Posted by Kristian Walsh
Liverpool Football Club were the first name plucked out of the Europa League group stage draw; come May, they will be hoping they are the last ones remaining. Their hopes will have taken a slight blow after receiving a difficult draw. The Reds were drawn with Udinese, Young Boys and Anzhi Makhachkala. Here is the low down on their three group stage opponents:
Udinese:
The Italians will feel they should not even be in this competition. Udinese were the better side over large portions of their Champions League playoff tie with Braga but found themselves in a penalty shootout after a 2-2 aggregate draw over the two legs. A moment of madness from Maicosuel in that shootout, after his panenka attempt was saved, saw their place at Europe's top table denied at the last possible moment for the second consecutive year.
Liverpool will cast a curious glance towards Udinese Calcio. For all the misguided talk of moneyball surrounding the Anfield club, it is the model of Udinese that they truly want to follow. A look at their squad reveals their penchant for unearthing gems from South America: centre back Danilo, midfielder Willians and utility man Allan are the latest on a very lucrative conveyor belt for the Bianconeri.
It isn't just South America where they cultivate successfully. This summer saw Samir Handanovic, Kwadwo Asamoah and Mauricio Isla moved on for transfer fees far greater than what Udinese initially paid; they join the likes of Alexis Sanchez and Gokhan Inler on an impressive list of alumni. As Liverpool look at the losses made on Andy Carroll and Charlie Adam, perhaps they should swap numbers when Udinese come to town.
For those still in the black and white stripes of Udinese, Antonio Di Natale will be the danger. The 34-year-old enters his eighth season at the club having scored an incredible 135 league goals in 264 appearances. Elsewhere, flying Colombian left-back Pablo Armero will be tricky to keep quiet, while Emmanuel Agyemang-Badu and Giampiero Pinzi look set to form an impressive partnership in midfield.
Young Boys:
Wordsmiths and lovers of the tabloidese will salivate over the prospect of Young Boys coming to Anfield; unfortunately for them, most of the puns and innuendos were used up during their Champions League qualifier against Tottenham in 2010.
Berner Sport Club Young Boys, to give them their full name, will be the unknown entity of Group A, though the Europa League is not unknown to their newly-appointed manager Martin Rueda. Rueda, who had a brief career with the Swiss national side, managed Lausanne-Sport to a Europa League group stage bow in 2010 - just six years after the club was reformed due to bankruptcy. Hope for Rangers yet, then.
Though Rueda would only bring Lausanne-Sport a point in the group stage, they did beat Lokomotiv Moscow in the preceding playoff round; they also achieved this as a Swiss second division club. Rueda's achievements have led his appointment at one of Switzerland's most successful clubs, with a hope of improving on their third-placed finish last year and break the domination enjoyed by FC Basel, who have won four of the last five Swiss league titles.
Two players stand out for Young Boys. Midfielder Michael Silberbauer has caught the eye for Denmark over the past few years, particularly when deployed in a man-marking role against Cristiano Ronaldo; up front, strong, quick and tenacious forward Raul Bobadilla will lead the line and will prove a handful for the Liverpool defence. After an unsuccessful spell as Borussia Moenchengladbach - though he did produce a fine man-of-the-man display in the derby match against FC Koln in November 2010 - he returns to Switzerland after previously playing for Grasshopper.
Anzhi Makhachkala:
Before January 2011, Anzhi Makhachkala were as unknown as they are unpronounceable. The club was set up ten years previous on the whim of Magomed-Sultan Magomedov, then head of Dagnefteprodukt. Ten years passed with little to capture Europe's attention. Enter billionaire Suleyman Kerimov. The rest is history being created before our eyes.
Their squad boast an impressive collection of players for a side who were only promoted to the Russian Premier League in 2010. Samuel Eto'o stands out, but he is complimented by such players as Chris Samba, Yuri Zhirkov and Lacina Traore. Other players such as Balazs Dzsudzsak, Diego Tardelli (not the Italian one) and Roberto Carlos have been and gone.
In charge of this talented group is Dutchman Guus Hiddink. The 65-year-old has history with Liverpool in European competition: it was his Chelsea side that eliminated Liverpool at the quarter-final stage of the 2009 Champions League in a memorable 7-5 aggregate win. But Hiddink's time as club manager has left a lot to be desired. Since leaving PSV Eindhoven in 1990, he has won few trophies, his aforementioned six-month stint at Stamford Bridge yielding an FA Cup aside. Though a fair portion of his career has been as an international coach, his performances have flittered between underachieving and overachieving. He will know his time to make an impact with Anzhi in Europe in order to justify his gargantuan salary.
Hiddink also knows he will have to make an impact away from the capital of Daegestan. Uefa have not permitted Anzhi to play their games in Daegestan due to fears over safety. It's a concern shared by the players and staff of the club, who reside and train in Kratovo, a village near Moscow. In their previous three Europa League home fixtures this season Anzhi have played in Moscow, either at Stadion Lokomotiv or Saturn Stadion, the latter of which is situated in the Moscow suburb of Ramenskoye.
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