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UEFA Europa League Draw

The draw for the newly formatted UEFA Europa League was completed in Monaco on Friday with all 48 clubs vying for a place in the final of the competition that will be staged in Hamburg next year.

David Moyes’ Everton were drawn into Group I of the tournament alongside Portuguese side Benfica, AEK Athens of Greece and FC BATE Borisov of Bulgaria. The Barclays Premier League’s other representative, Fulham, were allocated into Group E in what could prove to be a tough challenge for Roy Hodgson’s side as they come up against A.S Roma of Italy, FC Basel of Switzerland and Bulgarians CSKA Sofia.

Meanwhile, Glasgow Celtic will battle it out in Group C for a place in the last 32 with German side Hamburg, Hapoel Tel-Aviv of Israel and Aston Villa’s conquerors, Rapid Vienna of Austria.

The current holders of the trophy, Ukranians Shakhtar Donetsk, who narrowly lost out to Barcelona in last night’s UEFA Super Cup, must overcome Belgium’s Club Brugge, Serbia’s FK Partizan and Toulouse of France if they are to go on and retain the title that they claimed in Istanbul earlier this year.

Werder Bremen, who lost out in last season’s final, will face FK Austria Vienna, Spain’s Athletic Club Bilbao and CD Nacional of Portugal in Group L.

One of the favourites to win the tournament, Spanish Primera Liga’s Valencia, must negotiate ties with Lille of France, Slavia Prague of the Czech Republic and Genoa from Italy if they are to progress. Fellow Primera Liga outfit, Villarreal, were drawn together with Italy’s Lazio, Bulgarians Levski Sofia and FC Salzburg of Austria in Group G.

Greece’s Panathinaikos, who missed out on a place in this year’s UEFA Champions League, were drawn into Group F with Turkey’s Galatasaray, Dinamo Bucharest of Romania and Sturm Graz of Austria, while one time Euro heavyweights, Ajax, must compete with Anderlecht of Belgium, Croatians Dinamo Zagreb and FC Timisoara of Romania in Group A.

Former England manager Steve McClaren’s FC Twente will compete with Romanians Steaua Bucharest, Christoph Daum’s Fenerbahce and FC Sheriff of Moldova for a place in the latter stages.

The first round of fixtures will take place on Thursday, 17th September, with the final to be held in the HSH Nordbank Arena on 12th May 2010.

Group A - Ajax (Nld), Anderlecht (Bel), Dinamo Zagreb (Cro), FC Timisoara (Rom).

Group B - Valencia CF (Esp), Lille (Fra), Slavia Prague (Cze), Genoa (Ita).

Group C - Hamburg (Ger), Celtic (Sco), Hapoel Tel-Aviv (Isr), Rapid Vienna (Aus).

Group D - Sporting Lisbon (Por), SC Herenveen (Nld), Hertha Berlin (Ger), FK Ventspils (Lat).

Group E - AS Roma (Ita), FC Basel (Swi), Fulham (Eng), CSKA Sofia (Bul).

Group F - Panathinaikos (Gre), Galatasaray (Tur), Dinamo Bucharest (Rom), Sturm Graz (Aus).

Group G - Villarreal CF (Esp), Lazio (Ita), Levski Sofia (Bul), FC Salzburg (Aus).

Group H - Steaua Bucharest (Rom), Fenerbahce (Tur), FC Twente (Nld), FC Sheriff (Mda).

Group I - Benfica (Por), Everton (Eng), AEK Athens (Gre), FC BATE Borisov (Bul).

Group J - FC Shakhtar Donetsk (Ukr), Club Brugge (Bel), FK Partizan (Ser), Toulouse (Fra).

Group K - PSV Eindhoven (Nld), FC Kobenhavn (Den), Sparta Prague (Cze), CFR Cluj (Rom).

Group L - Werder Bremen (Ger), FK Austria Vienna (Aus), Athletic Club Bilbao (Esp), CD Nacional (Por).

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UEFA Cup Final Heartache for Werder Bremen

Confetti rained down and music of triumph powered through the stadium. But none of it was for Werder. The Green-Whites stood on the pitch empty-handed, worn out and deeply disappointed, starring out into space. It was not their day and it will not be there UEFA Cup trophy. Werder goal scorer Naldo was tear-filled as he received his silver medal from UEFA President Michel Platini then sobbed in the arms of board of directors members Manfred Müller and Klaus-Dieter Fischer. “I am so sad. You don’t get a chance like this too often,” said the Brazilian. Goalkeeper Tim Wiese’s state of mind was clear as well. “I am also very disappointed. We stood very well on defence but did not have the vigour that we are known for. Maybe we should have shot some more. But we had chances to go ahead 2-1. Everybody fought. But in the end, the luckier team won,” said Wiese.

The Ukrainians may have been luckier in finalising, but Bremen recognised the strong showing of Shakhtar Donetsk. And manager Klaus Allofs said Shakhtar played up to their potential better than Werder did. “Many people saw today that this kind of final has an entirely different level of nervous strain than any other round before it. Maybe some thought too much before the game. We have to accept that we did not give our best showing. We were not present like we needed to be in a final,” said Allofs. “We could not make up for the suspensions and the injuries. Whenever Diego has missed time during the season we have been able to compensate. But when along with him, Hugo Almeida is also out and Per Mertesacker is injured, that’s just too much. I am convinced that if we had our full team for this final we would have won. But that doesn’t help now. It was our duty to make due with the team we had available and the others did that better.”

