Mikel Arteta is a midfielder who plays for English side Arsenal. He joined the Barcelona academy as a teenager and made his way into the Barcelona B team after a couple of years. Arteta then went on loan to French club Paris Sain-Germain as an eighteen year old before being sold to Scottish club Rangers age twenty. In his first season Rangers won the Scottish treble with Arteta well established in the team.
Arteta went back to Spain for the 2004/05 season where he had a disappointing time with Real Sociedad, already in January 2005 he was ready for a return to Britain. He went on loan to Everton for the remainder of the season and then signed a permanent contract in July that year. The next two seasons Arteta was named Everton’s Player of the Season. In August 2010 he signed a five year contract extension with Everton but one year later was sold to Arsenal for a fee of £10 million. Arteta has had an excellent first season with the Gunners, having scored several superb goals. The latest on April 8th 2012 in a 1-0 win against Manchester City, which effectively ended City’s title hopes.
Arteta has represented Arteta at all youth levels from U-16 through to U-21, winning the 1999 U-16 European Championship. He has never been called up at senior level for Spain.

With three Spanish teams reaching the Europa League semi-finals we could end up with straight Spanish finals in both of the European competitions. Atlético Madrid will play Valencia while Sporting Clube de Portgual will play Athletic Bilbao in the other semi-final. The first legs will be played on 19 April, the second legs on 26 April. The Europa League Final will be played on 9 May 2012 at the Arena Națională in Bucharest, Romania.

The first legs of the quarter-finals were played on 29 March and the second legs on 5 April.
AZ Alkmaar – Valencia 2-1, 0-4
FC Schalke – Athletic Bilbao 2-4, 2-2
Sporting CP – Metalist Kharkiv 2-1, 1-1
Atletico Madrid – Hannover 96 2-1, 2-1

The Europa League round of 16 was played on March 8th and March 15th.
Metalist Kharkiv (Ukraine) – Olympiakos (Greece)
Sporting CP (Portugal) – Manchester City (England)
Twente (Netherlands) – Schalke 04 (Germany)
Standard Liege (Belgium) – Hannover 96 (Germany)
Valencia (Spain) – PSV Eindhoven (Netherlands)
AZ Alkmaar (Netherlands) – Udinese (Italy)
Atletico Madrid (Spain) – Besiktas (Turkey)
Manchester United (England) – Athletic Bilbao (Spain)

Last year Porto beat Braga in an all Portuguese final and Colombian striker Radamel Falcao was the tournament’s top scorer with 17 goals for Porto. Falcao is again hot in the chase for the top scorer title, this time for Atletico Madrid (who won the title in 2010).

Both legs of the round of 32 were played in February.
Porto (Portugal) – Manchester City (England) 1-2, 0-4
Ajax (Netherlands) – Manchester United (England) 0-2, 2-1
Lokomotiv Moscow (Russia) – Athletic Bilbao (Spain) 2-1, 0-1
Red Bull Salzburg (Austria) – Metalist Kharkiv (Ukraine) 0-4, 1-4
Stoke City (England) – Valencia (Spain) 0-1, 0-1
Rubin Kazan (Russia) – Olympiacos (Greece) 0-1, 0-1
AZ Alkmaar (Netherlands) – Anderlecht (Belgium) 1-0, 1-0
Lazio (Italy) – Atletico Madrid (Spain) 1-3, 0-1
Steaua Bucuresti (Romania) – Twente (Netherlands) 0-1, 0-1
Viktoria Plzen (Czech Republic) – Schalke 04 (Germany) 1-1, 1-3 aet
Wisla Krakow (Poland) – Standard Liege (Belgium) 1-1, 0-0
Braga (Portugal) – Besiktas (Turkey) 0-2, 1-0
Udinese (Italy) – PAOK (Greece) 0-0, 3-0
Trabzonspor (Turkey) – PSV Eindhoven (Netherlands) 1-2, 1-4
Hannover 96 (Germany) – Club Brugge (Belgium) 2-1, 1-0
Legia Warsaw (Poland) – Sporting CP (Portugal) 2-2, 0-1

The 2011/12 UEFA Europa League group stages kicked off on 15 September. From a total of 194 teams from 53 associations, listed below are the 48 teams who qualified for the group stages. The group winners and runners-up have advanced to the round of 32, where they were joined by the 8 third-placed teams from the group stage of the 2011–12 UEFA Champions League.

