athletic Club, runners-up in Bucharest in May, begin their title defence against either NK Slaven Koprivnica of Croatia or Northern Ireland's Portadown FC, depending on the outcome of their second qualifying round tie.

Matches will be played on 2 and 9 August with the winners progressing to the play-off draw on 10 August.

UEFA Europa League third qualifying round draw:

Athletic Club v NK Slaven Koprivnica (CRO)/Portadown FC (NIR)

FC Anzhi Makhachkala (RUS)/Budapest Honvéd FC (HUN) v Lokomotiv Plovdiv 1936 (BUL)/Vitesse (NED)

İnter Bakı PİK (AZE)/Asteras Tripolis FC (GRE) v CS Marítimo

FC Rapid Bucureşti (ROU)/Myllykosken Pallo-47 (FIN) v sc Heerenveen (NED)

Ruch Chorzów (POL)/FK Metalurg Skopje (MKD) v FC Metalurgi Rustavi (GEO)/FC Viktoria Plzeň (CZE)

AC Horsens (DEN) v FC Dacia Chisinau (MDA)/IF Elfsborg (SWE)

APOEL FC (CYP)/FK Senica (SVK) v KF Tirana (ALB)/Aalesunds FK (NOR)

FC Internazionale Milano v HNK Hajduk Split (CRO)/Skonto FC (LVA)

FK Vojvodina (SRB)/FK Sūduva (LTU) v SK Rapid Wien (AUT)

KRC Genk v FC Milsami Orhei (MDA)/FC Aktobe (KAZ)

NK Olimpija Ljubljana (SVN)/Tromsø IL (NOR) v FC Metalurh Donetsk (UKR)/FK Čelik Nikšić (MNE)

FC Twente (NED)/FC Inter Turku (FIN) v FK Mladá Boleslav (CZE)/Thór Akureyri (ISL)

Bnei Yehuda Tel-Aviv FC (ISR)/FC Shirak (ARM) v PAOK FC

AGF Århus (DEN)/FC Dila Gori (GEO) v FC Levadia Tallinn (EST)/Anorthosis Famagusta FC (CYP)

ŠK Slovan Bratislava (SVK)/Videoton FC (HUN) v FC Differdange 03 (LUX)/KAA Gent (BEL)

AIK Solna (SWE)/FH Hafnarfjördur (ISL) v Xäzär Länkäran FK (AZE)/KKS Lech Poznań (POL)

Eskişehirspor (TUR)/Saint Johnstone FC (SCO) v Olympique de Marseille (FRA)

FC Naftan Novopolotsk (BLR)/FK Crvena zvezda (SRB) v AC Omonia (CYP)

PFC Levski Sofia (BUL)/FK Sarajevo (BIH) v JJK Jyväskylä (FIN)/FK Zeta (MNE)

VMFD Žalgiris (LTU)/VfB Admira Wacker Mödling (AUT) v AC Sparta Praha (CZE)

NK Osijek (CRO)/Kalmar FF (SWE) v BSC Young Boys (SUI)/FC Zimbru Chişinău (MDA)

Dundee United FC (SCO) v FC Dinamo Moskva (RUS)

FC Arsenal Kyiv (UKR) v ND Mura 05 (SVN)/PFC CSKA Sofia (BUL)

Bursaspor (TUR) v Maccabi Netanya FC (ISR)/KuPS Kuopio (FIN)

FC Steaua Bucureşti (ROU) v FC Spartak Trnava (SVK)/Sligo Rovers FC (IRL)

FK Renova (MKD)/FC Gomel (BLR) v Liverpool FC (ENG)

FC Shakhtyor Soligorsk (BLR)/SV Ried (AUT) v SK Liepājas Metalurgs (LVA)/Legia Warszawa (POL)

NK Široki Brijeg (BIH)/Saint Patrick's Athletic FC (IRL) v Hannover 96 (GER

Servette FC (SUI)/FC Gandzasar Kapan (ARM) v Rosenborg BK (NOR)/FC Ordabasy Shymkent (KAZ)

[DavidMarrio]

Well at least that's going to be a cheap guaranteed ticket for me come August 9th. Standing in the Kop looking at about 12 away fans is always mildly amusing.

Bit annoying though we have Spurs on the US tour then we will have to fly out to Belarus or Macedonia pretty much right away.

[Colly]

There is an ITV4 HD?

Not on Virgin Media at least, and it never looks as good as standard def ITV1 for some reason.

[Lineker]

Sky have it, I know that much.

[Colly]

But I can't get Sky because stupid BT haven't put broadband lines on my street so I'm stuck with stupid Virgin. Boooooooooooooo!