[Archived] Champions League 2017-2018

[speeeeeeedie]

The Champions League group stage is set for 2017-2018. I enjoying watching it as it is a midweek afternoon for me so I have few distractions.

Group A: Benfica, Manchester United, FC Basel, CSKA Moscow.

Group B: Bayern Munich, Paris Saint-Germain, Anderlecht, Celtic.

Group C: Chelsea, Atletico Madrid, Roma, FK Qarabag.

Group D: Juventus, Barcelona, Olympiakos, Sporting Lisbon.

Group E: Spartak Moscow, Sevilla, Liverpool, NK Maribor.

Group F: Shakhtar Donetsk, Manchester City, Napoli, Feyenoord.

Group G: Monaco, FC Porto, Besiktas, RB Leipzig.

Group H: Real Madrid, Borussia Dortmund, Tottenham, APOEL Nicosia.

Groups C and H look tough.

 

[philipl]

Looks like the Group stages won't be the bore fest they had been becoming.

Glad Spurs are in a tough group after the utterly pathetic effort they made last season. Celtic are already history and will be very lucky even to be in the Europa after Christmas but four of the five English clubs ought to make it to the round of 16. Winning the Group probably won't confer as much of an advantage as in previous seasons looking at the second place qualifiers coming out of B, C, D and H- even E and F for that matter.

Fascinating to see 5 cities represented by two clubs: Lisbon, Madrid, London, Manchester and Moscow.

No clubs from Scandinavia and excluding the former Soviet Union, the whole of Eastern Europe is represented by the Slovenian champions Maribor.

Two clubs- Shakhtar Donetsk and Qarabag, cannot play their home games at home because their home cities are in war zones occupied by hostile forces.

 

[roverandout]

Why do celtic even bother qualifying. Theyre an embarrasment

[Husky]

42 minutes ago, roverandout said:

Why do celtic even bother qualifying. Theyre an embarrasment

Playing minnows week in week out in a tin-pot league probably doesn't help.

[RevidgeBlue]

On 8/25/2017 at 10:17, philipl said:

Looks like the Group stages won't be the bore fest they had been becoming.

Or maybe............

Honestly the group stages are the most pointless and tedious things imaginable imo. You might as well dish out the prize money to the Clubs in accordance with the seedings, not bother with the group games and start the whole thing at the knockout stage.

 

 

 

 

[K-Hod]

Even if Celtic got absolutely smashed in at home by a team that's far superior to them, let's have it right, they (and many others) won their league and they shouldn't have to qualify for the CHAMPIONS League. It's absolutely daft that clubs could fail to win their own domestic league and go straight into the group stages. That's without doubt my main gripe with the competition.

 

[Mike E]

57 minutes ago, K-Hod said:

Even if Celtic got absolutely smashed in at home by a team that's far superior to them, let's have it right, they (and many others) won their league and they shouldn't have to qualify for the CHAMPIONS League. It's absolutely daft that clubs could fail to win their own domestic league and go straight into the group stages. That's without doubt my main gripe with the competition.

 

Should it not just be a knockout competition for the champions of each league?

How it used to be wasn't it?

[K-Hod]

15 minutes ago, Mike E said:

Should it not just be a knockout competition for the champions of each league?

How it used to be wasn't it?

That's exactly how it used to be, indeed. It appears that UEFA wanted a European Super League and ultimately got their wish.....

[Dr Awesome]

13 hours ago, roverandout said:

Why do celtic even bother qualifying. Theyre an embarrasment

They've made the last sixteen in the last five years! Can't be that bad. The £30 million they'll get in earnings for making the group stages probably mitigates any embarrassment at getting their £21.15 million squad rattled by PSG's £450 million forward line, too...

[Bigdoggsteel]

Didn't Celtic bid like 25 million for Roberts? Being in the Champions league means the will dominate Scotland for the foreseeable future.

That scrote who ran onto the field last night and attempted to kick Mbappe should have had the lard bet out of him by the stewards 

[Dr Awesome]

No, I think that was just a rumour; he's back at Parkhead on loan - Celtic's record transfer is £6 million so it would be a hell of a jump. The club are paying a chunk of his wages I think but he'll go back to Man City at the end of the season. Celtic have a massive advantage in terms of finance and support - the closest teams outside of Rangers struggle to bring in 25,000 regularly and Rangers themselves have obviously been in tatters for a long time. I guess flouting several financial laws will do that to you.

I was actually at the Celtic match last night(I live in Paisley, outside of Glasgow) and the silly little tosser was rightly booed off the pitch. He's most likely going to be responsible for their next Champions League game being behind closed doors.

[Bigdoggsteel]

27 minutes ago, Dr Awesome said:

No, I think that was just a rumour; he's back at Parkhead on loan - Celtic's record transfer is £6 million so it would be a hell of a jump. The club are paying a chunk of his wages I think but he'll go back to Man City at the end of the season. Celtic have a massive advantage in terms of finance and support - the closest teams outside of Rangers struggle to bring in 25,000 regularly and Rangers themselves have obviously been in tatters for a long time. I guess flouting several financial laws will do that to you.

