Champions' League 2013/4

[geysir]

Anderlecht down to 10 men, with nothing to play for, certainly rattled Olympiakos in the 2nd half, then they lost a 2nd player for a last man tackle, the defender might have got a touch on the ball - I don't know. Anderlecht now down to 9 were still in with a chance for an equaliser, then they lost their goalie, for a dead-cert red card tackle and the penalty was dispatched - just about, in off the post. Game finally over.

I think the key moment was Anderlecht losing their goalie and going down to 8 players so soon after going down to 9, as Mick McCarthy claimed (after the qual against Croatia) that playing 9 men is a highly dangerous proposition - you just don't know what will happen as a wounded team throws caution to the wind. If only Anderlecht had been able to be that dangerous team with 9 players for a period of time.

[Closed Account 2]

Juventus are out, they lost just now to Galatasaray, Senijder scored for them in the 85th min. The game was resumed at lunchtime today after being suspended last night due to snow. Good goal and good tactical game from Mancini's side, Juventus look very toothless 6 points from 6 games is the worst by an Italian side in the group stage since 2008 - even if Milan and Napoli lose tonight they will still have more than 6 points.

[DannyInvincible]

I always believed they'd do it.

Apparently, Pellegrini was unware his side required just one more goal to top the group: http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/football/25328129


Manchester City boss Manuel Pellegrini seemed not to realise his team were one goal away from claiming top spot in Champions League Group D during their 3-2 win over Bayern Munich.

A 4-2 victory would have ensured City qualified in first place and avoided a top seed in the last-16 draw on Monday.

But Pellegrini appeared to suggest his team needed a three-goal victory.

Asked why he did not bring on striker Sergio Aguero, he said: "I was tempted if we scored the fourth goal."

The Chilean added: "It was important to be first in the group but not the most important - it was difficult to score two goals."

Both sides finished on 15 points have already qualified for the knockout stages.

After beating City 3-1 in Manchester in the first group game, holders Bayern went through as group winners ahead of City because of their better head-to-head goals record.

With the score at 3-2, Pellegrini opted to bring on midfielder Jack Rodwell for striker Edin Dzeko, rather than introduce Argentina international Aguero, the club's top scorer this season with 18 goals.

"I said it would be very difficult to beat Bayern by three goals," said Pellegrini, who gave the impression he had given up on the 5-2 scoreline he seemed to think they needed.

[geysir]

When he was informed about the goal difference thing, Pellegrini was quick to assume an air of supreme defiance, as in 'we don't care who we meet we're not concerned about such petty details as topping the group'.

Tonight's menu looks more attractive than last night's.
What's the main game, Napoli v Arsenal? Maybe if Napoli score before half time.
Isn't Napoli one of these 'see ..... and die' cities?
You could have 3 teams on 12 points in that group

Chelsea should wrap up their group, leaving a humdinger between Schalke and Basle.
Milan V Ajax should be another worth watching game.

Zenit should stay ahead of Porto, leaving no Portuguese team in the last 16.

[Charlie Darwin]

Celtic held out for a good 6 minutes there.

[geysir]

There's some ex player who's co-commentator on the Barca celtic game, fck me but that guy just spends the whole time complaining, every time he's allowed to open his mouth it's to moan about this or that, often enough he keeps moaning until the replay proves him wrong then shifts to moan about something else.
Makes Ray sound like a beacon of optimism.

[geysir]

Obvious interference in shaping the line up for the last 16.
Basel down to 10 against Schalke and Marseilles down to 10 against Dortmund. The common denominator there is .... Germany.

[Charlie Darwin]

Absolutely shocking dive by the Marseilles player to earn his second yellow. It was Brady-esque.

http://d3j5vwomefv46c.cloudfront.net/photos/large/827009867.gif?1386793474

[Charlie Darwin]

2-0 Schalke now. They also fluked their way past PAOK in the play-off round.

