Olympique de Marseille vs Eskişehirspor (TUR)/Saint Johnstone FC (SCO) 2th August (a) 9th August (h) Europa League 3RQ FC Girondins de Bordeaux vs TBA : Europa League Play-off round (seeded) Draw 10th August Olympique Lyonnais Europa League Group Stage (1st seeding pool) Draw 31st August Lille OSC vs TBA : Champions League Playoff round (unseeded) Draw 5th August Paris Saint-Germain F.C. Champions League group stage (3rd or 4th seeding Pool) Draw 30th August Montpellier HSC Champions League group stage (4th seeding Pool) Draw 30th August UEFA Coeffcient rankings 3 Germany 63.400 4 Italy 51.064 5 Portugal 48.751 6 France 48.583 7 Netherlands 41.515
Not the greatest of draws for OM, they'll be big favorites but the team from Turkey looks to have some decent players with a lot of experience and playing away there is always tough.
I cant get excited about Marseille vs either of those teams but I hope they pull through. St. Johnstone at least I have heard of.
Eskişehirspor - Marseille 1-1 I guess it's decent result on the road as they are still in the pre-season mode but will still be a nervous 2nd leg.
Nice to see Gignac get the important goal. I think he'll have a nice season.With all the turmoil over there, I just dont know how seriously they are taking this Europa League.
There wont be 50,000+ crazy fans at the Velodrome cheering them on since they are playing in Istres. Thats why I'm pessimistic/worried.
Not sure if 50.000 crazy fans would be there anyways for a Europa League qualifier, the fan base seems split in those that want to tank the match to focus on finishing top 3 in the league and those who wants to go for it in Europe. Not sure if I a top 3 finish is realistic with or without Europa League so I hope they go for it.
Only 5,000 spectators expected for OM-Eskisehirspor. Might as well play in an empty stadium. http://www.foot01.com/equipe/marseille/5-000-spectateurs-attendus-pour-om-eskisehirspor,92200
Looks like a decent crowd actually, more than 5,000. OM up 2-0 at half. Giganc scored again ! He's going to have a big season I can feel it. Sell Remy and buy someone like Boudebouz or a LB. Nkoulou and M'Bia in central defense is very impressive. Thats probably the top pairing in the league besides PSG. Too bad they are always on the transfer list.
Well 3-0 now, looks like its over. I still think Baup was a terrible hire but I really liked his lineup/formation.
Yea, an easy victory for OM, Cheyrou just took an idiotic red card though and will be suspended for the first leg of the next round. The draw for the play-off round is tommorow 13:30 CET, both Marseille and Bordeaux is seeded in the draw. Lille is unseeded in the champions league draw (12:00) and will face one of Braga, Dinamo Kiev, PAO, FC Copenhagen or Spartak Moscow. I think they will have a decent change against either of those team, Copenhagen and PAO are probably the two "easiest" teams on paper.
Lille are better than all those teams. They arent playing anyone from one of the top 4 leagues so thats a huge relief.
Draw concluded Lille vs FC Copenhagen (DEN) Marseille vs FC Sheriff Tiraspol (MOL) Bordeaux vs Red Star Belgrade (SRB) All in all a pretty good draw, Rennes eliminated Red Star last year on 6-1 aggregate, Sheriff lost 5-0 on aggregate to Dinamo Zagreb in their Champions League qualifier. Copenhagen did eliminate Club Brugge in a very evenly matched tie but they don't seem to have as strong of a squad they had when they made it to the 1/8 finals two years ago.
Since these are just qualifiers, the matches I want to see are ones where we arent a shoo in to advance. OM is playing a worse team than the one they just beat so I can just skip that one and be confident they will go through. I might be interested in Bordeaux-Red Star only because of Red Star's past glories as a big club has me a bit worried. I know Copenhagen has been in the group stages before but I want to see that one because I enjoy watching Lille play.
red star belgrade has a really hardcore-hostile atmosphere fc copenhagen were better than brugge but it's really nothing lille can't handle
Time to kick-off this week of European football: Tuesday F.C. København - LOSC Lille Métropole 20:45 @ Parken, Copenhagen Thursday Sheriff Tiraspol - Olympique de Marseille 19:00 @ Sheriff Stadium, Tiraspol FK Crvena Zvezda - FC Girondins de Bordeaux 20:45 @ Stadion FK Crvena Zvezda, Belgrade
I dont like Lille's yellow and black kits. I like their lineup but they need someone stronger than DeMelo up top. You got Martin in the middle and Kalou and Payet on the wings and I think thats the way to go. Obviously Mavuba and Balmont in behind them but I think they need to upgrade from Balmont since hes old and slow. The backline is pretty weak without Debuchy and Basa in there.
Well its over. Lille were zero and Copenhagen deserved the win. I think the problem is that they were too reliant on Hazrad and now that hes gone it will take a while to intergrate the new players and this game is just too early in the season for them to to be on point. Roux should have started and I have no idea why Garcia prefered DeMelo. Martin, its gonna take a while to settle in. Payet is typcially hot and cold. Get Balmont out of there, he is a zero. Lille barely had any decent shots on target.
That missed penalty will come back to haunt them, Lille is not a team I'd trust to be able to score more than once at home. Big blow to their economy to go from getting 15M euro and playing infront of 50.000 in the champions league to a half-empty arena in the Europa League and 6 hour road trips to eastern europe. /pessimistic (realistic) rant
saw part of the game and I agree coppen where better and deservedly won but I still think Lille can advance if they show up at home, it is quite early but at the same time lille had plenty of pre season games to prepare for this