Manchester City scrape through to qualify for UEFA Europa League

Posted on Friday, August 29th, 2008 at 1:27 pm and is filed under News.

Manchester City and Aston Villa both qualified for the UEFA Europa League on Thursday night.

Manchester City were in real danger of missing out on a spot in the UEFA Europa League during their game with Denmark’s Midtjylland, with the Danish club ahead by one goal om aggregate with one minute remaining in the match.

Fortunately for City,  Midtjylland imploded at the last moment as Danny Califf headed the ball past his own keeper to draw the aggregate score and force the game into extra-time.

The scores remained level in extra-time, leading to a penalty shootout where Manchester City finally showed their class, winning 4-1 on penalties.

Aston Villa qualified with comparative ease, drawing with Hafnarfjordur at Villa Park to qualify for the UEFA Europa League with a 5-2 aggregate win. Craig Gardner was responsible for Villa’s goal, scoring on 27 minutes before Hafnarfjordur equalised 3 minutes later.

The draw for the 2008 UEFA Europa League is will be made in Monaco today, with both Aston Villa and Manchester City likely to be drawn against stronger opponents for the first round of the competition proper.