Champions League 2009-2010 [Archive]

DeLorean

29/07/2009, 1:14 PM

For those of you who don't already know, I found it interesting that this seasons final will be held on a Saturday. Much better in my opinion. It is on the same day as the Heineken Cup Final and provisionally the Championship Playoff Final, although this is usually on the English May Bank Holiday. Could be a super day for the pub.

It is to be held in the Bernabéu so it's easy to see why Real are so eager to get as many stars in a possible to ensure they'll be there.

Champions League Final 2010 (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2010_UEFA_Champions_League_Final)

eirebhoy

29/07/2009, 2:34 PM

Yeh definitely better to have it on a Saturday. Would make a day of it. As it is I'd either have to take the following day off work (if I have a bloody job) or go home with that horrible feeling of not wanting the night to end. As you can guess I'm not big into half sessions. ;)

DeLorean

29/07/2009, 3:13 PM

Neish

29/07/2009, 4:25 PM

Pobably better on a saturday especially for the fans travelling to it

Will the game be played during the day or night?

DeLorean

29/07/2009, 4:36 PM

Will the game be played during the day or night?

Good question. I just assumed it would be the traditional 19:45 ko but don't know for sure. Doesn't say of the UEFA website either.

Denis The Red

29/07/2009, 7:17 PM

I'm a traditionalist, I love European nights midweek. Keep the weekend for the domestic. It's great to have the banter in work the next day rather than wait two days. Besides I'm surprised Platini went with this as he's somewhat a traditionalist. He wanted only league champions in the champions league and he also got his wish of the trophy presentation in the stand (like the royal box at wembley) as oppose on the pitch.
Last year's presentation was brilliant, only wish is was Man U getting the trophy.
Btw, it seems it won't bother Celtic too much... 1-0 down at home to Dynamo Moscow.

KellierBohs

29/07/2009, 9:46 PM

bad loss for celtic at home :( gonna be tough for them in russia they seemed very comfortable at times dynamo did

irishultra

29/07/2009, 10:50 PM

red bull and zagreb drew 1-1 in salzburg

MeathDrog

29/07/2009, 11:29 PM

I'm fairly sure that if Celtic lose this tie, they go out of Europe altogether? RTE seem to think that they go into the Europa League

Schumi

29/07/2009, 11:50 PM

Losers in this round go into the last qualifying round of the Europa League. That's a big part of why it was such a big deal for Bohs.

MeathDrog

30/07/2009, 12:41 AM

Losers in this round go into the last qualifying round of the Europa League. That's a big part of why it was such a big deal for Bohs.
Oh I see.

HarpoJoyce

05/08/2009, 8:04 PM

FC Sheriff of Tiraspol near Moldova didn't beat Slavia once in their two games between them. But then again, they didn't need too.

http://www.uefa.com/competitions/ucl/fixturesresults/round=2000026/match=2000333/index.html

Sheriff through on away goals, equaliser in 90+4 minutes.

DeLorean

05/08/2009, 8:45 PM

Great win for Celtic today. Seen most of the second half and they were excellent. McGeady looked decent.

EAFC_rdfl

05/08/2009, 8:46 PM

I'm fairly sure that if Celtic lose this tie, they go out of Europe altogether? RTE seem to think that they go into the Europa League
doesn't matter now, get in there samaras!! what a great display, really took the game to the russians for a change

eirebhoy

05/08/2009, 10:01 PM

That famous final ball was off for McGeady tonight but I'm loving the freedom he's getting under Mowbray.

Delighted with the win. N'Guemo looks to be a brilliant deal. He's some tackler. Fox doesn't look to be lacking in confidence. He fooled the Moscow players a few times with dummy's. A real footballer at full back. McDonald played well and Hinkel was very good. Donati dominated a lot of it.

