European Football Thread

[Fernando]

First topic message reminder :

To be used for discussing European transfers and matches from Anywhere but the PL

La Liga
Bundesliga
Ligue 1
Seria A etc

The Bundesliga & Ligue 1 start today with Big Spenders PSG in Action as are German Champions Bayern Munich

[Guest]

Lionel Messi scores 37 goals & wins his fourth golden shoe

1. Lionel Messi, Barcelona 37 x 2.0 = 74.0
2. Bas Dost, Sporting CP 34 x 2.0 = 68.0
3. Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang, Borussia Dortmund 31 x 2.0 = 62.0
4. Robert Lewandowski, Bayern Munich 30 x 2.0 = 60.0
T5. Harry Kane, Tottenham Hotspur 29 x 2.0 = 58.0
T5. Luis Suarez, Barcelona 29 x 2.0 = 58.0

[nadeem2099]

[Dolphin Ziggler]

Spaletti and Tuchel both sacked

[Dolphin Ziggler]

Spaletti may have resigned, when I saw it this morning on twitter it said sacked

[Duty281]

La Liga newcomers Girona 2-0 up against Atletico Madrid after half an hour.

[Duty281]

https://www.theguardian.com/football/2017/aug/23/manchester-city-buy-girona-spanish-club

Sheikh Mansour extends his global footballing influence.

[lfc91]

Job done. Glad to beat them the way we did after the comments their manager made following the first leg. Very bitter man.

Expecting to see Bayern, Barca and Celtic in our group come 5pm!

[Luke]

After there argument about who was to take a penalty. PSG have offered Cavani a €1 million bonus to step aside and let Neymar take penalties from now on.

[Fernando]

Ancelotti may be getting the boot from Bayern apparently.

[GSC]

Jurgen to replace him?

[Guest]

I'd imagine Tuchel must be the favourite

[President Trump]

Isn't Ancelotti not leaving in January anyway?

[President Trump]

He's just been sacked

[Guest]

Jupp Heynckes to make a return for a fourth spell in charge at Bayern

[Nathaniel Jacobs]

Heynckes should never have been sacked(or retired) in the first place. The man won the European treble and also made the champions league final the year before.

[GSC]

And is the perfect example of why you should always go out on a high

[Luke]

Marsellie have suspended Patrice Evra with immediate effect. After he kicked a Marsellie fan in the head before the Europa League game on Thursday.being sent off (before the game had started), ueaf  will be looking into it as well.

[Guest]

Real Madrid 0-3 Barcelona

Barca 14 points clear of Real. Like the PL, title race over

[Guest]

Real Madrid knocked out of the Copa Del Rey by Leganes

[Guest]

They're having a rotten season. Zidane must be running out of credit.

[GSC]

Maybe. This Madrid team seems to be running out of steam like Barca did a few years ago, need freshening up.

[Guest]

Carlo Ancelotti appointed the new Napoli boss

[Dolphin Ziggler]

Zizou walks, without headbutting anyone in the chest

[nadeem2099]

A shame, but he has left on a high. Won nearly everything at Real and he does deserve a well earned rest before his inevitable job as France manager.

[Lowlandbrit]

Champions League draw:

Pot 1: Real, Atletico, Barcelona, Man City, Bayern, Juventus, PSG, Lokomotiv Moscow
Pot 2: Spurs, Man Utd, Roma, Napoli, Porto, Benfica, Dortmund, Shakhtar Donetsk
Pot 3: Liverpool, Monaco, Lyon, Ajax, PSV, Valencia, Schalke, CSKA Moscow
Pot 4: Inter, Hoffenheim, Galatasaray, AEK Athens, Red Star Belgrade, Young Boys, Viktoria Plzen, Club Brugge

Suspect a lot of teams are hoping to end up with United right now. Lokomotiv look a bit out of place in pot 1, but I wonder how many clubs would rather have a bigger name. Dutch sides probably the weak links in 3, and maybe Hoffenheim as the most dangerous team in 4?

[Dolphin Ziggler]

Benfica getting through sent Liverpool into Pot 3. They've got to be hoping for Lokomotiv Moscow and probably Benfica. I'd call them the worst two in the pots above.

Everyone wanting to miss Inter from Pot 4, all the non-English teams won't want Liverpool.

[Good Golly I'm Olly]

I'd fancy Liverpool to beat all the non-English teams in pot 2

Would think Spurs/United will want to avoid Monaco and Valencia in pot 3, whoever gets them has a tough route through.

[Guest]

Group A: Atletico Madrid, Dortmund, Monaco, Club Brugge
Group B: Barcelona, TOTTENHAM, PSV, Inter Milan
Group C: PSG, Napoli, LIVERPOOL, Red Star Belgrade
Group D: Lokomotiv Moscow, Porto, Schalke, Galatasararay
Group E: Bayern Munich, Benfica, Ajax, AEK Athens
Group F: MAN CITY, Shakhtar, Lyon, Hoffenheim
Group G: Real Madrid, Roma, CSKA Moscow, Viktoria Plzen
Group H: Juventus, MAN UTD, Valencia, Young Boys

Tough for the English teams imo, bar Man City. Group D is pretty poor

[Lowlandbrit]

Think group B is probably worse for PSV and Inter than Spurs. City's group actually looks like it could be pretty competitive, although they should easily win it.

