The Matchday Man

9 - Nine different nations are represented among the 24 remaining clubs in UEFA's three men’s club competitions this season. Spain (6 clubs) and England (5 clubs) account for 46% of the teams: 6 - Spain🇪🇸 5 - England🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 3 - Germany🇩🇪 Portugal🇵🇹 2 - France🇫🇷 Italy🇮🇹 1 - Greece🇬🇷 Netherlands🇳🇱 Ukraine🇺🇦 Geography.

De Conference League is een werelduitvinding. Juist dit soort gekke clubjes gun je een gek, glorieus avontuur. In een stad met twee wereldmachten gewoon trouw zweren aan Rayo Vallecano, dan ben je een held.

🏆Would be cool to see a Celta Vigo Braga Europa League semi final. 100km between the teams 🇵🇹 🇪🇸 Freiburg and Betis stand in the way.

#UECL Quarter Finals: Shakhtar Donetsk 🇺🇦 v AZ 🇳🇱 (Goals Demanded) Crystal Palace 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 v Fiorentina 🇮🇹 (Still naive Palace get biggest test. Fiorentina still keen for a deep run despite relegation struggles elsewhere) Rayo Vallecano 🇪🇸 v AEK Athens 🇬🇷 (First leg work enough to send both of these through. AEK might fancy a big league scalp) 1. FSV Mainz 05 🇩🇪 v RC Strasbourg 🇫🇷 (Table toppers just about past HNK Rijeka 🇭🇷. It gets harder now)

SC Braga 🇵🇹 v Real Betis 🇪🇸 SC Freiburg 🇩🇪 v Celta de Vigo 🇪🇸 FC Porto 🇵🇹 v Nottingham Forest 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 Bologna 🇮🇹 v Aston Villa 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 The still super open #UEL has a great Quarter Final line-up. Winners somewhere in here, still not entirely certain where...

3 years on from their run to the Semi-Finals, we've got another very fun AZ 🇳🇱 team coming to the boil in the #UECL knockouts. It's 14th knocking out 4th from the League Phase tonight, a sense of general justice for the Eredivisie outfit. AZ 🇳🇱 already had a first leg lead for this game, but that had come from a second half where they absolutely dominated Sparta Praha 🇨🇿, yet had to wait until very late on to find a winning goal. Sparta were fortunate to still be in this tie ahead of Leg 2, but any hope of regrouping and completing a turnaround at Stadion Letná hasn't come close to happening. Instead, AZ 🇳🇱 have got a margin their play over this tie deserves. All the main attacking stars (Isak Jensen 🇩🇰, Troy Parrott 🇮🇪, Sven Mijnans 🇳🇱 and Ro-Zangelo Daal 🇳🇱) got on the scoresheet tonight, with Mijnans having a goal disallowed 10 minutes before his cracking strike to make it 0-3. Sparta had a close-range goal of their own disallowed, and it would have been nothing more than a consolation anyway. 3 years ago, AZ 🇳🇱's U19 Team won the UEFA Youth League, whilst a first team that included Milos Kerkez 🇭🇺, Tijjani Reijnders 🇳🇱 and Vangelis Pavlidis 🇬🇷 went to the Conference League Last 4. The latest crop are now just one round from repeating that UECL run. Shakhtar Donetsk 🇺🇦 up next, who have just edged past Lech Poznań 🇵🇱 thanks to a crucial own goal. That is a pair of games not to miss...

Some might have fancied an Aston Villa 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 v Olympique Lyonnais 🇫🇷 final in the #UEL. We won't be getting it. Lyon topped the League Phase table with 21/24 points, their LP ending at a time where they were on a fantastic winning run. That winning run has vanished in the last month though, a drop in form which made this Round of 16 tie with Celta de Vigo 🇪🇸 feel like a banana skin in waiting. They have fully slipped on that banana skin. After rescuing a 1-1 draw last week, it's all fallen apart at home tonight, down to 10 within 20 minutes, conceding around the hour and then on second half stoppage time, finishing the match with 9. A brilliant night abroad for Celta. This is their firsf European campaign since 2016-17, when they made the Semi-Finals of his exact competition. For now, a mirrored run is still possible, and it's an open-looking Quarter Final with SC Freiburg 🇩🇪 up next..:

🏁 𝗙𝗜𝗡𝗔𝗟 con 𝗩𝗜-𝗧𝗢-𝗥𝗜𝗔 ✅ Celtismo... estamos nos CUARTOS DE FINAL! GRANDE, EQUIPO 🔥🩵 GRANDE, AFECCIÓN. #OLCelta ⋄ #EuropaLeague

