Friday, March 20, 2015

UEFA Europa League Quarter-Finals Draw: Italian clubs have big obstacles in their way to semifinals, Wolfsburg vs. Napoli most interesting match in quarter-finals

UEFA Europa League:


After we saw a draw for UEFA Champions League one hour later we saw a draw for UEFA Europa league quarter-finals. From eight clubs that was in the pot surprisingly we got 2 Ukraine clubs Dynamo Kyiv who manage to kick out Everton and Dnipro who was better than Ajax. We also have two Italian clubs Fiorentina and Napoli and one club from Belgium (Club Brugge), Russia (Zenit) and Germany (Wolfsburg).


Draw started similar like UEFA Champions League with general secretary Gianni Infantino welcome everyone, UEFA competition director Giorgio Marchetti explain the draw process. Guest on the stage was Czech goalkeeper Jerzy Dudek who would pick the pots with names. First team that Dudek pull was UEFA Europa League title holder Sevilla, second team was Zenit. Next pair would be Club Brugge and Dnipro soon after Dnipro another Ukraine clubs find out their opponent. Dynamo Kyiv was next and soon after him Dudek pull Fiorentina. Wolfsburg and Napoli was the last two clubs to be picked from the pot. UEFA Europa League quarter-final draw looks like this:


First games playing on 16 April and return games on 23 April:

Dynamo Kyiv vs. Fiorentina
Club Brugge vs. Dnipro
Sevilla vs. Zenit
Wolfsburg vs. Napoli


If we look at those four games then two games jump out Wolfsburg vs. Napoli and Sevilla vs. Zenit but Dynamo vs. Fiorentina and Brugge vs. Dnipro will also be very interesting games to watch.


Sevilla and Zenit played each other 4 times in history. Last game between these two teams was also in quarter-finals of Europa league in season 2005/2006. Sevilla defeated Zenit with 5-2 on total and went on winning Europa league that season.


Other interesting pair is Wolfsburg and Napoli; this will be their first head-to-head games. Wolfsburg is now 2nd in Bundesliga while Napoli is holding 4th place in Seria A.


Club Brugge and Dnipro played only once in recent history. In season 2004/2005 they were in group c of Europa League, in that season only one game played. Dnipro beat Club Brugge 3-2 and win Group C.


Dynamo Kyiv and Fiorentina went head-to-head 4 times, 2 times in Champions League and 2 times in Europa League. Their first meeting was long time ago in season 1969/1970 when in second round of Champions League Fiorentina kicked out Dynamo Kyiv. First game in Kyiv end 2-1 for Fiorentina and in Firenze it was 0-0. Second meeting was 20 year later in season 1989/1990 in UEFA Cup in third round. This time Fiorentina was also better winning in Firenze  1-0 and then drawing 0-0 in Kyiv.


by ScoresPro.com



UEFA Europa League Quarter-Finals Draw: Italian clubs have big obstacles in their way to semifinals, Wolfsburg vs. Napoli most interesting match in quarter-finals

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