2016-17 UEFA Europa League Group Stage

[HajdukSplit]

Manchester United finish 2nd in the group despite their win in Ukraine, Fener win the group after beating Feyenoord in Rotterdam. APOEL beat Olympiakos twice to win the group, the Greek champs still advance. St. Etienne came from two goals down to beat Anderlecht and win the group over the Belgians. AZ get their much needed win at home to Zenit to finish 2nd behind the Russians. Astra's scoreless draw with Roma was enough to secure second place after Austria Wien conceded three goals to 10-man Plzen. Bilbao get a point in Vienna against Rapid which is enough to see them progress but they will wait and see if they win the group tomorrow.

In the earlier kickoffs, Shakhtar finish the group going perfect while Gent beat Konyaspor to finish second; Fiorentina win in Azerbaijan to top the group while PAOK finish in 2nd, Qarabag pretty much choked away qualification; Osmanlispor surprisingly won their group over Villarreal

 

[YNWA14]

I've really been impressed with Ajax lately. With the players they have coming up right now and the right coaching they could end up putting in some pretty respectable performances in Europe in the coming years.

Tete, de Ligt, Riedewald, van de Beek, Nouri, Ziyech, Cerny, Dolberg, etc. with the right roleplayers could be one of the best Ajax teams we've seen in a long time.

 

[Jersey Fresh]

Hapoel are through.

Excellent away match from them. Southampton were awful.

 

[HajdukSplit]

Hapoel are through.

Excellent away match from them. Southampton were awful.

What a result for Hapoel, hard to believe this team is the same team who lost to RNK Split a few years back, look at them two now, Hapoel in the knockout stages and RNK Split bankrupt and probably going down

 

[hatterson]

lol Southampton.

 

[HajdukSplit]

Only thing left to play for is Genk needing at least one point in Italy tomorrow to top the group, Sassuolo have nothing to play for

Group Winners: Fenerbahce (TUR), APOEL (CYP), St. Etienne (FRA), Zenit St. Petersburg (RUS), Roma (ITA), Athletic Bilbao/Racing Genk, Ajax (NED), Shakhtar Donetsk (UKR), Schalke 04 (GER), Fiorentina (ITA), Sparta Prague (CZE), Osmanlispor (TUR)

Runners-up: Manchester United (ENG), Olympiakos (GRE), Anderlecht (BEL), AZ Alkmaar (NED), Astra Giurgiu (ROU), Athletic Bilbao/Racing Genk, Celta Vigo (ESP), Gent (BEL), Krasnodar (RUS), PAOK (GRE), Hapoel Beer Sheva (ISR), Villarreal (ESP)

CL Dropouts Seeded: FC Copenhagen (DEN), Lyon (FRA), Tottenham (ENG), Besiktas (TUR)
CL Dropouts Unseeded: Rostov (RUS), Borussia Monchengladbach (GER), Legia Warsaw (POL), Ludogorets Razgrad (BUL)

Interestingly, should Genk get a result tomorrow all theee Spanish sides are unseeded along with Manchester United

 

[Theokritos]

Austria Wien conceded three goals to 10-man Plzen.

I'm curious: has any team in the European Cup ever managed to blow a 2 goals lead against a team that was one man down?

 

[maclean]

lol Southampton.

I'll say. When they came out and thrashed Sparta in the first round I thought they were going to go on to win the group. Here we are a couple months later and they finished dead last.

