By Alan Duffy

It may well be the preserve of Thursday nights and Channel Five, but the Europa League, now ready for the knock-out stages is still peppered with some of Europe's big guns. Probably the biggest in the competition, Manchester United, will face another all-time European great, Ajax, in the last 32, a tie which has more than a hint of glamour.

Betting sites has tipped Tottenham to take home the silverware, but the odds are now against them even exiting the group stages.

With two weeks until the final matches of the Europa League group stages, 14 clubs have clinched spots in the knockout rounds of the cup with a game to spare. With the eight teams that finish third in their UEFA Champions League groups transferring over to Europe's second-tier competition, that leaves 10 spots.

Santos Laguna and Tigres enter today's Mexican Apertura Final second leg with championship aspirations and 90 minutes to try and lift a trophy.

Tigres posted a 1-0 victory in Torreon in the first leg, and will be favored to hold that lead at home, but Santos Laguna does boast the firepower to reverse that scoreline.

FIFA Club World Cup on Fox Soccer: Barcelona - Al Saad at 5:30am. Europa League on GolTV: Hannover 96 - Vorskla Potlava at 1pm and Atletico Madrid - Rennes at 3pm. All Times Eastern

By JOEY SAMUEL

While the retaining of David Beckham's services remains up in the air for the Los Angeles Galaxy, five other players saw their contract situations get a lot clearer on Friday.

Sean Franklin and Bryan Jordan re-signed with Los Angeles, while Adam Cristman's option was picked up, allowing Bruce Arena to keep key parts of the deep squad that won the 2011 MLS Cup and Supporters' Shield.

By Chris Wright

Here you go, Pies' pick of the ten best still exposures from the past two day's worth of Europa League action...

FC Vaslui supporters are silhouetted by burning flares during their game against Lazio in Piatra Neamt, Romania

FC Vaslui's Mike Temwanjera and Lazio's Modibo Diakite hit an isolated hotspot of weak gravity

Fulham's Bryan Ruiz waves to the Twente fans after receiving a hero's welcome on his return to the Dutch club

AEK Athens vs Anderlecht quickly descends into an all-out gurn-fest as a corner is swung into the Greek side's penalty area

Schalke 04′s Kyriakos Papadopoulos throws up the big twos after scoring against Steaua Bucharest in Gelsenkirchen

Ibrahim Toroman is not exactly enamoured with the view as Besiktas celebrate scoring against Maccabi Tel Aviv

Billy Conolly and Rod Stewart turn up at Parkhead to watch Celtic take on Atletico Madrid, and are seen here presumably discussing exactly why Beram Kayal felt to need to duck and let Arda Turan's shot fly in over his head

Hapoel Tel-Aviv's Abbas Mahmmoud watches on while Rapid Bucharest's Iulian Apostol endulges in a spot of light turf rotivation

Hannover 96 fans do their thing ahead of the German side's game against Standard Liege in Belgium

A lone Tottenham fan taunts the travelling PAOK Salonika supporters by holding a tenner aloft to mock Greece's debt crisis.

Liverpool are the latest club to be linked with a move for Atletico Madrid defender Diego Godin who has reiterated his desire to move to the Premier League.
The Uruguay international was strongly linked with a switch to Chelsea over the summer but it appears as though Andre Villas-Boas will now move to sign the cheaper option in Bolton centre-back Gary Cahill.

FIFA Club World Cup on Fox Soccer: Kashiwa - Auckland City at 5:30am. Apertura final on TeleFutura: Santos - Tigres at 9pm. Copa del Rey on ESPN Deportes: Albacete - Atletico Madrid at 2pm. Coppa Italia on GolTV: Juventus - Bologna at 3pm. All Times Eastern

Albacete vs Atletico Madrid Copa Del Rey Highlights 2-1 Goals Video 2011 is a post from Soccer Blogger. Follow Soccer Blogger on Twitter

Albacete vs Atletico Madrid Copa Del Rey Highlights 2-1 Goals Video 2011 is a post from Soccer Blogger. Follow Soccer Blogger on Twitter Albacete vs Atletico Madrid 2011 ( Albacete Atletico Madrid Copa del Rey video below) Final score and result:- Albacete vs Atletico Madrid 2-1 ( Calle, Zurdo/ Adrian) Estadio Carlos Belmonte (Albacete)- 8 [.

I said, it could be done and Besiktas did it!
Besiktas beat, unbeaten Stoke City 3-1 and claim the top spot in the group E and earned a spot in the round 32 of Europa league..
They,prett much did the damege to Stoke in the second half, after going down in the first half.

The UEFA Europa League group stage will wrap up today, and several Americans are hoping their respective team is still standing after the dust has settled.

Jozy Altidore is one of those players, as he and AZ Alkmaar need a win over already-qualified FC Metalist Kharkiv in Group G in order to secure qualification.

Udinese vs Celtic 1-1 Highlights 2011 Video Goals Gary Hooper Antonio Di Natale Europa League is a post from Soccer Blogger. Follow Soccer Blogger on Twitter

Udinese vs Celtic 1-1 Highlights 2011 Video Goals Gary Hooper Antonio Di Natale Europa League is a post from Soccer Blogger. Follow Soccer Blogger on Twitter Udinese vs Celtic 2011 ( Udinese Celtic video below) Score and result:- Udinese vs Celtic 1-1 ( Antonio Di Natale/ Gary Hooper) 15 December, 2011- Europa League- Thursday Celtic [.

