Champions League Thread

[therockbox]

Happy with a draw, the way we've been playing recently hardly filled me confidence and I wouldn't have been surprised if we lost.

Referee was a bit card-happy, but that's what you get in European games. I wouldn't say he was biased for either time, we should've had a penalty in the first half when Drogba (who STILL isn't worth that much money) booted Hyypia in the nuts.

Reina - again - didn't fill me with confidence on set-pieces, he flaps at balls too much. As a shot-stopper he's fine, but so was Dudek.

[Guest Booker T & The MG's]

Inter looked in 2nd gear for most of the game they were passing it around for fun in the last 5 minutes.

Rangers needed way more than sticking on a few strikers to break them down tonight. Ferguson was great tonight though he did'nt lost the ball all game.

But holy shit Porto lost! Never saw that coming.

[Asuka's Gonna Kill You]

Happy with a draw, the way we've been playing recently hardly filled me confidence and I wouldn't have been surprised if we lost.

Referee was a bit card-happy, but that's what you get in European games. I wouldn't say he was biased for either time, we should've had a penalty in the first half when Drogba (who STILL isn't worth that much money) booted Hyypia in the nuts.

Reina - again - didn't fill me with confidence on set-pieces, he flaps at balls too much. As a shot-stopper he's fine, but so was Dudek.

[therockbox]

It might have been 1-0. There was no guarentee that Duff would have scored.

And whether it was 'one bad corner' or not doesn't matter, he was poor against Birmingham - and it was one or two mistakes that brought about Dudek's demise.

[pigeon]

Liverpool/Chelsea was good. Maybe it was just me, but the referee was pretty Liverpool biased at times.

[Asuka's Gonna Kill You]

Just caught the Madrid highlights and oh my god, Beckham was out of this world. One amazing performance and I think this game for me proved why I rate him as the best passer around (That I know of anyway). He played at least 15 world class balls. Sure, the defence of Olympiacos (Sp?) wasn't amazing, but Beckham tore them apart with the balls he was playing. If the finishing was better, Madrid could have had one of the highest scoring games in CL history. They could and easily should have had at least five or six goals. Beckham's been majorly impressive lately, out of the Madrid games I've seen he's been out standing and in this game he was easily man of the match and by far the best player on the field. I feel happy for the guy to see him getting back to his best

[Guest sahyder2k5]

He's pretty damn good.

[Asuka's Gonna Kill You]

Rapid 1-2 Club Brugge

Bayern 1-2 Juventus

Sparta 1-2 Arsenal

Ajax 3-0 Thun

Udinese 2-1 Bremen

Panathinaikos 0-3 Barcelona

Villarreal 2-1 Benfica

Man. United 4-0 Lille

Wednesday:

Milan 3-2 PSV

Fenerbahçe 1-0 Schalke

Lyon 3-1 Olympiacos

Real Madrid 3-0 Rosenborg

Chelsea 3-1 Betis

Anderlecht 1-2 Liverpool

Rangers 2-1 Artmedia

Porto 1-3 Internazionale

Patrick Vieira misses the Juve game with a groin problem, pretty big blow seeings though he's been possibly our best player thus far. I think we can handle Bayern though, we did last year. United will cruise to victory I reckon as well. Udinese/Breme should be a solid game. Chelsea/Betis should be very good on Wednesday, as well as Milan/PSV.

[John Stones' Paint Trophy]

Well, I'm taking Juve to win it this year. Their squad is strong as ever and after watching the other favourites (Chelsea, Milan and the ilk), Juve look the strongest.

In my eyes anyway.

[Guest sahyder2k5]

Rapid 0-1 Club Brugge

Bayern 1-0 Juventus

Sparta 1-2 Arsenal

Ajax 2-0 Thun

Udinese 1-1 Bremen

Panathinaikos 0-2 Barcelona

Villarreal 2-1 Benfica

Man. United 2-0 Lille

Wednesday:

Milan 2-1 PSV

Fenerbahçe 1-0 Schalke

Lyon 3-1 Olympiacos

Real Madrid 2-0 Rosenborg

Chelsea 3-1 Betis

Anderlecht 1-2 Liverpool

Rangers 2-1 Artmedia

Porto 1-2 Internazionale

[MDK]

Group A

Bayern Munich v Juventus

Bayern have not yet conceded a goal in this season's Champions League. Juve have won three of their last four games against German opposition in the competition.

