It's do-or-die for the two Manchester powerhouses.
Manchester United and Manchester City both face deficits heading into the second legs of their respective Europa League Round of 16 ties. Athletic Bilbao managed three goals in a 3-2 win at Old Trafford last week, putting the favored Red Devils in a corner as they head to Spain. City's hill is not as daunting, as they return home trailing Sporting Lisbon, 1-0.
A few Americans have their European fates in the balance as well. Jozy Altidore's AZ Alkmaar holds a 2-0 edge over Udinese heading into their match in Italy; Steve Cherundolo's Hannover 96 nurses an away-goal edge after a 2-2 draw with Standard Liege in their first leg; and Jermaine Jones' Schalke needs to come up with a home comeback after dropping a 1-0 result to FC Twente.
If you will be watching any of Thursday's Europa League matches, please feel free to share any thoughts, opinions and some play-by-play in the comments section below. Enjoy the action (TV schedule is after the jump):
THURSDAY'S EUROPA LEAGUE ON TV
2 p.m. – GOLTV – Athletic Bilbao vs. Manchester United
2 p.m. – DirecTV – Udinese vs. AZ Alkmaar
2 p.m. – DirecTV – PSV Eindhoven vs. Valencia
2 p.m. – DirecTV – Hannover 96 vs. Standard Liege
4 p.m. – GOLTV – Manchester City vs. Sporting Lisbon
4 p.m. – DirecTV – Schalke vs. FC Twente
4 p.m. – DirecTV – Olympiakos vs. Metalist Kharkiv
4 p.m. – DirecTV – Besiktas vs. Atletico Madrid
We can only hope Jozy scores a goal half as pretty as Deuce’s cheeky flick.
Atletic is in the 7th place in La Liga and they just swept No. 1 team in the EPL. I hope the arguments about weakness of Spanish midtable teams will stop. There are 3 Spanish teams in the quaterfinals of the Europa league and zero EPL teams. La Liga is a stronger league than EPL – top to bottom.
Why add Silva to this list, When he beat an Ameican team?
They are both normally starters, especially Clichy. He is preferred to Kolarov. Nasri had a spot cemented, but has been bad and has lacked effort lately.
I wasn’t being snarky, I was pointing out the last time it happened.
Karol is right. You can’t measure how good a league is by how well their best teams perform. It’s how good the league as a whole performs, not just the top teams.
Good week for USMNT members sides in tournaments.
Jozy’s AZ defeats Udinese
Dolo’s Hannover defeats Liege
Hercules’ Santos demolishes Seattle
Gooch’s Sporting drops Man City
Silva’s TFC downs Galaxy
Jones’ Shalke beats Twente
Look for winners Klinsmann, no JBs.
Titles don`t say much about the strength of a league.
And EL and CL titles are simply not on the same level quality-wise. You just can`t add trophies of those 2 competitions together.
That was an entertaining game though. City gave it all at the end.
As a Gooner though, I am laughing at Nasri (and Clichy)…Riding the pine at City!
If you consider EPL has the highest total payroll, they drop to bottom on return for the money.
Ha, Joe Hart always looks really dangerous when he comes forward on late corners….
City making a contest out of this…. one more goal and they complete the come-back…
As a United fan, I hope they go through and have this tournament to tire themselves out down the stretch.
Which I believe would fall under the heading “not often”, as long as we’re being snarky
Huntelaar makes it 4-1 Schalke, assisted by Jermaine Jones.
Nigel De Jong just tried to pick up an injured Sporting player like a groom carrying his bride across the threshold…