Europa League preview: Atletico keen to clinch spot

The final three places in the Europa League knockout stages will be decided on Thursday, with Atletico Madrid among the contenders.

Atletico, the defending champions, will vie with Aris Thessaloniki for the second Group B berth behind section winners Bayer Leverkusen.

Lille and KAA Gent will square off to decide second spot in Group C, while Group G’s final place comes down to AEK Athens and Anderlecht.

Atletico’s stuttering European campaign took another blow last matchday when the La Liga club were stunned 3-2 by visiting Aris, thanks to Nikos Lazaridis’ 81st-minute winner.

The loss dropped Atletico to third on the Group B table, level on points with second-placed Aris, and means their advancement to the knockout stages is no longer in their own hands.

In order for Quique Flores’ Atletico side to progress, they need to better the result of Aris’ fixture at home to bottom-placed Rosenborg.

But Atletico are travelling to Germany to face Leverkusen, who have won three and drawn two of their five group-stage fixtures and have not lost a game in any competition since late October.

Rosenborg, meanwhile, have lost four of five European fixtures and are expected to struggle in Greece.

But Flores and company can take some comfort in knowing that Rosenborg’s lone group-stage victory came over Aris, and will be hoping that the Norwegian club can repeat the dose on Thursday.

With Portugal’s Sporting Lisbon destined for the knockout stages atop Group C, KAA Gent and Lille will face off in France for the right to claim second place on the table.

Belgian First Division outfit Gent are the form side, having won their past four matches in all competitions – including a 1-0 win over bottom-placed Levski Sofia last time out at European level.

Lille, meanwhile, fell to third with a 1-0 defeat at Sporting and the French outfit will need victory in order to leapfrog Gent into second.

The two sides last met in October, with Pierre Frau cancelling out Stijn De Smet’s goal in a 1-1 stalemate – a result the Belgian club will happily take again.

Sporting travel to Levski Sofia in Group C’s other fixture.

In Group G, AEK Athens can secure their Round of 32 berth by taking a point when they host group winners Zenit St Petersburg.

But the Russian club have been indomitable in the group stages thus far with five straight victories, and will no doubt prove difficult to contain in the Greek capital.

A loss could be catastrophic to AEK, however, as Anderlecht are a mere three points behind and will be gunning for victory when they host Hajduk Split.

Anderlecht hold sway in the head-to-head record with AEK, having won 3-0 in their home leg and drawn 1-1 in the return leg.

If AEK lose and Anderlecht win, the Belgian club will take second place and a berth in the knockout stages.

In Group A, English Premier League outfit Manchester City and Poland’s Lech Poznan will both be fighting for top spot in their respective fixtures.

Group leaders City hold a two-point advantage and will seal top spot with victory at third-placed Juventus, but a loss could see Poznan take the lead when they visit bottom-placed Austrian outfit Salzburg.

If City draw and Poznan win, the order of the top two will be decided on goal difference as the head-to-head record between to the two clubs is identical.

A similar situation presents itself in Group I, where Dutch heavyweights PSV Eindhoven and the Ukraine’s FC Metalist Kharkiv will square off in Holland to decide first and second place.

PSV lead the group by three points and will advance as winners unless Metalist can inflict a defeat of three clear goals, or triumph by two goals in a high-scoring encounter.

Serie A outfit Sampdoria travel to winless Hungarian club Debrecen in Group I’s other fixture, with the former guaranteed to finish third on the table.

Finally, Germany’s VfB Stuttgart and Swiss neighbours BSC Young Boys have already wrapped up first and second ahead of their final Group H fixtures, though third place is still up for grabs.

Stuttgart host Odense BK while Young Boys travel to Spain to meet Getafe on Thursday, with the main area of interest being how Stuttgart performs under new coach Bruno Labbadia following Jens Keller’s sacking.