الاثنين، 21 فبراير 2011

Liverpool, Man City home in on Europa League progress

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Premier League sides Liverpool and Manchester City will be among the Europa League favourites seeking to reach the last 16 this week.

Both City and Liverpool ground out goalless draws in last week's first-leg matches and will be out to complete aggregate victories on home turf.

City take on Aris Thessaloniki while Liverpool host Sparta Prague on Thursday among a number of evenly-poised second-leg encounters.

While FC Twente, Ajax, Bayer Leverkusen and Dynamo Kiev recorded away wins last week by two goals or more, there is little separating most of the rest of the ties - six of which are all square.

Liverpool will be hopeful captain Steven Gerrard will be fit to return to the starting line-up for their return leg against Sparta Prague.

The midfielder missed the 0-0 draw in Prague last week with a groin problem but is expected to return, while defender Daniel Agger is also set to return from injury, though new striker Luis Suarez is cup-tied.

Manchester City will welcome back some of the big names who did not start the weekend FA Cup victory over Notts County for the visit of Aris.

Carlos Tevez and Gareth Barry are sure to start the game having begun on the bench at the weekend while Shaun Wright-Phillips, tipped to leave the club in the summer, is also set to play.

Spanish teams Sevilla and Villarreal are determined to reach the round of 16, partly because it is the only competition that they stand a chance of winning this season.

Sevilla - who won the old UEFA Cup in 2006 and 2007 - are stranded in seventh place in La Liga, while Villarreal are fourth, 19 points behind record-breaking leaders Barcelona.

Sevilla have a hard task ahead of them on Wednesday away to FC Porto, who won the away leg 2-1 in Seville last Thursday.

"It will be difficult to win in Portugal but not impossible, and we will certainly give it our best try," said Sevilla coach Gregorio Manzano.

Villarreal take on Italian side Napoli after battling out a 0-0 draw in the Stadio San Paolo.

"The tie is still 50-50. We want to continue in the competition but we will have to beat them at home, which will not be easy," Villareal coach Juan Carlos Garrido said.

Napoli coach Walter Mazzarri said: "We will go (to Spain) to play our game, and we can make it.

Germany's Bayer Leverkusen are well placed after a 4-0 at Metalist Kharkiv but VfB Stuttgart - who were defeated 4-2 at Leverkusen Sunday and are in the middle of a relegation battle - have another fight on their hands as they attempt to overturn a 2-1 defeat in Benfica.

Elsewhere, Polish side Lech Poznan visit Portugal's Sporting Braga with a 1-0 lead, while Swiss outfit Young Boys Berne travel to Russians Zenit St Petersburg with a 2-1 first-leg win.

Zenit's Russian rivals Spartak Moscow are in a better position against Swiss opposition, 3-2 ahead against visiting FC Basel.

CSKA Moscow start the week's action on Tuesday at home to Greek side PAOK with a 1-0 lead, while fourth Russian hope Rubin Kazan travel to FC Twente who are 2-0 up from the first leg.

In ties all square after the first leg, Paris St Germain take on Belarussians BATE Borisov (2-2), Sporting Lisbon entertain Glasgow Rangers (1-1) while PSV Eindhoven host OSC Lille (2-2).

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