The #UECL returns for Round of 16 Leg 2 action: -Looks like they'll be no mirrored run to the Quarter Finals for plucky NK Celje 🇸🇮. AEK Athens 🇬🇷 got full revenge for their League Phase defeat with a 4-0 first leg win at Stadion Z'dežele... -Crystal Palace 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 met by a robust AEK Larnaca 🇨🇾 at Selhurst Park, unable to break through them and find a goal. Does now being back at home cause the Cypriot side to play a bit more open? -Sigma Olomouc 🇨🇿, the team who snuck into 24th right at the end of the League Phase because of a goal elsewhere, are for now still in the running for a Quarter Final place. Goalless in Olomouc last week, it's now on 1. FSV Mainz 05 🇩🇪 to avoid what would br a very major home upset... -Fiorentina 🇮🇹 might be engaged in a relegation battle in Serie A, but the Conference League's longest-serving outfit are still for now focused on yet another deep knockout run. First leg advantage after a stoppage time win in Florence. Raków Częstochowa 🇵🇱 now play host at their alternative venue in Sosnowiec... -Potential early banana skin for Rayo Vallecano 🇪🇸 away in Samsun, but passed well with a 3-1 first leg lead. Samsunspor 🇹🇷 do need a miracle from here... -Shakhtar Donetsk 🇺🇦's Brazilian imports shone in their 3-1 win over Lech Poznań 🇵🇱 last week, a chance for Arda Turan 🇹🇷's team to demonstrate their credentials as a title contender. They're now hosts for Leg 2, their necesssary neutral venue continuing to be Stadion Miejski im. Henryka Reymana in Kraków 🇵🇱... -AZ 🇳🇱 eventually got a first leg lead over Sparta Praha 🇨🇿 that was fully deserved. They battered down the door in the second half trying to get a winner. Sparta very lucky to have not lost by more. Tonight's a lifeline, a chance to regroup and complete a fairly simple turnaround at Stadion Letná. They need to take it... -Table toppers RC Strasbourg 🇫🇷 would probably have liked a better first leg advantage against HNK Rijeka 🇭🇷, but their deadly nature was still on display...

Following on from SC Braga 🇵🇹's full turnaround yesterday, it's now full #UEL focus for the remaining 7 ties this evening: -The still-underrated Genk 🇧🇪 take a deserved 1-0 lead to SC Freiburg 🇩🇪. Been a few turnarounds this week, Freiburg could really do with one for the sake of their season... -Table toppers Olympique Lyonnais 🇫🇷 were able to avoid a first leg scalp with a late equaliser against Celta de Vigo 🇪🇸. It's now on them to win the tie back home at Décines-Charpieu... -Hit by another sucker punch home defeat to FC Midtjylland 🇩🇰, Nottingham Forest 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 now have to head out the Jutland Peninsula and fear the wolf cry... -The all-Italian affair ended level in Bologna with a goal each in the second half. Being at the Olimpico might make you favour AS Roma 🇮🇹, but that isn't a guarantee... -Battling to a 1-0 away in Villeneuve-d'Ascq last week, Aston Villa 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 are now expected to either defend or ideally extend their aggregate with Lille OSC 🇫🇷... -A determined late win, despite dpending longer with 10 men, gave Panathinaikos 🇬🇷 an advantage over Real Betis 🇪🇸. They will do very well to earn progression tonight in Seville, Real Betis 🇪🇸 containing their temporary spell at Estadio La Cartuja... -A quickfire first-half double to give FC Porto 🇵🇹 victory over VfB Stuttgart 🇩🇪. The aggregate advantage starts minimal though at Estádio do Dragão...

That it is actually a belting set of games.

In Portugal, we don’t say “remontada”. We say “o primeiro milho é para os pardais”.

And the common trend continues. When Galatasaray 🇹🇷 go out of Europe, they crash out of Europe. All the effort of that home leg to then do this at Anfield. Missed Liverpool penalty and disallowed Liverpool goals too... #UCL

Oh dear...

Just incredible second-leg comebacks 😤 #UCL

They get too criticised for being open. Being open makes their games a good watch, and let's things like this happen... #UCL

Been a truly breathless first half in Barcelona. #UCL

Within 24 hours of each other, two Portuguese clubs have completed impressive second leg turnarounds in European competition. After Sporting CP 🇵🇹's #UCL heroics yesterday evening, a 2-0 #UEL deficit for SC Braga 🇵🇹 certainly felt doable. This game was a Wednesday afternoon kick-off rather than the usual Thursday slot to avoid schedule clashing. The most stunning thing about this game was just how quickly and easily Braga completed their turnaround. Ferencváros 🇭🇺 had done brilliantly in Budapest to get their first leg lead. It took just 16 minutes though for the advantage to disappear, and they were behind on aggregate by half-time. All their own doing too. Terrible organisation from their backline gifted the first and third goals, an error from goalkeeper Dávid Gróf 🇭🇺 gave Braga their second. 3-2 on aggregate at half-time, and 4-2 not long into the second period, a lovely second goal of the day for Braga's stalwart captain Ricardo Horta 🇵🇹. It's only at this point that Ferencváros 🇭🇺 actually start to look threatening. Robbie Keane 🇮🇪 makes some changes in desperation, but it's all too late. Braga more than happy to see out their advantage from here. This could have been Ferencváros 🇭🇺 making a European Quarter Final for the first time since 1975. Instead, it's Braga in the UEL Last 8 for the first time since 2021-22. We'll find out tomorrow whether it's Panathinaikos 🇬🇷 or Real Betis 🇪🇸 who await them in April...

HT: SC Braga 🇵🇹 3-Ferencváros 🇭🇺 0 There's no getting away from it. The Hungarian visitors have completely thrown away their first leg work. It's a half that's been dominated by Braga, yet they've still been gifted all three goals. Ferencváros' backline shape is terrible, trying to play a high line but with right-wing-back Cebrail Makreckis 🇱🇻 deeper than everyone else. He's at fault for the first and third goals, letting Braga run loose more centrally to score twice. The 2-0 goal, shortly after the 1-0 goal, is an error from Dávid Gróf 🇭🇺. A low first-time effort from Florian Grillitsch 🇦🇹 which Gróf lets go under him. Pain on his face reflects the pain of watching this from a Ferencváros 🇭🇺 perspective. They've made this turnaround so simple and quick for the hosts, and now they're the ones with it all to do...

Braga 3-Ferencváros 0. 34th minute. 3-2 aggregate. This is a momumental collapse from Robbie Keane's visitors... #UEL