Jozy Altidore and Sacha Kljestan have both enjoyed individual club success this season, which in turn has led to their teams turning in strong results both domestically and in Europe. All of that will come to a head in the UEFA Europa League Round of 32, when their two teams will square off.

Dopo aver conosciuto le avversarie di Inter, Milan e Napoli, negli ottavi di Champions, si è proceduto al sorteggio dei Sedicesimi di Europa League (andata 16 febbraio, ritorno il 23). La Lazio di Reja, non fortunatissima, pesca gli spagnoli dell'Atletico Madrid (prima gara all'Olimpico), mentre l'altra italiana ancora in gioco, l'Udinese di Guidolin, passata grazieContinua a leggere .

EUROPA LEAGUE LAST 32 DRAW

Porto v Manchester City

Ajax v Manchester United

Lokomotiv Moscow v Athletic Bilbao

Salzburg v Metalist Kharkiv

Stoke City v Valencia

Rubin Kazan v Olympiacos

AZ Alkmaar v Anderlecht

Lazio v Atletico Madrid

Steaua Bucharest v Twente

Viktoria Plzen v Schalke

Wisla Krakow v Standard Liege

Braga v Besiktas

Udinese v PAOK

Trabzonspor v PSV Eindhoven

Hannover v Brugge

Legia Warsaw v Sporting

* First legs to be played February 16, second legs February 23

EUROPA LEAGUE LAST 16 DRAW

FC Salzburg/Metalist v Rubin Kazan/Olympiacos

Legia/Sporting v Porto/Manchester City

Steaua/Twente v Viktoria Plzen/Schalke

Wisla/Standard Liege v Hannover/Brugge

Stoke/Valencia v Trabzonspor/PSV Eindhoven

Alkmaar/Anderlecht v Udinese/PAOK

Lazio/Atletico Madrid v Braga/Besiktas

Ajax/Manchester United v Lokomotiv Moscow/Athletic Bilbao

* First legs to be played March 8, second legs March 15.

Serie A on Fox Soccer: Udinese - Juventus at noon. EPL on Fox Soccer: Fulham - Manchester United at 3pm and Newcastle - WBA at 5pm. Fox Soccer Plus has Manchester City - Stoke at 2:30pm. ESPN Deportes has Aston Villa - Arsenal at 6pm along with Atletico Madrid - Albacete in Spain's Copa del Rey at 2pm.

20.12.2011 - Tomamos prestada esta sintética portada del (original) sitio eltrágicoweb, a través de la que se muestra el modo de renuncia de Diego Simeone (DT) a Racing a sólo 10 horas de haber sido "garantizada" su continuidad por el recién electo presidente Gastón Cogorno.

Sevilla season continues to lurch from disappointment to disappointment hit a new low earlier this week when their President Jose Maria del Nido was been sentenced to seven-and-a-half years in prison for his role in a corruption case with the Marbella local council.

Del Nido, who had acted as a legal advisor to the council, was one of 16 people involved in the embezzlement of funds from the local government of the Costa del Sol holiday resort, the provincial court in Malaga said.

Photo by ISIphotos.com

With nearly full slates of action in the Premier League, Serie A and Ligue 1 and domestic cup play on the docket as well, plenty is on the line across Europe today.

A number of Americans are in action across the continent, as Clint Dempsey looks to keep his goal-scoring form going at Craven Cottage against Manchester United, while goalkeepers Tim Howard and Brad Guzan aim for clean sheets against Swansea City and Arsenal, respectively.

Liverpool have been terribly unlucky this season in front of goal. This fact all Liverpool fans know. 17 shots against the woodwork and four saved penalties testify to the Reds' dominant and yet strange lack of goals. Also Luis Suarez is the Premiership striker with the most number of attempted shots to goal (75) but only scored five goals.

Celtic vs Kilmarnock 2-1 Highlights Goals Samaras Racchi December 24 2011 is a post from Soccer Blogger. Follow Soccer Blogger on Twitter

Celtic vs Kilmarnock 2-1 Highlights Goals Samaras Racchi December 24 2011 is a post from Soccer Blogger. Follow Soccer Blogger on Twitter Celtic v Kilmarnock 2011 ( Celtic Kilmarnock video below) Final score and result:- Celtic vs Kilmarnock 2-1 ( Giorgios Samaras*2/ Racchi) Celtic Park, Glasgow- 24 December, 2011 Greek forward Samaras scores a brace [.

Chicago Fire head coach and technical director Frank Klopas recently traveled to Europe for his annual scouting trip. Earlier this week, the Fire posted a little story and a video of Klopas wrapping up his trip by visiting Atletico Madrid. Things have been fairly quiet on any European players that might but coming over to play for Chicago but the Greek press has the first morsel of information just before the European transfer window opens.

Diego Simeone says he is unfazed by the prospect of turning around Atletico Madrid's faltering season after being formally unveiled as their new coach.

The former Argentina captain was named as the replacement for the sacked Gregorio Manzano on Friday, signing a contract until the end of the 2012/13 campaign.

Tranquilo, folks! Atletico Madrid are only mid-table in the La Liga...no pressure at all for their new coach, Senor Diego Simeone! / via AP Photos

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Luis Suarez might as well be on the FA's speed dial these days.

In the aftermath of receiving an eight-game ban and hefty fine from England's ruling body, the Liverpool striker was given his second punishment after being found guilty of misconduct for flipping the middle finger to Fulham fans at Craven Cottage following a match earlier in December.

Chicago ended the year as potentially the best non-playoff team in MLS. They caught "fire" and had a winning record for the final third of the season, almost stealing the tenth playoff spot from New York. The same team that ...
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