Digital TV News

It’s a knockout - European football finally returns

Wednesday 15 February, 2012

By Kelvin Goodson

Arsenal, Chelsea, City and United are all back in action following the winter break.

European football finally resumes this week, with both the Champions League and Europa League entering the knockout stages.

Tonight sees one of England’s two surviving Champions League challengers, Arsenal, taking on Italian champions AC Milan at the San Siro in the first leg of their round of 16 tie.

The match, which will be screened live on ITV1, with coverage beginning at 7.30pm ahead of kick-off at 7.45pm, is the last one for which Arsenal legend Thierry Henry is available, before his loan from New York Red Bulls ends.

Tomorrow night, Manchester United kick-off their first Europa League campaign - the competition is a revamped version of the UEFA Cup which existed until the 2008-2009 season. The match starts at 7pm in Amsterdam against Dutch champions Ajax, with Channel 5 providing live coverage.

Following their surprise exit from the Champions League in the group stage back in December, this will be the first time the reigning Premier League champions have played in a European competition outside Europe’s premier club competition since 1995.

Sadly for Manchester City, who currently lead United in the Premier League, they are unable to poke fun at their neighbours’ European misfortune as they too fell at the first hurdle of the Champions League, in what was their debut in the competition.

As a result , City face a tough test in the first leg of their first Europa League tie in Porto, the club that won the competition as well as the Portuguese league and cup last season. Their clash in the Estadio do Dragao kicks off at 9.05pm and will be shown on ITV1.

Speaking of Porto, their treble-winning coach from last season, Andre Villas Boas, will see his struggling Chelsea team take on Italian renaissance side Napoli at Stamford Bridge next Tuesday. The match, which kicks off at 7pm, will be screened on Sky Sports 2 and the high-definition (HD) version of the channel.

Photo by Abeeeer