Translated material
From Denmark to Sicily
Our clubs recognized their opponents in the UEFA Cup
Three Russian clubs continuing to compete in the UEFA Cup yesterday, during the draw in Switzerland, found out their opponents from the group stage of the tournament. It cannot be said that they were eagerly awaiting the draw and were afraid that one of the grandees would be caught. After all, from each of the eight groups, which include five clubs, three teams advance to the 1/16 of the tournament. So you will have to be afraid later. When the UEFA Cup is filled with angry Champions League losers.In the meantime, the most dangerous opponents went to Lokomotiv. Espanyol, although it lacks stars from heaven, still forces all the giants of the Spanish championship to reckon with itself and has already managed to beat Real in this championship. So Loko is lucky that it will play against the Spaniards at home - the match will take place on October 19 in Moscow. And in two weeks, Eshtrekov’s team will have a voyage to Sicily, where Palermo can beat anyone. Last year, this modest club almost qualified for the Champions League, but was forced to settle for only participation in the UEFA Cup.
Brondby are also dangerous, with whom Lokomotiv will face on November 23 at home. And only the Israeli Maccabi from the city of Petah Tikva looks like a clear outsider in this group. But at the same time, we should not forget that this club has already dropped out of the Partizan tournament, defeating it at home with a score of 5:2. So going to Israel for Lokomotiv, who will already be in a vacation mood, can be dangerous.
Zenit has a rather difficult group. But one opponent of the St. Petersburg team could have been predicted in advance. In this UEFA Cup, Petrzela's team will definitely meet those with whom they already played last year. So the loss of Sevilla did not come as a surprise to the St. Petersburg team. Despite the fact that now the Spanish club, with whom Zenit drew 1:1 a year ago, is in 15th place in its championship, it has not become weaker. Even though Sevilla's main forward Gesuli is injured, and Baptista and Ramos left in the off-season, Saviola, as well as Frederic Kanuth, Jordi Lopez and Luis Fabiano, still play in the team.
But the most dangerous opponent of Zenit will be the English Bolton. Vlastimil Petrzela has said more than once that he would like to play with some British team, and now he got this chance. It’s curious, but Bolton coach Sam Allordyce immediately after the draw said that he was familiar with the game of the St. Petersburg team. “We are happy to play with Zenit. They are currently fourth in the Russian league and look like a very well organized team from the games I have seen,” said the Bolton coach. - In general, we found ourselves in excellent company with very good opponents. It will be difficult for us, but we will try to rise to the occasion. We'll just play our football and then we'll see how far we can go in Europe." Zenit will begin its performance in the tournament with a game against the Portuguese Vitoria, and will end with a meeting with Besiktas, which has been going through difficult times for a long time.
The current holder of the CSKA trophy can feel quite comfortable. Of the serious teams, the army team only got Marseille. And he is now in a very deep crisis. So CSKA will have a good chance to take revenge for the defeat in the first Champions League. Then the army team lost with a score of 0:6, however, then the French investigative authorities tried to convict the then president of Marseille, Bernard Tapie, in collusion with the leadership of the army club.
The rest of the army team's rivals - the Dutch "Heerenveen", the Bulgarian "Levski" and the Romanian "Dynamo" - will most likely fight for the third place in the 1/16 finals of the UEFA Cup from this group.
Draw results. Group "A". Monaco (France), Slavia (Czech Republic); “Hamburg” (Germany), CSKA (Sofia, Bulgaria), “Viking” (Norway). Group "B". Lokomotiv (Russia), Espanyol (Spain), Palermo (Italy), Brondby (Denmark), Maccabi (Petah Tikva, Israel). Group "C". Hertha (Germany), Lens (France); Sampdoria (Italy), Steaua (Romania), Halmstad (Sweden). Group "D". Alkmaar (Holland), Middlesbrough (England), Dnepr (Ukraine), Grasshoppers (Switzerland), Litex (Bulgaria). Group "E". Roma (Italy), Basel (Switzerland), Red Star (Serbia and Montenegro), Strasbourg (France), Tromso (Norway). Group "F". CSKA (Moscow, Russia), Marseille (France), Heerenveen (Holland), Levski (Bulgaria), Dynamo (Bucharest, Romania). Group "G". Stuttgart (Germany), PAOK (Greece), Shakhtar (Donetsk), Rennes (France), Rapid (Bucharest, Romania). Group "H". Besiktas (Turkey), Sevilla (Spain), Bolton (England), Zenit (Russia), Vitoria (Portugal).
Calendar of matches of Russian clubs:
October 19. Lokomotiv - Espanyol. October 20: Zenit - Vitoria, CSKA - Marseille. November 3. Palermo - Lokomotiv, Bolton - Zenit, Heerenveen - CSKA. November 23. Lokomotiv - Brondby. November 24. Zenit - Sevilla, CSKA - Levski. November 30. Maccabi PT - Lokomotiv. December 1st. "Besiktas" - "Zenit", "Dynamo" Bx - CSKA.