Champions League 2013/14

[brenchill]

They have Bale for fucksake.

[Lineker]

Presumably Courtois won't be able to play against Chelsea, I suppose Atletico would want to avoid them.

[Matt]

Presumably Courtois won't be able to play against Chelsea, I suppose Atletico would want to avoid them.

A Chelsea fan I know said that they don't have that clause before the quarter final draw. Not sure if that's true though.

[brenchill]

Thibaut Courtois will not play for Atletico Madrid if they draw Chelsea in the Champions League semi-finals, club president Enrique Cerezo has revealed.

Courtois has been on loan with the Madrid club since he signed for the Blues in the summer of 2011, winning the Europa League, Copa del Rey and Uefa Super Cup with the club.

But while there is nothing in the loan agreement to automatically prevent Courtois facing Chelsea in the last four, Atletico would have to pay the Londoners upwards of £8 million.

"If we draw Chelsea, Courtois won't play. It is a figure we cannot pay," Cerezo told Onda Cero.

Courtois is said to be unwilling to return to Stamford Bridge unless he can be assured of first-team football - a guarantee Chelsea cannot make due to the continued fine form of Petr Cech.

Cech is contracted with the Blues until the summer of 2016 and last week Goal reported that Courtois is on the verge of agreeing a deal to keep him with Atletico for another season.

[Matt]

I reckon they'd pay it if they met them in the final... But then Chelsea would probably bump that fee up

[stokeriño]

There's been a lot of confusion about Courtois, particularly since UEFA competitions don't have the blanket "nope, you can't play against your parent club" rule that the Premier League does. What tends to happen instead is that the loan agreements have what Spanish clubs call "fear clauses"...i.e. something horribly punative that's required to allow the player to be involved.

So the president of Atletico Madrid came out yesterday and confirmed that the terms of the loan require Atletico to pay Chelsea a large sum if Courtois were to be played (most commonly reported to be around 3 million euros per match) - something that was waived by Chelsea for the Super Cup two years ago since it's pretty much a friendly. He also confirmed that Atletico can't afford to pay this so...Courtois wouldn't play.

And to be honest, it's a headache I'd have thought UEFA would prefer to avoid. Say Courtois played against Chelsea and had an off-day, or fluffs an 'easy' save (through his legs or whatever). I am under no illusions that the same people who are grumbling about Chelsea 'denying' Atletico's 'right' to play Courtois would then be calling for some kind of official investigation into so-called match fixing. It has the potential to be very, very messy - which is exactly why the Premier League doesn't allow it, after all.

Of course what'll happen now is that Chelsea and Atletico won't play each other at all and this will all be moot.

[Baddar]

It's best for all parties that Courtois doesn't play really.

[Lineker]

Their other goalie, Dani Aranzubia, has only played once in the league this season. And he was sent off in that game.

If Chelsea and Atletico met in the final I reckon they'll stump up.

[brenchill]

I don't. Athletico are flat broke.

[Lineker]

They'll find the money. And recoup it plus more if they win the whole thing.

[Matt]

Even if they didn't win it they'll have made a metric fuck tonne from getting as far as the final. Plus they could still won la liga.

[Asuka's Gonna Kill You]

Pretty gutting going out last night but no shame what so ever in going out to the reigning champion's and probably the best side in football right now. For all their possession it was actually an even game for about a leg and a half. We got that goal and the entire match just went into utter chaos which was always going to play into the hands of Bayern. Once it became open they started to pick us apart, just a shame we couldn't calm it down after we got the goal, the response within 20-30 seconds came and the game erupted.

Didn't take enough of the chances we did create. You can't afford to do that against a quality side like Bayern. Gutting that we're out and barring some unbelievable miracle won't be in the CL next season. Hopefully we'll be back stronger within time.

[HailtotheYo]

Atletico/Bayern final please.

[therockbox]

[Matt]

Meant to say this last night: fair fucks to Vidic, if I took a ball in the knackers at that pace I'd have fallen to the floor immediately... I certainly wouldn't have been trying to make a second block

Edit: should have watched the gif instead of assuming it was the Vidic incident

[Baddar]

It's bravery like that that will help us so much next season.

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[King Ellis]

Just seen amongst the Daily Mail's sports section, a small piece on 'Who can Chelsea draw in the semis?'

It's not exactly hard to figure out, is it now?

[Baddar]

I think it'll be one of 3.

[stokeriño]

Just goes to show how surprised everyone will be when they pull out the piece of paper with Stockport County's name on it.

[HailtotheYo]

Surely the Cosmos yeah ?