Europa League Previews: April 8, 2010

Xavier GonzalezApr 8, 2010

Atletico Madrid vs Valencia

Atletico Madrid will be going into this match pretty confident after holding Valencia to a 2-2 draw at the reverse fixture. The two away goals could be crucial in securing Atletico’s progression to the next round. Added to which they comprehensively thrashed Valencia 4-1 just a few weeks ago.

Valencia’s away statistics look even worse; they haven’t won away in 10 games with their last victory being against the struggling Xerez.

However there is some good news for Valencia fans, both Reyes and Valera are not going to be able to play which could see Madrid’s options somewhat stunted. On the other hand Perea who missed Atletico’s game on Saturday due to suspension is set to return to the side.

Valencia will be without Bruno and Banega through suspension although this is unlikely to damage the teams performance too greatly.

Overall it seems that Atletico Madrid have a fantastic chance to beat Valencia and progress to the next round. With Valencia playing abysmally away from home it is no wonder Atletico feel confident ahead of the match. In recent weeks Valencia don’t even look like a side that would present Atletico with a challenge never mind beat them.

Standard Liege vs Hamburger

Hamburg continue their push towards the Europa final which they are hosting this year. They do retain a slender advantage having won 2-1 at home in the 1st leg of against the Belgian champions.

Neither of the two sides played very well on the weekend with Standard loosing to Gent and Hamburg being held to a goalless draw against Hannover. Although, Standard Liege did put in the worse performance out of the two sides they still remain confident about the match. The coach has said that he knows his team are the underdogs, but they were also the underdogs against Salzburg and Panathinaikos.

Standard Liege rested several key players at the weekend which di largely contribute to their defeat to Gent Jovanavic, Mbokani, Witsel, and De Camargo were all left out of the match. There are also rumours that captain Defour could make an unexpected comeback from injury for the match, which could be great news for the Belgians. Hamburg’s squad doesn’t look quite so healthy and several players will undergo last minute fitness checks.

This match could go either way, whilst the German’s do look like the runaway favourites Standard Liege have been on the right side of a few giant killings already in this competition. So if nothing else this should make for an interesting match.