Molde v Legia Warsaw 31.07.2013 uefa champions league

Molde v Legia Warsaw
Football : Champions League: Third Qualifying Round
Venue: Molde Stadion, Molde (NOR)
Wednesday 31th July – Kickoff time: 19:00 GMT+1

 

Molde (Norway)

 

Exploiting Rosenborg’s downfall, Molde FK won the Norwegian Premier League for the first time in their history in 2011 and managed to defend their title one year later.

However, Ole Gunnar Solksjaer’s squad will not make it three in a row, they are currently fighting to avoid relegation at halfway through the season. Molde sits on a disappointing 13th position (out of 16 teams), just one point above the relegation zone.

Molde is coming into this match on the back of a 0-2 defeat against Lillestrom. The problem seems to be up front, but Molde only invested 125 000 euros to sign striker Tommy Hoiland, who scored five goals in 16 games for Sandnes Ulf during this season.

The Norwegians reached this stage of the competition after eliminating Sligo Rovers in the second qualifying round by winning both legs (3-0 on aggregate).

Legia Warsaw (Poland)

 Legia Warsaw won the Polish championship for the first time since 2006 with a six point advantage over runners up Lech Poznan and earned a ticket to the UCL qualifiers.

The Polish side will try to make it to the group stages for the first time since 1995, which was also represented their only ever presence in the group stages of the UEFA Champions League.

Welsh side The New Saints were no match to Legia in the previous round of qualifiers, the Poles won both legs (4-1 on aggregate) to secure their place in the third qualifying round.

Legia Warsaw is off to an excellent start in the Polish Ekstraklasa, they’ve won both games played so far in the new season, scoring eight goals in the process.

There shouldn’t be many changes in the squad for this match, the only most important question is whether coach Jan Urban will use veteran striker Saganowski up front, or Dvalishvili, who came in as a substitute and scored in the 3-0 victory over Pogon Stettin on Saturday.

match live here

Read More... Résuméabuiyad

Juventus kick off title defence at Sampdoria

 

Italian champions Juventus will kick off their bid for a third successive Serie A title with a trip to Sampdoria, following the announcement of next season's fixtures in a ceremony in Milan on Monday.

Title hopefuls AC Milan visit Hellas Verona, playing their first match back in the top flight in 11 years, while Walter Mazzarri's Inter Milan and Rafael Benitez's Napoli both begin with home matches against Genoa and Bologna respectively.

Promoted Sassuolo will play their first ever top-flight match away at Torino.

AS Roma, who start their campaign with a trip to rivals Livorno, will play their first home game of the season against Hellas Verona with the Curva Sud section of their stadium closed.

The club were handed the punishment after hardcore fans in that part of the Stadio Olimpico racially abused AC Milan striker Mario Balotelli during their last game of the season against Napoli.

Serie A will host five city derbies for the first time this season. The Rome derby between Roma and Lazio will take place in week four, the same week Milan host fellow title hopefuls Napoli.

Last season's runners-up will field a restructured squad under Benitez following the sale of striker Edinson Cavani to Paris St Germain.

The Champions League-winning coach has recruited Gonzalo Higuain, Jose Callejon and Raul Albiol from Real Madrid as well as goalkeeper Pepe Reina from Liverpool.

Other standout fixtures include Juve's trip to Inter in week three, while the champions host AC Milan in week seven and Napoli in week 12.

In late November, Hellas Verona will host neighbours Chievo in their first derby in 11 years and their third ever meeting.

Chievo have spent 11 of the last 12 years in Serie A, while Hellas, who were traditionally the bigger team, floundered in the lower leagues and suffered financial problems

Read More... Résuméabuiyad

Omonia Nicosia v Astra Giurgiu 25.07.2013 uefa europa league

  

Omonia Nicosia v Astra Giurgiu

Football : Europa League: Second Qualifying Round
Venue: "GSP Stadium", Nicosia (CYP)
Thursday 25th July – Kickoff time: 19:00 GMT+1

 

Omonia Nicosia (Cyprus)

The 20 times winner of the Cypriot first division, Omonia Nicosia finished third last season to grab a Europa League spot, behind APOEL Nicosia and Anorthosis Famagusta, two sides that had excellent UCL campaigns over the last few years.

Omonia Nicosia holds a poor record against Romanian opposition, they’ve met Sportul Studentesc (1986), Dinamo Bucuresti (2005) and Vaslui (2009) in the qualifying rounds of the Uefa Cup and couldn’t avoid being eliminated by these sides. They also lost to both Steaua and Dinamo Bucuresti in the European cup (1987 and 1984).

The Cypriot sides is now in the pole position of this tie after grabbing a 1-1 draw at the National Arena in Bucharest against Astra Giurgiu, so they are just 90 minutes away from eliminating a Romanian side for the first time in their history.

Their goal was scored by former Rapid Bucuresti defender, the Portuguese Joao Paolo Andrade, (one of their many foreign players) who headed in an excellent cross.

Astra Giurgiu (Romania)

Astra GiurgAstra Giurgiu finished fourth in the 2012-2013 Liga 1 season, which allows them to participate in a European competition for the first time in their history.

They’ve had big ambitions about their first ever presence in a European cup and started off with a convincing 3-0 victory over Domzale in the previous round, but failed to take a lead after the first leg against Omonia.

Astra Giurgiu controlled the game and even took the lead after just eight minutes through Tembo, but then wasted some excellent chances and allowed Omonia to get back into the game in the second half.

Astra will now have a tough job, but their morale was boosted by a 4-0 away Liga 1 victory over Viitorul Constanta over the weekend.
iu (Romania)

 

match live here

Read More... Résuméabuiyad