Rapid Vienna v Club Brugge

Rapid have lost their last five Champions League games. Brugge have conceded at least one goal in nine of their last ten Champions League fixtures.

Group B

Sparta Prague v Arsenal

The Czech side have not won for 11 games in the Champions League. This is the first time since the 2002/2003 season that Arsenal have won their opening two group games in the competition.

Ajax v FC Thun

Ajax have gone six games since winning a match in the Champions League. Swiss sides have only ever scored one goal in four Champions League games against Ajax.

Group C

Udinese v Werder Bremen

Iaquinta has scored one of the two hat-tricks in this season's Champions League. Bremen have never beaten Italian opposition in four attempts in Europe's premier competition.

Panathinaikos v Barcelona

Pana have not kept a clean sheet in their last 15 Champions League games. Barca have kept just one clean sheet in their last eight matches in the competition.

Group D

Man United v Lille

United have failed to score in four of their last five Champions League matches. Lille lost 1-0 on their only previous trip to Old Trafford in the Champions League.

Villarreal v Benfica

Spanish sides have won ten out of 15 Champions League games against Portuguese opponents. Benfica have never won an away game in the Champions League.

I know everyone knows the matches but I thought I'd repost them with a preview from Skysports.com

I don't know what match to watch, at the moment I am thinking of Bayern vs Juve. What other match looks decent for a neutral? Villarrea vs Benfica looks good to me as well

[Asuka's Gonna Kill You]

We got slaughtered, well kind of. While Bayern weren't wow or anything, we were utter shit. Defence wise it's our worst performance in maybe a year. Attacking wise we did barely anything. Horrible marking for the second goal, while the first included some luck from the referee, but that's no excuse from that fucking twat Abbiati, the most overrated keeper I think I know of. Please get Buffon back in. We were skanked of a few decisions, but that's no excuse for such a crap performance. Good goal at the end to bring it to 2-1, wasn't enough though. We'll want revenge in Turin. Tonight proved that Vieira is a major player for us now, he'll be in for two weeks time and possibly even Buffon, doubtful for him though.

I heard about the United draw, that sounds pretty shitty. I keep expecting them to slaughter these sort of teams in the CL, they're just not doing it though. As for Arsenal, from the goal I see, it looks good. I'll watch the highlights later tonight though.

[Turbo Yannis]

The United game was utter shite. I had the displeasure of watching it.

That Abbiati, eh? Pretty damn good.

[MDK]

Pffft, I was flicking between the man u match and the bayern match, what a load of rubbish. Fuck this shit, Orient should have been on TV.

[public enemy]

The United match was indeed very boring, this coming from a fan.

Scholes hasen't been the same player for us at all this season. Even last year when he lacked form, he was never the weak-link in the team that he seems to be now. The two bookings were typical of his effort this season.

Not the worst result in the end though, with Benfica and Villareal cancelling eachother out, we're still in pole position and after going down to ten men, 0-0 is acceptable.

[fineintent]

It's funny how no one in the Man Utd team really did anything last night, apart from everyone clutching their faces in an attempt to get a Lille player sent off to even the odds. Fletcher is hilariously invisible, I can't remember him touching the ball.

Seeing Acimovic made it worth while though.

[public enemy]

It's funny how no one in the Man Utd team really did anything last night, apart from everyone clutching their faces in an attempt to get a Lille player sent off to even the odds. Fletcher is hilariously invisible, I can't remember him touching the ball.

Seeing Acimovic made it worth while though.

[Lord Nibbler]

Can't remember the last time Scholes had a 'good day'.

[public enemy]

Can't remember the last time Scholes had a 'good day'.

[fineintent]

Essien is exciting and dynamic. Makalele puts in tackles and visably has an effect on the game.

Running around the pitch randomly doesn't make Fletcher a good player.