Britain Bow Out of Europa League

The passports of players at Liverpool, Manchester City and Rangers can all be locked away ‘til next season as all three British sides went out at the last-16 stage of the Europa League last night.

In a fortnight that has seen three British clubs – Chelsea, Manchester United and Tottenham Hotspur – progress through to the quarter-finals of the Champions League, their compatriots could not do the same in the Europa League and now have to turn their attentions to other competitions in the hope of silverware this year, or in the case of Liverpool, wait until next season for the chance to win a trophy.

We start off at Eastlands were Manchester City faced a strong Dynamo Kiev side with a 2-0 advantage from the first-leg. City boss Roberto Mancini put out a strong side that included the likes of Carlos Tevez, Mario Balotelli and David Silva and the Blues looked dangerous against a Kiev team that had clearly come to Manchester with a game plan to sit back and protect their two goal aggregate lead. It was certainly going to be a tough ask for City to progress in the competition and their task was made even more difficult when fiery Italian striker Mario Balotelli was sent off for a challenge on Kiev defender Goran Popov, a challenge that made the tackle made by his City team-mate Nigel De Jong in the World Cup Final look like child’s play. Although Balotelli’s athleticism to raise his foot to such a height was impressive, it was a horrendous tackle and the Macedonian Popov was lucky not to be seriously injured.

Manchester City's Aleksandar Kolarov celebrates his
goal against Dynamo Kiev at Eastlands.

Following a short interval for the kung-fu antics, Manchester City’s dominance of the footballing kind was rewarded six minutes before half-time when Aleksandar Kolarov fired in a low drive past the unsighted Oleksandr Shovkovskiy, a goal which give Mancini’s men a glimmer of hope at the break despite the prospect of having to play the entirety of the second half with just ten men. City continued to press after the restart and with twenty minutes to go brought on Edin Dzeko and Adam Johnson in the hope of taking the tie to extra time, but in the end Kiev’s one man advantage paid dividends and their one goal advantage was enough to see them progress to the quarter-finals. No doubt City fans will be wondering what would have happened if Balotelli would have kept his feet on the ground and the Blues played the entire game with their full contingent of eleven players, but unfortunately their previously impressive Europa League run is behind them and they will now have to turn their attentions to the FA Cup semi-final against inter-city rivals United to realistically keep this season’s dream of silverware alive.

Andy Carroll made his first start for
Liverpool against Braga.

A 0-0 draw at Anfield was enough to see Portuguese side Braga through to the quarter-finals after a 1-0 aggregate win over Liverpool. Reds boss Kenny Dalglish blamed his side’s lack of creativity as they struggled to break down a well organised Braga outfit. Dalglish commented after the game “you need to be really strong creatively if you are going to break down a very organised side” and a Liverpool team without injured captain Steven Gerrard and the ineligible Luis Suarez looked lacklustre in attack. Although the game saw Andy Carroll make his first start in a Red’s shirt, the big striker looked short of match fitness and Dalglish will know his side will have to perform much better in order to qualify for the Europa League next season.

Rangers, the last remaining Scottish team in Europe, lost 1-0 at home to PSV Eindhoven in front of over 35,000 fans at Ibrox. A 13^th minute goal from Jeremain Lens was enough to see the Dutch side through to the quarter-finals in a game of poor quality that only managed four shots on target. The Glasgow side had a second half penalty appeal turned down after the referee – and amazingly the extra official behind the goal – failed to spot a hand ball on the goal line by Canadian international Atiba Hutchinson following a shot by Rangers midfielder Maurice Edu, but in the end it was PSV’s dominance over the two legs that sees them deservedly progress in the competition. 

Manchester City’s Europa League hopes in doubt after 2-0 defeat to Dynamo Kiev

Manchester City face an uphill struggle to progress to the Europa League quarter-finals after a 2-0 defeat at the hands of Dynamo Kiev in Ukraine last night.

In freezing conditions in the Ukrainian capital, Roberto Mancini’s men failed to ever real get going and too often lacked enough quality with their final ball to really test experienced Kiev ‘keeper Oleksandr Shovkovskiy.

Dynamo Kiev went in front in the 25^th minute through a deft finish from former AC Milan striker Andriy Shevchenko after a well worked cross from lively winger Andriy Yarmolenko, who at only 21 years of age looks a real prospect for the future.

Andriy Shevchenko looked impressive throughout
and scored Dynamo Kiev's first goal against City.

Manchester City offered little threat to the Kiev goal in the first half, with the only real moment of excitement from the City strike force coming at the start of the second half. Mario Balotelli, who seems unable to distance himself from any sort of controversy, came out late for the kick-off and the Blues had to start the second period with only ten men as first team coach David Platt was sent running back to the changing room to find the missing Balotelli. The Italian was soon back on the pitch with his team mates a minute later but was replaced by Carlos Tevez just twelve minutes in as he continued to rub his eyes and struggle with some sort of injury, although whether that injury was physical or mental is up for debate.

Balotelli’s replacement Tevez certainly offered City more of an attacking threat as they looked to earn a crucial away goal, with Yaya Toure, David Silva and Joleon Lescott all going close to making the score level. For all of the visitors’ increased pressure in the second half, it was Kiev who scored the second goal of the game. Andriy Shevchenko was again involved and it was his cross that was inadvertently headed on by City defender Vincent Kompany to Oleh Gusev who chested the ball down well before firing in an unstoppable shot past Joe Hart.

The Ukrainians now take an impressive 2-0 lead to Eastlands and Manchester City will need to put in an impressive performance to beat a Dinamo Kiev side that look solid at the back and possess an impressive attacking threat in the shape of Andriy Shevchenko, who last night looked almost back to his AC Milan best.