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Six teams will book their spots in the Last 32 of the Europa League on today’s final group match day. |
The final six clubs will join the already-qualified 18 sides as well as eight third-placed teams from the Champions League for the Last 32. The first two knock-out rounds will be drawn on December 16.
The two-time European Cup Winners’ Cup winners Dynamo Kiev (7 points) take on Rapid Vienna (6) with the second spot in Group G up for grabs. Kiev will host the match knowing a draw is enough to advance.
The 1978 UEFA Cup winners PSV Eindhoven face a similar situation for second place in Group B at home against Chornomorets Odesa with both teams even on seven points but Eindhoven having collected a 2-0 win in Ukraine.
The Dutch team, however, will be without captain Stijn Schaars, who is out six weeks with a calf injury.
Group A has already been locked up by Valencia but Premier League side Swansea City are looking to advance as well. With eight points, they need just one point at St. Gallen while Kuban Krasnodar are third with five points.
“We want to qualify for the next round by getting a good result in St. Gallen,” said Swans keeper Gerhard Tremmel.
“Of course, it won’t be easy as it proved when we played them at the Liberty (1-0 win). But the whole squad is determined to go to Switzerland and get the result we need to get through.”
While Premiership club Tottenham have secured first place in Group K, fellow British side Wigan Athletic (5) need a victory at Maribor and a loss by Zulte Waregem (7) at table-toppers Rubin Kazan to advance from Group D.
“We have to embrace the competition because you never know when Wigan will play in Europe again,” said new Wigan manager Uwe Rosler, who took over as Owen Coyle’s replacement after the club lost five straight matches.
Group F’s second spot behind Eintracht Frankfurt is also at stake with Maccabi Tel Aviv (8) needing a point against last placed Girondins de Bordeaux, while APOEL (5) must beat Frankfurt big.
Group H is entirely up for grabs with Sevilla leading (9) by three points over both Freiburg and Slovan Liberc ahead of their match at Freiburg. Liberc travel to last placed Estoril.
The Spanish side is in troubled waters at the moment off the pitch because of the resignation of club president Jose Maria del Nido Monday after receiving a seven-year prison sentence for embezzlement.
“We just have got to try to isolate ourselves from these problems and concentrate on Freiburg,” said club captain Fernando Navarro Tuesday.
The top two teams in a number of groups have been decided but not the top spot.
Real Betis (8) will have new coach Juan Carlos Garrido at the helm as they try to take Group I by beating Rijeka at home and hope that Lyon (9) do not win at Vitoria Guimaraes.
“A win Thursday will give us a bit more confidence for our league matches. Things have not being going well for us recently,” said midfielder Salva Sevilla, whose team is bottom in La Liga.