Group A
1. PAOK, Greece
2. Rubin Kazan, Russia
3. Tottenham Hotspur, England
4. Shamrock Rovers, Ireland

Group B
1. Standard Liege, Belgium
2. Hannover 96, Germany
3. FC København (Copenhagen), Denmark
4. Vorskla Poltava, Ukraine

Group C
1. PSV Eindhoven, Netherlands
2. Legia Warzaw, Poland
3. Hapoel Tel Aviv, Israel
4. Rapid Bucuresti, Romania

Group D
1. Sporting, Portugal
2. Lazio, Italy
3. Vaslui, Romania
4. Zürich, Switzerland

Group E
1. Besiktas, Turkey
2. Stoke City, England
3. Dynamo Kyiv, Ukraine
4. Maccabi Tel Aviv, Israel

Group F
1. Athletic Bilbao, Spain
2. Red Bull Salzburg, Austria
3. Paris Saint-Germain, France
4. Slovan Bratislava, Slovakia

Group G
1. Metalist Kharkiv, Ukraine
2. AZ Alkmaar, Netherlands
3. Austria Wien, Austria
4. Malmö FF, Sweden

Group H
1. Club Brugge, Belgium
2. Braga, Portugal
3. Birmingham City, England
4. Maribor, Slovenia

Group I
1. Atlético Madrid, Spain
2. Udinese, Italy
3. Celtic, Scotland
4. Rennes, France

Group J
1. Schalke 04, Germany
2. Steaua Bucuresti, Romania
3. Maccabi Haifa, Israel
4. AEK Larnaca, Cyprus

Group K
1. Twente, Netherlands
2. Wisla Krakow, Poland
3. Fulham, England
4. Odense, Denmark

Group L
1. Anderlecht, Belgium
2. Lokomotiv Moscow, Russia
3. AEK Athens, Greece
4. Sturm Graz, Austria

Chelsea and Bayern München have earned their places in the semi-finals. Can either of them possibly cause upsets by denying Barcelona and Real Madrid a spot in the final? The two Spanish giants are definitely regarded as the favourites to reach the Allianz Arena final on May 19th. The semi-finals will be played on 17-18 April and return legs on 24-25 April.

The quarter-finals first legs were played on 27/28 March and the second legs on 3/4 April.
Apoel – Real Madrid 0-3, 2-5
Olympique Marseille – Bayern München 0-2, 0-2
Benfica – Chelsea 0-1, 1-2
AC Milan – Barcelona 0-0, 1-3

The 1st leg of the round of 16 was played between 14-22 February, the 2nd leg between 6-14 March.
Olympique Lyonnais (France) – APOEL (Cyprus) 1-0, 0-1
Napoli (Italy) – Chelsea (England) 3-1, 1-4
AC Milan (Italy) – Arsenal (England) 4-0, 0-3
FC Basel (Switzerland) – Bayern München (Germany) 1-0, 0-7
Bayer Leverkusen (Germany) – Barcelona (Spain) 1-3, 1-7
CSKA Moscow (Russia) – Real Madrid (Spain) 1-1, 1-4
Zenit St Petersburg (Russia) – Benfica (Portugal) 3-2, 0-2
Olympique Marseille (France) – Internazionale (Italy) 1-0, 1-2

The 2011/12 UEFA Champions League group stages kicked off on 13-14 September. From a total of 76 teams from 52 associations, these were the 32 teams qualified for the group stages (and how they qualified). The winners and runners-up went through to the Round of 16.

Group A
1. Bayern München, Germany (3rd in Bundesliga, beat Zürich in the League route)
2. Napoli, Italy (3rd in Serie A)
3. Manchester City, England (3rd in Premier League)
4. Villarreal, Spain (4th in La Liga, beat Odense in the League route)

Group B
1. Internazionale, Italy (2nd Serie A)
2. CSKA Moscow, Russia (2nd Russian Premier League)
3. Trabzonspor, Turkey (2nd Süper Lig, instead of champions Fenerbache who are banned)
4. Lille, France (1st Ligue 1)

Group C
1. Benfica, Portugal (2nd Primeira Liga, beat Trabzonspor in the League Route)
2. Basel, Switzerland (1st Swiss Super League)
3. Manchester United, England (1st Premier League)
4. Otelul Galati, Romania (1st Liga I)

Group D
1. Real Madrid, Spain (2nd La Liga)
2. Olympique Lyonnais, France (3rd Ligue 1, beat Rubin Kazan in the League Route)
3. Ajax, Netherlands (1st Eredivisie)
4. Dinamo Zagreb, Croatia (1st Prva HNL, beat HJK Helsinki and Malmö FF in the Champions Route)

