UEFA Europa league

Gaitan classy free-kick (1:50)

[ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tb4lKB7C-Dk"]Grande Golo de Gaitan Benfica Vs Paok (2014) - YouTube[/ame]

 

Ahh the bragging rights between Scotland and Bulgaria. We must hope Ludogorets get put out or we will never hear the end of it.

 

That Frankfurt display is great, but nothing beats the GBs 125 display

 

That was a special night. We probably won't see another one like it for a long time.

 

No, me neither. It's like the first full stadium huddle- remember the first time we did it v the huns when we were 3-0 up, was an extra special feeling. The other full stadium display we did this season v Barca just wasn't the same.

Will be hard to top the GB one.

 

Indeed - Personally, I can't wait for the day that we pass Belarus. Their arrogance and wit know no bounds.

 

Verthongen another hard man

 

[ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pqg5PJOb1nE"]WOW! HD goal Gokhan Inler 88 in Napoli vs Swansea Stadio San Paolo Europa League - YouTube[/ame]

Love this guy

 

Adebayor was great, though Tottenham were lucky to go through.

Benfica will pump them, I hope they go all the way to win it. After last season's nightmare this year may end up being the complete opposite. Leading the league by 5 points, good chance of progressing to quarter final of EL and semi final clash with Porto they are favorites for considering how unconvincing Porto are this season.

 

@Luz1904: is Jesus planning to play Artur in all of the remaining European matches?

 

Thanks for the kind words, OC And yea, Porto is very inconsistent this year. Moutinho departure is showing. 1st Benfica, 2nd Sporting (-5 points), 3rd Porto (-7 points). I hope both Lisbon clubs can secure their league positions but Porto isn't out until the math says so.

I'm rather curious to see if Jorge Jesus will mantain the same rotation against Tottenham.

I hope not:smiley-laughing002: Yesterday he made a huge mistake, almost giving an away goal to PAOK. He's very insecure atm and his perfomances keep getting worse. I would play Jan Oblak from now on, the kid is talented and I see no reason to keep rotating the goalkeeper. He secured his place in the first 11 for the league games, time to use the best keeper in Europe as well. Oblak costed us 3M€ when he was 17 (high fee for such a young keeper) and in 11 games conceded only one goal. He's the first really talented goalie we have since Preud'Homme and Robert Enke.

I'm guessing you ask this because you're slovenian as well, right? Do you know him well?

 

[ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_ahzcCJXrkk"]Eintracht Frankfurt - FC Porto 27.02.2014 - YouTube[/ame]

 

Yeah, of course I follow him like I follow all of our international players. He's talented as * but you probably know that yourself as you've probably seen him play in more games than I did. He was regularly playing in our top division when he was only 16 so that kinda says it all. And he would have been Slovenia's number 1 without a doubt if he didn't have the bad luck of having Samir Handanovič, the Inter goalkeeper, in front of him. We really have nothing to worry about when it comes to goalkeepers for the next 10 to 15 years. :icon_mrgreen:

Btw, I don't think you paid 3 millions euros for him, it was probably closer to 1,5. At least that's the figure that's been mentioned in our media.

 

Yes, having Handanovic and Oblak is a luxury that few NTs have right now. The fee wasn't officially reported, but reading Benfica finances from that period it can vary from 2 to 3,5M€. Portuguese press claims 3M€. Not that I care anyway, he is worth more than that. Good business all the same. Liverpool was trying to sign him so we presented the cash and closed the deal.

Any Maribor player you can see playing at a higher level? Zlatko Zahovic was the man who recommended us Oblak, btw. Top class.

 

Some cracking ties in the next round

 

Well we haven't had any real top class players since Josip Iličič left for Palermo (now Fiorentina) but if the game against Sevilla tought us anything is that we're really lost without our Brazilian forward and team captain, Marcos Tavares. But he's had a lot of opportunities to leave and is still here, loves the city and is planning to stay so I think he won't be going anywhere. He would be nearly impossible to replace.

Another player who will be really hard to replace is the right back, Martin Milec. Although only 22, he's been a first team regular for a few years now and already played for the national team and I can see him playing for a bigger club sometime in the future. Also scored a cracker of a goal against Rubin in the Europa League.

And there is the left winger Agim Ibraimi who was on the radar of a lot of foreign clubs in the summer and then ended up in Serie A with Cagliari paying around a million to take him on loan for the season with the option to buy him after the season is over. He is currently the highest valued player of the club.

 

After beating Rubin Kazan in Russia, we'll play on Thursday the first European derby against our beloved neighbours. Sevilla FC - Real Betis. Come on!!!

 

Tough to choose which game to watch tonight

 

Porto vs Napoli, huge tie and stadium is 3/4 empty.

 

quite surprised to see that from one of the big 3 portugese clubs