[article]UEFA CUP : Lille bit of work for Shels

thejollyrodger

UEFA CUP : Lille bit of work for Shels
28th August 2004 The Irish Independent

THE steely professionalism which has guided Shelbourne throughout their European exploits thus far this season was evident in manager Pat Fenlon's reaction to yesterday morning's UEFA Cup first round draw.

"At the moment, I'm more interested in the Cup match against Derry," said Fenlon when asked about the Nyon draw which had paired them with French side Lille.

Speaking from the team coach heading north for tonight's third round replay at the Brandywell, Fenlon was reluctant to begin a detailed analysis of one of this summer's InterToto Cup winners.

"That will all have to wait until Sunday morning when we're over this game. Being drawn at home first doesn't bother me, our away record is quite good this season in Europe so that won't hold any fears for us."

Although not as potentially lucrative a draw as perhaps Lazio may have been, French television are one of the more generous paymasters in European club football and Shelbourne's monetary rewards from the two ties may be known after discussions early next week.

And, although the decision has yet to be finalised, chairman Finbar Flood yesterday hinted at the likelihood that the September 16 first leg would be played in Tolka Park - although Lansdowne Road will remain an alternative should demand for tickets surge in the next few days.

"We sold 24,000 tickets for Dportivo La Coruna and we could easily have sold another 10,000 more," said Flood. "And nobody expected them to have that much pulling power. It might work that way with Lille.

"However, my gut reaction would be that this game would easily fill out Tolka Park and nothing more, although we would never rule anything out. It depends on demand. Playing in Tolka will also give our lads a better chance of qualifying too."

Claude Puel's side have had a mixed start to the French season, defeating Auxerre 2-0, losing 3-0 to Marseilles while last weekend they were held scoreless by Bordeaux at home.

Lille finished 10th in La Championnat last season, four places behind FC Nantes, the side against whom Cork City valiantly struggled before losing on 4-2 on aggregate in this summer's InterToto Cup.

However, Bulgarian international striker Vladimir Manchev, who scored 12 league goals last season, and highly-rated young French defender Eric Abidal, who made his French debut last week, have both left.

Fenlon's initial focus is on tonight's FAI Cup replay where his side will face a side buoyed by the home debut of new manager Stephen Kenny. Both sides should be unchanged.

UEFA CUP DRAW

Grazer AK v Litex Lovech; Lazio v Metalurgs Donetsk; Bodo Glimt v Besiktas Shelbourne v Lille; Hearts v SC Braga; Austria Vienna v Legia Warsaw; Dukla Banska v Benfica; Partizan Belgrade v Dinamo Bucharest; Parma v Maribor; Real Zaragoza v Sigma Olomouc; Sporting Lisbon v Rapid Vienna; Newcastle Utd v Hapoel Bnei Sakhnin; Steaua Bucharest v CSKA Sofia; Wisla Krakow v Dinamo Tbilisi; FC Utrecht v Djurgardens; Millwall v Ferencvaros; Schalke 04 v FK Liepajas Metalurgs; Maccabi Haifa v Dnipro Dnipropetrovsk; Terek Grozny v FC Basle; Odd Grenland v Feyenoord; Aalborg v Auxerre; Sevilla v CD Nacional; NK Gorica v AEK Athens; Standard Liege v Vfl Bochum; Crvena Zvezda v Zenit St Petersburg; Trabzonspor v Athletic Bilbao; Ujpesti v Vfb Stuttgart; Maccabi Petach Tikva v Heerenveen; Panionios v Udinese; Levski Sofia v Beveren; Dinamo Zagreb v IF Elfsborg; FH Hafnarfjordur v Aachen; Middlesbrough v Banik Ostrava; Club Brugge v Chateauroux; PAOK v AZ Alkmaar; FK Ventspils v Amica Wronki; Sochaux v Stabaek; Egaleo v Genclerbirligi; Rangers v Maritimo; Villarreal v Hammarby. 1st legs Thurs, Sept 16; 2nd legs Thurs, September 30.

David Kelly

thejollyrodger

28/08/04

Shels set to extend Euro exploits against struggling Lille
By Bill George
SHELBOURNE have drawn French side Lille in the first round proper of the UEFA Cup, giving them a fighting chance of progressing to the group stages of the tournament.

Shels will have home advantage in the first leg on September 16 before travelling to France on September 30 hoping to progress to the money-spinning UEFA Cup group stages.

While Shelbourne are ranked lower than Lille in UEFA's coefficient table, they have very little European experience with only three seasons of European competition, once in the Champions League, once in the European Cup Winners Cup and once in the UEFA Cup.

This season, they have started Le Championnat slowly, picking up four points from their opening three games, while they have also lost Bulgaria international striker Vladimir Manchev, who moved to Spain this summer.


Shelbourne manager Pat Fenlon said: "I've been busy concentrating on Saturday's Cup game, but if we do our homework right, it does give us a good chance to progress.

"We've learnt a lot from the games in Europe and will bring that into the matches. But first we've got to concentrate on the League and Cup."

Meanwhile, Israel's Bnei Sakhnin, the first Arab side ever to play in European competition, were rewarded with a trip to Newcastle in the draw.

Parma, UEFA Cup winners in 1995 and 1999, and Feyenoord, who won the competition in 1974 and 2002, will take on Slovenia's Maribor and Odd Grenland of Norway respectively, while former European champions Benfica face Dukla Banska Bystrica of Slovakia as the seeding system prevented any major clashes.

Lazio will meet Ukraine's Metalurg Donetsk, Real Zaragaoza face Czech side Sigma Olomouc and Rangers play Maritimo of Portugal.

Millwall, playing in Europe for the first time after reaching the FA Cup final last season, will face Ferencvaros of Hungary.

Millwall chairman Theo Paphitis said: "It is just great to be here and we are looking forward to going to Budapest, which is a beautiful city.

"Every match is going to be a tough one. We have drawn the toughest non-seeded team in our part of the draw but we are looking forward to it enormously."

The most intriguing match of the 40 ties is the Newcastle and Bnei Sakhnin clash.

They won the Israeli Cup final last season and are based in the village of Ilut near Nazareth, Israel's largest Arab city with a population of about 70,000.

Their promotion of peace and co-operation has earned the respect of all Israelis and representatives of Israel's other clubs in the UEFA Cup, among them Maccabi Petah Tikva, were helping to make the arrangements with Newcastle on Sakhnin's behalf because of their absence.

Since UEFA have relaxed their ban on matches taking place in Israel the game will be played in Tel Aviv and Newcastle chairman Freddy Shepherd said he had no problems with that.

The UEFA Cup has a new format, with the 40 survivors from the first round advancing to a group stage.

This comprises eight groups of five, with each club playing four matches two home and two away.

The winners, runners-up and third-placed clubs in each group (24) advance to the last 32 where they are joined by the eight third-placed clubs from the UEFA Champions League.

The competition will then revert to the usual knockout format before the final at Sporting's Jose Alvalade stadium in Lisbon on May 18 next year.

Bateman

Not the worst draw they could have hoped for, probably have a decent chance of progressing. Even though we all know Cork came up a little short against Nantes, Shels are a better team than Cork and Lille are probably a poorer team than Nantes. Should be interesting.

Pigman II

I don't fancy Shels chances against Lille. The French side may not be a big 'name' and may have only had 2 seasons in Europe but they performed well in both and will already have had 5 league games of their own under their belts by the time the 1st leg rolls round so they won't be rusty like Deportivo were. Plus they qualified for the UEFA cup due to winning the Intertoto this year so they're clearly no mugs when it comes to taking on European opposition