Monday, April 1, 2013

FOOTBALL: UEFA Europa League 2012/13 – Quarter Finals, 1st ...

Some familiar names from the world of European football adorn the 2012/13 UEFA Europa League season and ITV and ESPN will be following the competition every step of the way to the final in May at the Amsterdam ArenA.

The knockout phase of this season's competition continues with the first legs of the quarter-final stages with a place in the last four at stake for three English clubs.

ITV has live coverage of Tottenham's home clash against FC Basel, as well as Newcastle United's trip to Portuguese giants Benfica which will be shown on ITV4.

Having overcome Lyon and Inter Milan in the two previous rounds, the Londoners will be considered one of the favourites to progress to the final, particularly if Gareth Bale can maintain the form he has been showing this season.

However, FC Basel are not a team that can be taken lightly having successfully overcome Liverpool's conquerors Zenit St Petersburg in the last 16.

Gareth Southgate and Gordon Strachan provide studio analysis while match commentary comes from Clive Tyldesley and Andy Townsend.

Newcastle United travel to the Estadio da Luz to face Portuguese side Benfica in their quarter-final first leg tie as both teams strive for an early lead in the tie ahead of next week's return leg.

The Magpies again needed a narrow margin to get through to the last eight – a 93rd minute strike by Papiss Cisse at St James Park, the only goal of their tie against Anzhi Makhachkala.

This will be the second time this season that the Magpies will go up against Portuguese opposition, having faced Maritimo twice in the group stage.

Benfica have lost all five of their previous quarter finals in Europe against English sides, but this is a good Benfica team having gone unbeaten in all competitions since October.

The Portuguese side took a 4-2 aggregate win against Bordeaux in the round of sixteen, and after dropping down from the Champions League, losing out on a qualifying spot there to Barcelona and Glasgow Celtic, they have won all four matches in the Europa League so far.

Mark Pougatch presents ITV4′s live coverage, which will also include highlights of Tottenham Hotspur v FC Basel and Chelsea v Rubin Kazan.

The Blues began the competition in the round of 32 needing a late goal from Eden Hazard against Sparta Prague, before knocking Steaua Bucharest out of the Round of 16.

Rafa Benitez's side have impressed in recent weeks with a comeback against Man United to keep them in the FA Cup alongside improved league form.

Their opponents Rubin Kazan are sixth in the Russian Premier League and finished unbeaten in their Europa League group that included Inter Milan.

Ray Stubbs introduces live coverage from Stamford Bridge on ESPN with match commentary from Jon Champion and Craig Burley.

ITV's live match coverage, as well additional video clips, interviews and analysis, is available to watch for free via the ITV football website - CLICK HERE

There is no live online streaming of ESPN's live games, but users can read the latest reports and follow all the action via live text commentaries at ESPN.co.uk.

Keep up to date with all the latest UEFA Europa League reports, goal flashes and results by following ITV Football on Twitter (@itvfootball) and ESPN's feed (@ESPNUK).

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