Ceemo

Yep, looks like we were essentially paired with Liverpool, i.e, same kick-off times as them, so will be placed in one of Groups E-H. Going by that TV criteria, we definitely now can't draw Club Brugge, Lille or Lugano.

For me the worst draw for football reasons would be: Frankfurt, Besiktas and Nordsjaelland Worst draw for travel reasons would be: Fenerbahce, Astana and one of Cukaricki/Ballkani/Zrinjski Best draw for football reasons: Ferencvaros, HJK and Breidablik

Thursday 31 August 2023 UEFA Europa League – Play-off Round Aggregate Scores (Losers enter Conference League) Slavia Prague (Cze) 3-2 Zorya Luhansk (Ukr) Olympiacos (Gre) 6-1 Cukaricki (Srb) Union Saint-Gilloise (Bel) 3-0 Lugano (Sui) Ludogorets (Bul) 2-4 Ajax (Ned) BK Hacken (Swe) 5-3 Aberdeen (Sco) LASK (Aut) 3-2 Zrinjski (Bih) KI (Fro) 2-3 Sheriff Tiraspol (Mda) Olimpija (Svn) 1-3 Qarabag (Aze) Slovan Bratislava (Svk) 4-7 Aris Limassol (Cyp) Dinamo Zagreb (Cro) 4-5 Sparta Prague (Cze) UEFA Europa Conference League - Champions Path – Play-off Round Aggregate Scores Ballkani (Kos) 4-2 BATE Borisov (Bls) Zalgiris (Ltu) 0-7 Ferencvaros (Hun) Struga (Mkd) 0-2 Breidablik (Isl) Farul Constanta (Rou) 2-3 HJK (Fin) Astana (Kaz) 2-1 Partizani (Alb) UEFA Europa Conference League - Main Path – Play-off Round Aggregate Scores Levski Sofia (Bul) 1-3 Eintracht Frankfurt (Ger) Gent (Bel) 4-1 APOEL (Cyp) Sepsi (Rou) 4-5 Bodo/Glimt (Nor) Tobol (Kaz) 1-5 Viktoria Plzen (Cze) Midtjylland (Den) 4-4p Legia Warsaw (Pol) - Legia won 6-5 on penalties Lille (Fra) 3-2 Rijeka (Cro) Genk (Bel) p2-2 Adana Demirspor (Tur) - Genk won 5-4 on penalties Fenerbahce (Tur) 6-1 Twente (Ned) Dynamo Kyiv (Ukr) 2-4 Besiktas (Tur) AZ (Ned) p4-4 Brann (Nor) - AZ won 6-5 on penalties Rapid Vienna (Aut) 1-2 Fiorentina (Ita) Hearts (Sco) 1-6 PAOK (Gre) Nordsjaelland (Den) 6-0 Partizan (Srb) Osasuna (Esp) 3-4 Club Brugge (Bel) Maccabi Tel Aviv (Isr) 5-2 Celje (Svn) Hibernian (Sco) 0-8 Aston Villa (Eng) Spartak Trnava (Svk) 3-2 Dnipro-1 (Ukr) So the 32 for the group stage is finally set. A few scares for the other bigger teams in the competition, but they all got through. Frankfurt left it late to eventually knock out Levski, while Lille had to go to extra time to get past Rijeka. Last year's semi-finalist, AZ Alkmaar went to penalties with Brann before advancing, while Fiorentina got a very debatable penalty to see off Rapid Vienna at the death. The big match between Osasuna and Club Brugge went one way and then the other before Club Brugge eventually sneaked into tomorrow's draw. In the Europa League, Dinamo Zagreb were surprise losers against Sparta Prague and will now enter the Conference League with the highest coefficient after Eintracht Frankfurt.

Legia have won on the penalties. Here are the final pots for tomorrow's draw.

Legia Warsaw and Midtjylland now going to penalties which will decide the final team in the group stage.