Great to have Scott Brown back too. I'd turn down £10m for him in a second. He's a class act. Couldn't believe how well he did playing as a striker tonight. He loves an oul' back heal, flick, 1-2. Great reader of those effective showboat situations. :)

Ah these nights make it worthwhile but it doesn't feel that way sometimes.

old git

05/08/2009, 10:30 PM

Great win for Celtic today. Seen most of the second half and they were excellent. McGeady looked decent.

great win alright if you consider their awful away form as well they were the better team on the night .. ngumo & fox both played well and look half decent players .. mc geady done alright ruined it a bit with a few bad crosses.. :ball: still not sure on fortune up front he did not impress that much but hopefully he will improve with more games

Dodge

05/08/2009, 10:37 PM

Closed Account 2

05/08/2009, 11:19 PM

^^ They would say Transdnistrian football :P

No Czech team in the Champions League this season! No ex-Yugoslav teams either.

Sherriff and Ventspils (of Lativa) are the only team left from a country that's yet to have a team play in the group stage.

Scram

06/08/2009, 8:58 AM

great win alright if you consider their awful away form as well they were the better team on the night .. ngumo & fox both played well and look half decent players .. mc geady done alright ruined it a bit with a few bad crosses.. :ball: still not sure on fortune up front he did not impress that much but hopefully he will improve with more games

Superb and deserved win for Celtic and great management of the game and substitutions by Mowbary.

Hoping not to get any of the big guns like Arsenal in the play-offs

DeLorean

06/08/2009, 9:21 AM

Celtic will still have it all to do but they're in with a good chance. From what I gather these are their potential playoff opponents (open to correction):

Arsenal
Lyon
Sporting Lisbon
Panathinaikos
Stuttgart

Also these are Arsenal's potential opponents:

Fiorentina
Athletico Madrid
Celtic
Anderlecht
Timisoara

Draw is tomorrow lunchtime.

EAFC_rdfl

06/08/2009, 10:53 AM

my understanding was that celtic would get one of:
arsenal
lyon
stuttgart
fiorentina
athletico

them 5 are drawn against:
Celtic
Panathinaikos
Politehnica Timisoara
sporting
Sivasspor

OR is it an open draw, all 10 in together?

I couldnt honestly pick one from the top 5 as an easy game, maybe arsenal or stuttgart??

DeLorean

06/08/2009, 11:04 AM

is it an open draw, all 10 in together?

No, the teams that I said that Celtic may play are the seeded teams in the Non-Champions category. Celtic are non-seeds in the same category. There is also a Champions category consisting of 5 seeds and 5 non-seeds who will play each other. 10 winners overall to join the other 22 teams already in the group stage. See here (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2009%E2%80%9310_UEFA_Champions_League#Play-off_round)

Junior

06/08/2009, 11:06 AM

There seems to be confiusion on whether Celtic could get Fiorentina and Athletico or Pana and Sporting. Various MB and Media outlets all have differing versions.

Either way if we get Arsenal can I be first on the 'Stutts88 can you get me a ticket' list?;)

If we are to have any chance of getting through, then for me its Pana, Sporting, or Fiorentina - though no game will be easy and we wont be favourites in any tie we get.

Great result for us last night, even if we crash out in the next round. It was an attacking performance, where only one team wanted to win the game. It gets the bloody 'away win' monkey off our back and hopeful should give the lads some confidence when 'on the road' in the future and it does guarantee Europa league, though obv heres hoping we can get the CL spot.

I

eirebhoy

06/08/2009, 11:49 AM

There seems to be confiusion on whether Celtic could get Fiorentina and Athletico or Pana and Sporting. Various MB and Media outlets all have differing versions.

Don't mind the media, Bert is never wrong. :)

http://www.xs4all.nl/~kassiesa/bert/uefa/seedcl2009.html

How on earth the media are getting it so mixed up I don't know. There's 1 list of seeds and that's it.

btw, last nights win earned Celtic €2m from UEFA. A lot of money for a qualifier.

DeLorean

06/08/2009, 12:11 PM

I suppose the Celtic game should be put in perspective a bit as well. Dynamo Moscow are only a few points ahead of that crowd Krylya that Pat's beat last week in the Russian League, with 16 games gone.

