SOCCER FOOTBALL 24H

Leverkusen to ease the pain of Dortmund defeat Bayer Leverkusen v AEK Larnaca Thursday 04 October, 17:55 Live on BT Sport Extra For a few hopeful minutes on Saturday, Bayer Leverkusen fans could speculate that their team was about to beat Borussia Dortmund, and that maybe the early-season jitters were about to banished for good. Bayer raced into a 2-0 lead against BVB at the BayArena, but then they were  simply blown away  by the Dortmund forward line. A 4-2 defeat was a hammer blow, Leverkusen's fourth loss in their first six Bundesliga matches. The pressure is building on coach  Heiko Herrlich,  who needs to start finding a way to make a young and talented side much more consistent. The one thing Bayer generally do is overcome sides they should beat on home soil, and AEK Larnaca certainly fall into that category. The Cypriot side lost 1-0 at home to Swiss side Zurich in Matchday One, and their  lack of recent experience  at this level could co...

Qarabag v Arsenal Thursday 04 October, 17:55 Live on BT Sport Extra Qarabag can lean on European experience Qarabag have rubbed shoulders with some of the strongest teams in Europe in recent seasons, and their domination of football in Azerbaijan (they have won the last five league titles) means they have had regular access to continental competition. Last season, they  twice held Atletico Madrid  to draws, results that ultimately saw Diego Simeone's side drop into the Europa League. Chelsea and Roma also provided testing opposition. In this season's Champions League qualifiers, Qarabag were edged out by BATE Borisov, but they then saw off a sturdy Sheriff side 3-1 on aggregate to reach the UEL group phase. Qarabag had a tough start on Matchday One, losing 2-0 in Portugal against Sporting. They pushed the Lions hard in the Portuguese capital, with the points only really being secured with a couple of minutes of normal time remaining. That was their only failure to ...

PAOK v Chelsea Thursday 20 September, 17:55 Live on BT Sport Extra PAOK looking to recover from UCL heartbreak Having taken advantage of Olympiakos' implosion last season to finish second in the Greek Super League, PAOK took a rare swing at the Champions League qualifiers at the start of this term. They knocked out European stalwarts Basel and Spartak Moscow, but agonisingly fell at the final hurdle. Having managed a creditable draw in Portugal against Benfica, PAOK  collapsed at home,  losing 4-1 in the second leg. Coach  Razvan Lucescu  (son of famed Romanian coach Mircea) has overseen a flawless start to the domestic campaign, with three wins from three matches. PAOK only have seven points though, because of a sanction that carried over from last season. Club owner Ivan Savvidis took a gun onto the field at Toumba Stadium to protest a refereeing decision during a showdown with title rivals AEK, the match was abandoned, and a raft of punishments followe...

Yellow Submarine have struggled in La Liga Villarreal v Rangers Thursday, 17:55 Live on BT Sport Villarreal and Rangers meet for the first time since 2006 and only the third in history as the sides contest three  Europa League  points in  Group G . With Rapid Vienna and Spartak Moscow making up what promises to be  an ultra-competitive pool , home manager Javier Calleja will understand the importance of a strong start. The Yellow Submarine are hot favourites to defeat their Scottish opponents, as you would expect, but they have been less than convincing in their four La Liga matches so far, winning one, drawing one and suffering a pair of defeats. That has the locals down in 13th, one point better than the  relegation  zone, but they did boost team morale with a hard-fought 1-0 weekend win over Leganes on the road. A timely shot in the arm, Colombian Carlos Bacca netting on 65 minutes. Blues travel with confidence Rangers returned from an ...

Malmo v Midtjylland Thursday 23 August, 18:00 Defences to be dominated Our Dynamo didn't generate enough power  last night,  as the men from Kiev went down 3-1 at Ajax. A tough start to the week, but we move on. We'll head to Sweden for a Europa League qualifier between Malmo and Midtjylland, not quite a local derby, but certainly a regional one. Malmo were edged out on away goals by Hungarian side MOL Vidi in the Champions League, and failure to qualify for the group stage of the Europa League would constitute a  major setback.  Domestically Malmo are on a charge, having won their last four games, but they are still 11 points adrift of the current Allsvenskan leaders AIK. Midtjylland are the reigning Danish champions, but in their short history they are yet to reach the group stage of a European competition. They comfortably disposed of Welsh side The New Saints in the previous round of the UEL, having been dumped out of the Champions League by Kazak...