Wednesday 23rd August 2023 UEFA Europa Conference League - Main Path - Play-off Round, First Leg Spartak Trnava (Svk) 1-1 Dnipro-1 (Ukr) Hibernian (Sco) 0-5 Aston Villa (Eng) Thursday 24th August 2023 UEFA Europa League – Play-off Round, First Leg (Losers enter Conference League) Slavia Prague (Cze) 2-0 Zorya Luhansk (Ukr) Olympiacos (Gre) 3-1 Cukaricki (Srb) Union Saint-Gilloise (Bel) 2-0 Lugano (Sui) Ludogorets (Bul) 1-4 Ajax (Ned) BK Hacken (Swe) 2-2 Aberdeen (Sco) LASK (Aut) 2-1 Zrinjski (Bih) KI (Fro) 1-1 Sheriff Tiraspol (Mda) Olimpija (Svn) 0-2 Qarabag (Aze) Slovan Bratislava (Svk) 2-1 Aris Limassol (Cyp) Dinamo Zagreb (Cro) 3-1 Sparta Prague (Cze) UEFA Europa Conference League - Champions Path – Play-off Round, First Leg Ballkani (Kos) 4-1 BATE Borisov (Bls) Zalgiris (Ltu) 0-4 Ferencvaros (Hun) Struga (Mkd) 0-1 Breidablik (Isl) Farul Constanta (Rou) 2-1 HJK (Fin) Astana (Kaz) 1-0 Partizani (Alb) UEFA Europa Conference League - Main Path – Play-off Round, First Leg Levski Sofia (Bul) 1-1 Eintracht Frankfurt (Ger) Gent (Bel) 2-0 APOEL (Cyp) Sepsi (Rou) 2-2 Bodo/Glimt (Nor) Tobol (Kaz) 1-2 Viktoria Plzen (Cze) Midtjylland (Den) 3-3 Legia Warsaw (Pol) Lille (Fra) 2-1 Rijeka (Cro) Genk (Bel) 2-1 Adana Demirspor (Tur) Fenerbahce (Tur) 5-1 Twente (Ned) Dynamo Kyiv (Ukr) 2-3 Besiktas (Tur) AZ (Ned) 1-1 Brann (Nor) Rapid Vienna (Aut) 1-0 Fiorentina (Ita) Hearts (Sco) 1-2 PAOK (Gre) Nordsjaelland (Den) 5-0 Partizan (Srb) Osasuna (Esp) 1-2 Club Brugge (Bel) Maccabi Tel Aviv (Isr) 4-1 Celje (Svn) So with the losers of the Europa League play-off round entering the Conference League group stage, the favourites in pretty much all of those ties have won tonight. Aberdeen are looking good for a place in the Eruopa League group stage, while the likes of Ajax and Olympiacos should have comfortable routes to that Group Stage. Very interesting night in the Conference League. Frankfurt were pegged back late on by Levski but should win at home next week. Lille were behind for a while but go to Rijeka with a goal advantage. Fenerbahce have been impressive all summer and proved it with a huge win over Twente. Besiktas picked up a super win in Bucharest against Dynamo Kyiv to be favourites next week. Our old adversaries, Rapid Vienna got the better of Fiorentina with a excellent rear-guard effort. Hearts lost late on at home to PAOK, while Club Brugge got the better of Osasuna in the tie of the round, despite being on the back foot for long periods.

Spanish ref for the game: Ricardo De Burgos. Has done Barcelona vs Real Madrid a couple of times but it perhaps more well known here for sending off Vinicius Junior in the away game at Valencia last season, shortly after Vinicius Junior complained of getting racist abuse from the Valencia fans.

Seeing those Paqueta allegations, I've just gone back into the match thread of that game in March of when he got booked. Sounds like someone was trying desperately to get a yellow card and it was also the only yellow card in that match, so the ref must have been very lenient throughout.

Should find out in the next couple of days. The TV rights for the Conference League are not centralised at this stage, so it could be on any channel. I'd imagine TNT will go for it.

So using a currency converter, it's £4.27 million loan + £1.1 million optional add on probably depending on appearances. £19.21 million obligation to buy at the end of the season with Galatasaray having a 10% sell on clause. So if everything goes well, the deal would cost us £24.6m. Villa's European squad is being registered tonight, so he should now be eligible to face Hibernian.

He has returned to Bristol Rovers on loan again for the season.

