The draw of the Europa League round of 32 is over and Chelsea are left facing Sparta Prague.
Chelsea will face Prague over two legs and will travel to Prague’s Generali Arena on February 14th 2013 and will welcome the Czechs at the Bridge on February 21 for a crucial second leg.
The draw of the Europa League round of 32 is finished and Chelsea are left facing Sparta Prague.
Chelsea will face Prague over two legs and will travel to Prague’s Generali Arena on February 14th 2013 and will welcome the Czechs at the Bridge on February 21 for a crucial second leg.
Prague finished second in their group behind Lyon with a poor 9 pts out of a possible 18, but they did knock last year’s Europa League finalist, Athletico Bilbao, out of the group stage. S.Prague are currently third in the Gambrinus Liga ( Czech League ) but their last three games were draws with two of these games in the Europa League.
The winner of this clash will face the winner of Ajax Amsterdam and Steaua Bucharest in March.
Sparta Prague do not have any more games before their European challenge against the Champions League reigning champions, whereas Chelsea have twelve games to play. We should face an out-of-form team and hopefully we should be on a good run by the time we travel to Prague.
The trip to Prague will also feature our beloved keeper Petr Cech going back to his native country Czech Republic.
We are of course expected to win this game but the first leg in Prague could turn out to be tricky as Sparta Prague are known to be solid at home. My predictions are a difficult victory away but a thrashing at home.
Can’t wait to see this exciting match-up and meanwhile lets Keep The Blue Flag Flying High!
What are your thoughts on this tie and the UEFA Europa League?
they ain’t a cheap team at all… Have watched their previous games and the’re tactical and always loves to play with the ball and have possession
i don’t know how seriously benetez and his lads would take this competition…but i want us to win it..after all,winning the champions league and the europa league ain’t bad..
Let’s hope our boys in Blue put their all in this competition….. We can win it!
We really should put out some fairly strong sides in the Europa League, there aren’t too many top sides left, I’d say 1 of us, Atletico, Inter and Zenit will win. And Chelsea should be slight favourites. The Thursday-Sunday schedule means we will certainly need to strengthen our squad, especially with the FA and League Cups. I am a massive fan of Cesc Fabregas, and I think Chelsea should go all out to get him. £25m should do it but £32m is fine.
Falcao IS brilliant and the £46m is fair, so are the wages, but if we are to break the bank on a forwa it should definitely be Neymar, regardless of price. Fellaini is good but not great due to poor passing range and disciplinary record. Guys like El Shaarawy, Markovic, Isco etc is what we should be going for. Also recall De Bruyne, Essien & Lukaku.
Sparta side: Cech, Bertrand, Cahill, Ivanovic, Azpilicueta; Luiz, Mikel; De Bruyne, Oscar, Moses; Lukaku.