UEFA Cup Draw pairs Olympiacos with Saint-Etienne

By: Peter Katsiris | December 19th, 2008

Olympiacos was handed a difficult task for the first knockout round of the UEFA Cup, as the Greek Champions were paired with French side Saint-Etienne as one of the sixteen round of thirty-two knockout ties.

After clinching qualification with a 4-0 defeat of Hertha Berlin less than twenty-four hours before the draw in Nyon, Switzerland, Olympiacos was handed a trip to the outskirts of Lyon for the next round of the last edition of the UEFA Cup.

Olympiacos, who grabbed the final qualifying spot in Group B and could only face group winners in the next round, was drawn against the Group G top dogs who finished ahead of Spanish giants Valencia and Danish outfit FC Kobenhavn.

Group B winners Metalist Kharkiv, who pulled three consecutive 1-0 wins to finish ahead of Turkish side Galatasaray and Olympiacos, was paired with another trip to the Meditteranean but this time against Italian Serie A outfit UC Sampdoria. The Turks, meanwhile, will tackle familiar French foes Girondins de Bordeaux.

Other matches in the round of thirty-two include a Central European clash between French side Paris Saint-Germain and VfL Wolfsburg of the German Bundesliga, while Aston Villa face the daunting task for travelling to the Russian capital to face perfect Group H winners CSKA Mosow.

UEFA also conducted the draw for the round of sixteen, by pairing the previously selected first knockout round matchups with one another. For Olympiacos, there is a potentially supreme test for the Greek Champions if they progress past Saint-Etienne as the eventual winner from the Olympiacos and Saint-Etienne tie faces the successful side between Werder Bremen and AC Milan.

The road to the Sukru Sarioglu Stadium in Istanbul starts at home for Olympiacos, as Saint-Etienne travels to the Giorgos Karaiskakis Stadium in mid-February before the return leg in France a week later.

2008/09 UEFA Cup Round of 32
First leg: 18/19 February
Second leg: 26 February

1. Paris Saint-Germain FC (France) v VfL Wolfsburg (Germany)
2. FC København (Denmark) v Manchester City FC (England)
3. NEC Nijmegen (Netherlands) v Hamburger SV (Germany)
4. UC Sampdoria (Italy) v FC Metalist Kharkiv (Ukraine)
5. SC Braga (Portugal) v R. Standard de Liège (Belgium)
6. Aston Villa FC (England) v PFC CSKA Moskva (Russia)
7. KKS Lech Poznań (Poland) v Udinese Calcio (Italy)
8. Olympiacos CFP (Greece) v AS Saint-Etienne (France)
9. ACF Fiorentina (Italy) v AFC Ajax (Netherlands)
10. Aalborg BK (Denmark) v RC Deportivo La Coruña (Spain)
11. Werder Bremen (Germany) v AC Milan (Italy)
12. FC Girondins de Bordeaux (France) v Galatasaray AŞ (Turkey)
13. FC Dynamo Kyiv (Ukraine) v Valencia CF (Spain)
14. FC Zenit St. Petersburg (Russia) v VfB Stuttgart (Germany)
15. Olympique de Marseille (France) v FC Twente (Netherlands)
16. FC Shakhtar Donetsk (Ukraine) v Tottenham Hotspur FC (England)

2008/09 UEFA Cup Round of 16
First leg: 12 March
Second leg: 18/19 March

Winners of Match 11 v Winners of Match 8
Winners of Match 6 v Winners of Match 16
Winners of Match 7 v Winners of Match 14
Winners of Match 1 v Winners of Match 5
Winners of Match 13 v Winners of Match 4
Winners of Match 2 v Winners of Match 10
Winners of Match 15 v Winners of Match 9
Winners of Match 3 v Winners of Match 12