Europa League 2016/17

[Liam_SWFC]

First round qualification draw made for the Europa League today, 96 teams enter at this stage. Some pretty well respected clubs involved, most notably FC Midtylland will take on Lithuanian side FK Suduva, Macabi Tel-Aviv face Slovenian opposition. British clubs involved incluyde Linfield who take on Cork City from the Republic of Ireland, Hearts play Estonian side FC Infonet, Aberdeen face a side from Luxembourg as do Cliftonville, while Bala Town play Solna from Sweden.

 

[DarkSithLord]

No Galastaray for the next two years in Europe - http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/36610343

 

[Liam_SWFC]

No Galastaray for the next two years in Europe - http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/36610343

Shame that a club like that can't take part, was it down to crowd disturbances?

 

[DarkSithLord]

Shame that a club like that can't take part, was it down to crowd disturbances?

No surprisingly, its for breach of FFP rules.

 

[Liam_SWFC]

No surprisingly, its for breach of FFP rules.

Didn't realise FFP was still a thing, or is still only the big clubs who are escaping punishment?

 

[Liam_SWFC]

St Patricks Athletic take a slender 1-0 lead into their 2nd leg with Jeuneusse Esch, they travel to Luxembourg for the return fixture. The Scottish clubs are in action on Thursday.

 

[Liam_SWFC]

On Thursday Bala Town went down 2-0 against AIK, big ask for them to turn it around, Llandudno were hammered 5-0 by Danish side Goteborg so tie over there, Cliftonville drew 1-1 against Dofferdange so tie very much in the balance. Connah's Quay drew 0-0 at home to Stabaek, Linfield lost 1-0 at home to Cork City, while Glenavon went down 2-1.

As for the Scottish sides Hearts beat the Estonian side FC Infonet 2-1 at Tynecastle, not the most comfortable lead to take over to Estonia next week but a rusty performance was to be expected. Aberdeen scored 2 late goals to take a 3-1 lead against Fola Esch of Luxembourg, definitely a healthier lead and one I expect Aberdeen to improve on.

 

[DarkSithLord]

St Patricks prevailed on away goals against Jeuneusse Esch despite a 2-1 defeat in Luxembourg. They will play either Dinamo Minsk or Spartaks Jumala in the next round?

On Thursday Bala Town went down 2-0 against AIK, big ask for them to turn it around, Llandudno were hammered 5-0 by Danish side Goteborg so tie over there, Cliftonville drew 1-1 against Dofferdange so tie very much in the balance. Connah's Quay drew 0-0 at home to Stabaek, Linfield lost 1-0 at home to Cork City, while Glenavon went down 2-1.

As for the Scottish sides Hearts beat the Estonian side FC Infonet 2-1 at Tynecastle, not the most comfortable lead to take over to Estonia next week but a rusty performance was to be expected. Aberdeen scored 2 late goals to take a 3-1 lead against Fola Esch of Luxembourg, definitely a healthier lead and one I expect Aberdeen to improve on.

Isnt Goteborg Swedish?

 

[Liam_SWFC]

Well done St Patrick's they go through to the 2nd round although not the most convincing result, I think Dinamo Minsk is going to be a step too far for them they've made the group stage quite often over the last few years. Oh and yes you are right it's Swedish, same difference!

 

[DarkSithLord]

Hearts are through 6-3 on agg after a 4-2 win away in Tallinn against Infonet. Through to play Birkirkara of Malta

 

[Liam_SWFC]

Comfortable win for Hearts I know their fans were not all that confident going into it after a poor first leg display, I fancy them to beat the Maltese side but are they the ones who knocked West Ham out last season?

 

[DarkSithLord]

Comfortable win for Hearts I know their fans were not all that confident going into it after a poor first leg display, I fancy them to beat the Maltese side but are they the ones who knocked West Ham out last season?

No West Ham beat them on penalties before going out in the next round.

 

[DarkSithLord]

Aberdeen through 3-2 on agg against Fola of Luxembourg but they made heavy weather of that. Ventiplis of Latvia next

 

[Liam_SWFC]

That's pretty poor from Aberdeen, obviously they will be a little rusty but they should be beating opposition like that, but they'll be pleased to make it through. Of course they will probably be strong favorites against the Latvian side other notable sides to make it through are Debrecen, Maccabi Tel-Aviv, Brondby, Dinamo Minsk and Qabala.

 

[DarkSithLord]

Superb win for Gap Conah Quay on European debut against Strabaek of Norway.Great effort.

