Galatasaray, Leverkusen meet in UEFA Cup

Former UEFA Cup winners Galatasaray and Bayer Leverkusen will meet in the first knockout round of the UEFA Cup with a possible clash with Hamburg SV awaiting the winners.
Leverkusen, who lifted the trophy 20 seasons ago, start as favourites to advance after winning their UEFA Cup qualifying group.

Galatasaray, the first and only Turkish club to win a European trophy when they won the UEFA Cup in 2000, qualified from their group despite winning only one of their four matches.

If Leverkusen come through they could face German rivals Hamburg, who qualified as UEFA group stage winners.

Hamburg beat Leverkusen 1-0 in the Bundesliga in August and there is a big German presence in the competition with the top four teams in the Bundesliga still involved.

Leaders Bayern Munich will play Aberdeen in the first knockout round while Werder Bremen, runners-up in this competition last season and lying second to Bayern on goal difference in the Bundesliga, face Braga of Portugal.

The draws for the first and second rounds of the competition were made at UEFA headquarters in Nyon on Friday with some intriguing ties in prospect.


FIRST CLUB

Former winners Tottenham Hotspur, the first club to lift the UEFA Cup in 1972 and triumphant again in 1984, and PSV Eindhoven, the 1978 winners, could also face each other in the round of 16 if they both come through their first round ties.

Spurs will play Slavia Prague, who were beaten 7-0 by Arsenal when they visited London for a Champions League Group H match in October.

PSV, who, like Slavia, dropped down from the Champions League, face Helsingborg of Sweden in the round of 32 and will meet the winners of the Spurs-Slavia tie if they qualify.

With this year's final scheduled for the City of Manchester Stadium on May 14, English clubs will be even more focused than usual on reaching it.

Bolton Wanderers though will have to negotiate their way past Atletico Madrid and then either Sporting Lisbon or Basel if they are to reach the later stages.

Everton, who won all four of their group matches to qualify for the last 32, face Brann Bergen of Norway in the first knockout round, then either Rosenborg Trondheim or Fiorentina. A rare all-Norwegian European tie is also possible if Brann and Rosenborg qualify.

Source: Wires

Tough draw in Champions League!.... Fenerbahce will face Sevilla

The draw for the first knockout round of the Champions League has been made by Uefa in Nyon in Switzerland.

And most British clubs face a tough round, though Chelsea who will be pleased with their draw against Olympiakos.

This is how they will line up on 19/20 February:

Arsenal v AC Milan, Olympiakos v Chelsea, Liverpool v Inter Milan, Olympique Lyon v Manchester United, Celtic v Barcelona, Schalke 04 v Porto, AS Roma v Real Madrid, Fenerbahce v Sevilla.



Champions League: Last 16 draw

Ties to be played February 19/20 & March 4/5

Celtic v Barcelona

Lyon v Man Utd

Schalke 04 v FC Porto

Liverpool v Inter Milan

Roma v Real Madrid

Arsenal v AC Milan

Olympiacos v Chelsea

Fenerbahce v FC Sevilla

GALATASARAY GETS HELP FROM BORDEAUX!..

Galatasaray only drawing at home to Austria Vienna, a point at home to Bordeaux would have been enough for Panionios to progress to the knockout round.

But, after taking a two-goal lead, Panionios crumbled and allowed Bordeaux back into the game before the French side scored a late winner.

Panionios were in front after six minutes when Rafik Djebbour converted from the penalty spot after being fouled by Ecuele Manga.

Grigoris Makos made it 2-0 on 20 minutes when crashing a magnificent volley into the top corner from 25 yards.

Bordeaux pulled one back before half-time when Fernando Cavenaghi fired home from the edge of the penalty area.

Another fine Cavenaghi finish on 75 minutes levelled the scores before Wielfried Moimbe poached a winner for Bordeaux on 87 minutes.

In the group's other game, Sabri Sarioglu hit the crossbar as Galatasaray were held 0-0 at home by bottom-of-the-group Austria Vienna.

However, due to Galatasaray's 3-0 win away to Panionios earlier in the group, the Turks were able to pinch third spot.

Galatasaray will now meet a group winner, Bordeaux face a third-placed side and Helsingborgs will encounter a team that have dropped out of the UEFA Champions League.

Galatasaray 0 Austria Vienna 0


Panionios 2 Bordeaux 3
Source:Wires

TURKCELL SUPER LEAGUE WEEKEND REVIEW (WEEK:16)

At the end of the week 15Th, Sivasspor the Turkey's Turkcell Super League's surprise team was on top of all Istanbul big guns..
This was first time in long time,Anatolian team hold the leagues top place this far in the first half of the Turkcell Super League.

