UEFA Champions League 2020/21

[gunnar hendershow]

I'd say City's group has intrigue for the 2nd place spot between Porto and Marseille.

And whoever finishes 3rd there and in Group H have to feel very good about their chances in the Europa League.

[Adam]

2 hours ago, DavidMarrio said:

Atlanta isn't ideal. I thought Ajax were the best team to get from Pot B but was hoping to avoid the likes of Atlanta 

Long flight to America for the away leg, aye .

United definitely got the toughest group of the English sides but I still think they can come through it comfortably enough. Messi v Ronaldo is an interesting one too.

[Lineker]

First time I've had to actually take a proper look at all of the groups:

Spoiler

Group A: Bayern Munich, Atlético Madrid, Salzburg, Lokomotiv Moscow
Group B: Real Madrid, Shakhtar Donetsk, Internazionale, Borussia Mönchengladbach
Group C Porto, Manchester City, Olympiakos, Marseille
Group D: Liverpool, Ajax, Atalanta, Midtjylland
Group E: Sevilla, Chelsea, Krasnodar, Rennes
Group F: Zenit Saint Petersburg, Borussia Dortmund, Lazio, Club Brugge
Group G: Juventus, Barcelona, Dynamo Kyiv, Ferencvaros
Group H: Paris Saint-Germain, Manchester United, RB Leipzig, Istanbul Basaksehir

Aside from the obvious Group H group of death - how do City always manage to get such a straight forward draw?

[Szumi]

1 minute ago, Lineker said:

First time I've had to actually take a proper look at all of the groups:

  Hide contents

Group A: Bayern Munich, Atlético Madrid, Salzburg, Lokomotiv Moscow
Group B: Real Madrid, Shakhtar Donetsk, Internazionale, Borussia Mönchengladbach
Group 😄 Porto, Manchester City, Olympiakos, Marseille
Group 😧 Liverpool, Ajax, Atalanta, Midtjylland
Group E: Sevilla, Chelsea, Krasnodar, Rennes
Group F: Zenit Saint Petersburg, Borussia Dortmund, Lazio, Club Brugge
Group G: Juventus, Barcelona, Dynamo Kyiv, Ferencvaros
Group H: Paris Saint-Germain, Manchester United, RB Leipzig, Istanbul Basaksehir

 

I think City are the only happy ones in Group  😄

[Lineker]

I'd already edited that one out  

[gunnar hendershow]

Outside of Group H there isn't a big club that feels at risk of not advancing. Perhaps Inter (if you consider them big still) are at risk of not advancing. That's really it though. The Porto/Marseille and Ajax/Atalanta chases for 2nd will be entertaining. Excited for the Messi-Ronaldo clashes.

[The Lusophone]

1 minute ago, damsher hatfield said:

Outside of Group H there isn't a big club that feels at risk of not advancing. Perhaps Inter (if you consider them big still) are at risk of not advancing. That's really it though. The Porto/Marseille and Ajax/Atalanta chases for 2nd will be entertaining. Excited for the Messi-Ronaldo clashes.

I actually think Group F is pretty open to be honest. Dortmund are a bit fragile defensively, as that 2-0 loss to Ausburg showed. I think if the other teams in the group can be as defensively solid as Ausburg were, they definitely stand a good chance of getting points off of Dortmund at home. Dortmund should top this group with ease, but they also should've beaten Inter Milan last season in the groups and didn't. 

[gunnar hendershow]

1 minute ago, MadJack said:

I actually think Group F is pretty open to be honest. Dortmund are a bit fragile defensively, as that 2-0 loss to Ausburg showed. I think if the other teams in the group can be as defensively solid as Ausburg were, they definitely stand a good chance of getting points off of Dortmund at home. Dortmund should top this group with ease, but they also should've beaten Inter Milan last season in the groups and didn't. 

You know I almost said Group F has the potential to be the wacky group with a strange top two but didn't think Dortmund could drop enough points for that to happen. Could be all to play for for that 2nd spot though.

[DavidMarrio]

1 hour ago, Adam said:

Long flight to America for the away leg, aye .

