Newcastle face Kharviv test in Europa League
Thursday 20 December 2012
Newcastle have been drawn against Ukrianian outfit Metalist Kharkiv for the round of 32 ties of the Europa League, the BBC has reported.
Metalist currently sit fourth in the Ukranian league, 15 points behind runaway leaders Shakhtar Donetsk. They finished third in the Ukrainian league last season, qualifying for the play-off stages of the Europa League. They beat Dinamo Bucharest 4-1 in their play-off, securing their position in the group stages.
In Group K, they finished second behind Leverkusen, where they won all three home games, whilst only losing once on the road. Ribeiro Xavier has 5 goals to his name in the competition so far this season, whilst they can also boast of having the equal-second best defence in the group stages, conceding just three times in their six group games.
Newcastle are currently 15th in the Premier League, having finished fifth last season. The Magpies finished second in Group D behind Bordeaux, winning two and drawing three of their group games, scoring seven goals along the way.
Newcastle will stage the first leg on February 14th, with Metalist hosting the return leg on February 21st. The winners of the tie will play either Anzhi Makhachkala or Hannover.
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