UEFA Cup Recap: Standard, Villa, Tottenham fall, Man City wins

Thursday had a full slate of UEFA Cup matches in the knockout stage that saw Standard, Aston Villa, and Tottenham Hotspur fall.

Aston Villa – CSKA Moscow

Aston Villa are planning for the a top four finish in the Premier League table and all but gave up any chance of winning the second leg against CSKA Moscow. American Brad Guzan started in goal as number one Brad Friedel and a large part of their normal starters didn’t even travel for the match.  Villa were down 0-2 before the match and manager Martin O’Neill made a strategic move to keep most of his starters in England to focus on the Premier League. The goals for Moscow were from Zhirkov in the 61st minute and Vagner Love in the 90th minute.

Standard Liege – Braga

Standard were able to muster a tie in the second leg but unable to make up the 3-0 deficit from the first leg. Braga won the match with a dominating performance in last week’s match and Standard needed a huge game to makeup the difference. American Oguchi Oneywu played the whole game and the defense kept Braga in check until a late goal from Aguiar in the 88th minute. Before allowing the goal, Standard had taken the lead with Mbokani’s goal in the 79th minute.

Tottenham Hotspur – Shakhtar

English side Tottenham lost to Shakhtar 3-1 on aggregate after a 1-1 draw Thursday. Tottenham started many of their back-ups and didn’t field their strongest team but still had many chances. With a 2-0 deficit heading into the match, the Premier League team had a 1-0 lead from Dos Santos in the 55th minute. The home team had pressure and looked to level the aggregate score until Shakhtar scored late. Fernandinho scored in the 86th minute and sealed the win.

Manchester City – Copenhagen

Manchester City was the lone Premier League side to move into the round of 16 in the UEFA Cup wuth a 2-1 home victory Thursday, and 4-3 win on aggregate. The game was scoreless until Craig Bellamy scored two goals, in the 73rd and 80th minute, to win the game. Copenhagen almost sent the game into extra time with a goal in the 90th minute from Vingaard. Manchester City will face Danish side Aalborg BK March 12th in the first leg of the next round.