The second leg between Oguchi Onyewu's Belgian champs and Portuguese side Braga gets underway shortly. Standard come home tonight facing the tall task of overturning a 3-0 deficit.
Here are your line-ups, the hosts first:
Espinoza; Marcos, Onyewu, Sarr, Goreux, Mulemo, Dalmat, Witsel, Defour, De Camargo, Mbokani
Carvalho; Nuno Miguel, André Leone, João Pereira, Santos Fabiano, Aguiar, Vandinho, Paulo César, Meyong, Osório, Renteria
Earlier, Brad Guzan and Aston Villa were ousted by CSKA Moscow, who bagged a pair of second half goals for a 3-1 aggregate victory. Eric Lichaj watched from the bench.
In other UEFA Cup action, Hamburg closed out NEC Nijmegen with a 1-0 home win and Metalist Kharkiv upset Sampdoria with a 2-0 second leg victory.
In ongoing matches, FC Twente and Marseille appear headed to extras locked at 1-1, tie leaders Paris St. Germain are on the way to dumping Wolfsburg with a 2-1 lead tonight and Galatasaray have rallied to take a 2-1 halftime advantage on the evening and in the series.
We also have several games yet to start, including Marcus Tracy and Aalborg BK visiting Deportivo with a 3-0 first leg lead.
Back shortly with the action...
- Quick update: Luyindula has made it 3-1 (5-1) for PSG.
FIRST HALF
1'
Game on...
- FT: Wolfsburg 1-3 (1-5) PSG
Sarr must now be careful as he escapes yellow for a rough tackle at midfield.
11'
A Standard danger free kick into the area (and the crashing Onyewu) causes the Braga keeper some trouble, but his defense clears a pinball.
- Lech Poznan grab an early away lead to go up 3-2 over Udinese on aggregate. Meanwhile, Marseille v Twente is on to PK's.
Braga have the front foot.Gooch clears trouble twice.
- Arda Turan's second of the night has Gala up 3-1 on Bordeaux with 20 to play.
Braga's intense pressure on the ball is again keeping Standard from getting revved up.
26'
De Camargo is NFL tackled down on a free kick into the area... no call.
28'
A De Camargo elbow opens a gash on the forehead of César.
- Bordeaux has scored twice in a minute to take an away goals edge over Gala at 3-3. Also, Pirlo's spot kick has Milan up 1-0 on 27' and Niang missed a penalty that could have seen off Twente.
Gooch narrowly misses connection with another long Standard free kick to the box.
- Pato makes it 2-0 Milan on 33'.
Standard have no flow going forward.
41'
André Leone does his Chuck Norris impression, catching Witsel up near the face with his studs. Yellow was not enough punishment.
- Sabri Sarıoğlu looks to have rescued Galatasaray with a 90th minute 4-3 goal.
A long Gooch throw bounces around the box, but no red shirt can get a foot to it.
HALFTIME
Standard will need to play the ball around more to get back in this tie. It's all crosses and long balls so far.
- Semshov puts Zenit up 1-0 (and 2-1) on Stuttgart. Elsewhere, the Galatasaray winner holds up and Marseille oust Twente 6-5 on PK's after a Rajković miss.
Also, Deportivo-AaB is scoreless in the 38th minute, but Tracy is not dressed.
- And seconds later, Sergio González gets Depor on the board. Also Saint-Etienne is now up 1-0 (4-1) thanks to a Payet marker on the edge of halftime.
- CONCACAF man Luton Shelton hits back on 41' for AaB, who now lead 4-1 on aggregate.
--
SECOND HALF
46'
Time to get crackin' Standard! You gotta get one to get three!
- Johansson and Envoldsen hit twin strikes just before the break to put AaB up 3-1 (6-1)... whoa.
A brilliant De Camargo entry lob allows Mbokani a glorious chance... and he fires wildly wide of the target on the turn.
54'
A terrific long Onyewu pass gets De Camargo into good position, but his shot is blocked.
- A nice Gilardono strike levels Fiorentina with Ajax 1-1 on aggregate with 30 to play. Also, Pepe has brought Udinese back to 1-1 (3-3) and they now lead on away goals at the hour.
Goreaux's sneak shot from a wide crossing position beats the keeper... but catches the bottom of the post.
61'
A more traditional long Goreaux effort can't trouble the keeper.
- A Kravets tally on 34' has Dynamo Kyiv up 1-0 (2-1) on Valencia. Also, Dos Santos has Spurs back to 2-1 on aggregate against Shakhtar Donetsk.
- Ilan has Saint-Etienne now up 5-1 in their tie.
Aguiar goes close from distance for Braga.
- Pizzaro has pulled one back for Bremen in the 68th, but they still need one more to get in front of Milan.
- Marchena levels matters for Valencia just before the break, while Bellamy puts Man City ahead 1-0 (3-2) on FC Copenhagen.
De Camargo hits the post at the end of a free kick. This does not seem to be Standard's night.
75'
Carvalho makes a great toe save to deny the free running Defour.
- Pizarro hits again with 12 to go to put Bremen ahead on away goals.
Standard are all over the visitors, but simply cannot get the lid off.
79'
1-0 Standard! Mbokani slots from a deflected pass... can they get another to make it really interesting?
- Gebhart scores for Stuttgart to make it 1-1 (2-3) against Zenit, so they still need two.
- Leonardo has scored with two minutes left to put Ajax up 2-1 on aggregate against Fiorentina.
Defour cracks a volley that spins just wide.
- Óscar González nets for Olympiakos, but they still need three in 15 minutes. Also, Fayzulin restores Zenit's two-goal advantage on Stuttgart.
Aguiar rips a sharp angle shot inside the far upper 90, 4-1 Braga on aggregate now... drive home safely, folks.
- FT in Amsterdam, Ajax advance 2-1. Yes, I am grinning big.
- Vingaard (Copenhagen) and Di Natale (Udinese) grab what will be consolation goals as Man City and Lech move on to the sweet 16.
--
Standard bow out of the tourney, but the classy Sclessin crowd can only applaud their champions. This ouster must be a tremendous disappointment to Onyewu and his teammates, though.
- One last check around has Shakhtar's Fernandinho applying the 86th minute dagger to Spurs.
- Greg Seltzer
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