GROUP C
Sampdoria (1/1) Draw (9/4) Hertha Berlin (3/1) 106%
With four teams tied on four points, the meeting between UC Sampdoria and Hertha BSC Berlin now becomes one of the key fixtures in
UEFA Cup Group C. Both clubs are unbeaten, with the Italian side being held at home in their opening fixture before recovering from a goal down to overcome Halmstads BK on Matchday 3. Hertha had also taken three points from their trip to Sweden, but were also frustrated at home in a scoreless draw with RC Lens in their most recent engagement.
• Though this will be the first meeting between the clubs in
UEFA competition, both teams have previously faced three teams from their opponents' country. Sampdoria met their German teams in three successive seasons in the
UEFA Cup Winners' Cup, while Hertha first came into contact with an Italian club back in 1971.
• Sampdoria's first meeting with a German team came in the 1988/89 Cup Winners' Cup second round when the Italian side eliminated FC Carl Zeiss Jena, from the former East Germany, 4-2 on aggregate. The teams drew 1-1 in Germany with Gianluca Vialli scoring for Sampdoria, and the former Chelsea FC manager was on target in the return leg as further strikes from Pietro Vierchowod and Antonio Carlos Cerezo gave Sampdoria a comfortable win on their way to the final.
• The following season, Sampdoria met BV Borussia Dortmund in the second round of the same competition. This time a late goal from Roberto Mancini, currently coach of FC Internazionale Milano, earned a 1-1 draw away from home, and two more goals from Vialli in the return leg clinched the tie 3-1 on aggregate as the Italian team went one better than the previous campaign and went on to win the competition.
• In their defence of the trophy in 1990/91, Sampdoria lost the opening leg 1-0 at 1. FC Kaiserslautern in the first round, but another Mancini goal and a winner from Marco Branca gave the Italian time a third win from three attempts against German opposition, and maintained a 100 per cent home record in those ties.
• Hertha, meanwhile, first met Italian opposition in the 1971/72
UEFA Cup first round when AC Milan won the first leg 4-2 at the Giuseppe Meazza, and won through despite losing 2-1 in Berlin to progress 5-4 on aggregate.
• It was 28 years until Hertha next met Italian opponents. The Berlin club were against drawn with Milan in the 1999/00
UEFA Champions League first group stage, when Ali Daei scored in Italy to earn the German side a 1-1 draw, and Dariusz Wosz scored the only goal of the return match as Hertha progressed to the second group stage.
• Hertha then drew Inter in the third round of the 2000/01
UEFA Cup. The first leg in Berlin ended scoreless before goals from Alvaro Recoba and Hakan Sükür rendered René Tretschok's strike irrelevant and sent Inter through 2-1 on aggregate. Hertha therefore now meet their first Italian club outside Milan.
Steaua Bucuresti (2/9) Draw (9/2) Halmstads BK (10/1) 109%
Top meets bottom on Matchday 4 in
UEFA Cup Group C match with unbeaten leaders FC Steaua Bucuresti playing host to Halmstads BK, who have lost their first three matches. Steaua have not conceded a goal in their two games to date, while the Halmstad defence has been breached nine times, the highest total in the group stage.
• Both clubs have already met RC Lens earlier in the group. The Romanian team recorded an impressive 4-0 win against Lens in the first round of matches to make it two wins from two home games in this season's
UEFA Cup having defeated Vålerenga IF 3-1 in the first leg. Halmstad's only other away game in the section, meanwhile, ended in a 5-0 loss at Lens while their home games with Hertha BSC Berlin and UC Sampdoria ended in 1-0 and 3-1 defeats, respectively. Steaua have also played the Italian outfit, grinding out a goalless draw in Genoa on Matchday 2.
• Halmstad travel to Bucharest to meet Romanian opposition for the first time in
UEFA competition, while Steaua have encountered a side from Sweden on one previous occasion in a European tie.
• In the 1988/89 European Champion Clubs' Cup quarter-finals, Steaua played IFK Göteborg, and returned from Sweden after the first leg having suffered a 1-0 loss. However, the return leg in Romania proved to be a one-way affair.
• A hat-trick from Romanian forward Marius Lacatus and further goals from fellow internationals Ilie Dumitrescu and Gavril Balint took Steaua to a resounding 5-1 home win to pave the way for a 5-2 aggregate success.
