The first round to the European City Cup got us off to a flier - the big story of the round had to be Paris' enormously-talented side getting knocked out by Tbilisi. We also saw other major sides such as Berlin, Moscow and Istanbul knocked out. We're down to 32 teams now, and this is the draw...
Amsterdam vs. Ljubljana Bergen vs. Madrid Charleroi vs. Rome Gothenburg vs. Toulouse The Hague vs. Zagreb London vs. Kyiv Manchester vs. Liverpool Marseille vs. Split | Prague vs. Zurich Sevilla vs. Rotterdam St Petersburg vs. Nis Stuttgart vs. Graz Tbilisi vs. Naples Valencia vs. Birmingham Vienna vs. Bilbao Zadar vs. Sheffield |
We will give brief match reports of some of the more tasty fixtures, and a brief summary of the rest of the action. There's only one place to start...
Manchester vs. Liverpool
What a tasty tie to open the round with! It's the first match of this City Cup that sees two teams from the same nation fighting it out, and it just so happens to be two north-west English cities with a serious rivalry, both on and off the football pitch. Among the many subplots is that Manchester United legend Wayne Rooney leads the line for Liverpool, supported by players such as Ross Barkley, Trent Alexander-Arnold and Tom Davies. Meanwhile, Manchester have Rooney's former teammates Marcus Rashford, Danny Welbeck, Ravel Morrison and Danny Drinkwater. A tight game finally saw its opening goal just after the hour mark when Rashford hared onto a long ball by Aberdeen's Shay Logan to fire past Chris Oldfield - goalkeeper for Hume City in Australia's second tier. It was with the run of play, and Manchester sealed a deserved win when Adam Clayton added a second eight minutes before time.
What a tasty tie to open the round with! It's the first match of this City Cup that sees two teams from the same nation fighting it out, and it just so happens to be two north-west English cities with a serious rivalry, both on and off the football pitch. Among the many subplots is that Manchester United legend Wayne Rooney leads the line for Liverpool, supported by players such as Ross Barkley, Trent Alexander-Arnold and Tom Davies. Meanwhile, Manchester have Rooney's former teammates Marcus Rashford, Danny Welbeck, Ravel Morrison and Danny Drinkwater. A tight game finally saw its opening goal just after the hour mark when Rashford hared onto a long ball by Aberdeen's Shay Logan to fire past Chris Oldfield - goalkeeper for Hume City in Australia's second tier. It was with the run of play, and Manchester sealed a deserved win when Adam Clayton added a second eight minutes before time.
Bergen vs. Madrid
Madrid were given a serious scare by Leigh Griffiths' Edinburgh side, only getting through on penalties. Their next opponents are Bergen, Norway's second city, whose team includes such well-known faces as... er... Petter Strand of Molde and Bard Finne of Valerenga. Surely this would be easier for Madrid? Nope! After half an hour Bergen led 2-0, with a Kristoffer Barmen penalty and a Steffen Lie Skalevik strike. Just before the break Alvaro Negredo pounced to reduce the deficit, and a Madrid recovery seemed on the cards again. However, tried as they might, they couldn't break down the Norwegian door, and in the 80th minute Gabi (previously of Atletico, but now of Al-Sadd in Saudi Arabia) picked up a second yellow, and that signalled the end of Madrid's journey. A side including de Gea, Nacho, Marcos Alonso, Koke, Coke, Morata and Negredo are sent packing!
Madrid were given a serious scare by Leigh Griffiths' Edinburgh side, only getting through on penalties. Their next opponents are Bergen, Norway's second city, whose team includes such well-known faces as... er... Petter Strand of Molde and Bard Finne of Valerenga. Surely this would be easier for Madrid? Nope! After half an hour Bergen led 2-0, with a Kristoffer Barmen penalty and a Steffen Lie Skalevik strike. Just before the break Alvaro Negredo pounced to reduce the deficit, and a Madrid recovery seemed on the cards again. However, tried as they might, they couldn't break down the Norwegian door, and in the 80th minute Gabi (previously of Atletico, but now of Al-Sadd in Saudi Arabia) picked up a second yellow, and that signalled the end of Madrid's journey. A side including de Gea, Nacho, Marcos Alonso, Koke, Coke, Morata and Negredo are sent packing!
Vienna vs. Bilbao
Both sides looked assured in their opening-round wins over Sofia and Glasgow respectively, and both contributed here to an utter goalfest of a match. West Ham's Marko Arnautovic got us underway with a solo goal just two minutes in. However, a goal from Iker Guarrotxena and two from Inaki Williams put Bilbao in command, before another from Arnautovic made it 3-2 at the interval. The sides traded goals immediately after the break, before Bilbao once again put daylight between them and Vienna as Ander Herrera elegantly swept home from the edge of the box. It proved decisive, as Vienna could only muster an injury-time consolation. 5-4 the final score, what a match!
Both sides looked assured in their opening-round wins over Sofia and Glasgow respectively, and both contributed here to an utter goalfest of a match. West Ham's Marko Arnautovic got us underway with a solo goal just two minutes in. However, a goal from Iker Guarrotxena and two from Inaki Williams put Bilbao in command, before another from Arnautovic made it 3-2 at the interval. The sides traded goals immediately after the break, before Bilbao once again put daylight between them and Vienna as Ander Herrera elegantly swept home from the edge of the box. It proved decisive, as Vienna could only muster an injury-time consolation. 5-4 the final score, what a match!
