UEFA Champions & Europa League 2014-15 Season Thread

[Fernando]

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All places to talk Champions & Europa League  football for this season  

Champions League Round of 16 Draw

PSG vs Chelsea
Man City vs Barcelona
Bayer Leverkusen vs Atletico Madrid
Juventus vs Dortmund
Schalke vs Real Madrid
Shaktar Donetsk vs Bayern Munich
Arsenal vs Monaco
Basel vs Porto


Arsenal - Monaco
Celtic - Inter Milan
Chelsea - PSG
Everton - Young Boys
Hull - OUT
Liverpool - OUT of CL dropped into Europa League - Besiktas
Man City - Barcelona
Man Utd - Swansea 21st February (It's about as close to European football as your getting this year) 
Tottenham - Fiorentina

[Nakatomi Plaza]

Pot 1 - Real Madrid, Barcelona, Atletico Madrid, Arsenal, Chelsea, Bayern, Benfica, Porto
Pot 2 - Schalke, Dortmund, Juventus, PSG, Shaktar, Basel, ZSP, Man City
Pot 3 - Leverkusen, Liverpool, CSKA Moscow, Ajax, Sporting Lisbon, Atletico Bilbao,Galatasary, Olympiakos,
Pot 4 - Anderlecht, Roma, Apoel, Bate, Ludogrets, Maribor, Monaco, Malmo

The teams the English sides will want to avoid from Pot 4 are Roma and Monaco. Bilbao and Leverkusen are probably the strongest from Pot 3 excluding Liverpool. Basel's probably the ideal draw from pot 2. Liverpool and City would prefer Portuguese opposition from Pot 1

[mystiroakey]

Basel beats pl teams for fun mate. Not sure how . but they have an exceptional record against our teams. Its 'our' bogey team..

One to avoid for the PL sides IMO.

[socal1976]

Yeah deffo pen first half socal. But you got through and you were good value for it.

Your team is coming together. Besiktas is a very decent team..Very premier league in style and very physical. Your lads got a great work out.

Good to see Wilshire and carzola really step up. And stay on there feet a lot more for once...

For sure mysti, I was impressed with Besiktas, I think it was a tough draw for qualification purposes. And Arsenal are still waiting on players to settle and injured players to get back, minus their best player Aaron "the virtuoso" Ramsey it was a good performance. The ref though was abysmal, and it cut both ways although he gave Besiktas a couple of free kicks on some ridiculous dives that behoove B list actors as well. Carding everyone an their mother isn't a substitute for competence and this was a howler of a performance. Sanchez looked wonderful at one point when we were down to 10 men he dribbled around a pack of Besiktas defenders in almost no space. I think this team will be very strong if we can get Theo back, keep the most of the other key guys healthy in particular Ramsey and who knows maybe Wenger will spend again between now and the end of the window as well.

[Duty281]

1) Debuchy's red card was as clear as day. Possibly got himself into more trouble by pushing the referee.
2) Chambers got a yellow because the referee enforced the law correctly.
3) And I might need to see the penalty appeal again.

[socal1976]

1) Debuchy's red card was as clear as day. Possibly got himself into more trouble by pushing the referee.
2) Chambers got a yellow because the referee enforced the law correctly.
3) And I might need to see the penalty appeal again.

Actually, I am reading reports that Chambers was waved on by the linesmen, so maybe just to be fair the ref should have carded his own linesmen as well. Debuchy's card was ridiculous, there was some contact with the arm as both players fought for position at best it is a marginal foul at best, a harsh card for certain. I have never seen a player get carded before he even comes onto the field, this is the first time I can ever recall the ref simply didn't send him back out to be waved on in the next stoppage of play.

[socal1976]

And the penalty was dead on even Wilshere said he got a bit lucky, and that one came out in my team's favor, so it isn't like I am being biased in favor of the side I follow.

[Duty281]

Well entering the field without the permission of the referee is a yellow - that is in the rule book as clear as day. Debuchy pulled back an attacker, rather cynically, as he were on a counterattack, so I believe that the referee was completely correct there.

[Nakatomi Plaza]

Draw just in:

Group A
Atletico
Juventus
Olympiakos
Malmo

Group B
Real Madrid
Basel
Liverpool
Ludogrets

Group C
Benfica
Zenit St Petersburg
Bayer Leverkusen
Monaco

Group D
Arsenal
Dortmund
Galatasuray
Anderlecht

Group E
Bayern
Man City
CSKA Moscow
Roma

Group F
Barcelona
PSG
Ajax
APOEL

Group G
Chelsea
Schalke
Sporting Lisbon
Maribor

Group H
Porto
Shaktar
Bilbao
BATE

[Duty281]

Liverpool and City got it tough! Chelsea and Arsenal should be relatively comfortable.

