UEFA Europa League 2013: Zenit down Liverpool, while Cardozo upends Bayer

Stuttgart 1-0 Genk

Stuttgart will take a narrow 1-0 lead into the away leg after Laszlo Koteles spilled Gotoku Sakai’s shot and Christian Gentner got the rebound. Genk still very much in this tie, and will be hoping they can get the result they need in front of their own fans.

Bale now has 10 goals in his last 10 matches, three free kick goals in his last two and has scored Tottenham’s last six goals. The man is just playing in his own little world right now.

Bale did more than enough to make up for it, though.

Bizarrely, Cisse had another goal denied in the second half when he stole in on a Mapou Yanga-Mbiwa cross and guided past Goryainov. This time the linesman opted to wait until halfway through the celebration to raise his flag, denying Newcastle yet again. The hosts should have won. They did not. That’s unfortunate, and they’ll hope they can outplay Metalist by the same margin in Kharkiv.

That didn’t work so well. Despite the visitors’ dominance, they were open to the sucker punch, and that’s exactly what happened in the 70th minute when Hulk dragged the ball out from under his feet near the top of the box and unleashed an unstoppable shot that arrowed into Reina’s top corner. And worse was to come shortly thereafter, when the Liverpool defence got sucked to one side, allowing Sergei Semak to steal in unmarked on a cross and blast in from close range.

The visitors tried desperately to snatch a goal, but despite creating chances the Reds remained totally incapable of finishing them off. Surprise! Losing 2-0 away isn’t the end of the world, of course, but Zenit are quite clearly in pole position to advance to the next round.

They come up against a tough test in Metalist Kharkiv in the Round of 32. The Ukranian side has been here quite a few times before, and made a nice run to the quarterfinal of last season’s tournament. Their star winger, Taison, was sold in January, but they still have a very good squad with plenty of young and veteran attacking talent.

With a trip to Kharkiv -- where the weather is awful this time of year -- looming, Newcastle probably need to establish a lead in the first leg. The weather in Newcastle isn’t exactly tropical, but Kharkiv is a completely different animal.

Between the strength of their squads, what the Europa League trophy could potentially mean to the teams and the lack of competition around them for Champions League places, Bayer Leverkusen and Benfica both look like potential favorites for the Europa League crown. Unfortunately for them (and the general public), they’ll have to go through each other just to get to the Round of 16.

While both sides have excellent records domestically, they have struggled a bit in recent weeks. Bayer has dropped points in three consecutive Bundesliga matches, taking them out of the running for the league title, while Benfica’s disappointing draw with Nacional de Madeira has them level on points with rivals FC Porto.