Don't know what you mean...

[Benjamin]

3 hours ago, Bobfoc said:

Basaksehir couldn't have asked for a much tougher group.

Hope they get trashed in all their games.

Looking at the groups, Jesus, even if you top it at the end of group stage you’re gonna’ be facing a tough side in the last 16.

City and Chelsea getting pretty easy groups is what I expected, though   

[Lineker]

Quote

Uefa says a “final eight” will be considered as a way to round off the Champions League and Europa League from 2024.

The single-country one-leg format was adopted for practical purposes as an effective way to conclude the competitions last season in a campaign badly disrupted by the coronavirus pandemic, and proved to be a big hit as a spectacle.

European football’s governing body is bound by contracts with broadcasters to revert to the regular two-legged system for quarter-finals and semi-finals for the rest of the current cycle, but has not ruled out a change to the format beyond that.

Giorgio Marchetti, Uefa’s deputy general secretary, said: “A good rule is to never exclude something which proves valuable or has potential. We know there are many elements that need to be taken into account, such as calendar and organisational constraints, fans’ involvement, economic implications, but we will for sure study this format and its variations for our upcoming discussions.

“Single knockout matches obviously favour uncertainty and emotions. We received great feedback from clubs, broadcasters and other partners as well as from the fans. The circumstances made this format a must, but the result could not be better as well as the degree of satisfaction.”

The 2019-20 Champions League’s final stages took place in Lisbon, while the German cities of Cologne, Duisburg, Düsseldorf and Gelsenkirchen hosted the conclusion of the Europa League. The Women’s Champions League finale was staged in the Basque cities of Bilbao and San Sebastián, while the men’s Youth Champions League was completed in Switzerland. Marchetti admitted staging all four competitions had been the result of great cooperation.

“The football community really worked together: without the joint work and unity of intents with national associations, leagues and clubs nothing would have been achieved,” he said. “And as we had only two months to set up simultaneous tournaments in Portugal, Germany and Spain, the local federations and authorities supported us massively.”

Marchetti said Uefa would take the same “strong determination” that helped them pull off the final stages of last season’s competitions into the rest of 2020-21, which is taking place against the backdrop of a second wave of coronavirus infections across the continent. And he also pointed out how much work had already been done for this season’s preliminary stages.

“Everybody watched the final eight tournaments in August. What almost nobody knows is that from the beginning of August almost 500 Uefa matches have already been played. All the qualification rounds to Champions League and Europa League [no one single club was excluded from the access list], two men’s and one women’s international windows, under-21s. There are many restrictions and a strict protocol to apply with an incredible number of tests on all teams, but these difficulties don’t scare us.”

 

[Naitch]

Less matches equals more valuable? That's a very un-UEFA (and FIFA) thing to say. If only they felt that way about international tournaments...

[Colly]

I was thinking exactly the same. No way are they losing revenue from a 2 legged semi final.

[Baddar]

We are laughably short at CB tonight. Fotmob have Axel and Lindelof down as the pairing by default as they're our only fit CBs.

Think we could have a back 5 tonight with Shaw as an extra CB and Telles making his debut.

[The Lusophone]

20 minutes ago, Baddar said:

We are laughably short at CB tonight. Fotmob have Axel and Lindelof down as the pairing by default as they're our only fit CBs.

Think we could have a back 5 tonight with Shaw as an extra CB and Telles making his debut.

Phil Jones and Marcos Rojo both exist >_>

[METALMAN]

Oh my god I thought Rojo left Man United years ago

[Baddar]

He's wanted out, including during the Summer window, but as is the case with a lot of our players, their ridiculously high wage mean it's too difficult to offload them.

[Colly]

57 minutes ago, MadJack said:

Phil Jones and Marcos Rojo both exist >_>

Poor Phil isn't even in your Premier League squad.

[The Lusophone]

Just now, Colly said:

Poor Phil isn't even in your Premier League squad.

Hahahahahahahahahahaha good.

[Benjamin]

Man, that wasn’t much of an interesting first half