I was actually at the Celtic match last night(I live in Paisley, outside of Glasgow) and the silly little tosser was rightly booed off the pitch. He's most likely going to be responsible for their next Champions League game being behind closed doors.

Ya, but with the Champions league money and fees they have received for players over the years,along with merchandise and gate receipts, they could probably afford it. 

[K-Hod]

1 hour ago, Bigdoggsteel said:

Didn't Celtic bid like 25 million for Roberts? Being in the Champions league means the will dominate Scotland for the foreseeable future.

That scrote who ran onto the field last night and attempted to kick Mbappe should have had the lard bet out of him by the stewards 

In his defence, that was the closest Celtic got to Mbappe all night.....

[Bigdoggsteel]

25 minutes ago, K-Hod said:

In his defence, that was the closest Celtic got to Mbappe all night.....

True, the Celtic players literally could not get a kick 

[Dr Awesome]

1 hour ago, Bigdoggsteel said:

Ya, but with the Champions league money and fees they have received for players over the years,along with merchandise and gate receipts, they could probably afford it. 

This is true, though you would hope that Celtic learn from the example of their "friends" in the South Side and don't over extend themselves with big name, big money purchases.

MBappe was a revelation - Tierney is a cracking young prospect at left back and MBappe made him look ordinary, along with Scott Sinclair who had to track back and still failed to keep a lid on him. Incredible footballer for such a young lad.

[Bigdoggsteel]

22 minutes ago, Dr Awesome said:

This is true, though you would hope that Celtic learn from the example of their "friends" in the South Side and don't over extend themselves with big name, big money purchases.

MBappe was a revelation - Tierney is a cracking young prospect at left back and MBappe made him look ordinary, along with Scott Sinclair who had to track back and still failed to keep a lid on him. Incredible footballer for such a young lad.

Ya , he is a freak. To be able to step into that PSG team at his age after such a big move, incredible. 

[Proudtobeblue&white]

I love the sky boys....Liverpool v Sevilla....when introducing the away team, they mention a couple of the lads who used to play in England. Of course N'Zonzi played for Stoke!

[Salgado Is Still A Hero]

Feyenoord losing 4-0 at home to a team which also cost about a billion pounds to assemble, are they an embarrassment as well I wonder?

[AllRoverAsia]

The Sevilla manager got the Man of the Match award from me. 

Liverpool almost succeeded in their 2nd half quest to lose the game.

Klopp "What did I do" ... hilarious.

[K-Hod]

11 hours ago, Salgado Is Still A Hero said:

Feyenoord losing 4-0 at home to a team which also cost about a billion pounds to assemble, are they an embarrassment as well I wonder?

It was embarrassingly easy for City tbh, but the format of the CL is an absolute joke and teams like Feyenoord/Celtic will never get anywhere near to the level of the top teams in Europe while it's like it is....

[Commondore]

Watched Spurs play Dortmund, which might have been the most attacking team I've seen on this level. They effectively played a 2-2-6 formation, but lost due to poor refereeing (they had a wonder goal from Aubameyang incorrectly turned down right before Spurs went 3-1 up), poor goalkeeping, and poor defending combined with some ruthless counterattacking by Kane, Son and Eriksen.  

[Dr Awesome]

7 hours ago, AllRoverAsia said:

The Sevilla manager got the Man of the Match award from me. 

Liverpool almost succeeded in their 2nd half quest to lose the game.

Klopp "What did I do" ... hilarious.

I saw that on the BT Sport goals show - why was he remonstrating like that?

[SIMON GARNERS 194]

On 12/09/2017 at 22:25, Husky said:

Playing minnows week in week out in a tin-pot league probably doesn't help.

What a shame.

TEE HEE! 

[Salgado Is Still A Hero]

2 hours ago, K-Hod said:

It was embarrassingly easy for City tbh, but the format of the CL is an absolute joke and teams like Feyenoord/Celtic will never get anywhere near to the level of the top teams in Europe while it's like it is....

Both finalists in the 1970 final getting completely annihilated at home by teams funded by oil money in the Middle East, such is modern football.

Seen something on twitter about the teams from the top leagues beating those in smaller leagues about 26-0.

[AllRoverAsia]

1 hour ago, Dr Awesome said:

I saw that on the BT Sport goals show - why was he remonstrating like that?

The Sevilla manager had been sent off for, twice, catching the ball when it went out for a Liverpool throw and instead of giving it to a Liverpool player, stood only a couple of feet away, he instead threw the ball away. Warned the first time by the Ref and sent off the 2nd time he did it.

The Sevilla manager then treated us to a very good Mauel 'I did nothing' impression complete with hands out, shaking head and vacant stare.

Then at the end of the match and apart from one guy who did shake Klopp's hand, the rest of the Sevilla bench were jumping around screaming abuse at Klopp. From what I saw Klopp had not been involved apart from he propably said 'what a tit' or similar.

Hence his Bart Simpson impression.

I did see Klopp make a point of then going onto the pitch to shake hands with most Sevilla players. That looked to be received ok.

I think the Sevilla bench were trying to blame Klopp in some way to make him a target for abuse in Sevilla.