[Nakatomi Plaza]

Liverpool and Chelsea have got to be delighted with their draws. Arsenal should be relatively satisfied, although Galatasaray and Dortmund will be tough. Really tough draw for City.

[Duty281]

Never, ever underestimate Basel. Liverpool have a steep hill, not a mountain, to climb.

[mystiroakey]

Basel seem to love beating pl teams...


But Liverpool should have enough.

Can someone explain how city's draw worked out? Why did they have to be put with Bayern. They said they explained earlier at the start of the draw , bug I didn't watch the start.

[Guest]

Just seen the draw, repetitive stuff going on, Arsenal vs Dortmund, Bayern vs City, Chelsea vs Schalke.

Usually the competition doesn't start until after the group games. Group H is pretty poor, only real excitement is Man City's group.

[NickisBHAFC]

All English clubs will be fine.

[LastDamnation]

Basel seem to love beating pl teams...


But Liverpool should have enough.

Can someone explain how city's draw worked out? Why did they have to be put with Bayern. They said they explained earlier at the start of the draw , bug I didn't watch the start.

It's to do with TV, as there's 4 english/german teams they put 2 in each half of the draw.

Worked the same with 2/country in the last round: Arsenal/Liverpool couldn't draw Roma as Juve in group B, City/Chelsea couldn't draw Monaco as PSG in F

[Fernando]

[mystiroakey]

Basel seem to love beating pl teams...


But Liverpool should have enough.

Can someone explain how city's draw worked out? Why did they have to be put with Bayern. They said they explained earlier at the start of the draw , bug I didn't watch the start.

It's to do with TV, as there's 4 english/german teams they put 2 in each half of the draw.

Worked the same with 2/country in the last round: Arsenal/Liverpool couldn't draw Roma as Juve in group B, City/Chelsea couldn't draw Monaco as PSG in F

Ta

[Crimey]

Decent draw.

Actually glad that Real Madrid are in there, if Liverpool don't qualify for the Champions League again it's good to be able to have a big game in Europe, the return would have felt a bit flat had they drawn one of the Portuguese sides.

Chelsea have the best draw, Man City the worst and Liverpool and Arsenal similar level draws.

[NickisBHAFC]

Hull City are a disgrace to this country. They have ashamed England. 

Can't even beat a bunch of nobodys.

Tottenham through, they will do well in this tourny i recon.

[mystiroakey]

I think Tottenham will go for the win. Its worth a CL spot isnt it? Or is that next year?

[Crimey]

Hull City are hardly household names. No way are they a disgrace, it's just a shame they didn't get to enjoy a proper European run, but their league position should now not be affected.

[Good Golly I'm Olly]

Hull lol spend nearly £30m and can't get out of the qualifiers 

They're so going down

[Lowlandbrit]

Think Lyon getting knocked out probably beats out Hull for most embarrassing result of the round.

[The Special Juan]

I don't think they'll be bothered. There's not a lot of money in the EL and as they have no chance of winning it, why not go out now rather than playing 6+ meaningless games?

[mystiroakey]

Falcoa linked for 20m euros for one year.. Includes wages.

Forget him , bring up chubba.

[socal1976]

Gunner will get through I feel but can't think of two harder road matches in European football than Dortmund and Gala in Istanbul, so really can't take anything for granted. I'd like to see us go top of the group for once, Dortmund should be weaker. Chelsea got a real cup cake draw. City is up against it but they should qualify out of the group as well.

[mystiroakey]

You are through mate. easy enough draw for you- much better than last year.

Your players are just warming up.. You will get better and better from here on in(well untill crunch time end of season ). Just hope that the pitch in turkey this time helps your passing game and isnt a dirt track as it was v besitkas

[Guest]

I think Hull will look back on last night at the end of the season & will probably recognise that it was a blessing in disguise. Stoke, Swansea & Newcastle all endured miserable seasons, when faced with tackling the EPL & European fixtures. Swansea & Newcastle were faced with relegation fights & barely survived, Hull finished 16th last season, just four points off relegation, imagine they would of struggled to cope personally. Of course, they still might, but they've given themselves a better chance of staying up with last nights result & financially the rewards are small anyway of progressing further.

As for Spurs, I imagine Pochettino will go full out for this cup & getting the rewards of that champions league slot on offer.