[gazzyD]

Loving our group, nice to lock horns with Juve again, just a shame that we're nowhere near our peak as we were back in the day

Valencia will be a good test too. If I recall the last time we played them competitively we lost to a Juan Mata penalty

Not dismissing young boys, just don't know an awful lot about them other than being Swiss

[GSC]

They're more potential at this point, lack a bit of maturity

[Duty281]

Tottenham and Liverpool should go through, probably second places for them. United will struggle. City will cruise.

Burnley out of the Europa League. The game was reminiscent of England-Poland 1973, such was Burnley's profligacy.

[Lowlandbrit]

Europa League draw:

Pot 1: ARSENAL, CHELSEA, Sevilla, Zenit, Bayer Leverkusen, Dynamo Kiev, Besiktas, RB Salzburg, Olympiakos, Villarreal, Anderlecht, Lazio
Pot 2: CELTIC, Sporting Lisbon, Ludogorets, Copenhagen, Marseille, PAOK, AC Milan, Genk, Fenerbahce, Krasnodar, Astana, Rapid Vienna
Pot 3: Real Betis, Qarabag, BATE Borisov, Dinamo Zagreb, RB Leipzig, Eintracht Frankfurt, Malmo, Spartak Moscow, Standard Liege, FC Zurich, Bordeaux, Rennes
Pot 4: RANGERS, Apollon Limassol, Rosenborg, Vorskla Poltava, Slavia Prague, Akhisarspor, Jablonec, AEK Larnaca, MOL Vidi, F91 Dudelange, Spartak Trnava, Sarpsborg

Sure Arsenal and Chelsea are thrilled by the prospect of hosting the champions of Luxembourg.

[Lowlandbrit]

Group A: Bayer Leverkusen, Ludogorets, FC Zurich, AEK Larnaca
Group B: RB Salzburg, CELTIC, RB Leipzig, Rosenborg
Group C: Zenit St Petersburg, FC Copenhagen, Bordeaux, Slavia Prague
Group D: Anderlecht, Fenerbahce, Dinamo Zagreb, Spartak Trnava
Group E: ARSENAL, Sporting Lisbon, Qarabag, Vorskla
Group F: Olympiakos, AC Milan, Real Betis, Dudelange
Group G: Villarreal, Rapid Vienna, Spartak Moscow, RANGERS
Group H: Lazio, Marseille, Eintracht Frankfurt, Apollon Limassol
Group I: Besiktas, Genk, Malmo, Sarpsborg
Group J: Sevilla, Krasnodar, Standard Liege, Akhisarspor
Group K: Dynamo Kiev, Astana, Rennes, Jablonec
Group L: CHELSEA, PAOK, BATE Borisov, Vidi

Tough groups for the Scottish teams, lot of travelling for the English teams.

[Guest]

CL Last 16 Draw

Schalke v Man City
Atletico Madrid v Juventus
Man Utd v PSG
Tottenham v Borussia Dortmund
Lyon v Barcelona
Roma v Porto
Ajax v Real Madrid
Liverpool v Bayern Munich

[Dolphin Ziggler]

I suppose, of all the elite teams, PSG are the ones who Jose's tactics would usually be guaranteed to disrupt.

[GSC]

Not sure I'd put money on Jose being the guy implementing them though.

Spurs Dortmund looks a good tie. Liverpool Bayern could be interesting

[Lowlandbrit]

EL last 32:

Viktoria Plzen v Dinamo Zagreb
Club Brugge v RB Salzburg
Rapid Vienna v Inter Milan
Slavia Prague v Genk
Krasnodar v Bayer Leverkusen
Zurich v Napoli
Malmo v Chelsea
Shakhtar Donetsk v Eintracht Frankfurt
Celtic v Valencia
Rennes v Real Betis
Olympiakos v Dinamo Kiev
Lazio v Sevilla
Fenerbache v Zenit St Petersburg
Sporting Lisbon v Villarreal
Bate Borisov v Arsenal
Galatasaray v Benfica

Should be easy enough for the English sides.

[Dolphin Ziggler]

Some cracking ties in there. Celtic will be gutted

[Guest]

Zizou walks

He’s now back at the Bernabeu, with a three year contract. Surprised he’s returned, doubtful this stint reaches anywhere near the success of his last one. Money probably too good to turn down.

[Dolphin Ziggler]

I’d imagine the issues he raised over summer that were ignored can now no longer be ignored. He’s just won the greatest chess move

[Nathaniel Jacobs]

Zidane knows the expectations are now greatly diminished. His first stint at Real Madrid the club was nothing more than a cup team. 3 CLs, 1 Copa and only 1 La Liga.

Anyone can get lucky in Cup competitions. His ineptitude in the league shows his true managerial skill.

[GSC]

Anyone can get lucky in cup competitions, yet nobody had retained the European Cup/CL for nearly 3 decades before Real, let alone 3 times

[Nathaniel Jacobs]

Anyone can get lucky in cup competitions, yet nobody had retained the European Cup/CL for nearly 3 decades before Real, let alone 3 times

Helps when you get dodgy penalties and offside goals on tap.

That didn’t happen this season and surprise surprise they went out.

[Nathaniel Jacobs]

In other European news Louis van Gaal has retired

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