Everyone`s favourite secondary club football tournament finished it's group stage today and the stage is set for tomorrow's draw. The 24 teams that advanced from the groups are:
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A 1st - Manchester City, 2nd - Lech Poznań (Poland)
B 1st -Bayer Leverkusen, 2nd - Aris
C 1st -Sporting CP, 2nd -Lille
D 1st -Villarreal, 2nd -PAOK
E 1st -Dynamo Kyiv (Ukraine), 2nd -BATE (Belarus)
F 1st -CSKA Moscow, 2nd -Sparta Prague
G 1st -Zenit St. Petersburg, 2nd -Anderlecht
H 1st -Stuttgart, 2nd -Young Boys
I 1st -PSV Eindhoven 2nd -Metalist Kharkiv (Ukraine)
J 1st -Paris Saint-Germain, 2nd -Sevilla
K 1st -Liverpool, 2nd -Napoli
L 1st -Porto, 2nd -Beşiktaş
There is Canadian content in there with Atiba Hutchinson's PSV still in the mix.
The 24 teams are joined by the eight third place finishers in the Champions League group stage. They are:
F Spartak Moscow
H Braga
G Ajax
A Twente
D Rubin Kazan
E Basel
C Rangers
B Benfica
Group leaders and the top four third place cross-over teams are seeded. Tomorrow's draw will determine the round of 32 and 16 match-ups.
Now everyone do the Poznań*
Note: I'm providing the basic Europa details here because the tournament is less reported on in Canada than the Champions League. We all know who is still in the Champions League and, besides, Rudi's got it covered
* City reference.