• Having defeated Göteborg, Steaua went though to the final with a win in the semi-final against Galatasary SK. But the Romanian club found AC Milan too strong in the competition's showpiece at the Camp Nou in Barcelona and slipped to a 4-0 defeat.
GROUP D
Grasshoppers (8/15) Draw (3/1) Dnipro (6/1) 105%
Grasshopper-Club will be looking to breathe new life into their stagnant
UEFA Cup campaign when they face already-eliminated FC Dnipro Dnipropetrovsk at the Hardturm stadium. The Swiss side are yet to record a point in Group D following successive defeats by Middlesbrough FC and PFC Litex Lovech, and must defeat Dnipro to avoid probable elimination.
• Like Grasshoppers, Dnipro are yet to pick up a point in Group D, but having already played three games, they are an insurmountable four points adrift of third-placed AZ Alkmaar going into their final fixture. They lost 2-1 to the Dutch side in their opening match, and have since conceded five unanswered goals in games against Litex and Middlesbrough.
• Dnipro's struggle is in stark contrast to last season, when the Ukrainian outfit became the first side to qualify for the knockout stages with three wins in their first three outings.
• The teams have never before met in
UEFA competition and for Dnipro this will be their first encounter with Swiss opposition. Grasshoppers have faced teams from Ukraine on two previous occasions, with the ties ending in a win and a loss.
• FC Dynamo Kyiv proved to strong for the Zurich outfit in the first round of the 1982/83 European Champion Clubs' Cup. Heinz Hermann, winner of 117 Swiss caps, conceded an own goal at the Hardturm stadium to give the Ukrainian side the edge in the first leg. Leonid Buryak the scored twice and Anatoli Demianenko added another as Dynamo increased their lead to 4-0 on aggregate.
• Grasshoppers enjoyed more success in the first round of the 1994/95
UEFA Cup Winners' Cup against FC Chernomorets Odesa. Thomas Bickel, Marcel Koller and Nestor Subiat were all on target as the Swiss side took a 3-0 advantage in the home leg, and although Timerlan Gousseinov reduced the deficit with an early goal in the return at the Chernomorets stadium, Grasshoppers held out to win 3-1 on aggregate.
Liteks Lovetch (9/4) Draw (9/4) AZ (7/5) 103%
PFC Litex Lovech need just a point from their match against AZ Alkmaar at the Gradski stadium to join Group D leaders Middlesbrough FC in the
UEFA Cup knockout stages. The Bulgarian outfit have looked very impressive so far in the competition, earning successive victories against Grasshopper-Club and FC Dnipro Dnipropetrovsk to claim maximum points from their first two fixtures.
• Litex have benefited from late goals in both games, Sandrinho's 81st-minute strike sealing the points against Grasshoppers while Milivoje Novakovič and Serhiy Narazenko were both on target in the final 18 minutes against Dnipro. AZ were held to a goalless draw by Middlesbrough on Matchday 3, making it four points from two games after Shota Arveladze and Tarik Sektioui helped them to a 2-1 win at Dnipro on Matchday 1.
• The teams will meet for the first time in
UEFA competition and for Litex, this will be the first time that they have faced Dutch opposition. AZ have been drawn against Bulgarian opposition just once before, but that tiw will have happy memories for the Eredivisie outfit.
• It came en route to their run to the 1980/81
UEFA Cup final, when they met Litex's domestic rivals PFC Levski Sofia in the second round. AZ's success was set up by Kees Kist's goal just after half-time in Sofia and, although Emil Spasov earned the home side a 1-1 draw, the second leg was much more one-sided. Kist scored again, while Kees Tol (2), Kristen Nygaard and Jan Peters were also on target in an emphatic 5-0 win.
• AZ went on to the final, where they were narrowly defeated 5-4 on aggregate by Ipswich Town FC in a thrilling encounter but they gained some consolation, and capped a fine season, by winning the 1980/81 Dutch championship for the only time in their history.
from
http://www.uefa.com/competitions/uef...lts/index.html
UEFA CUP 30th Nov/1st Dec
TOTW/F/M Award(s): 1
. Just for reference .
