Breaking the norm
The surprise of the completed group stage of the UEFA Cup was the unexpected militancy of the teams, when sowing certain in the fourth and fifth baskets. Most of these participants (11 of 16), contrary to the rankings, finished in the top three and qualified in the 1/16 finals. The list of troublemakers by name looks like this: Livorno, Maccabi (Haifa), Dynamo (Bucharest), Tottenham, Braga, Osasuna, Blackburn, Nancy, Zulte Waregem , Hapoel (Tel Aviv) and Fenerbahçe.
Spain and England: 7 out of 7
Moreover, since the fall of 1999 in tournaments according to the group system (including the Champions League), 69-75 percent of the cohort of conditionally strongest clubs have invariably passed to the next stage. Current draws are special. First, in the main European Cup competition, this indicator reached a maximum of 100 (all 16 “seeded” made it to the playoffs), and then in the second most prestigious tournament of 24 teams in privileged baskets, only 13 went further (about 54 percent). In general, if we combine the two trends, we get the desired 72.5 percent. Another sign of the New Year's European Cup session was an approximate performance by representatives of two football top powers - Spain and England. These countries delegated 7 teams to the group stages, each of which took a step further.
Fake soccer players
Tottenham Hotspur and Espanyol were particularly distinguished, collecting the maximum point crop - this was the first time in the history of the Uruga Cup single-circle quintets. The previous record was 10 points. Londoners on their territory argued for the championship in Group B with the Dynamo Bucharest. The mentor of the last Mircea Rednik on the eve of the match did not seek compromises: “We guaranteed ourselves the second line, but I want to be the first. Once the famous Romanian player Cornel Dinu said that you can feel like a real football player only when you beat an English club. I completely agree". Well, according to the theory of Dean - Rednik Dynamo still do not reach the real players. The advantage of the “spurs” turned out to be too tangible, among which Dimitar Berbatov again stood out. The Bulgarian, having opened an account in the debut, confirmed the reputation of the most valuable character in the group campaign. Recall that in the first round, Dimitar had a goal and an assists in the rivalry with Besiktas (2: 0), in the second - a “points” hat-trick (2 + 1) in the game against Brugge (3: 1), and in the third, a victory ball for his former Bayer team (1: 0). The initiative of Berbatov was supported by Defoe, who saluted with a double. In the first case, goalkeeper Robinson assisted him, extending the “useful” series to two matches - last Saturday the goalkeeper in the meeting of the English championship provided Berbatov with an assist. Dynamo responded with the only goal of prestige in stoppage time.
Besiktas is out of work
In another pair of quintet B, two B opposed - Bayer took Besiktas. The prelaunch disposition very clearly predicted the likely plot: the hosts, in order to take off from fifth place to third, needed to win, and a draw was arranged for the guests. Leverkusenians, almost constantly storming other people's possessions, achieved their goal in the very ending. Rapid denouement, containing three scoring, recorded the success of Bayer - 2: 1. Besiktas is still out of action in the confrontation with the German teams: 5 fights - 5 defeats.
Intermission symmetry
An interesting picture developed at the end of the first half of yesterday's games. In six of them, mutual zeros were displayed on the scoreboard, in the seventh in front there were local ones (Tottenham Hotspur) - 2: 0, and in the eighth the conditions were dictated by visitors (Osasuna vs Parma) - also 2-0. In the second half, there was no trace of closedness - 14 goals for 8 meetings. The double of Shota Arveladze predetermined the visiting Victoria AZ over the holder of the UEFA Cup Sevilla - 2: 1. The Georgian striker struck a decisive blow in the 93rd minute.
Good company
So, today's draw will call the rivals of Moscow CSKA, Spartak and Shakhtar Donetsk (the whole three have migrated from the Champions League) to the 1/16 finals. They can only be teams that took second places - Maccabi X, Dynamo Bh, Sevilla, Osasuna, Nancy, Ajax, Paris Saint-Germain and Celta. Good company, isn't it?
Denis ORLOV