[mystiroakey]

Yeah completely agree John. For Tottenham they will try and win it. Hull better of getting out. Swansea lost many points in the PL due to that comp last year. Totenham do however have the squad and its there best hope for CL

[CFCNick]

Just seen the draw, repetitive stuff going on, Arsenal vs Dortmund, Bayern vs City, Chelsea vs Schalke.

Usually the competition doesn't start until after the group games. Group H is pretty poor, only real excitement is Man City's group.

I was hoping we got Basel. Played them in Europa semi in 2013 and UCL group stage last year too.

[socal1976]

You are through mate. easy enough draw for you- much better than last year.

Your players are just warming up.. You will get better and better from here on in(well untill crunch time end of season ). Just hope that the pitch in turkey this time helps your passing game and isnt a dirt track as it was v besitkas

Mysti, I am pretty confident as well, I think Dortmund won't be as strong as last year either. I want to top the group for once we can get into the quarters and semis of this tournament and see what happens. At this point we are still a couple of very high quality or world class players away from being to win this kind of tournament or the EPL. Not as far away as some people think but we need 2-3 more upper echelon type players to be serious contenders.

[mystiroakey]

I dont think you need defenders that are classic lumpy defenders- i really dont think it will help the team at all. Its not your style. Just one striker and I think you are very close to challenging on all fronts

[socal1976]

I would like to get a high quality defensive midfiedler, a back up CB of quality that could step in a do the job without much drop off from Per or Kos. But of course a top striker is the thing that could really get us over the hump quickly. With the current squad we have we are probably 2 or 3rd. With a top line striker then I think we could win the EPL. The problem is that there aren't many world class strikers out there that people can snap up. I wish we had made the move for Mario Balottelli.

[kingraf]

Looking forward to two games this matchday.
Madrid-Basel and Munchen-Mcity. We head into the Basel game with one win in four, and having conceded six in two, team desperately needs a boost. Think we'll win 2-0, 3-0, Ronaldo will score some more and the world will continue to resolve. City Munich could be very good. Normally, I'd back Munich to comfortably ease past City, but Frank's only just come back, Martinez is out, as is Tiago, Alonso had a MOM performance at the weekend, but he's still settling, Schweinsteiger is also out. Muller hasn't really been at his best and Lewandowski is still familiarising himself. I don't think City will get a much better chance to beat Bayern.

[mystiroakey]

Munchen to ease past citeh?

There is no easing past this city side, whatever there line up.

[kingraf]

Munchen to ease past citeh?

There is no easing past this city side, whatever there line up.

cruised past them at the Etihad, and were cruising in Bavaria until that mini meltdown. That was arguably a better City as Yaya actually gave a f...

[mystiroakey]

you mean when citeh were down to 10 men. and before that City had more possession and more chances.

Thats the game you are talking about I take it?

[Mad for Chelsea]

you mean when citeh were down to 10 men. and before that City had more possession and more chances.

Thats the game you are talking about I take it?

I think you're mixing it up with the Barca game in the knock-outs, raf is referring to the City-Bayern game of the group stages. For what it's worth I disagree with raf's assessment of the return game in Munchen, where I thought City were good value for their win.

I do feel City are a better side than they were this time last year, not sure you can say the same about Bayern, so IMO it should be reasonably close.

Chelsea should have too much for Schalke, who aren't really all that good. Also looking forward to Dortmund-Arsenal and Ajax-PSG.

[mystiroakey]

yes apologies- it was barca. I did confuse the games

[mystiroakey]

Not sure what to make of tonight's game- Seems like one of the easiest's entries into the CL for the scousers they could get. I dont think they will make the same mistake they did at the weekend though. It will be a full team..

[kingraf]

Schalke have improved a bit this season. But Chelsea should still have too much for them.

[Good Golly I'm Olly]

That's a penalty

[Good Golly I'm Olly]

That's a penalty

Or not

[Guest]

this arsenal game reminds me of exactly the same game last year in the group. dortmund dominate, can't finish any of the guilt edged chances & then arsenal win it with one chance in the second half.

[GSC]

Do Liverpool have a defensive coach?

[Guest]

welbeck = special needs finisher

[Good Golly I'm Olly]

Do Liverpool have a defensive coach?

Its easy to coach defence GSC remember

[kingraf]

Maybe Wellbeck really is that guy... bad miss

[Fernando]

Do Liverpool have a defensive coach?

Its easy to coach defence GSC remember

If i can coach 12 year olds to stay in a defensive line then Brenda can too

[kingraf]

Immobile is pretty mobile.

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