UEFA Europa League Playoff Round: Fun With Teams You’ve Never Heard Of

Vedad Ibesevic was Stuttgart’s hero on Wednesday, and he all but ensured that his side will be playing in the upcoming UEFA Europa League group stage. He scored twice for his team at home as Stuttgart went on to defeat Dinamo Moscow 2-0, taking a lead into the second leg while denying the visitors an away goal.

The match was light on chances until the second half. Stuttgart’s best chance of the first half came in the 27th minute, when Anton Shunin made a save on Martin Harnik, but couldn’t control the ball. It almost dribbled over the line before Shunin recovered to claim the ball.

Like the UEFA Champions League, the UEFA Europa League has a playoff round for clubs attempting to qualify for the group stage. Unlike the Champions League, the Europa League’s playoff round features lots of teams that even hardcore followers of European football have never even heard of.

This year’s playoff round also features some good matchups between teams that probably should not have been matched up against each other. Anzhi Makhachkala and AZ Alkmaar, both of whom would be favorites to make the knockout stages if they got through to the group stage, have to go through each other. The same can be said about Stuttgart and Dinamo Moscow.