IN-DEPTH NEWS
Everton get Alkmaar & Nurnberg
The Blues were drawn from pot 3 into Group A alongside Zenit St Petersburg of Russia, Nurnberg of the German Bundesliga, Dutch side AZ Alkmaar, and Greek side Larissa, conquerors of Blackburn Rovers in the First Round last week.
The group stage of the competition involves two home games and two away games between now and the end of the year. Everton will host Larissa in a little over 2½ weeks' time, travel to Nurnberg in November before playing Zenit at Goodison and visiting Alkmaar, whom they last played in a friendly nine years ago, in December.
The tentative schedule is as follows:
- 25 Oct: Larissa (H)
- 8 Nov: Nurnberg (A)
- 5 Dec: Zenit St Petersburg (H)
- 20 Dec: AZ Alkmaar (A)
The top three teams in each group advance to the next round where they will be joined by those teams who get another crack at European competition by finishing third in their respective Champions League groups.
