That Other Cup. You Know, the One With All the Teams Nobody Knows Anything About.
By: Martha | December 15th, 2006
I was going to talk about the UEFA Cup draw (yes, that also happened today — talk about bad timing), but first things first: Parma and Livorno both did enough last night (read: nothing, in the case of Parma) to get into that draw. Because they were already through, Parma sacrificed their unbeaten record in favor of rest and, fielding a team of infants and puppies, were thrashed 3-0 by Osasuna. For their part, Livorno went into their match against Auxerre needing a win to overtake the French side and secure their place in the knockout round. Thanks to a second half goal from Cristiano Lucarelli (who spent all week talking about how important this game was — full marks to him for stepping up and getting it done), Livorno came away with a 1-0 win. Needless to say, there was much rejoicing.
So, about that draw! Much to their tremendous relief, both Italian clubs managed to avoid the great Zulte-Waregem in the early knockout stages. Parma will instead face Braga, the Portuguese club that was responsible for dumping Chievo out in the first round. Livorno, on the other hand, are playing Espanyol, a team that definitely doesn’t suck. The matches will be played February 14 or 15, and the return leg is the second week; if they get through, the looming opponents for Parma are Feyenoord and Tottenham, while Livorno would face CSKA Moscow or Maccabi Haifa.
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