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

At just 32, former Danish international Thomas Gravesen has called time on his career. The combative central midfielder started his career with hometown club Vejle Boldklub (VB). He was soon on the move and  played for Hamburg, Everton and Real Madrid. He didn’t last long at Madrid, as his combative style spilled over into training sessions and many Madrid stars were unhappy with his rough tackling. He did enough to get Robinho to take a swing at him (as pictured above). He was soon on his way out the door to Celtic after that incident. His last appearance was actually in an Everton shirt, as he spent the full After the last game of the 2007-08 season on loan from Celtic. He failed to feature regularly for Everton and  was released during by Celtic this past summer. He had hoped to secure a spot with a top club, but failing that he has decided to call it a day.

Gravesen is quoted by Danish website Sporten.dk as saying : “I have spent some extraordinary years abroad, I have played and lived in four countries. But I’m 33 in March, so before age and health force my hand I have opted to take the decision to stop myself.”

Gravesen had called an end to his international playing days back in 2006, after having scored five goals in 66 appearances for Denmark.

I’m surprised that a Danish club such as Aalborg could not have used a player like Gravesen but perhaps the wages he would ask for and the reputation that hangs over him from the Madrid incicdent were not viewed as a good risk.

Here’s a link to a video showing one of Gravesen’s final goals, which came in a Celtic shirt.

UEFA held the draw for the UEFA Cup group stage today and some fascinating pairings emerged. Both Martin Jol and Steve McClaren will take their new clubs back to England as FC Twente will face Manchester City and Jol’s Hamburg will take on Aston Villa.

This year’s groups are looking really tough and the field contains eight former UEFA Cup winners, and six former European Champion Clubs’ Cup/UEFA Champions League winners.

The top three teams in each group qualify for the knockout stages, to be joined by the eight third-placed teams in the Champions League groups. Here are the groupings with my picks to advance. A couple of potential upsets are on the cards. I think Ajax might not make the Round of 32 with their form being so inconsistent. They’ve been drawn in with some very good teams and it’s going to be tight to see who goes on.

Potential for upset exists in Groups B and E as well where Olympiakos and Portsmouth might struggle. Portsmouth have had a poor start to the season and are looking shaky at the back. Olympiacos are simply in a tough group and may struggle to beat out Hertha Berlin, Benfica and Galatasaray (a team featuring ex-Liverpool attackers Harry Kewell and Milan Baros).

I’ve picked Rosenborg to advance as they are nearing the end of their season and should be in good form/shape and as they are not likely to win their domestic league, they will look to these games to give their season some positivity.

Group A:
Schalke 04 (Germany)
Paris St Germain (France)
Manchester City (England)
Racing Santander (Spain)
FC Twente (Netherlands)

Group B:
Benfica (Portugal)
Hertha Berlin (Germany)
Galatasaray (Turkey)
Olympiacos (Greece)
Metalist Kharkiv (Ukraine)

Group C:
Sevilla (Spain)
VfB Stuttgart (Germany)
Sampdoria (Italy)
Standard Liège (Belgium)
Partizan Belgrade (Serbia)

Group D:
Spartak Moscow (Russia)
Udinese (Italy)
Dinamo Zagreb (Croatia)
Tottenham Hotspur (England)
NEC Nijmegen (Netherlands)

Group E:
AC Milan (Italy)
SC Braga (Portugal)
Wolfsburg (Germany)
Heerenveen (Netherlands)
Portsmouth (England)

Group F:
Hamburg (Germany)
Aston Villa (England)
Slavia Prague (Czech Republic)
Ajax (Netherlands)
MSK Zilina (Slovakia)

Group G:
Valencia (Spain)
FC Copenhagen (Denmark)
Rosenborg (Norway)
Club Brugge (Belgium)
St Etienne (France)

Group H:
CSKA Moscow (Russia)
Deportivo La Coruna (Spain)
Feyenoord (Netherlands)
AS Nancy (France)
Lech Poznan (Poland)