UEFA Champions League 2019/20

[FLiam]

They should be criticising van Dijk for being a bit shit last night to be honest.

[Moses Julep]

There is something delightful about Atletico being a shithouse team though, you don't get enough teams that win games by draining the life out of their opponents. Like, I love that Diego Costa is no longer a goal scoring machine so they bring him on as a sub just to draw fouls and wind up the opposition, it's straight out of hockey.

[Lineker]

Wasn't aware that RBL had signed Dani Olmo.

[Szumi]

Atleti absolutely are anti football at times, but they always have been when they're in a dog fight. That's their style, it's worked for them, and we all knew that going in. They played their game loads better than us at times, and Liverpool did not make any appropriate tactical adjustments in the match to change that. Fair play to Atletico, simple as that. On the balance of it all, I think they deserved their result. 

[Lineker]

Turgid game this. Still, if we can take a 0-0 to Germany then that's fine.

[DavidMarrio]

3 hours ago, Baddar said:

Liverpool fans calling this "anti-football" on Twitter because Atleti defended their lead last night and won the game.

I watch Atleti play every single week and they're not a particularly entertaining watch, but you can't complain just because a side won't roll over for you.

You could say that about any set of fans about anything on Twitter. Who's arsed what certain fans like MoSalah1892 have said. You'll find of examples about others who would have said the opposite and been logical. Plus let's be honest, sports related posts on Twitter isn't exactly the place you'll find rational thoughts. 

As a centre back I love playing that style of football and winding people up, little shit house nudges and niggles. There is no right or wrong way to play football. I prefer to watch our style of football but I'm spoilt over that and I can appreciate it. I couldn't watch that week in week out but tactics are tactics end of the day. 

They won, we didn't create anything, if they wanna defend and be really organised at it then so be it. We had chances to break them down but fucked it up with crap final balls and touches. They got a scruffy goal and won. We played decent but had no end product. We can play better and honestly I think we will beat them at Anfield and go through. 

[Chris2K]

Utterly predictable, time to move on and concentrate on... whatever's left. 6th place maybe?

[DavidMarrio]

14 minutes ago, Chris2K said:

Utterly predictable, time to move on and concentrate on... whatever's left. 6th place maybe?

You looked better in the final 30 minutes which is a positive sign and a 1-0 scoreline always gives you a chance especially considering Leipzig had plenty of opportunities and didn't take them. 

[Lineker]

Considering their form and the fact we have no forwards or defensive midfield, a 1-0 loss could have easily been far worse.

 

Second half was better indeed. 

[Benjamin]

8 hours ago, Liam Mk2 said:

They should be criticising van Dijk for being a bit shit last night to be honest.

He was, as a Liverpool fan it was so frustrating to watch. The whole team was a little bit shit, to be honest. To have 70% of the possession and not have a single shot on target, and we had like, what 6 corners or something? 

I'm just trying to decide if it's a worse performance than the one we had at Napoli. 

Still am 60% confident we go through, we did better in the second match at Napoli, but still didn't beat them. Here's to hoping we don't just go 1-0 up, because I don't think my heart can take extra time or penalties against Atleti. 

[Jimmy]

Yeah, it was a similar patten to City & Liverpool really. We clearly can't play in a certain way for 90 minutes - so the first half is about containment, the second is about playing more progressively. Sadly, both times, we've conceded so the plan doesn't work. 

We were always going to struggle when we're missing Kane and Son. I thought we had good moments - Ndombele was incredible when he came on - I just hope he can get fit. Lo Celso is also a baller.

It's a shame the squad is so thin that Lucas has to play 90 mins. He's been awful for ages sadly. 

Shoutout to Sanchez as well tonight, coped so well. 

We lost the first leg to Ajax 1-0. Still got a chance and all that.

[stokeriño]

Although there is no logic to this, I feel sure that the more posts/tweets/etc. I see talking about "REMEMBER MUNICH IN 2012", the more miserable tonight's result is going to be.

 

[stokeriño]

"Six years since Chelsea last won a knockout game in the Champions League"

Didn't realise it'd been that long!  

[Baddar]

Been a close game. Bayern haven't really created an awful lot for all their possession. Muller's header was nice though.

Mertens scored a great goal to put Napoli 1-0 up against Barca.

[Meacon Keaton]

That was pretty.

Wow. So was that one.

[stokeriño]

*seven years

[Baddar]

I mean, there's been some unlikely CL comebacks in recent years but even the most optimistic Chelsea fan will have a hard time convincing people that this one isn't done. 

[Lineker]

Quote

Manchester City have registered their appeal to the court of arbitration for sport (Cas) against the ruling by Uefa’s club financial control body (CFCB) that the club overstated its sponsorships from 2012-16, and the sanctions of a two-year ban from the Champions League and €30m (£25m) fine.

City had said on 14 February that they would immediately appeal, in a very strongly worded statement rejecting the findings of the CFCB’s adjudicatory chamber (AC) that the club had committed “serious breaches” of Uefa’s financial fair play rules by overstating the sponsorships.

Although the AC’s members, mostly senior European lawyers including the English barrister Charles Flint QC, will not have their reasons for the findings published until after the Cas decision, the overstatement is understood principally to concern City’s main sponsorship by the Abu Dhabi state airline, Etihad. City’s owner, Sheikh Mansour, is a senior member of the Abu Dhabi ruling family, and internal City emails published by the German magazine Der Spiegel in November 2018 suggested that Mansour was funding the bulk of the £67.5m Etihad sponsorship. City have vehemently denied wrongdoing.

Cas said in a statement that it had registered the appeal by City, which is “directed against the decision of the adjudicatory chamber of the Uefa club financial control body”. Cas said it could give no timescale for the appeal, which requires both sides to submit written arguments and evidence, then a hearing before a panel of three lawyers, who have not been appointed.

If the process is concluded by early summer, as City’s chief executive Ferran Soriano has said he hopes for, then City will be excluded from the next two seasons’ Champions League competitions if the ban is upheld. If the process is not concluded by the time next season’s Uefa competitions start, City will be clear to play in 2020-21, then if upheld by Cas, the ban will take effect for the following two seasons.

In 2018, Milan’s appeal to Cas against an AC decision to ban the club from Uefa competitions for two years was concluded within three months. Cas upheld the AC’s finding that Milan breached FFP financial limits, but annulled the two-year ban and sent the sanction back to the AC for reconsideration. Uefa and Milan then settled on a one-year ban, and although Uefa will normally be expected to defend the decisions and processes of the CFCB at a Cas appeal, discussions about a settlement can take place at this stage.

City were reported in the legal press to have instructed the renowned constitutional barrister David Pannick QC as an addition to their legal team for the Cas appeal. Pannick, who successfully argued at the supreme court against Boris Johnson’s government’s proroguing of parliament last year is in the same London chambers, Blackstone, as Flint.

[MDK]

City should be kicked out of Europe forever for that shocking display of double denim.

[DavidMarrio]

20 minutes ago, MDK said:

City should be kicked out of Europe forever for that shocking display of double denim.

Jimmy Corkhill would be proud