RealGM

UEFA Cup group stages start this thursday and competition should be interesting considering the number of the CL regulars and up-and-coming teams. personally i ll be keeping a close eye since my two faves are involved. Groups(previous winners bolded):

Group A
PSG
Racing
Manchester City
Twente
Schalke

Group B
Olympiacos
Benfica
Metalist
Hertha
Galatasaray

Group C
Sampdoria
Stuttgart
Standard
Sevilla
Partizan

Group D
NEC
Tottenham
Spartak Moskva
Udinese
Dinamo Zagreb

Group E
Portsmouth
Milan
Wolfsburg
Heerenveen
Braga

Group F
Hamburg
Ajax
Slavia
Aston Villa
Žilina

Group G
Club Brugge
St Etienne
Valencia
København
Rosenborg

Group H
Deportivo
Feyenoord
Lech
Nancy
CSKA Moskva

both milan and galatasaray should advance rather easily. galatasaray-olympiacos should be fun game this week.

I freely admit that I find the UEFA Cup deadly boring as long as the group stage is still on.

PS: Hamburger SV is my sleeper pick, they are playing VERY well this season.

Galatasaray is up by 1 against Olympiakos at the moment.

Milan wins 3-1 over heerenveen.
Udinese beat Tottenham 2-0

I expect both of those Italian teams, along with Valencia to do very well in this tournament.

galatasaray got a 1-0 win over oly but it easily could ve been 4-0 but goal posts and sluggish finishing attempts saved greeks lot of embarrassment. galatasaray pretty much dominated all game and oly barely created chances up until last 10 minutes of the game.

i would ve liked a larger margin but win is a win and it is a good football lesson for greeks


i didnt watch milan s game but seems like they got a comfortable win as well.

Benfica-Galatasaray: 0-2
Milan-Braga: 1-0

good results all around

Galatasaray loses, I can't believe it.

Meanwhile, OLY with 2 superb performances now (0-3 on Iraklis) and 5-1 ON BENFICA!!!
http://www.sport24.gr/html/ent/459/ent.263459.asp

This one goes in the photo album:

Suazo can't believe it:


We're owning the league right now and this group is wide open again.

Portsmouth played a pretty spirited game against Milan and were unlucky to not have made it a memorable victory.

ugly win by Gala but important one nonetheless as we are taking the 1st place in a tough group.

on the other hand, i cant believe Metalist taking numbers right and left

Galatasaray in Berlin was WEIRD. Two thirds of the stadium was yellow and red (40,000 Gala fans vs 20,000 Hertha fans). Seemingly every Turkish German in Germany had bought a ticket, and the poor Berliners had a road game in their own stadium. Even the section where the Berlin hardcore fans normally sit was checkered yellow and red! Berlin manager Michael Preetz: "Gala vs Berlin is the only international sports derby."

Even more weirdness: Gala fielded more Germans than the Berliners. Aykut comes from Göppingen, Erdem from Vechta, Volkan Yaman from Munich, and Ümit Karan, Baris, Serkan and Hakan Balta from Berlin. Berlin only had Fiedler, Stein and Ebert!

Commentary of the "Tagesspiegel" newspaper: "Great Istanbul beats Small Istanbul 1-0."

That loss in Ukraine was a heartbreaker, and to lose on such a sh*t goal in the 87th minute.
We played a horrible 1st half, but the match should ended in a draw.
Now we have Hertha at home which we better win or we don't deserve to progress.

Point forward wrote:
Commentary of the "Tagesspiegel" newspaper: "Great Istanbul beats Small Istanbul 1-0."

haha.

not only people that live there but Gala fans are the best traveling fans in Europe. it is good have supporters in just about every corner of the world.

Wolfsburg is playing very well, beat Portsmouth yesterday.
David James with an original "english goalkeeper move", but he also saved a penalty. Edin Dzecko of Wolfsburg will be playing in the premiere League next year, the way he totally killed Sol Campbell will get him offers en masse from England.

Even with a horrendous ref, we pumped Hertha 4-0:

Last 32:

Paris Saint-Germain FC (FRA) v VfL Wolfsburg (GER)
FC København (DEN) v Manchester City FC (ENG)
NEC Nijmegen (NED) v Hamburger SV (GER)
UC Sampdoria (ITA) v FC Metalist Kharkiv (UKR)
SC Braga (POR) v R. Standard de Liège (BEL)
Aston Villa FC (ENG) v PFC CSKA Moskva (RUS)
KKS Lech Poznań (POL) v Udinese Calcio (ITA)
Olympiacos CFP (GRE) v AS Saint-Etienne (FRA)
ACF Fiorentina (ITA) v AFC Ajax (NED)
Aalborg BK (DEN) v RC Deportivo La Coruña (ESP)
Werder Bremen (GER) v AC Milan (ITA)
FC Girondins de Bordeaux (FRA) v Galatasaray AŞ (TUR)
FC Dynamo Kyiv (UKR) v Valencia CF (ESP)
FC Zenit St. Petersburg (RUS) v VfB Stuttgart (GER)
Olympique de Marseille (FRA) v FC Twente (NED)
FC Shakhtar Donetsk (UKR) v Tottenham Hotspur FC (ENG)

tricky matchup but galatasaray should go through this round, they certainly have a better quality team. on paper, milan should advance as well, but they need to stabilize the back four against dangerous bremen frontline.

^^Bordeaux won't be a cakewalk by any means.

As for OLY, we were pretty fortunate to draw St. Etienne. They're 17th in the French League. Yeah they're playing well in Europe but I'll be disappointed if we don't beat them. 1st leg is at home so we need a great result.
If we move on from there, we'll most likely be playing Milan (unless Werder wakes up) and I CAN'T WAIT FOR THAT POSSIBLE MATCHUP.

oly should beat etienne, but they ll get raped by milan.

The dream(Playing at the Şükrü Saraçoğlu Stadium) continues for Galatasaray. Who are their possible rivals if they advance? I agree with El Turco on Oly, also waiting to see the Shaktar-Tottenham matchup.