Wednesday 16th August 2023 UEFA Europa Conference League - Champions Path - Third Qualifying Round – Aggregate Score Flora (Est) 0-5 Farul Constanta (Rou) Thursday 17th August 2023 UEFA Europa League - Third Qualifying Round – Aggregate Scores (Losers enter Conference League) BK Hacken (Swe) 8-1 Zalgiris (Ltu) HJK (Fin) 2-4 Qarabag (Aze) Sheriff Tiraspol (Mda) 7-3 BATE Borisov (Bls) Slavia Prague (Cze) 4-1 Dnipro-1 (Ukr) Breidablik (Isl) 3-6 Zrinjski (Bih) Olympiakos (Gre) 2-1 Genk (Bel) Ludogorets (Bul) 6-3 Astana (Kaz) UEFA Europa Conference League - Champions Path - Third Qualifying Round – Aggregate Scores Swift Hesperange (Lux) 3-4 Struga (Mkd) Partizani (Alb) 3-1 Valmiera (Lva) Ferencvaros (Hun) 8-2 Hamrun Spartans (Mlt) Lincoln Red Imps (Gib) 1-5 Ballkani (Kos) UEFA Europa Conference League - Main Path - Third Qualifying Round – Aggregate Scores Maccabi Tel Aviv (Isr) 2-1 AEK Larnaca (Cyp) Pogon Szczecin (Pol) 2-6 Gent (Bel) Derry City (Irl) 1-1p Tobol (Kaz) – Tobol won 6-5 on penalties Pyunik (Arm) 0-6 Bodo/Glimt (Nor) Partizan (Srb) 2-2 Sabah (Aze) – Partizan won 5-4 on penalties APOEL (Cyp) 3-0 Dila Gori (Geo) AZ Alkmaar (Ned) 3-0 FC Santa Coloma (And) Austria Vienna (Aut) 5-6 Legia Warsaw (Pol) Besiktas (Tur) 5-2 Neftci (Aze) Midtjylland (Den) 5-1 Omonia (Cyp) Hearts (Sco) 4-3 Rosenborg (Nor) Aktobe (Kaz) 1-2 Sepsi (Rou) Gzira United (Mlt) 0-6 Viktoria Plzen (Cze) Levski Sofia (Bul) 2-1 Hapoel Be’er Sheva (Isr) Osijek (Cro) 4-7 Adana Demirspor (Tur) Brann (Nor) 4-3 Arouca (Por) Rijeka (Cro) 5-1 B36 (Fro) Neman Grodno (Bls) 1-5 Celje (Svn) KA (Isl) 2-10 Club Brugge (Bel) Maribor (Svn) 1-6 Fenerbahce (Tur) Spartak Trnava (Svk) 4-3 Lech Poznan (Pol) Riga (Lva) 0-5 Twente (Ned) Dynamo Kyiv p2-2 Aris (Gre) – Dynamo Kyiv won 6-5 on penalties Nordsjaelland (Den) 2-0 FCSB (Rou) Luzern (Sui) 3-5 Hibernian (Sco) PAOK (Gre) 3-0 Hajduk Split (Cro) Debrecen (Hun) 0-5 Rapid Vienna (Aut) So only one real surprise with Lech Poznan who reached the Quarter-Finals of this competition last season, exiting the competition tonight. And so finally after 6 weeks of European football, Villa will finally make their European entrance next week against Hibs. Some really tough ties in the Conference League this season which signifies that the competition is a good deal stronger than last season. UEFA Europa League – Playoff Round Draw (Losers enter Conference League) Slavia Prague (Cze) vs Zorya Luhansk (Ukr) Olympiacos (Gre) vs Cukaricki (Srb) Union Saint-Gilloise (Bel) vs Lugano (Sui) Ludogorets (Bul) vs Ajax (Ned) BK Hacken (Swe) vs Aberdeen (Sco) LASK (Aut) vs Zrinjski (Bih) KI (Fro) vs Sheriff Tiraspol (Mda) Olimpija (Svn) vs Qarabag (Aze) Slovan Bratislava (Svk) vs Aris Limassol (Cyp) Dinamo Zagreb (Cro)/AEK Athens (Gre) vs Sparta Prague (Cze) UEFA Europa Conference League - Champions Path – Playoff Round Draw Ballkani (Kos) vs BATE Borisov (Bls) Zalgiris (Ltu) vs Ferencvaros (Hun) Struga (Mkd) vs Breidablik (Isl) Farul Constanta (Rou) vs HJK (Fin) Astana (Kaz) vs Partizani (Alb) UEFA Europa Conference League - Main Path – Playoff Round Draw Levski Sofia (Bul) vs Eintracht Frankfurt (Ger) APOEL (Cyp) vs Gent (Bel) Spartak Trnava (Svk) vs Dnipro-1 (Ukr) Sepsi (Rou) vs Bodo/Glimt (Nor) Tobol (Kaz) vs Viktoria Plzen (Cze) Hibernian (Sco) vs Aston Villa (Eng) Midtjylland (Den) vs Legia Warsaw (Pol) Lille (Fra) vs Rijeka (Cro) Genk (Bel) vs Adana Demirspor (Tur) Fenerbahce (Tur) vs Twente (Ned) Dynamo Kyiv (Ukr) vs Besiktas (Tur) AZ (Ned) vs Brann (Nor) Rapid Vienna (Aut) vs Fiorentina (Ita) Hearts (Sco) vs PAOK (Gre) Nordsjaelland (Den) vs Partizan (Srb) Osasuna (Spa) vs Club Brugge (Bel) Maccabi Tel Aviv (Isr) vs Celje (Svn)

And penalties it is! Come on Derry.

Awful miss from Derry in injury time to win the tie against Tobol of Kazakhstan. Game is gone now to extra-time.

Yep Luzern have been really poor and they are losing their discipline now as well. It's off to Edinburgh.

Looked like a handball by Stevenson blocking the header from a Luzern corner. Would probably have been a penalty had VAR been around.

Hibs score. 2-2!

2-1 Luzern. Simple header from a corner.

Luzern pushing but Hibs are pretty comfortable at the moment

Marseille out on penalties in the Champions League against Panathinaikos. Guendouzi with the costly miss. Marseille made that last minute switch of bringing on a keeper for penalties and all 5 went past him.

With his injury history and also carrying a current injury, his medical will not be the usual formality, you wouldn't think.

Was just looking through youtube about Zaniolo and came across this from last season where he got a straight red for kicking out at Alex Moreno!!!!

Olise now on his way to Chelsea. The signings and spending money just never stops.