Russian Premier League (http://www.soccerway.com/national/russia/premier-league/2009/regular-season/tables/)

Still a great result though in fairness and a giant monkey off their back. I'd love to see them get (and beat!!) Arsenal for entertainment value but I suppose for the best chance of qualification they'd be better off with Sporting Lisbon or Panathinaikos.

superfrank

06/08/2009, 12:32 PM

I'd love to see them get (and beat!!) Arsenal for entertainment value but I suppose for the best chance of qualification they'd be better off with Sporting Lisbon or Panathinaikos.
Pana would be a kind of dark horse in the draw. They came close to putting Villareal out last year and they topped a group with Inter and Werder Bremen (beating both sides away from home).

Sporting (12-1) on the other hand...

eirebhoy

06/08/2009, 12:35 PM

I suppose the Celtic game should be put in perspective a bit as well. Dynamo Moscow are only a few points ahead of that crowd Krylya that Pat's beat last week in the Russian League, with 16 games gone.

Russian Premier League (http://www.soccerway.com/national/russia/premier-league/2009/regular-season/tables/)

Also ahead of Zenit though. Anyway there's no arguing that Celtic had better players than Dinamo. Not often it looks that way away from home with Celtic only ever really looking classier than the likes of Aalborg.

I agree that Celtic - Arsenal would be some match to watch. The tempo from the current Celtic team is unreal. End to end stuff.

DeLorean

06/08/2009, 12:37 PM

Pana would be a kind of dark horse in the draw. They came close to putting Villareal out last year and they topped a group with Inter and Werder Bremen (beating both sides away from home)

True but they must no have even won the greek league to say they're in Celtic's category. Olympiakos are usually decent too though to be fair. I still reckon they'd be happier just to avoid Arsenal and Lyon. Stuttgart might not be bad, they beat them comfortably enough in the UEFA Cup, allbeit a good few yrs back.

Closed Account 2

06/08/2009, 1:05 PM

This is the official list as at UEFA.com:

Seeded
Arsenal FC (ENG)
Olympique Lyonnais (FRA)
Sporting Clube de Portugal (POR)
Panathinaikos FC (GRE)
VfB Stuttgart (GER)

Unseeded
ACF Fiorentina (ITA)
Club Atlético de Madrid (ESP)
Celtic FC (SCO)
RSC Anderlecht (BEL)
FC Timişoara (ROU)

Any of the first can play any of the second. I suspect Celtic would want to avoid Arsenal or Stuttgart. Lyon are beatable and Sporting or Panathinikos would be the best draw. I would say the latter 2 are easier than Dynamo Moscow. Arsenal are probably the hardest team and have an abundance of quality and experience. Stuttgart have some quality players including recent signings Hleb and Pogrebnyak and also Boka and Hitzlsperger. Marica is starting to show promise too. Lyon have had a lot of changes in the squad, Juninho, Benzema, Kader Keita all out, Cissokho, Pied, Gomis and Lisandro Lopez in - they are in transition and it's a good time to play them. Panathinikos are probably the weakest seeded team in this part of the draw.

Arsenal on the other hand would probably prefer to face Anderlecht or Timshoara. Fiorentina and Atletico are very strong.

briancool21

06/08/2009, 7:39 PM

I wouldn't mind fiorentina or athletico there nothing special as an arsenal fan. I wouldn't fancy Celtic against any of those teams to be honest

DeLorean

06/08/2009, 8:16 PM

I wouldn't mind fiorentina or athletico there nothing special as an arsenal fan. I wouldn't fancy Celtic against any of those teams to be honest

You're probably right about Fiorentina but Atletico are a very useful side.

Junior

07/08/2009, 9:09 AM

I wouldn't fancy Celtic against any of those teams to be honest

We wont be favourites in any of the potential ties.......but.....there is usually at least one side that goes through against the odds? If we can go back to our previously 'almost guaranteed' win at home and take confidence from the away performance in Moscow....please god we can do the business over 2 legs.

