Stoke City stats in Europe making direct football work - originally posted on Soccerlens.com

According to Castrol EDGE Performance analysis 34% of Stoke City's attempts on goal in the Europa League this season have been headers.

The English team have been put down for only posing a threat from set pieces and long balls, a view backed up by 14 of Stoke's 41 shots in this season's Europa League being headers.

Stoke City stats in Europe making direct football work - originally posted on Soccerlens.com

According to Castrol EDGE Performance analysis 34% of Stoke City's attempts on goal in the Europa League this season have been headers.

The English team have been put down for only posing a threat from set pieces and long balls, a view backed up by 14 of Stoke's 41 shots in this season's Europa League being headers.

Games will run from September 15th to December 15th with one home/one away match for each team against an opponent in their group. Group A Tottenham Hotspur FC (ENG)FC Rubin Kazan (RUS)PAOK FC (GRE)Shamrock Rovers FC (IRL)Group B FC København (DEN) R. Standard de Liège (BEL)Hannover 96 (GER)FC Vorskla Poltava (UKR)Group C PSV Eindhoven (NED)Hapoel Tel-Aviv FC (ISR)FC Rapid Bucureşti (ROU)Legia
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Who will follow Atlético Madrid as Super Cup winners?

The UEFA Super Cup will be held on Friday night with 2010-11 UEFA Champions League winners FC Barcelona ready to take on the 2010-11 UEFA Europa League holders FC Porto in a massive Iberian derby. These two clubs have been the dominant forces in their respective countries in recent years and both teams are hoping to add yet another trophy to their already bulging trophy cabinets this weekend.

Nicklas Bendtner is set to play against the Scots this coming Wednesday evening, NB's future is far from settled at Arsenal but is still one of the stars of his native Danish National Team. NB52 has continued to train with The Gunners' in the past few weeks despite his future not entirely sorted.

UEFA Champions League play-off round

Champions route
Wisła Kraków (POL) v APOEL FC (CYP)
Macabi Haifa FC (ISR) v KRC Genk (BEL)
NK Dinamo Zagreb (CRO) v Malmö FF (SWE)
FC København (DEN) v FC Viktoria Plzeň (CZE)
FC BATE Borisov (BLR) v SK Sturm Graz (AUT)
League route
Odense BK (DEN) v Villarreal CF (ESP)
FC Twente (NED) v SL Benfica (POR)
Arsenal FC (ENG) v Udinese Calcio (ITA)
FC Bayern München (GER) v FC Zürich (SUI)
Olympique Lyonnais (FRA) v FC Rubin Kazan (RUS)

Does this guy get a chance in front of the old home crowd?

First knockout round matches continue on Tuesday with Real Madrid visiting the very well run french side Olympic Lyonnais (richest club in the country, 'natch), while the slumping Blues from London head to Denmark to meet FC København (the first Danish side to play in this phase of the cup).