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Featured Sport News

UEFA Cup power vacuum

Author: Sir David Smith
Date: 12/03/2009

AC Milan, Valencia, Tottenham Hotspur and Aston Villa all exiting the UEFA Cup at the last 32 stage has left this year's competition wide open according to online betting experts.

Ahead of this week's last 16 first leg ties, there is no obvious favourite to lift the trophy when the Final is held at Istanbul in May.

Milan and Valencia were the two clear favourites prior to their surprise defeats at the hands of Werder Bremen and Dynamo Kyiv last month, while the two English sides were considered unwanted opponents by the other teams in the draw due to the recent strength of Premier League clubs in Europe.

But the failure of all four to reach the last 16 stage has left something of a power vacuum in the UEFA Cup which a number of lower profile teams are all now competing to fill.

Manchester City have been installed as the new favourites despite their far from convincing form both at home and abroad this season.

Mark Hughes' side face Aalborg in Thursday's first leg at Eastlands but the Danish side will be no pushovers as they entered the competition after finishing third in a strong Champions League group and accounted for Spain's Deportivo La Coruna in the last round.

City, by contrast, are languishing in the lower half of the Premier League and, despite the combined attacking talents of Robinho, Craig Bellamy, Elano and Shaun Wright-Phillips, they just can't seem to perform away from home.

Elsewhere, Zenit St Petersburg cannot be discounted as, although they have lost several key players since winning the UEFA Cup last season, Dick Advocaat's side remain an effective unit.

Zenit overcame Stuttgart in the last round and, despite never beating Italian opposition in European competition in their history, they have been made strong favourites to overcome Udinese in the last 16.

Fellow Russians CSKA Moscow are also highly fancied after they comfortably swept Villa aside in the last round.

In Vagner Love and Yuri Zhirkov they have two of the most effective forwards left in the competition and Ukrainian neighbours Shakhtar Donetsk have been predicted to struggle when the two sides meet.

German opposition can never be written off and there are two sides left to fly the flag for the Bundesliga.

Hamburg are involved in a domestic title challenge this season under Martin Jol and take on perennial threats Galatasaray with morale sky-high, while Werder Bremen's reward for dumping out Milan on away goals is a winnable clash with St Etienne, with the first leg at the Weserstadion this week.

The two dark horses could be French duo Marseille and Paris St Germain, who take on Ajax and Braga respectively at home in the first legs of their ties.

Both clubs are performing above expectations and are second and third in their domestic league. However, they will be mindful that a French club has never won the UEFA Cup despite teams appearing in four separate finals.

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