 

[Savi]

Only thing left to play for is Genk needing at least one point in Italy tomorrow to top the group, Sassuolo have nothing to play for

Genk win 2-0 and top their group

 

[HajdukSplit]

R32 draw is on Monday (13:00 CET), unseeded teams will play first leg at home. Teams from same group and from the same country cannot be drawn against each other this round

[U][B]SEEDED                                            UNSEEDED[/B][/U]
Fenerbahce (TUR)				Manchester United (ENG)
APOEL Nicosia (CYP)				Olympiakos (GRE)
St. Etienne (FRA)				Anderlecht (BEL)
Zenit St. Petersburg (RUS)			AZ Alkmaar (NED)
Roma (ITA)					Astra Giurgiu (ROU)
Racing Genk (BEL)				Athletic Bilbao (ESP)
Ajax (NED)					Celta Vigo (ESP)
Shakhtar Donetsk (UKR)			Gent (BEL)
Schalke 04 (GER)				Krasnodar (RUS)
Fiorentina (ITA)					PAOK (GRE)
Sparta Prague (CZE)				Hapoel Beer Sheva (ISR)
Osmanlispor (TUR)				Villarreal (ESP)
FC Copenhagen (DEN)			Rostov (RUS)
Lyon (FRA)					        Borussia Monchengladbach (GER)
Tottenham (ENG)				Legia Warsaw (POL)
Besiktas (TUR)					Ludogorets Razgrad (BUL)

 

[HajdukSplit]

Round of 32 Draw
Athletic Bilbao (ESP) vs. APOEL Nicosia (CYP)
Legia Warsaw (POL) vs. Ajax (NED)
Anderlecht (BEL) vs. Zenit St. Petersburg (RUS)
Astra Giurgiu (ROU) vs. Racing Genk (BEL)
Manchester United (ENG) vs. St. Etienne (FRA)
Villarreal (ESP) vs. Roma (ITA)
Ludogorets Razgrad (BUL) vs. FC Copenhagen (DEN)
Celta Vigo (ESP) vs. Shakhtar Donetsk (UKR)
Olympiakos (GRE) vs. Osmanlispor (TUR)
Gent (BEL) vs. Tottenham (ENG)
Rostov (RUS) vs. Sparta Prague (CZE)
Krasnodar (RUS) vs. Fenerbahce (TUR)
Borussia Monchengladbach (GER) vs. Fiorentina (ITA)
AZ Alkmaar (NED) vs. Lyon (FRA)
Hapoel Beer Sheva (ISR) vs. Besiktas (TUR)
PAOK (GRE) vs. Schalke 04 (GER)

Not a great draw for Italian clubs; Villarreal-Roma is probably the tie of the round as I would say both are contenders to win this tournament. Fiorentina get a tough task at Gladbach but should be favorites based on current form.

United get a manageable tie against St. Etienne while Spurs face Gent. Olympiakos-Osmalinspor could be testy but Osmalispor aren't a traditional Turk side so not sure what their fan support is. Also a Russia-Turkey tie thrown in

 

[maclean]

Ugh, Sparta flying to Russia to face a side that beat Bayern. Not a good draw for them - long travel and very unpredictable opponent

 

[Vasilevskiy]

Brutal luck for Celta

 

[hatterson]

United get a manageable tie against St. Etienne while Spurs face Gent. Olympiakos-Osmalinspor could be testy but Osmalispor aren't a traditional Turk side so not sure what their fan support is. Also a Russia-Turkey tie thrown in

St. Etienne don't appear to be in great form based on a quick glance at their results, although a lot can happen in the two months between now and the games.

Anyone with more insight into Ligue 1 can provide more info on what they're like this year?

 

[Evilo]

They're decent defensively but are awful offensively.
Won't be much of a challenge for United.

Lyon is the only french team to get a half decent draw (let's say doable).

 

[Jersey Fresh]

Beer-Sheva/Besiktas is "interesting" on a couple levels.

Not a lot of glamor ties here.

 

[YNWA14]

Ajax should win especially with how they've played of late, but AZ should be favourites to lose though they are not a bad team either.

 

[LOFIN]

Fairly boring draw when it comes to fans. Ajax-Legia is the matchup of the round, I think Legia fans are not banned away anymore either. Also what @Jersey Fresh said, Hapoel-Besiktas is the second interesting one.

 

[bluesfan94]

Fiorentina v Gladbach pit my Bundesliga team against my Serie A team.