Group E
1. Chelsea, England (2nd Premier League)
2. Bayer Leverkusen, Germany (2nd Bundesliga)
3. Valencia, Spain (3rd La Liga)
4. Genk, Belgium (1st Pro League, beat FK Partizan in the Champions Route)

Group F
1. Arsenal, England (4th Premier League, beat Udinese in the League Route)
2. Olympique Marseille, France (2nd Ligue 1)
3. Olympiacos, Greece (1st Superleague)
4. Borussia Dortmund, Germany (1st Bundesliga)

Group G
1. APOEL, Cyprus (1st First Div, beat Skënderbeu, Slovan Bratislava and Wisla Krakow in Champions Route)
2. Zenit St.Petersburg, Russia (1st Russian Premier League)
3. Porto, Portugal (1st Primeira Liga)
4. Shakhtar Donetsk, Ukraine (1st Ukrainian Premier League)

Group H
1. Barcelona, Spain (1st La Liga)
2. AC Milan, Italy (1st Serie A)
3. Viktoria Plzen, Czech Rep. (1st Gambrinus Liga, beat Pyunik, Rosenborg, Copenhagen in Champions Route)
4. BATE Borisov, Belarus (1st Prem.League, beat Linfield, Ekranas and Sturm Graz in the Champions Route)

Klaas-Jan Huntelaar is a striker who plays for German side Schalke 04 and the Netherlands.
As a young teenager Huntelaar came up through the ranks at De Graafschap before being picked up by PSV Eindhoven. He wasn’t offered many chances at PSV and was loaned back to De Graafschap and later to AGOVV Apeldoorn. Huntelaar spent the 2003-04 season with AGOVV and the then 20 year old had a wonderful season which ended with him as Eerste Divisie (second tier in Dutch football) top scorer (with 26 goals) and Player of the Season. He turned down to sign a new contract with PSV and was instead signed by SC Heerenveen. He continued his prolific goals scoring also in the Eredivisie (Dutch football’s top division). He spent one and a half season with Heerenveen and helped them qualify for the UEFA Cup.
In January 2006 Huntelaar signed for Ajax for €9 million and became an instant hit with the fans. He spent three years with the club, won two Dutch Cups with them and several individual awards. He also stepped into the Dutch national team, after already having enjoyed considerable success with the national U-21 team. They won the 1996 U-21 European Championship, with Huntelaar the tournament’s top scorer and player of the tournament.
Huntelaar was sold to Real Madrid for €20 million but only spent six months there before being transferred to AC Milan for a fee of €15 million. He struggled to get regular playing time and after only one season in Italy moved to German club Schalke 04 for €12 million ahead of the 2010/11 season. Huntelaar soon settled in and helped Schalke win the German Cup in his first season. The 2011/12 has seen a Klaas-Jan Huntelaar in sizzling form. Six weeks before the season ends he is top scorer both in the Bundesliga and in the UEFA Europa League, having scored 40 goals in 39 matches.
For the senior Dutch national team Huntelaar scored 2 goals and assisted the other 2 in his August 2006 debut, beating Ireland 4-0. He was part of the team which were runners-up in the 2010 FIFA World Cup.

Robert Lewandowski is a striker who plays for German side Borussia Dortmund and Poland. Lewandowski came up through the youth grades of various clubs based in his home town of Warzaw. In 2006 he moved to Znicz Pruszków at age 18 where he started to make a name for himself. Two seasons later he signed for Lech Poznań in the Polish top tier Ekstraklasa. In his first season he was runner-up top scorer in the Ekstraklasa, the following season he was the top scorer. In the first season with Lech Poznań he won the Polish Cup and the Polish Super Cup and also got his first taste of Europa League football. He was also called up to represent Poland at senior level. In his second season Lewandowski shot Lech Poznań to their first Ekstraklasa title in seventeen years.

In June 2010 Lewandowski signed a four year contract with Borussia Dortmund. He scored some important goals for Dortmund in his first season in Germany. At the end of the season Borussia Dortmund’s extraordinary young team were crowned Bundesliga champions. In this his second season for the team he has established himself as Dortmund’s number one striker. With ten matches left the team is on top of the Bundesliga with Lewandowski in third place amongst the top scorers, closely behind Schalke’s Klaas-Jan Huntelaar and Bayern München’s Mario Gómez. We can also expect to see much more of Lewandowski on home turf in Euro 2012, where he will hope to add to his current tally of 13 international goals in 40 appearances.