GOALFLASHES AND MAJOR INCIDENTS (all times BST)
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By Chris Bevan
1738: Speaking of taking this competition seriously, Fulham boss Roy Hodgson has made nine changes from the side that beat Everton at the weekend for the opening match of his side’s Group E campaign, which is against CSKA Sofia in Bulgaria (KO 1800 BST). “We’re not neglecting the tournament,” Hodgson says. "We’re looking forward to it and think it’s a great adventure but it’s an adventure for the squad, not just the 11."1737: As well as changing its name from the Uefa Cup, the Europa League has smartened up its act considerably for this season too. Previously, the group stages were a hotch-potch of fixtures, with teams only playing each other once. Not any more - we’ve now got 10 four-team groups who all play each other home and away, which is a lot more sensible. The fixtures all start at either 1800 BST or 2005 BST too, which is nice. Now all Uefa need to do is stop parachuting failed Champions League sides into the next round and they might have a competition that people take seriously.1735: TEAMS CSKA Sofia v Fulham
CSKA Sofia: Karadzhov, Kostadin Stoyanov, Minev, Kotev, Ivanov, Todorov, Yanev, Morozs, Yanchev, Ivan Stoyanov, Delev. Subs: Ivaylo Petrov, Vidanov, Vladimir Manchev, Timonov, Branekov, Michel, Marquinhos.
Fulham: Stockdale, Kelly, Pantsil, Baird, Smalling, Gera, Riise, Greening, Davies, Kamara, Nevland. Subs: Zuberbuhler, Watts, Saunders, Anderson, Uwezu, Marsh-Brown, Smith.
1735: So, extra officials - good or bad Former referee Graham Poll thinks they are just an attempt by Uefa to avoid bringing in video technology, and he’s not the only one unconvinced. Everton boss David Moyes believes they could cause a “raft of penalties”, while Celtic manager Tony Mowbray is also worried they might be over-enthusiastic and feel the need to get involved when it’s not necessary.
1732: Yep, not only do we have the opening round of group matches in the brand spanking new Europa League, with Fulham, Celtic and Everton all in action, we’ve got a new innovation to get our heads round too. In this competition, refereeshave two extra assistants - one behind each goal, operating as a sort of “human camera”.That’s what Uefa are calling them anyway - and this is their little experiment.
1730: Lots and lots of reasons to be excited about tonight folks. Well, at least two anyway..This article is from the BBC News website. © British Broadcasting Corporation, The BBC is not responsible for the content of external internet sites.