I was watching, the lead was very undeserving & massively against the run of play, it looked like fiorentina could mount a comeback first 20 minutes, non stop pressure, Rico with anothe point blank save, Sevilla killed with a set piece goal. Then score another set piece, but it's done.
Really? Surprised by that to be honest especially considering Viola's lineup. Well the tie is completely decided now so I guess most people are watching the Dnipro-Napoli game.
Zenit from 2008 were spectacular. They eliminated Marseille, Villarreal and utterly destroyed Bayern on route to their victory. Brilliant football, with Arshavin at his very best.
I vaguely remember that team. Arshavin. I almost forgot that guy.
A few weeks later he had a cracking EURO with Russia.
In any case it would be cool if the Eastern European teams started performing better in Europe. Western/Southern Europe really have monopoly in Europe. We tend to forget that almost 300 million or so Europeans live east of Berlin if not more. Yet the football leagues outside of Ukraine, Russia etc. are more or less irrelevant and so are all the clubs outside of the top teams in Ukraine and Russia.
Not sure if that will ever change.
La Liga, Serie A, EPL, Bundesliga, Ligue 1, Eresdivisie, the Portuguese league etc. will always draw players from that part of Europe. It's a shame because many of those areas of Europe have really passionate football fans (Ukraine, Russia, Poland, Balkans, Greece etc.).
If football had some kind of "American sports system" (NBA like system) those leagues/clubs might have been able to challenge more.
At the end it's all about exposure, popularity, prestige and most importantly money and history.
In that sense football is unfair.