[geysir]

Schalke's 2nd appeared to be a mile offside, but haven't had a good look at it.

[geysir]

Milan down to 10, a straight red.
There's a pattern here.

[Charlie Darwin]

Napoli 1-0, Higuaín. This could get interesting. Now 2 points clear of Dortmund, who are still locked at 1-1 with 10-man Marseilles.

And Arteta sent off!

[geysir]

Megaphone fan in Naples is giving it plenty or was that the official pa?

Arsenal down to 10, must have missed their Uefa dues.

[geysir]

Samaras gets one back for Celtic, leaped like a gazelle to stroke one home from a corner.

[Charlie Darwin]

Napoli made no effort to put 10-man Arsenal to the sword... and Dortmund have just scored against Marseilles. Napoli have injury time to score twice.

[geysir]

Samaras running rings around the Barca defence, had a certain goal bound shot cleared of the line.

Dortmund players diving like swans in France.

[Charlie Darwin]

2-0 Napoli! Can they do it?

[geysir]

Forde would easily have got down to save that Dortmund 2nd goal.

[geysir]

I see the Basel red card was just farcical, a 100% cheat.
For Schalke's 2nd there were only 4 players offside.

[Charlie Darwin]

Just the 4? Amateurs.

David Forde undoubtedly watched the Celtic match tonight licking his lips at all the goals he could concede to Barcelona with Messi back.

[geysir]

Only 3 teams outside the big leagues got through to the last 16, Olympiakos, Galatasaray and Zenit. The first 2 are there on merit but Zenit who got trounced by Austria Vienna can consider themselves fortunate.

[Charlie Darwin]

Szczezny just did a Noel King on Tony O'Donoghue. It's been a tough year for TOD, poor guy.

[geysir]

After years interviewing Trap, Tony mistakingly thought he knew a thing or two about mentality.
Who the fck decides to sends TOD with a microphone to Italy for that cráp indulgence in sport psychology..

[ArdeeBhoy]

David Forde undoubtedly watched the Celtic match tonight licking his lips at all the goals he could concede to Barcelona with Messi back.

Well, he's got the rest of his life to wonder...
:rolleyes:

[Charlie Darwin]

Well, he's got the rest of his life to wonder...
:rolleyes:
Well he won't have to wonder that long considering he'll be Celtic's #1 next season!

[ArdeeBhoy]

Hang on, someone said he was signing a new contract with Millwall, so doubtful...
Hopefully.

[Closed Account 2]

I see the Basel red card was just farcical, a 100% cheat.
For Schalke's 2nd there were only 4 players offside.

It was a foul (he was blocking the Schalke players arm) and he was more or less the last man, in those situations there is always the risk of the red card. That second goal was undoubtedly offside, its been a few years since I've seen a team play an offside trap when defending a set piece like that. But it's hard to have sympathy for Basel, they did well in both matches vs Cheslea but were absolute stinkers in the other 4 games, picking up only 2 points from the home and away matches vs Schalke and Steaua, which is nothing like good enough to make it to the next round.

[geysir]

It might have been a foul against the Schalke player, more like 7 from one and 6 from the other, but it looks 100% that the Schalke player swung himself to the ground, too much of a coward to follow the ball.
http://footyroom.com/schalke-04-2-0-fc-basel-2013-12/
Somehow the ref just happened to miss the import of the rugby tackle on Streller who was clean through on goal.
Nobody's asking you have sympathy for Basel, an objective appraisal would do for a change:)
They were very much in that game until they had a player sent off.

[Closed Account 2]

It was a foul and the ref had already booked a player from each side for similar fouls, he wasnt letting things go and as such any foul on the edge of the box while being the last man was a huge risk for Ivanov to take.

