Several teams can clinch places in the UEFA Europa League knockout stage as group play resumes on Thursday.
Manchester City, Sporting Lisbon, CSKA Moscow, Stuttgart, Porto, Paris-St. Germain and Zenit St. Petersburg all will be assured places in the final 32 with victories in their respective matches.
Meanwhile, Villarreal's Jozy Altidore and Anderlecht's Sacha Kljestan each come off goal-scoring weeks looking to carry their form over to European competition.
If you will be watching any or all of Thursday's Europa League matches, please feel free to share any thoughts, opinions or play-by-play in the comments section below. Enjoy the action (TV schedule is after the jump):
THURSDAY'S UEFA EUROPA LEAGUE ON TV
2 p.m. – GOLTV – Juventus vs. Salzburg
2 p.m. – DirecTV 481 – Lech Poznan vs Manchester City
2 p.m. – DirecTV 482 – Rosenborg vs. Atletico Madrid
2 p.m. – DirecTV 483 – PAOK Salonika vs. Villarreal
2 p.m. – DirecTV 484 – CSKA Moscow vs. Palermo
2 p.m. – DirecTV 485 – Bayer Leverkusen vs. Aris Salonika
2 p.m. – DirecTV 486 – Gent vs. Sporting Lisbon
2 p.m. – DirecTV 487 – Levski Sofia vs. Lille
2 p.m. – DirecTV 488 – Dynamo Kiev vs. AZ Alkmaar
4 p.m. – GOLTV – Liverpool vs. Napoli
4 p.m. – DirecTV 481 – Paris-St. Germain vs. Borussia Dortmund
4 p.m. – DirecTV 482 – Getafe vs. Stuttgart
4 p.m. – DirecTV 483 – Sevilla vs. Karpaty Lviv
4 p.m. – DirecTV 484 – Porto vs. Besiktas
4 p.m. – DirecTV 485 – PSV Eindhoven vs. Debreceni
4 p.m. – DirecTV 486 – Sampdoria vs. Metalist Kharkiv
4 p.m. – DirecTV 487 – Hajduk Split vs. Zenit St. Petersburg
4 p.m. – DirecTV 488 – Steaua Bucuresti vs. Utrecht
NOT TELEVISED
2 p.m. – Club Brugge vs. Dinamo Zagreb
2 p.m. – BATE Borisov vs. Sheriff Tiraspol
2 p.m. – Lausanne Sports vs. Sparta Prague
4 p.m. – AEK Athens vs. RSC Anderlecht
4 p.m. – Odesne BK vs. Young Boys
4 p.m. – Rapid Vienna vs. CSKA Sofia
Jozy is off for Rossi, damn. Good game by him though, he created a lot of chances for his teammates and also for himself.
Jozy out, Rossi in. Looks like i can go to lunch now.
Thank you. You guys should work for ESPN because their updates suck
And that is all from Jose today.
and it’s Jozy coming off
I like the Rossi/Altidore pairing if it happens. I feel like they have good chemistry together
For Jozy’s sake I hope so, but if i was a true Villarreal fan i would want Nilmar to stay in.
Also, he got the ball on the sideline a few minutes ago after a Villareal corner and he tried to take on a PAOK player but was dispossessed.
He hasn’t been making many dangerous runs this second half. I personally would like to see a little more hustle from him. He quits on the ball to much instead of pressuring the defense. The distribution from the midfield has been poor as well.
Rossi looks set to come in… hopefully for Nilmar.
Nilmar and Jozy seem to be showing really good chemistry. Too bad they have to drop so far back into the midfield, due to their teams poor midfield play. They are creating stuff for themselves to far back to make it really dangerous. Jozy is looking good IMO.
At the start of the half, Jozy fed Nilmar who then cut around a defender and fired a shot over the bar from outside the 18.
Nilmar with some great work on the left side, tries to find Jozy waiting in the box but his cross is deflected away and nothing more comes of it.
Soccernet’s gamecast hasn’t mentioned Altidore one time. Is he not involved
Neymar for santos
no it is but just want to follow minute by minute.
He is Brazilian, but hasn’t played for Santos.
Is it the same Nilmar from Santos in Brazil?
Ouch. That stings because it is true for last week. We’ll give you a better showing on Saturday. Be MASSIVE!
They have. Turnover after turnover.
Marca saying that the VCF midfield has been awful…
watched the last 15 minutes of the half, and no, nothing dangerous anywhere. pretty sloppy game. kind of looks like a Columbus-Rapids game.
neither side looking particularly dangerous
Thanks for all the comments on Jozy. Stuck at work. Sound like Jozy playing well. Is Villareal looking the more dangerous side?
PAOK fans are animals
josmer w/a decent cross into the box, but didn’t meet anyone and nothing particularly dangerous. i’d love to see him grab a goal.
UEFA hates Americans. ;)Then again, maybe I dreamed it…
and upon further investigation, there was no commentary from the 31st to 40th minute…
wtf, im following along on the UEFA commentary and there is no mention of that. haha sounds sick though
Altidore with a shot from 40 yards out! Hits the cross bar and goes wide. Audacious…
Neat passing sequence in tight space between Jozy and Nilmar…final ball out of Nilmar’s reach, though.
Altidore and Nilmar almost combining in the box…but it was cleared by the D
Small explosion on the sidelines? Surprised play wasn’t stopped for that.
keep commentating!
ours not sufficient? lol
Anyone know the best live commentary? Video blocked at werk.
Jozy makes a good run into the box, the ball is played into him, he takes a shot first time but it is blocked away by a great tackle.
Altidore causing all manner of havoc. Hope he can put one in the net.
Jozy with a great chance but a sliding defender got his foot in and blocked his shot. Say what you will about his finishing, but lately Jozy is getting smarter and making better runs then i remember him doing in the past. Now he just needs some control in the box.
Pretty sloppy match so far. No rhythm.
Altidore fouled again. Defender gets a yellow.
Jozy just got hacked down and took a long time to get up. Getting checked out on the sidelines . . .
Thats what i thought, but on replay it looked like the keeper missed the ball and caught his ankle… Could have just been the fact i’m watching on a tiny corner of my work computer trying to keep it hidden from others though! 🙂
Jozy’s starting?! Keep the details coming guys – stuck at work.
I’ll have to re-watch during the endless halftime replays, but I saw him try to dribble around the keeper and the keeper snagged his attempt.
Altidore should have had a penalty. Got taken down by the keeper. Tough call for the referee though, at first look i thought the keeper got ball but replay showed he missed and got all Jozy.
Hooray for a sinus infection that kept me at home for the rest of the week!
Altidore just took a nasty knock on the ankle, excited to see him playing.
Jozy is starting up top with Nilmar. Time for him to score a Europa League goal, eh?
First 15 seconds he draws a foul. Awful foul. he seems okay now
Altidore in the starting 11. Paired with Nilmar.