Week 16Th was the week that Sivaspor not only got knocked out of the first place ,they end up sharing the second place with Fenerbahce.

Galatasaray ,Fenerbahce and Besiktas teams were the big winners in the week 16Th.

The gap, in the race for the top spot was closed by Fenerbahce and Besiktas.

In the last week of the first half ,before the winter brake, Besiktas, Fenerbahce,Galatasaray and Sivasspor will have difficult matches.

Could Galatasaray close the first half, on top of the Turkcell Super League, is for now, question mark in my opinion!

They have to travel to Ankara to play another surprise and young team Genclerbirligi
Oftas.
A draw or loss in Ankara, could jepordise the first place for Galatasaray.
On the other hand Sivasspor will be home against very bad Genclerbirligi and Fenerbahce will be home against Ersun Yanal's Trabzonspor.
The team who is chasing these teams very closely, Besiktas, will travel to Manisa to play Vestel Manisaspor.
Manisaspor is desperate for points to get out of the danger zone!....

Three matches in the week 17th will decide who will finish on top of the league...
those three matches are Genclerbirlgi OFTAS v Galatasaray, Sivasspor v Genclerbirligi and Fenerbahce v Trabzonspor.......

While the race on top is heating up , what is so interesting is, from fifth place team Kayserispor who has 25 points to just above the danger zone 15Th place team Vestel Manisspor who has 17 points, has only 8 point difference between them!...
We know, League's rock-bottom teams Kasimpasa and Ankaraspor will have to do miracales in the second half of the season to stay in the Turkcell Super League.
The Third bottom team Genclerbirligi who has 14 points, only three points below the Vestel Manisaspor. Both teams(Vestel,Genclerbirligi) are playing against the top contenders this weekend. These two matches will affect the top and bottom in my opinion!....

WEEK 16 ROUNDUP...........

Galatasaray claimed a two-goal victory over Sivasspor.Shabani Nonda put the home side ahead with a goal in the 82nd minute, while two minutes later midfielder Baris Ozbek found the net to seal the points at the Ali Sami Yen Stadium.
Ankaraspor's relegation woes have increased after they slumped to a 2-1 home defeat to Caykur Rizespor to remain second from bottom.

Necati Ates' 57th-minute equaliser looked like it might rescue a point for the home side after Ribeiro Nascimento had given the visitors the lead, but Leandro Rodriguez bagged the winner just three minutes later.

The victory moved Rizespor up to 12th in the table, while the hosts have won just twice in 16 games this season.

Trabzonspor kept their European hopes alive after coming from behind to record a 2-1 win over Istanbul Buyuksehir BSK thanks to a quick-fire brace from Gokdeniz Karadeniz.

Erman Kilic gave the visitors the lead from the penalty spot, but Karadeniz struck twice in the space of four minutes to turn the match on its head.

Trabzonspor movedup to sixth with victory, while the visitors are still searching for their first away win of the season.

Gaziantepspor upset Konyaspor after goals late in each half from Yunus Ceylan and Ekrem Dag gave them a 2-1 win.

Erman Ozgur had levelled for the visitors, who missed out on the chance to move up to fifth.
Fenerbahce have moved back to within a point of Galatasaray with a 2-0 win at Genclerbirligi.

Burhan Eser had put Genclerbirligi ahead after just 11 minutes, but Semih Senturk equalised in the 66th minute before grabbing the winner five minutes from time to keep Fenerbahce within touch of Galatasaray.

Besiktas remain four points off the top after they recovered from their UEFA Champions League exit to beat Ankaragucu 3-1.

Goals from Rodrigo Tello and Serdar Ozcan had put Besiktas 2-0 up at the break and although Alper Aydin pulled one back for Ankaragucu just after the restart, Mathias Delgado sealed the win on 67 minutes.

Elsewhere, Sandro da Silva saw red for Genclerbirligi OFTAS as they were beaten 2-1 by Denzilispor, Kayerispor saw off Buraspor 4-1 despite having Franco Cangele dismissed late on and bottom-placed Kasimpasa drew 2-2 with Manisaspor.

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Nihat Kahveci scored two goals

Nihat Kahveci scored two goals as Villarreal snapped a two-game losing streak with a 3-1 win over Getafe.

Nihat beat goalkeeper Oscar Ustari with a shot inside the far post after a pass from Robert Pires in the 16th minute. Pires again set up Nihat in the 79th for his second goal at the near post.

Santiago Cazorla scored the third for Villarreal in the 84th, two minutes before Kepa Blanco's consolation goal.

Villarreal, which had trailed leader Madrid by only one single point before a three-game winless streak, has 31 points.

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