Domestic Cups

[matt]

Two 2nd division teams in a domestic cup final.
Kaiserslautern against Bayer Leverkusen and Wisla against Pogon Szczecin.


I would say the Germans have close to zero chances, while for Wisla there might be a more realistic chance to cause an upset.

In Slovenia two 2nd division teams are in the semifinals together with weak 1st division ones, so a surprise might happen.

[amenina]

Cup finals decided on Wednesday

Germany: Kaiserslautern vs Bayer Leverkusen (25 May)
France: Lyon vs PSG (25 May)
Croatia: Rijeka vs Dinamo Zagreb (15 & 30 May)
Poland: Pogoń Szczecin vs Wisła Kraków (2 May)
San Marino: Virtus vs La Fiorita (date TBC)

[rpo.castro]

Portuguese cup
Porto beat Guimarães by 0-1 in SF 1st leg. 2nd leg next week. It was a contrast with Tuesday's match with barely no shots or goal situations.

Funny situation, this weekend Guimarães will also visit Porto for the championship (like benfica will visit Sporting) and again for cup in 3 consecutive matches.

[matt]

Romania: None of the six teams that are playing the Play-off to win the title will win the cup. The semifinals:

Hunedoara (2nd division) - Voluntari (12th)
Otelul Galati (9th)- Universitatea Cluj (7th)

This EL round 1 of qualifiers will include some unlikely teams that out of nothing will play at least four games in Europe this summer. Slovenia is a similar case, though there's Mura that played in the ECL GS two seasons ago, but they are mediocre this season, so another (more unknown) team might win the trophy.

And imagine if Vaduz lose the cup

[krdel]

Slovenia is a similar case, though there's Mura that played in the ECL GS two seasons ago, but they are mediocre this season, so another (more unknown) team might win the trophy.

Mura has only the name these days. Rogaška is the main favourite, as they are in far better form. It is very questionable that they will get the licence though...

[amenina]

Cup finals decided on Thursday

Austria: Rapid Vienna vs Sturm Graz (1 May)
Ukraine: Vorskla vs Shakhtar (15 May)

[Juliusz]

In Moldova, Milsami eliminated Zimbru, but lost the return leg 0-3 (won 3-1 on the pitch AET) on forfeit because they used 6 substitutions instead of 5 during 90 minutes. Interesting that it was the 6th substitute who scored second goal for Milsami which let them play extra time.

Zimbru are through to the next round with 5-1 aggregate score (3-4 on the pitch).

Semi-finals:

Zimbru - Sheriff
Petrocub - CSF Bălți

[krdel]

Is not that the mistake by the referee?

[Sagy]

Is not that the mistake by the referee?

Unless the rules have changed or there is some local regulation to the contrary (I have not kept up with all sub related changes). The subs are the responsibility of the team. If the team makes an extra sub or subs someone that is not eligible, the team forfeit the game (0:3). The ref can tell the team something, but they have no responsibility to do so.

[krdel]

I do not know the exact rules in Moldova, but here the match officials usually intervene in such cases. It is a human thing to do even if it is not their strict responsibility by the book. The Moldovan refs probably wanted Zimbru to win or they have some different standards there.

It is also the same in other sports.

[rpo.castro]

Today Copa del Rey final:
Athletic Bilbao-Mallorca
3rd final in 5 years for Athletic, doesn't win the cup since 39 years ago. Mallorca tries to get their 2nd.
Match at 22.00 CET

[mspm89]

Athletic fans have an obvious chip on their shoulders about not winning the Copa, with their animosity mostly directed toward Barcelona of course, since it's against them they have had so many eliminations in recent times. In that sense, it'd be good for them to get it out of their system.

OTOH, I like Aguirre so hopefully he'll get a title with Mallorca today.

[Sagy]

Today Copa del Rey final:
Athletic Bilbao-Mallorca
3rd final in 5 years for Athletic, doesn't win the cup since 39 years ago. Mallorca tries to get their 2nd.
Match at 22.00 CET

Minor corrections.
1) It’s the their third final in 3 years (and 3 days), covering 5 cups. The 2020 cup final was played in April 2021 (they lost two cup finals in 2 weeks).
2) it’s 40 years (39 years and 11 months, 1 day) since they last won on May 5th 1984.

[rpo.castro]

And the cup goes to Bilbao, after pk's

[amenina]

Gibraltar cup semi-finals

Saturday:
Europa 3-0 Manchester 62

Sunday:
St Joseph's 0-1 Lincoln Red Imps

Armenia cup semi-finals

Monday:
Pyunik 0-1 Ararat-Armenia

Tuesday:
Shirak 1-2 Urartu