Translated material
Live until spring
Spartak, Zenit and Lokomotiv have decided on their opponents in the UEFA Cup
Three Russian clubs aiming at the UEFA Cup recognized their opponents from the group stage. The draw for Zenit, Spartak and Lokomotiv was not very favorable, and it is possible that not everyone will make it to the spring playoffs.Despite the fact that in the first round many decently named clubs, such as the Spanish Zaragoza, the Belgian Brugge, the Italian Sampdoria and Palermo, the English Blackburn and the Dutch Ajax, were eliminated from the tournament There are still many teams that would like to add the UEFA Cup to their trophy collection. A meeting with some of them was inevitable: “Zenit” and “Lokomotiv” got into the “seeding” only in the second basket, “Spartak” even in the third. But they managed to miss the most formidable opponent at this stage - Bayern Munich.
Zenit settled in Group A, where its most serious competitor was the English Everton. The British barely beat Metalist Kharkov in the first round and are not delighted with the new meeting with a team from Eastern Europe. The UEFA Cup regular, Dutch vice-champion Alkmaar, which reached the group stage for the fourth time in a row, is no longer so strong. Two of its main stars, Danny Koevermans and Shota Arveladze, left the team in the summer. But head coach Louis van Gaal extended his contract and now, creating a new team, can show it to his compatriot Dick Advocaat.
The modest German “Nuremberg” in Russia is known mostly for the fact that it features striker Ivan Saenko. Last season, the team made a splash by winning the German Cup, and Sayenko himself made it into the main roster of the Russian national team. But the fall of this year did not go well for Nuremberg - the team dropped to its usual bottom of the standings, and Sayenko had just recovered from injury.
In turn, the Greek “Larissa” is worthy of respect, if only because it has already knocked out “Blackburn” from the tournament. For the first and last time, Larisa was the champion of Greece in 1988, and then disappeared from the elite division. Returning there two years ago, last season the team won the Greek Cup, beating Panathinaikos in the final.
Lokomotiv will fight with this Greek club. And this is not surprising - the Greeks have five representatives in the group stage of the UEFA Cup. But most of all, the railroad workers should be wary of Atlético Madrid. The champion of Spain in terms of the amount of money spent on the transfer market in the off-season failed to start the national championship and intends to win back in European competition. Having sold their top scorer Fernando Torres to Liverpool, Atlético spent more than 50 million euros on Forlan, Simao and Reyes and must recoup the investment. But the fact that Lokomotiv’s match with the Spaniards will take place in Moscow gives the hosts additional chances. “Copenhagen” and “Aberdeen” are not gifts for Lokomotiv either. Under Anatoly Byshovets, the team generally plays better against strong opponents, and the Scots and Danes are famous for their intransigence.
The hardest thing will probably be for Spartak. For the “red-whites”, the group in the UEFA Cup is like a memory of previous performances in the Champions League. The opponents of Stanislav Cherchesov's team were Bayer and Sparta, that is, those teams with which Spartak's team at one time played, albeit difficultly, but successfully. Bayer now, like all German clubs except Bayern, does not look its best and barely passed the modest Leria in the first round, surviving in the last minutes.
But most importantly, Dmitry Bulykin can play against Spartak as part of Bayer. The German club signed a very modest contract with the Russian forward, but included a substantial bonus, and Bulykin, who is gaining form, has something to fight for.
Czech champion Sparta, like the Muscovites, failed to make it into the main European tournament and intends to fight in the UEFA Cup to the last. True, the Danish Odense managed to get through in the first round only on penalties. In Sparta, Russian fans will see another old friend from the Russian Championship - Pavel Maresh from Zenit.
French clubs are traditionally considered difficult opponents for Spartak. And then the lot selected the bronze medalist of the French championship “Toulouse” for the vice-champions of Russia. The team, however, climbed to such a high place thanks to a coincidence of circumstances, as evidenced by its quick exit from the Champions League. But Spartak will travel to France on December 19 - during the traditional vacation period for Russian football players. In this company of Champions League losers, Swiss Zurich looks like a clear outsider. But in the same status, the team met with the Italian Empoli, defeating them at home 3:0.
In any case, no Russian club will have an easy time in the group stage. But the fact that three teams from each quintet make it to the playoffs should reassure the leaders of Spartak, Zenit and Lokomotiv, who dream of repeating the success of CSKA in 2005.
Results of the UEFA Cup group stage draw. Group A: Alkmaar (Holland), Zenit (Russia), Everton (England), Nuremberg (Germany), Larisa (Greece). Group B: Panathinaikos (Greece), Lokomotiv (Russia), Atlético (Madrid, Spain), Copenhagen (Denmark), Aberdeen (Scotland). Group C: Villarreal (Spain), AEK (Greece), Fiorentina (Italy), Mlada Boleslav (Czech Republic), Elfsborg (Denmark). Group D: Basel (Switzerland), Hamburg (Germany), Rennes (France), Dynamo (Croatia), Brann (Norway). Group “E”: Bayer (Germany), Sparta (Czech Republic), Spartak (Moscow), Toulouse (France), Zurich (Switzerland). Group F: Bayern (Germany), Bolton (England), Braga (Portugal), Crvena Zvezda (Serbia), Aris (Greece). Group G: Anderlecht (Belgium), Tottenham (England), Getafe (Spain), Hapoel (Israel), Aalborg (Denmark). Group H: Bordeaux (France), Austria (Austria), Galatasaray (Turkey), Panionis (Greece), Helsingborg (Sweden).