European football’s governing body UEFA on Wednesday confirmed four venues in Poland to stage games in the Euro 2012, but only accepted Kiev in co-hosts Ukraine.

Three other venues in Ukraine were given until November 30 to provide assurances they were capable of properly hosting games.

As expected the four Polish sites chosen by the UEFA Executive Board were Warsaw, Poznan, Wroclaw and Gdansk.

The three venues in Ukraine still to provide guarentees over their suitability are Lviv, Donetsk and Karkov.

Poland and Ukraine were suprisingly named as co-hosts for European football’s showcase tournament in April, 2007 but there have been growing organisational concerns, particularly surrounding Ukraine, since then.

Manchester United FC are just one step away from becoming the first club to retain the UEFA Champions League trophy after inflicting a crushing 3-1 defeat on Arsenal FC to book their passage to the final.

No way back
Arsenal’s hopes effectively vanished inside the opening eleven minutes after first Ji-Sung Park, capitalising on a slip by Kieran Gibbs, and then Cristiano Ronaldo, catching Manuel Almunia out with a free-kick, struck for United. Trailing 3-0 on aggregate there was no way back for the demoralised home side and Ronaldo salted their wounds with the evening’s third goal just after the hour. The only downside for Sir Alex Ferguson’s team was the dismissal of Darren Fletcher, who will now miss the final, for fouling Cesc Fàbregas to concede the penalty from which Robin van Persie struck Arsenal’s futile late reply.

Blue the colour
The Arsenal Stadium was awash with swirling red and white flags before kick-off but blue proved the colour here, United winning in the same all-blue they wore when lifting the European crown for the first time at Wembley in 1968. A short distance across north London they left their fans dreaming of a fourth triumph on 27 May after shattering Arsenal’s five-year unbeaten home record in Europe. They did so in style although there is no doubt Arsenal lent a helping hand, pressing the self-destruct button by presenting United with the all-important first goal here. There seemed no danger as Ronaldo’s low ball headed towards Gibbs but the teenager slipped and allowed the ball to run on to Park who, though off balance, lifted it over Almunia.

Ronaldo Leads Ruthless United to Rome … read more »

Arsène Wenger is backing his Arsenal FC team to deliver the “magnificent performance” required to overturn their 1-0 deficit against Manchester United FC and book a place in the final of the UEFA Champions League.

‘We can do it’
The Frenchman cited his side’s 24-match, five-year unbeaten run at home in the competition as he underlined his conviction they could eliminate the holders and earn a ticket to Rome. “I am very confident that the team will produce a magnificent performance and that we will [qualify],” he said. “We are playing a home game where we have a very strong record in the Champions League. For many people we are outsiders but I believe we can do it.”

Reason to believe
Arsenal defeated United 2-1 when the teams met in north London in November and Wenger added: “There is no mission impossible for us. It wouldn’t change my belief even if they scored.” While Wenger can draw encouragement from the fact Arsenal have not conceded a home goal in the UEFA Champions League this term – and just two in their 13 home games played in 2009 – United arrived in the capital with their own reasons to believe, having never failed to score on their three previous visits to the new Arsenal Stadium.

‘No Mission Impossible’ For Wenger’s Arsenal … read more »

The UEFA Cup final in Istanbul on 20 May will be a Germany v Ukraine affair after Werder Bremen, Hamburger SV, FC Shakhtar Donetsk and FC Dynamo Kyiv set up two domestic last-four ties on 30 April and 7 May.

Dynamo meet Shakhtar
Only one of those four teams, Dynamo, did not win their quarter-final first leg a week ago but in the early kick-off they defeated visitors Paris Saint-Germain FC 3-0. Their opponents this time will be Shakhtar, who followed up a 2-0 home win against PSG’s Ligue 1 rivals Olympique de Marseille with a 2-1 victory in France. Dynamo, who knocked out FC Metalist Kharkiv in the Round of 16, are at home in the first leg against Shakhtar, with a first Ukrainian UEFA Cup finalist assured.

Bremen against Hamburg
Lining up against Shakhtar or Dynamo at the Şükrü Saracoğlu Stadium will be a Bundesliga club. Bremen travelled to Udinese Calcio 3-1 up and although at half-time the tie was level, Werder came back to draw 3-3 and progress 6-4 overall. Hamburg were also defending a 3-1 lead at Manchester City FC and José Paolo Guerrero’s early goal proved crucial, as the English club came back to win 2-1 and fall just short. Martin Jol’s men will aim to follow the example of Bayer 04 Leverkusen, who knocked out Bremen in the 1987/88 semi-finals, the first of three times Werder have fallen at that stage. Bremen will be at home in the opening leg before travelling to HSV seven days later, but whatever happens there will be a new name on the UEFA Cup in the final season before the launch of the replacement UEFA Europa League.

On the night Manchester City FC supporters revived their tradition of bringing plastic bananas to the match, the English club’s UEFA Cup hopes were deflated by Hamburger SV in a dramatic quarter-final.

Winning streak
Leading 3-1 from last week’s first leg, the Bundesliga title contenders claimed the breakthrough goal through José Paolo Guerrero, then withstood the intense pressure which followed City’s strikes either side of half-time from Elano and Felipe Caicedo. The 4-3 aggregate victory, rewarded by an all-German semi-final against Werder Bremen, confirmed coach Martin Jol’s winning habit against the hosts – Jol had prevailed in all seven previous encounters with City.

Deadlock broken
Make no mistake: this was a serious test of HSV’s trophy-collecting credentials. The craze for inflatable bananas which City fans had introduced to English football in 1988 returned with a passion. It was accompanied by frenzied City attacking. Pablo Zabaleta played in Micah Richards early on but he lost his footing with only Hamburg keeper Frank Rost to beat. Yet Jol’s men remained composed. Ivica Olić shot across goal, an attempt heralding the opener from Guerrero. The No9 vindicated his inclusion ahead of Mladen Petrić by slotting low beyond keeper Shay Given after Olić had touched on Jonathan Pitroipa’s cross.

Equaliser
By the 15th minute, though, City had a lifeline. The referee awarded a penalty after Elano’s centre had caught Piotr Trochowski, and the Brazilian directed it coolly past Rost. Vincent Kompany’s sliding tackle on former Hamburg team-mate David Jarolím was a barometer of the blue-and-red hot atmosphere being generated on a chilly night.

Nervy Hamburg Hold Off Manchester City Fightback … read more »