UEFA Europa League:

 

I have spoken many times over the last four seasons about teams from the Iberian Peninsula and Eastern Europe having a great record in the Europa League and always treating the competition with respect, they provided six of the last eight in 2015-16 and five of the last six finalists. No really big breakthrough for teams from Turkey, but they have performed incredibly well in group play, with 7 of the last 8 (six seasons) that have made it to this stage, qualifying, with four winning their section.

 

 

 

 

Zorya Luhansk (n) - Fenerbahce

 

Fenerbache have made it to the group stage twice in the last three seasons, they made it to the semi finals in 2012-13 , lost out in the round of 16 to Braga (see below) last season. Across those two campiagns they were unbeaten in the six group road games ( four wins) and they look a class above Zorya Luhansk this evening and can improve on all those trends. The eagle eyed amongst you will have noticed that the hosts are from the Ukraine and that country has provided some very big players in this competition in recent years, but Zorya are no Dynamo, Shakhtar, Dnipro or even the now sadly defunct Metalist, where the owner did a "runner" ! They have spent eight seasons in the top flight and it has been a case of very steady improvement, rather than any quantum leaps forward and their Europa League camapigns have gone along a similar path, coming up short of the group stage, the two previous occasions they have qualified, finally making it this season and it feels like it will be a continuation of the learning curve for them, with the target for this season having been reached.
 

They have no stand out stars and much of their success has to do with their close relationship with Shakhtar, with the Zorya owner being the former president of the Donetsk club. They currently have six players on loan from Shakhtar, one looks promising. but the truth is that most are of the level to help them progress slowly, but not exactly thrive. They are very much the little brother and are overachieving with 4th in Premier Liha (which is pretty much the only spot up for grabs for them) and in reaching the group stage of the Europa League. They have a huge domestic game with Dynamo at the weekend and Zorya and, it has to be said Shakhtar, will be keen on leaving something for that game. Today's match will be played in Zaporiziha, which is six hours away from Luhansk.
 

Fenerbahce need to start to build some momentum after taking just one point from three league starts, but they beat Grasshoppers  5-0 on aggregate to reach the group stage and took a good Monaco side close in a Champions League qualifier, being all square on aggregate with 25 minuutes left to play in the second leg.They sold Nani in the summer, but overall look stronger than the team who finished second in Super Lig last season and just need to settle down a bit, with a couple of ill disciplined league games (two red cards).