Different prospects for Spanish sides in Europa League
Madrid,Xinhua: Spanish sides Sevilla, Getafe and Espanyol are in Europa League action on Thursday night with very different prospects of making the next round of the competition.
Getafe defends a 2-0 first-leg lead away to Ajax after a bad-tempered first leg in the south of Madrid in which their spoiling tactics frustrated and angered their Dutch opponents.
The Spanish side was able to continually break up the play with fouls and time-wasting and post-game statistics showed the ball was in play for only 42 minutes of the 90 minutes of the match.
Getafe will no-doubt try similar tactics in the Amsterdam Arena while Ajax will hope that on their home turf the referee will be less lenient with niggly fouls and time-wasting.
Sevilla, who won 3-0 in Getafe in the Liga Santander at the weekend, entertain Rumanian side Cluj after a 1-1 draw in the first leg put Julen Lopetegui's side in the driving seat for the tie.Sevilla will also go into the game knowing that they have never been knocked out of Europe by a Rumanian rival.
Espanyol, on the other hand, has virtually no chance of coming back from a 4-0 defeat away to Wolves and with his side, still bottom of the Liga Santander, Espanyol coach Abelardo Fernandez can be expected to rest virtually all of his first-team regulars ahead of their vital weekend game at home to Atletico Madrid.
(Image Credit: Wikimedia Commons)
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