At the start of this season there were six English and Scottish teams representing Britain in the Europa League. Four, however, fell by the wayside but Celtic, early casualties in the Champions League, joined the competition in the play-offs stage.
Motherwell played in the second qualifying round of the Europa League. The Scots met Icelandic side Breidablik and won the first leg at Fir Park 1-0. In the return tie, a week later, Motherwell again won 1-0 to move to the next stage.
In the third qualifying round, Motherwell stayed on the right track when they played Aalesunds FK, of Norway, drawing 1-1 away before chalking up a 3-1 win at Fir Park.
Hibernian joined Motherwell in the competition but their stay was short-lived as they bowed out at the first time of asking.
Slovenia team Maribor beat the Hibees 3-0 at home and emerged triumphant 3-2 at Easter Road.
Liverpool, who reached the last four of the Europa League last season, started the tournament with Roy Hodgson in charge. The veteran English manager steered Fulham to the final last May but the Londoners succumbed 2-1 to Atletico Madrid after extra-time in Hamburg. Atletico had ousted Liverpool in the semi-finals.
The Reds began against Macedonia’s Rabotnicki Kometal, winning 2-0 away before repeating the dose with another 2-0 victory at Anfield.
On the eve of that match, Celtic lost to Portuguese side Braga 2-4 on aggregate to join the Europa League contingent.
In all, there were six British teams in the play-offs, three of which, Dundee United, Aston Villa and Manchester City, were among the seeded sides. Only two survived to reach the group phase.
Liverpool beat Trabzonspor 1-0 away and 2-1 at Anfield. Manchester City also did the double over Romanian club Timisoara − 1-0 away and 2-0 at Eastlands.
After their buoyant start, Motherwell met their Waterloo at Danish side Odense, going down 1-2 away and 0-1 at Fir Park.
Celtic toppled Dutch side Utrecht 2-0 at Celtic Park, but fell heavily on their travels, 0-4.
Dundee United went down 1-2 on aggregate against AEK after losing 0-1 in Athens. That upset signalled the end of Scottish teams in the competition.
Aston Villa, meanwhile, had the misfortune of going out to Austrian side Rapid Vienna for a second successive year. This time, after a 1-1 draw, they appeared home and dry but Rapid roared back to win 3-2 at Villa Park.
Group phase
Group A: Lech Poznan, Man. City 7; Juventus 4; Salzburg 2.
Match 1: Away vs Salzburg 2-0 (Silva, Alves Jo).
Match 2: Home vs Juventus 1-1 (A. Johnson).
Match 3: Home vs Lech Poznan 3-1 (Adebayor 3).
Match 4: Away vs Lech Poznan 1-3 (Adebayor).
Next week, Man. City must win against bottom side Red Bull Salzburg, of Austria, if they want to progress. Lech Poznan and Juventus are also in contention and could jeopardise City’s qualification.
This will be the first meeting between the duo in the continent. City have never encountered Austrian opposition before.
In 2006-07, Salzburg saw off Blackburn Rovers in the first round of the UEFA Cup, drawing 2-2 away and winning 2-0 at home.
Group K: Liverpool 8; S. Bucharest 5; Napoli, Utrecht 3.
Match 1: Home vs Steaua Bucharest 4-1 (Cole, Ngog 2, Lucas).
Match 2: Away vs Utrecht 0-0.
Match 3: Away vs Napoli 0-0.
Match 4: Home vs Napoli 3-1 (Gerrard 3).
Liverpool are unbeaten in their group and also have the best defensive record.
Next week, the Reds take on Steaua in Bucharest, who are breathing down Liverpool’s neck and can still qualify for the knock-out phase.
Steaua Bucharest are the leading scorers in Group K but they have also let in the highest number of goals.
Steven Gerrard came to the rescue of his club once more, against Napoli. At Anfield, Liverpool were 0-1 down but Gerrard came on as a second-half substitute and scored a hat-trick to put Napoli in a precarious position.
In 2003-04, the sides met in the second round of the UEFA Cup and Liverpool went through 2-1 on aggregate after a 1-1 draw in Bucharest and a 1-0 home triumph in Anfield.
Leading marksmen
Two Premier League players are among the top scorers in the Europa League this season:
5 goals – Wilfried Bony (Sparta Prague).
4 goals − Seydou Doumbia (CSKA Moscow), Emmanuel Adebayor (Man. City), Falcao (Porto), Artem Milevskiy (D. Kiev).
3 goals − Gerrard (Liverpool), Aleksander Kerzhakov (Zenit), Tomas Necid (CSKA Moscow).