They were only in the game in the sense it was 0-0, zero attacking intent. Even for the 30 mins where it was 11 vs 11 they never looked like doing anything - it was as if the whole game plan was to cling on to the 0-0. Here is an objective stat for you, 4 games vs Schalke and Steaua only 2 goals scored and 5 let in. As I suggested last season, and earlier this season, Basle are a limited team. If you have competent markers at set pieces (specifically corners) and you put a good tracking player on Salaah (their only attacking player with a degree of craft) then the chances of them scoring dwindle dramatically. They are leaky at the back, another objective stat for you - Steaua only scored 2 goals in their 6 games, both against Basle. There is/was a lot of hype about this Basle team but I really don't think they are anything special at all. This season, they havent been able to get the better of Steaua who are 3rd in Romanian league or take a point from Schalke who are 6th in Bundesliga (and, in terms of points, nearer the bottom than the top).

[geysir]

It was a foul and the ref had already booked a player from each side for similar fouls, he wasnt letting things go and as such any foul on the edge of the box while being the last man was a huge risk for Ivanov to take.

They were only in the game in the sense it was 0-0, zero attacking intent. Even for the 30 mins where it was 11 vs 11 they never looked like doing anything - it was as if the whole game plan was to cling on to the 0-0. Here is an objective stat for you, 4 games vs Schalke and Steaua only 2 goals scored and 5 let in. As I suggested last season, and earlier this season, Basle are a limited team. If you have competent markers at set pieces (specifically corners) and you put a good tracking player on Salaah (their only attacking player with a degree of craft) then the chances of them scoring dwindle dramatically. They are leaky at the back, another objective stat for you - Steaua only scored 2 goals in their 6 games, both against Basle. There is/was a lot of hype about this Basle team but I really don't think they are anything special at all. This season, they havent been able to get the better of Steaua who are 3rd in Romanian league or take a point from Schalke who are 6th in Bundesliga (and, in terms of points, nearer the bottom than the top).

So you commend the Schalke player for throwing himself to the ground, simulating getting thrown to the ground, or do you actually believe that theatric was a natural aspirated event?

Are you still digging up stats to show that you are are an expert on football and the limitations of fc Basel?
Jesus wept!
As has been said on here before, Basel are middling team by European standards, with a good successful academy, with middling income levels, playing good attractive football, attempting to punch above their weight playing against the richest clubs in Europe, managing to haul a few big scalps on a regular basis and earning kudos from football fans around Europe, in a similar way that Athletic Bilbao did.
Edmundo, get a life, Basel beat Chelsea home and away, sh+t happens, does anybody really care how you feel about that or how that home and away win against Chelsea went against the grain of your previous appraisal of Basel. And now that Basel are out of the CL, you have a dossier of facts ready to prove you were right about Basel all along and that Schalke one of the richest clubs in Europe are actually better than Basel?

[Closed Account 2]

It was a foul, his movement was impeded since his arm was trapped by Ivanonv. The manner of him falling is neither here nor there.

Schalke are one of the richest clubs in Europe?? News to me, but youre a massive fan of the Bundesliga and Germany in general, so I'll bow to your better judgement there. It's a worry when you of all people tell someone to get a life. Still good luck in the Europa, and good luck with replacing Salaah when he goes - presumably another great academy product?

[Charlie Darwin]

As has been said on here before, Basel are middling team by European standards, with a good successful academy, with middling income levels, playing good attractive football, attempting to punch above their weight playing against the richest clubs in Europe, managing to haul a few big scalps on a regular basis and earning kudos from football fans around Europe, in a similar way that Athletic Bilbao did.
Edmundo, get a life, Basel beat Chelsea home and away, sh+t happens, does anybody really care how you feel about that or how that home and away win against Chelsea went against the grain of your previous appraisal of Basel. And now that Basel are out of the CL, you have a dossier of facts ready to prove you were right about Basel all along and that Schalke one of the richest clubs in Europe are actually better than Basel?
If they were that good they'd be playing in the Premier League.

And yes, Edmundo, they're the third biggest-earning club in Germany, just behind Dortmund.