 

[Vanni]

I'm not too sure Hearts will go through. Birkirkara, the Maltesers who only lost to WHU on pens are quite a decent side. They beat a Bosnian side 2-0 to go through 3-1 on aggregate, and the Hearts manager has already said they have quite a few decent players.

 

[DarkSithLord]

Ties invovling British Isles sides in the 2nd qualifying round -

Dinamo Minsk v St Patricks Athletic
Vojvodina v Gap Connah`s Quay
Hibs v Brondby
Birkirkara v Hearts
Aberdeen v Ventspils
BK Hacken v Cork City
Cliftonville v AEK Larnaca
AIK v Europa FC

 

[Liam_SWFC]

Well tonight has seen a mixed bag of results for British sides in the first leg of the 2nd qualifying round, St Patricks Athletic got a 1-1 draw away at Dinamo Minsk which gives them a good chance of nicking it in the home leg, Gap Connah's Quay went down 1-0 in Serbia to Vodjvadina so tie far from over. Cork City drew 1-1 away at BK Hacken, while Cliftonville threw away a 2-0 lead to lose 3-2 at home against Larnaca, and Europa FC lost 1-0 against AIK.

As for the 3 Scottish sides Hibernian lost 1-0 at Easter Road to Danish side Brondby, which is no real surprise expect the Danes to finish off the Championship side in the second leg. Hearts drew 0-0 in Malta against Birkirkara so no away goal but with home advantage you'd have to fancy Hearts to progress. Aberdeen were tonights big winners with a comfortable 3-0 win over Latvian side Ventspils, second half goals from Stockley, Rooney and Burns has surely put Aberdeen into the next round.

 

[mistermagic]

Lille will face either Budapest or Qabala while Saint-Etienne will entertain AEK.

I really and sincerely miss the good old days of PSG in the Europa League. Those fab european trips to Schalke, Wolfsburg, Man City and Kiev were proper football trips, not some shitty do at Barcelona where people spend most of their time recording a video of Zlatan taking a penalty. Back then we played Man City and it was boring and it was goalless but it was good. City had a half-empty stadium which showed how much they cared but the banter was great.

The CL sucks. It sucks real bad. How I envy Les Verts fans and their trip to Athens. Rant over.

 

[Liam_SWFC]

A pretty poor night for British sides tonight, Gap Connah's Quay were beaten 2-1 at home to Vodjvadina so go out 3-1 on aggregate, Cliftonville lost 2-0 in Cyprus to Larnaka meaning a 5-2 aggregate defeat. As for the Scottish sides Hibernian won 1-0 on the night against Brondby but went on to lose on penalties, good effort from Hibs. Hearts were tonight's usurprise casualties losing 2-1 at home to Maltese side Birkirkara, terrible result for them and a real shame they've crashed out so early on. Aberdeen did however confirm a 4-0 agrregate success in Latvia with a 1-0 win at Ventspils, they progress through to the 3rd qualifying round where they will face Maribor, big ask for them. Special mention to Cork City who made it through 2-1 on aggregate against Hacken.

 

[DarkSithLord]

NK Domzale v West Ham is live on BT Sport 2 on Thursday.

 

[DarkSithLord]

NZ Domale v West Ham is on BT Sport 2 now

 

[Jackinky]

And we're losing to a team who finished 3rd in the Slovenian league, we should hopefully get a result but we like o do it the hard way.

 

[DarkSithLord]

Poor night for British sides really.

Aberdeen did mange to scramble a late leveller against Maribor.

Very few goals around tonight across the board

 

[mistermagic]

Both French clubs (Lille and Saint-Etienne) drew at home. Poor results.

 

[Dirk]

Berlin wins 1-0 at home against Bröndby (eliminated Hibs in the previous round). At least no away goal for the Danes.
It was Berlin's first match in a European competition for nearly 7 years

 

[Liam_SWFC]

Really poor result for West Ham last night but expect they'll have more than enough to beat the Slovenians in their first game at the Olympic Stadium, it was a pretty strong side they went with last night so was quite surprised with that. Big ask for Aberdeen now though to go over to Maribor and win, can definitely be done but don't fancy them from here they really needed to win the home leg.

 

[DarkSithLord]

This is horrendous.
This is tragic. Two Maribor players have died ahead of their Europa League game v Aberdeen
http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/36960014

 

[Super_horns]

Can only concur with that.

Very sad.

 

[DarkSithLord]

West Ham saw off NK Domzale 3-0. Was far from convincing though and they looked a little loose at the back. Their through though.

Aberdeen... well they endured a torird night. Adam Rooney missed a pen in the first half which would have put them ahead in the tie before they have a man sent off and concede a comical og in the final minute.