FCK have signed 3 players to make up for injuries and poor results ... Due to Santander getting injured for the rest of 2017 against Garabag, they have signed the Austrian striker Martin Pušić from FC Midtjylland for a possible $600k fee ... perhaps not really a Europa League quality striker, they signed Pieros Sotiriou for that task, but good enough to add depth and do well in the Superliga. They have also signed the young Slovakian international centre back Denis Vavro who looked highly impressive against FCK for MSK Zilina in the CL qualifiers. They are said to have paid $1.7 million for him, ... and last and not least they also managed to sign the 28-yo Greek-Portuguese Panathinaikos captain and box-to-box centre midfielder Zeca... there was some despute about the price tag, because Panathinaikos apparently had made him a promise, but then suddenly were demanding too much money for him .. but i guess that they now suddenly are more desperately in need of selling players after they did not manage to qualify for the Europa League Group stage, so in the end they let him go for only $1.9 million...
Group F: Lokomotiv Moscow (Rus) .. 6 < 9-4 > 11 FC København (Den) .......... 6 < 7-3 .> 9 --------------------------------------------------------------- Sheriff Tiraspol (Mol) ......... 6 < 4-4 .> 9 Fastav Zlin (Cze) ................ 6 < 1-10 > 2 _______ https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2017–18_UEFA_Europa_League_group_stage#Group_F FC København (Den) v Lokomotiv Moscow (Rus), 0-0 Sheriff Tiraspol (Mol) v FC København (Den), 0-0 Fastav Zlin (Cze) v FC København (Den), 1-1 FC København (Den) v Fastav Zlin (Cze), 3-0 Lokomotiv Moscow (Rus) v FC København (Den), 2-1 FC København (Den) v Sheriff Tiraspol (Mol), 2-0 1-0 Pieros Sotiriou (56) 2-0 Michael Lüftner (59) Red Card: Jairo, Sheriff (69) Penalty missed: Badibanga, Sheriff (70) Attendance: 14,246 FCK really have struggled in the Superliga this season, so it has been difficult for coach Solbakken to focus as much on the EL group stage as he probably would have liked, especially in the away games where it has been quite obvious that he was working to stabilize their defense rather than going for a win, with the philosophy that FCK would progress if they just were able to win their home games ... At the end of the day, it worked out well, though the FCK players were feeling the pressure of beeing in need of a win in their very last match against a Sheriff team that so far had not lost a match in Europa League this season ... a pressure you could have feared would stand in the way of FCK success considering how fragile this team has seemed of lately in the Superliga, only managing 1 win in their last 5 games. But they did the job and could actually also have won this group with a bit of luck, because they were quite on pair with Lokomotiv Moscow both home and away... In any case, FCK can be happy that Rasmus Falk and Santander finally are back in shape and able to reinforce the team after hsving been long-term injured. Highlights:
Group J: Atletic Bilbao (Spa) ............... 6 < 8-5 > 11 Östersunds FK (Swe) ........... 6 < 8-4 > 11 ------------------------------------------------------------------ Zorya Luhansk (Ukr) ............. 6 < 3-9 > 6 Herta BSC (Ger) .................... 6 < 6-7 > 5 _______ https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2017–18_UEFA_Europa_League_group_stage#Group_J Zorya Luhansk (Ukr) v Östersunds FK (Swe), 0-2 Östersunds FK (Swe) v Herta BSC (Ger), 1-0 Östersunds FK (Swe) v Atletic Bilbao (Spa), 2-2 Atletic Bilbao (Spa) v Östersunds FK (Swe), 1-0 Östersunds FK (Swe) v Zorya Luhansk (Ukr), 2-0 Herta BSC (Ger) v Östersunds FK (Swe), 1-1 0-1 Papagiannopoulos (58) 1-1 Pekarík (61) Penalty missed: Nouri, Östersunds (87) Östersunds FK have been the huge positive surpise and could even have won the group if their captain Brwa Nouri had not missed a penalty at the very end of the match in Berlin ... Herta on the other hand have been a huge negative surprise in this group, but as also written before, Herta have not been in a group stage since 2009-10 and last season they were eliminated in the EL qualifiers (1-0 and 1-3) by Brøndby, so I'm actually not too surprised that they have done so poorly in this group... but all praise to Östersunds that have had a great run in the EL so far this season and also managed to progress from this group stage. !
Group L: Zenit (Rus) ....................... 6 < 17-5 > 16 Real Sociedad (Spa) ....... 6 < 16-6 > 12 --------------------------------------------------------------- Rosenborg BK (Nor) ....... 6 < 6-11 > 5 FK Vardar (Mac) ............. 6 < 3-20 > 1 _______ https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2017–18_UEFA_Europa_League_group_stage#Group_L Real Sociedad (Spa) v Rosenborg BK (Nor), 4–0 Rosenborg BK (Nor) v FK Vardar (Mac), 3–1 Zenit (Rus) v Rosenborg BK (Nor), 3-1 Rosenborg BK (Nor) v Zenit (Rus), 1-1 Rosenborg BK (Nor) v Real Sociedad (Spa), 0-1 FK Vardar (Mac) v Rosenborg BK (Nor), 1-1 1-0 Ytalo (9) 1-1 Nicklas Bendtner (Pen: 45) Rosenborg have been eliminated since early November, just as Vardar also had nothing to play for except for their pride, so perhaps a 1-1 draw was the best solution for both teams, as Varder managed to get their first point, while Rosenborg also could be happy about not losing this last away game.
Europa League Round of 32, draw : FC København (Den) v Atlético Madrid (Spa) Östersunds FK (Swe) v Arsenal (Eng) Very tough opponents for the two Scandinavian teams .... though it's worth mentioning that FCK missed qualifying for the Champions League group stage (2-1 and 0-1) on away goals to Qarabag that then finished last in CL Group B right behind Atlético Madrid, but with Atlético not being able to beat Qarabag (1-1 and 0-0), unlike FCK in the play-off's.
It'll be good for the Östersunds fans to have a chance to see Arsenal. I don't think they have the following Köln has.