The first round of the UEFA Europa League group stage kicks off this week with a packed schedule. We will preview the Austrian club that has been familiar with the Uefa Europa League competition, a big Italian club, a Greek side rife with tradition, and a Croatian team looking for recognition.
FK Austria Wien and AC Milan lock horns at the Ernst-Happel-Stadion in Vienna, while HNK Rijeka and AEK Athens FC figure in Eastern Europe at the Stadion HNK Rijeka. Both matches kick off at 7 pm CET.
FK AUSTRIA WIEN vs. AC MILAN
3-Way: 1: FK Austria Wien +625; X: +375 Draw; 2: AC Milan -169
Spread +1:FK Austria Wien +110; AC Milan -115
Total +2.5: Over -111; Under +127
FK AUSTRIA WIEN
Last season’s Austrian Football Bundesliga runners-up, Austria Wien has not survived their last five UEFA Cup or UEFA Europa League group stage campaigns since making it to the quarterfinals of the 2004-05 competition. Continental home wins have been scarce as they are without a victory in their last five European home games (D2, L3). They have not scored in both of their UEFA Europa League home fixtures this season, which was against AEL and Osijek in qualifying for this competition.
Austria has won only once in 12 meetings with Serie A opponents (W1, D5, L6; W1, D2, L3 at home). The lone success was a decisive 2:1 victory against Internazionale in the UEFA Cup third round in November 1983. The last time they faced an Italian squad, it was in last season’s Uefa Europa League campaign, where they lost to AS Roma, 2:4, at home and drew, 3:3, in Rome.
Thorsten Fink has been a champion, whether as a player or a manager, winning the 2001 UEFA Champions League and several German Bundesliga titles as a Bayern midfielder as well as securing back-to-back Swiss championships as coach of Basel from 2009-11. Now, he wants to bring success and good fortune to this club.
Austria Vienna’s form in their last five games is DWLWW. These were a draw with Wolfsberg (2:2), wins over Admira (3:1) and Matterburg (3:1), as well as a victory and a defeat against Osijek. Following Milan, they will have a pair of Austrian Bundesliga fixtures (St Pölten, September 18; Red Bull Salzburg, September 24) before their clash against Athens in Greece on September 29. They then squeeze in a Bundesliga date with Altach on October 1 before the FIFA international break takes over.
Die Veilchen is fourth on the domestic league table with 11 points after seven matches. LASK Linz just has a better goal difference over them, despite winning against them on August 13, 2:0. They started the month with a 2:2 draw in their derby with Rapid Wien.There is a common thread between the two clubs as Vienna’s Heiko Westermann and Milan’s Hakan Çalhanoğlu were teammates at Hamburg in 2013-14.
AC MILAN
Sixth in Italy last term, AC Milan are making their first appearance in the UEFA Europa League group stage since they reached the round of 32 in the last ever UEFA Cup in 2008-09 as they aim to win the sole major UEFA trophy that still eludes them. The only major UEFA competition they have not won, only Ajax, Bayern München, Chelsea, Juventus, and, as of last May, Manchester United have won the European Cup/UEFA Champions League, UEFA Cup/UEFA Europa League, and European Cup Winners’ Cup.
The Rossoneri have lost only one of their nine meetings with Austrian sides (W6, D2, L1; W2, D1, L1 in Austria). That defeat was a 2:5 European Cup loss against Rapid Wien back in October 1957. The last time they fought a club coming from that country, they took both legs against FC Salzburg, 3:0 at home and 1:0 away.
Milan has won as well all four of their 2017-18 UEFA matches without conceding, scoring ten goals in the process, an average of 2.5 per game, against U Craiova and Shkëndija. Their form is LWWWW, the loss courtesy of Lazio, 4:0. Prior to that, they had victories against Cagliari, 2:1, and Crotone, 3:0, as well as the two ties against Shkëndija. They had as many European fixtures as Serie A matches in their schedule in August.
After this, the Italian side, which is ranked seventh in the domestic table, will face Udinese and SPAL at home before confronting Sampdoria on the road. They will then encounter Rijeka for their second Uefa Europa League group stage date on September 29 to close out the month.
