The Round of 32 produced a few dramatic results including a thrilling two-leg sweep of Roma by Panathinaikos. The Greek club won both legs by identical 3-2 scores and should be full of confidence for their matches against Standard Liège.

A quick look ahead to the Round of 16. Depsite their domestic foibles, I do expect Liverpool’s overall depth to show against Lille. Lille have performed well this season and I think they will keep the tie close but ultimately the Reds will move on.

A potential upset in the making sees Fulham take on Italian giants Juventus. Juve have struggled for form this season and I look for master tactician Roy Hodgson to engineer a win.

PREDICTIONS:
Hamburger SV v RSC Anderlecht
FC Rubin Kazan v VfL Wolfsburg
Club Atlético de Madrid v Sporting Clube de Portugal
SL Benfica v Olympique de Marseille
Panathinaikos FC v Royal Standard de Liège
LOSC Lille Métropole v Liverpool FC
Juventus v Fulham FC
Valencia CF v Werder Bremen

One of last season’s semi-finalists, Hamburger SV, enter this year’s competition in the third qualifying round against Randers FC of Denmark. Hamburg have added one of the most exciting young talents in Europe to their squad and will look to make it all the way to the Europa League finals which will be held at at Arena Hamburg on Wednesday 12 May 2010.

Hamburg have signed 22-year-old striker Marcus Berg from Eredivisie side FC Groningen for an undisclosed fee. The Swedish international had an outstanding run during the UEFA European Under-21 Championship scoring seven goals in four matches. He was the top scorer at the tournament and named the best player of the competition.

Hamburg also have a new coach in Bruno Labbadia, who replaced Martin Jol. Jol signed for AFC Ajax over the summer. Labbadia, a former striker with Hamburg, Bayern Munich and other German clubs, started coaching at his hometown club, third-division SV Darmstadt 98, before progressing steadily to second-tier SpVgg Greuther Fürth and spent last season with Bundesliga club Bayer 04 Leverkusen.

Labbadia will be aided by an on-field general. Midfielder Zé Roberto has also joined Hamburg from Bayern Munich. Though he is now 35, Zé Roberto has shown little signs of slowing down thus far. His vision and experience will be relied on heavily as Hamburg look to make a bigger splash in this year’s tournament as well as improving their standing in the Bundesliga.

Other fixtures that we’ll be keeing a close eye on are English Premier League side Fulham FC taking on FK Vetra of Lithuania, Motherwell facing off against Steaua Bucuresti and Portugese club Braga taking on Elfsborg from Sweden.

Full Fixture List
First Leg July 30th
Second Leg August 6th

FK Sarajevo (Bosnia) v Helsingborgs IF (Sweden)
Fredrikstad FK (Norway) v KKS Lech Poznan (Poland)
HNK Rijeka (Croatia) v FC Metalist Kharkiv (Ukraine)
KAA Gent (Belgium) v AS Roma (Italy)
SC Vaslui (Romania )v AC Omonia (Cyprus)
FK Slavija Sarajevo (Bosnia) v MFK Košice (Slovakia)
IFK Göteborg (Sweden) v Hapoel Tel-Aviv FC (Israel)
PSV Eindhoven (Netherlands) v PFC Cherno More Varna (Bulgaria)
FC Metalurh Donetsk (Ukraine) v NK IB Ljubljana (Slovenia)
Vålerenga (Norway) v PAOK FC (Greece)
APOP/Kinyras Peyias FC (Cyprus) v SK Rapid Wien (Austria)
FC Honka Espoo (Finland) v FK Qarabag (Azerbaijan)
FC Vaduz (Lichtenstein) v FC Slovan Liberec (Czech Republic)
Saint Patrick’s Athletic FC (Ireland) v FC Krylya Sovetov Samara (Russia)
Randers FC (Denmark) v Hamburger SV (Germany)
Tromsø IL (Norway) v NK Slaven Koprivnica (Croatia)
Brøndby IF (Denmark) v Legia Warsaw (Poland)
FK Vojvodina (Serbia) v FK Austria Wien (Austria)
CSKA Sofia (Bulgaria) v Derry City FC (Ireland)
FC Steaua Bucuresti (Romania) v Motherwell FC (Scotland)
MŠK Žilina (Slovakia) v HNK Hajduk Split (Croatia)
SC Braga (Portugal) v IF Elfsborg (Sweden)
Aberdeen FC (Scotland )v SK Sigma Olomouc (Czech Republic)
FK Rabotnicki (Macedonia) v Odense BK (Denmark)
FK Sevojno (Serbia) v LOSC Lille Métropole (France)
FK Petrovac (MNE) v SK Sturm Graz (Austria)
Fenerbahçe SK (Turkey) v Budapest Honvéd FC (Hungary)
Bnei Yehuda Tel-Aviv (Israel) v FC Paços de Ferreira (Portugal)
Club Brugge KV (Belgium) v FC Lahti (Finland)
Athletic Club Bilbao (Spain) v BSC Young Boys (Switzerland)
KR Reykjavík (Israel) v FC Basel 1893 (Switzerland)
Galatasaray SK (Turkey) v Maccabi Netanya FC (Israel)
FC Dinamo Tbilisi (Georgia) v FK Crvena Zvezda (Serbia)
KSP Polonia Warsaw (Poland) v NAC Breda (Netherlands)
FK Vetra (Lithuania) v Fulham FC (England)