Is it your turn, Mr. Bilek?
The semi-professional club outsider from the Belgian championship continues the all-destructive European Cup procession. The style in which "Zulte-Waregem" knocked over the famous shoulder blades of Prague is already recognizable. The sweeping counterattack handwriting of the wards Franky Dury is well remembered not only in the Moscow Loko. In the first round of the group stage, the impudent Belgians “carried out” (4: 1 away!) The Vienna “Austria”. And along with her head coach Frankie Schinkels, who was fired in hot pursuit and under a hot hand. Doesn’t resemble anything? Now, according to the logic of events, the company of Slavoljub Muslin and the mentioned Austrian should be compiled on the coaching labor exchange by the unlucky Sparta helmsman Michal Bielek. That would be the plot!
And the sided Rangers
By the way, 6 points that the Belgian newcomer grabbed from the start is, according to unspoken tournament laws, an almost complete guarantee of overcoming the group barrier. In the previous two draws, since the UEFA Cup is being played according to the current scheme, there was only one case when the indicated amount was not enough to continue the journey. Two years ago, with this result, the Scottish Rangers did not get into the top three in a group of five teams. It is noteworthy that now the team from Glasgow is again with 6 points. But he certainly will not tempt fate and hedges himself a couple more points.
As for the drummers, who distinguished themselves by two victories at the start, then in addition to the Belgian and Scottish clubs this is the Dutch Alkmaar, the Greek Panathinaikos and the English trio Tottenham, Blackburn, Newcastle. Volley of immigrants from foggy Albion is impressive. Plus the Rangers to them - we get the British invasion!
Lightness of the goal - extraordinary
The specificity of the UEFA Cup regulations with the difficulty of the task at the group stage (passing - three out of five places) determines the looseness of the teams at the far from the finish line. Opponents more often than usual refuse pragmatic schemes and attack a lot. On Thursday, not a single draw happened here. And the gross goal score of 16 matches amounted to 49 goals! On average, this is more than 3 successes per game. Five doubles pleased the tellers of the scorer achievements. They are on the account of Dimitar Berbatov (Tottenham Hotspur), Moussa Dembele (Alkmar), Radivy Lekic (Odense), Pascal Berengue (Nancy) and Klas-Jan Huntelar (Ajax).
However, in the nomination “goalscorer of the day" out of competition ... goalkeeper "Livorno" Marco Amelia. In the 88th minute of the away match with the Belgrade “Partizan”, he rushed to the gates of the outsiders to draw a free-kick and, with a shot by Dario Passoni, equalized with a header - 1: 1. “Partizan” was left with sad statistics: of 12 European cup matches with Italian clubs, Belgrade won only one.
And now - Berbatov!
In two matches of the day, victories were recorded, which are usually called strong-willed. “Tottenham Hotspur” to start, missed a goal from “Brugge” - scored Salou Ibrahim. And then the Spurs forward Dimitar Berbatov got down to business. The twice-experienced Bulgarian distinguished himself, and once again effectively assisted Robbie Keen.
The script was played abruptly in Zurich Grasshopper and Alkmaar. The hosts were the first to lead it. Then the guests recouped, went ahead, missed again. An abnormally large score became only closer to the final. Moussa Dembele brought the “Alkmar” forward in the 78th minute. A complete clarity in the most productive game on Thursday came only on the 3rd and 5th of the minutes added by the referee. Martin Martens and the same Dembele made 2: 5.
By the way, the owners who were so heavily conceded were eager to get even with the team of Luis van Gall for last year's loss (0: 1) at the same stage as a away game. It's not meant to be.
We crawled into nine
The home victory of the Dynamo Bucharest over the Besiktas was dramatic. The penalty kick, appointed by Slovenian Darko Ceferin at the gate of the guests in the 87th minute with a score of 1: 1, provoked an explosion of emotions. Before the victory hit from the “point”, Claudi Niculescu, the referee had to remove Gekkhan Zan and Kozmin Mozi, who had locked in hand-to-hand fighting, and shortly after the goal, he also foully fouled Andrei Margaritescu. A couple of minutes with the nine Dynamo survived.
They don’t know anything about him anymore
As a personal hero of the day, observers unanimously proclaim Newcastle goalkeeper Tim Krul. In an emergency, replacing the experienced but injured Irishman Shay Given, the 18-year-old boy phenomenally survived under the flurry of Palermo attacks. The Sicilians fell on the gate “forty” in the second half in response to a pre-ants shot with a five-meter head from Alberto Luke. Krul did not flinch.
In hot pursuit of the “save performance” of the young Dutchman, it was only known that he attracted the attention of Newcastle breeders two years ago, when he pulled the Dutch team into the finals of the European Championship among 17-year-olds with the same bright game.
Goal about
And the most symbolic goal of the day was scored in Czech Mlada Boleslav. They forward Panathinaikos Dimitrios Salpingidis celebrated his 50th match in the UEFA Cup. Diligent owners had almost half an hour to recoup. There were not enough centimeters - at the last minute Marek Kulich hit the post. Really in vain expected from the Czech club of exploits akin to Waregem? Recall: in the previous round, “Mlada Boleslav” lowered the barrier in front of the “Marseille” itself.
Sergey NOVIKOV