In charge since June 2016, Vincenzo Montella has led Milan back into Europe for the first time since 2013-14. An Italian Serie A winner as a striker with Roma in 2000-01, he has coached Fiorentina and Sampdoria.
Patrick Cutrone leads the squad with four goals in all competitions, two of them scored in the domestic league. Riccardo Montolivo has three goals in all competitions, two of which are scored at the Europa League. Suso has found the back of the net twice in the Italian league and André Silva, formerly of Porto, netted twice at the Uefa Europa League. Gianluigi Donnarumma and Marco Storari account for the club’s five clean sheets in all events. Cristián Zapata has two yellow cards against him at the Europa. Nikola Kalinić was a losing UEFA Europa League finalist with Dnipro Dnipropetrovsk in 2015, his side going down 2:3 to Sevilla in Warsaw.
The club underwent an overhaul in the summer transfer window. Aside from acquiring Kalinic via the loan from Fiorentina, they signed Leonardo Bonucci of Juventus, Andrea Conti of Atalanta, and Hakan Çalhanoğlu of Bayer Leverkusen.
FK AUSTRIA WIEN vs. AC MILAN – Match Prediction
The presence of AC Milan adds some genuine star quality to this season’s UEFA Europa League. That said, they are overqualified for this tournament and looking at their group, it is hard to see anyone giving the Italian club any form of challenge.
MY PICK: AC Milan AH +1 (-115)
HNK REJIKA vs. AEK ATHENS FC
3-Way: 1: HNK Rijeka +140; X: +223 Draw; 2: AEK Athens FC +275
Spread -0.5:HNK Rijeka +137; AEK Athens FC -143
Total 2: Over +108; Under -108
HNK RIJEKA
Croatian title winners for the first time last season, Rijeka are embarking on their third UEFA Europa League group stage campaign.They are up against the Greek opposition for the third successive European game, and they hope for a better result this time around. They lost to Olympiacos in the UCL playoffs, going down 1:2 in Piraeus and 0:1 at home in their first fixtures against Greek opponents.
Since beating TNS home and away in July, Rijeka is without a win in four European matches (D2, L2) this season and have not scored in their last two UEFA home fixtures, which were against Salzburg and Olympiacos. However, they are yet to lose a group stage home game (W2, D4). Former Panathinaikos winger Charis Mavrias was a teammate of AEK’s Lazaros Christodoulopoulos with the Greens in 2010-13.
AEK ATHENS FC
Winners of Greece’s end-of-season UEFA Champions League playoffs, AEK Athens has had five previous UEFA Cup/UEFA Europa League group stage campaigns, most recently in 2011-12.They have not scored in their last three European away fixtures (D2 L1), including a defeat against CSKA Moskva in the UEFA Champions League third qualifying round. Prior to their 3:0 home victory over Club Brugge in the UEFA Europa League playoffs, they had not scored, whether home or away, in five European matches.
Nevertheless, AEK have been successful against roatian teams, winning five of their six previous matches against clubs coming from that country, the only disappointment was a 0:3 defeat against Dinamo Zagreb in a 1964 European Cup Winners’ Cup preliminary round game.
Manolo Jiménez returned for a second spell as AEK coach in January 2017, having led the club to 2010-11 Greek Cup glory during his first stint. The former Sevilla leftback has also coached Sevilla, Real Zaragoza, and Al-Rayyan SC.
Croatian Marko Livaja, on loan from Las Palmas, has never played senior football in his native country. He and Rijeka’s Florentin Matei were on the books in Italian side Cesena in 2011-12. Dmytro Chygrynskiy won the UEFA Cup as a Shakhtar Donetsk player in 2009.
HNK REJIKA vs. AEK ATHENS FC – Match Prediction
Let us recap. Rijeka cannot win against Greek opposition but has not lost a group stage home fixture. Athens has difficulty scoring against European competition, more so outside of their country, although they have been successful against Croatian clubs.
Let us call this a scoreless draw.
MY PICK: Draw (+223)
Additional Pick: Under 2 goals (-108)