Team captain Frank Baumann was also dejected. “That was a big loss and a big disappointment. We did not have the chances to put them under pressure and therefore take away some of the pressure off us. We had a bit of luck on the equalising goal. But after that the game was open even though Donetsk played very well and surely had a bit more run of play.” Torsten Frings added: “We did not deserve the loss, but Donetsk was the better team. We made too many mistakes.” And head coach Thomas Schaaf said: “We lost too many balls too easily and therefore could not organise our game how we had hoped to. But that was also due to a very strong opponent, who I would like to congratulate for the title.”

Shakhtar Donetsk Win Last Ever UEFA Cup

Werder Bremen lost the UEFA Cup final against a strong FC Shakhtar Donetsk as Thomas Schaaf’s team lost 2-1 in extra time. Luiz Adriano gave Donetsk the lead in the 25th minute. Naldo equalised in the 35th minute but Jadson scored the winning goal in extra time for the Ukrainians.

The 38,000 spectators at Istanbul’s sold-out Şükrü Saraçoğlu Stadium saw an interesting and exciting match from the start. Werder struggled right away with the technically and tactically very strong FC Shakhtar Donetsk, especially with the quick pushes forward by the Ukrainians.

And Donetsk jumped ahead on a counter attack in the 25th minute. A long ball by Răzvan Raţ went through the entire Bremen backline and into the path of the dangerous Luiz Adriano, who was quicker to the ball and looped it over the charging Werder keeper Tim Wiese. But Thomas Schaaf’s team showed their determination and fought their way back into the game, equalising 10 minutes after falling behind. Donetsk keeper Andriy Pyatov batted away Naldo’s free kick blast from 30 yards but the ball deflected into the Ukrainians’ goal. Five minutes before the break, Wiese showed his class by stopping a fine attempt by Mariusz Lewandowski to his lower right corner. And the game was knotted 1-1 at intermission.

Wiese was in the middle of the action again shortly after the break. Bremen’s keeper fended to corner an excellent free kick from Jadson from 18 yards out. At the other end, Mesut Özil pushed forward on the right side and passed into the middle but Markus Rosenberg’s shot was blocked. The game remained even though Claudio Pizarro’s strong header was held by Pyatov with 12 minutes to play. And the game went into extra time at 1-1.

In the 97th minute, the Ukrainians took advantage of a Werder mistake on defence for the decisive goal for 2-1. After an attack down the right side, Jadson had too much space and struck home from 12 yards out. Wiese was able to get his hand on the ball but the Shakhtar Donetsk winner crossed the goalline. Werder pushed forward until the end looking to equalise again. But Alexandros Tziolis’s shot in the 111th minute went just wide right and the Ukrainians were the final UEFA Cup champions.

Werder Bremen reach UEFA Cup Final

What a European cup night?! What a victory?! And what a great team?! The pictures of Werder’s celebrations at the HSH Nordbank Arena tell a great story about a sworn unit. Seconds after the huge triumph, a group of Werder players raced to the sidelines, picked up injured defender Per Mertesacker and carried him and his swollen ankle over to the team’s fan curve to join the celebrations. Already there were the overjoyed captain Frank Baumann, who literally risked his neck for the winning third goal; and Sebastian Prödl, who was subbed in for “Merte” and played excellent in reaching his second final in his first season. Also in the middle of the celebrations were Daniel Jensen, on crutches after an Achilles tendon operation; and Claudio Pizarro, who once again scored a critical goal.

“All of Bremen can be proud of this team. And I hope the mood stretches out over the entire region in the next couple weeks. I know that expectations are gigantic but you can be happy right now for this team. Reaching two finals is something extremely extraordinary,” said manager Klaus Allofs. And Torsten Frings added: “Our coach Thomas Schaaf gave us a vision of the extraordinary feat we could achieve if we reach both finals.”

Claudio Pizarro was also beside himself in joy after the nerve-racking match against Hamburg. “I have never been in a European cup final. But now we have achieved that. We gave everything we had and our fans can see that we never game up,” said Pizarro. And now the Green-Whites want to finish the deed and bring home the trophy. “Now we need to win both cups,” said Tim Wiese. And Clemens Fritz added: “We want to go down in the history books. Now we need to use our chances to win the titles.”

De Bleeckere to referee UEFA Cup semi-final

Belgian Frank De Bleeckere has been assigned to referee the UEFA Cup semi-final return leg between Werder Bremen and Hamburg on Thursday, 7 May 2009 at 8:45 p.m. at HSH Nordbank Arena. The FIFA referee will be calling his second European cup match with Bremen playing. The first Werder game for the 42-year-old came during the 2004/05 Champions League season as Bremen lost 3-0 in the Round of 16.

De Bleeckere is a good fit for the northern German derby because of his knowledge of the German language and wealth of international experience. He has been a FIFA referee since 1998 and is mainly assigned to matches in the Champions League. The referee has blown the whistle in 24 national team matches, including the most recent European Championship and World Cup.

De Bleeckere will be supported on the sidelines by compatriots Peter Hermans and Danny Huens. And the fourth official Serge Gumienny is also Belgian.

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