Europa League: Porto narrowly wins Cup final

In an all Portueguese final of the UEFA Europa League Cup, played in Dublin, Porto narrowly defeated Sporting Braga (1-0). The match offered very few emotions with both teams playing a safe, defensive match leaving little to be excited about. The decisive goal came at the end of the first half when Falcao sealed the win with a header. The Europa Cup this year appeared to be an Iberian affair with 4 teams for the region appearing in semifinals: with Sporting defeating Benfica and Porto edging out Villareal. Out of the 4 Italian clubs competing only Napoli had passed the group stage before being eliminated.

Europa League 2010: Only Napoli moves on

After the group stage of the Europa League only 1 club (Napoli) out of 4 participating Italian clubs qualified to the next stage of the competition. Napoli clinched the qualification by narrowly defeating at home (1 – 0)   Steaua Bucuresti with a goal scored by Cavani in the last few minutes of the match.  Juventus, Palermo, and Sampdoria were eliminated after dismal performances. Especially disappointing was Juventus’ performance at this stage but it seems that DelNeri’s teams is more intent on focusing on Serie A than wasting energies on what it deems a secondary European stage.

Europa League 2010: Atletic Madrid wins it

In the final of the UEFA Europa league (the successor to the UEFA cup), Atletico Madrid defeated in the final Fulham after an even and hotly contested match that saw both teams tied (1-1) after regular time. It was the second and final goal scored by Forlan after extended time that gave Atletico the win (2-1) and the cup in the second most prestigious European club competition. Worth noting that it was Fulham that had humiliated and eliminated a disappointing Juventus in an earlier round.