London vs. Kyiv
London started this tournament as one of a select group of favourites, with a deep squad full of talent. However, given the fates befallen similar sides such as Paris, Berlin and now Madrid, nothing can be taken for certain. And London found themselves in a world of trouble as they suffered a first-half collapse, going 3-0 down in 43 minutes partly due to two Roman Zozulya goals. However, the great saviour Harry Kane rode in on his steed, and took advantage of bad goalkeeping to nick two goals before the interval. London looked set for a comeback, but a spanner was thrown into the works when Kane had to go off just after the restart, and his replacement Jermaine Defoe struggled to impose himself on the match. Despite a valiant performance from Michail Antonio on the wing, London couldn't get themselves level - and also depart from the competition!
London started this tournament as one of a select group of favourites, with a deep squad full of talent. However, given the fates befallen similar sides such as Paris, Berlin and now Madrid, nothing can be taken for certain. And London found themselves in a world of trouble as they suffered a first-half collapse, going 3-0 down in 43 minutes partly due to two Roman Zozulya goals. However, the great saviour Harry Kane rode in on his steed, and took advantage of bad goalkeeping to nick two goals before the interval. London looked set for a comeback, but a spanner was thrown into the works when Kane had to go off just after the restart, and his replacement Jermaine Defoe struggled to impose himself on the match. Despite a valiant performance from Michail Antonio on the wing, London couldn't get themselves level - and also depart from the competition!
Marseille vs. Split
This promised to be a fascinating tie, with teams from each of the World Cup finalists facing each other. A fluid Marseille side took on a Split team containing numerous members of Croatia's World Cup side, including key wingers Ante Rebic and Ivan Perisic. Jordan Ayew put the French team ahead, but Split soon led 2-1, and went further ahead just before the break through a thumping Filip Bradaric strike. Naim Sliti (in for the injured Samir Nasri) reduced the deficit, but Split pulled away again through Perisic. Marseille kicked off, and immediately pulled one back through Ayew, but that was it and they ultimately had to take a 4-3 defeat.
This promised to be a fascinating tie, with teams from each of the World Cup finalists facing each other. A fluid Marseille side took on a Split team containing numerous members of Croatia's World Cup side, including key wingers Ante Rebic and Ivan Perisic. Jordan Ayew put the French team ahead, but Split soon led 2-1, and went further ahead just before the break through a thumping Filip Bradaric strike. Naim Sliti (in for the injured Samir Nasri) reduced the deficit, but Split pulled away again through Perisic. Marseille kicked off, and immediately pulled one back through Ayew, but that was it and they ultimately had to take a 4-3 defeat.
Elsewhere...
Zagreb did remarkably well to win 3-2 against Prague, given that they had fallen 2-1 behind in extra time. The win was earned with a superb 30-yard free kick from Mergim Brahimi
Sevilla took an early lead against Rotterdam, but a Robin van Persie-led comeback led to the Dutch team ultimately winning 4-1.
Despite having a diminished team due to two red cards in their previous match, plus losing Daniel Sturridge to injury (shock horror), Birmingham were able to see off Valencia 2-1.
Tbilisi followed up their sensational win over Madrid with a 1-0 extra-time win over Naples.
Despite a huge depth of talent, Belgian interest in the tournament was ended as Rome ruthlessly exploited Charleroi's naive attacking mindset to win 3-0.
Zadar and Sheffield went all the way to penalties, and amazingly the crucial miss came from Luka Modric as Sheffield progress!
Full results
Zagreb did remarkably well to win 3-2 against Prague, given that they had fallen 2-1 behind in extra time. The win was earned with a superb 30-yard free kick from Mergim Brahimi
Sevilla took an early lead against Rotterdam, but a Robin van Persie-led comeback led to the Dutch team ultimately winning 4-1.
Despite having a diminished team due to two red cards in their previous match, plus losing Daniel Sturridge to injury (shock horror), Birmingham were able to see off Valencia 2-1.
Tbilisi followed up their sensational win over Madrid with a 1-0 extra-time win over Naples.
Despite a huge depth of talent, Belgian interest in the tournament was ended as Rome ruthlessly exploited Charleroi's naive attacking mindset to win 3-0.
Zadar and Sheffield went all the way to penalties, and amazingly the crucial miss came from Luka Modric as Sheffield progress!
Full results
Amsterdam 1-0 Ljubljana Bergen 2-1 Madrid Charleroi 0-3 Rome Gothenburg 1-2e Toulouse The Hague 1-2 Zagreb London 2-3 Kyiv Manchester 2-0 Liverpool Marseille 3-4 Split | Prague 2-3e Zurich Sevilla 1-4 Rotterdam St Petersburg 0-2 Nis Stuttgart 0-1 Graz Tbilisi e1-0 Naples Valencia 1-2 Birmingham Vienna 4-5 Bilbao Zadar 1-1p Sheffield |
With London, St Petersburg and Madrid exiting the tournament, that's now Europe's six most populous cities now eliminated. Indeed, of the top 20, only Kyiv (7th) and Rome (8th) remain, so they must be nervy ahead of the next round! Given the number of shocks, this really is anyone's tournament to win. Next time it's the round of 16, and a chance to get into the quarter-finals!