Closed Account 2

07/08/2009, 10:13 AM

It is Celtic v Arsenal

Closed Account 2

07/08/2009, 10:15 AM

Full draw:

Sheriff v Olympiacos
Salzburg v M. Haifa
Ventspils v Zuerich
Kobenhavn v APOEL Nicpsia
Levski Sofia v Debrecen

Lyon v Anderlecht
Celtic v Arsenal
Timishoara v Stuttgart
Sporting v Fiorentina
Panathinikos v Atletico Madrid

Junior

07/08/2009, 10:23 AM

Either way if we get Arsenal can I be first on the 'Stutts88 can you get me a ticket' list?;)

*Cough Cough..ahem*

Closed Account 2

07/08/2009, 10:29 AM

Not a draw many people would want... to think that one of Lyon or Anderlecht will go through and two of Arsenal/Celtic Sporting/Fiorentina will be eliminated.

Schumi

07/08/2009, 10:37 AM

to think that one of Lyon or Anderlecht will go through and two of Arsenal/Celtic Sporting/Fiorentina will be eliminated.

What's wrong with that? Lyon got out of the group stages last year (and for several years before), Celtic and Fiorentina didn't.

DeLorean

07/08/2009, 10:41 AM

Class draw. Can't wait for those matches. Not sure what your saying Edmundo, Lyon might be in transition but they're still Champions League quality, I'd imagine. Themselves, Stuttgart, Fiorentina, Atletico and the winners of Celtic and Arsenal will all add something to the competition I think.

Closed Account 2

07/08/2009, 5:49 PM

I just think they've lost a trio of key players in Kader Keita, Benzema and Juninho and they didn't really replace Hatem Ben-Arfra when he moved south a year or two ago. They looked past it domestically last year, ligue 1 was about 10 games too far for them, they ended up 9 points off the pace, 10 if you factor in their worse goal difference.

They have signed some new players with the Benzema money, but the only one who is proven quality is Lisandro Lopez. Cissokho was good for Porto but he was only at that club for 6 months, with respect it's hard to judge a player off 4 champions league matches (2 draws vs Atletico and one draw one defeat vs Man Utd). He didn't set French football alight at Gueugnon. Bastos and Panjic are fairly good, but I think Lyon are nothing like the force they were even 2 seasons ago.

DeLorean

10/08/2009, 9:52 AM

Ok but in terms of quality what's the big deal about Celtic or Sporting not making it?

briancool21

11/08/2009, 6:39 PM

do you know what i find funny Boh's would potentially take apart that isreli side

irishultra

11/08/2009, 9:46 PM

I don't think we would. I still think Zagreb would have beaten us anyway...I hope:(

Infadel

16/08/2009, 12:12 PM

RTE have decided it would be a great idea to air coverage of the Athletico Madrid vs Panathinikos game instead of the Celtic Arsenal game:rolleyes:.

superfrank

16/08/2009, 1:16 PM

Delighted.

Dodge

16/08/2009, 1:26 PM

RTE have decided it would be a great idea to air coverage of the Athletico Madrid vs Panathinikos game instead of the Celtic Arsenal game:rolleyes:.

Maybe because they're on different nights...

Infadel

16/08/2009, 1:51 PM

Maybe because they're on different nights...
Yes but instead of showing the Celtic Arsenal game which would have higher viewer figures they decided to go for a different tie which won't attract the same audience.

superfrank

16/08/2009, 2:14 PM

TV3 have the other one though.

HarpoJoyce

16/08/2009, 2:22 PM

RTE have decided it would be a great idea to air coverage of the Athletico Madrid vs Panathinikos game instead of the Celtic Arsenal game:rolleyes:.

Sweet, they can reference Longford Town right throughout the game.

Dodge

16/08/2009, 3:35 PM

Yes but instead of showing the Celtic Arsenal game which would have higher viewer figures they decided to go for a different tie which won't attract the same audience.

No, instead of showing a game on the night they don't have rights to, they show a game on the night they are allowed :rolleyes:

ITV showing Panathinaikos Atletico on wednesday too BTW

DeLorean

16/08/2009, 5:24 PM

RTE have decided it would be a great idea to air coverage of the Athletico Madrid vs Panathinikos game instead of the Celtic Arsenal game:rolleyes:.

As if RTE would actually choose to do that if it was up to them.