Alles Les Verts, etc.

Palpable excitement building through this afternoon & into the evening at TOoT Towers as the group stages of the Europa League kick-off, with section F featuring three of the more romantic & our very favourite continental names in the form of Saint-Etienne, Internazionale & the former Dnepr Dnepropetrovsk (preferring to remain true to the Soviet Russian styling, of course), who, in any sane world, would constitute three of any season’s Champions’ League semi-finalists (with Atlético Madrid completing the line-up), let alone this particular tournament’s, impossible now though the latter is  – what a shame that, through the vagaries of the draw, one of these fine clubs must be eliminated from European competition even before the end of the year: may the best teams win & the deserving pair subsequently prevail.

(mention should also be made, perhaps, of the other rather interesting name completing Group F, Qarabag of Azerbaijan)