[Closed Account 2]

Haven't they been net sellers in 3 of the last 5 seasons? I can only recall 3 over-€10m signings in the last few years for them, Huntelaar, Jurado, possibly Boateng. In that time they've sold players like Neuer (something like €25m) and Westermann and Rafinha (who were around €10m each).

[Charlie Darwin]

The season they sold Westermann and Rafinha for about €15 million, they spent €40 million on players as well as bringing in Raul who was on a big wedge. Neuer leaving was a practical decision - he was out of contract the following year and had made it clear he'd be a Bayern player either through being sold or his contract expiring. They're pretty heavy net spenders most of the time.

[Closed Account 2]

Not sure where you are getting your figures from, but this site doesn't suggest a gross spend of 40m that season, and the net spend was around 15m.

http://m.transfermarkt.de/de/fc-schalke-04/transfers/verein_33_2010_default_default_alle_a_default.html

They have singed free players on expensive wages, but they've also under sold players (who were about to leave on frees) who were on, high wages too, Rakitic, Holtby, Jurado. I really don't think you can class them as one of Europes richest clubs.

[Charlie Darwin]

Gah, don't be linking me to mobile sites. That website puts the figure at €36 million, which is pretty close to €40 million considering these are estimates, and the fact they've underestimated the Jurado fee by €2 million.

Look, you don't have to consider them one of the Europe's richest clubs if you don't want to, but the fact is that they nevertheless they do have the 14th highest income in European football, which is pretty good. They also have legacy debt issues which probably hampers them, but clearly they're not afraid to spend their money.

edit: to add to the discussion about Swiss football, Swansea are currently withstanding a siege in little-fancied St Galen, and the home team really should be 3 or 4 up, was it not for the goalkeeper's heroics.

[Closed Account 2]

I don't think their net spend on transfers suggests they are one of Europe's richest clubs. If you look at teams like Barca, Real, Bayern, City, Juventus, Chelsea, PSG, Monaco, Tottenham, Zenit, possibly even some of the other eastern sides like Shakhtar or Dinamo I would class these teams as Europe's richest and I'm not sure how Schalke can be in that bracket.

[Charlie Darwin]

I don't think their net spend on transfers suggests they are one of Europe's richest clubs. If you look at teams like Barca, Real, Bayern, City, Juventus, Chelsea, PSG, Monaco, Tottenham, Zenit, possibly even some of the other eastern sides like Shakhtar or Dinamo I would class these teams as Europe's richest and I'm not sure how Schalke can be in that bracket.
Because they're the fourteenth richest club by income in Europe and their net spend exceeds many of those clubs.

[Closed Account 2]

Who are the "many" teams from that list who have a net spend less than Schalke?

From what I can see it's only Tottenham and Shakhtar over the last 5 years.


Team____Total_______13/14______12/13_____11/12_____10/11_______09/10
City_____448.27____104.293_____17.65____65.135____ _144.842_____116.35
Chelsea__360.485____65.2_______89.75____71.45_____ _108__________26.085
Real____348.9_______49__________0_______47________ __83_________169.9
PSG_____336.55______84.4______144.25____96.7______ ___2___________9.2
Bayern__199.65______22.5_______69.8_____44.6______ __11__________51.75
Barca___195.75______41.9_______32.5_____13.05_____ __19.8________88.5
Juve____189.015_____-6.085_____45.1_____80.7________23.9________45.4
Monaco__177.575____159.95______21.15____-3__________-4.35________3.825
Zenit___161.41______-5.7______102.01____15.1________41.4_________8.6
DinMos___87.15______48.9_______-7.8_____29.5_________0.65_______15.9
Schalke__13.325_____19_________-0.35___-24.275______15.15________3.8
Spurs____7.19________3.855______5.47___-33.8________23.165_______8.5
Shakr__-11.605______-0.5______-11.6______5.23_______21.45______-26.185

[Closed Account 2]

Knockout draw:

Man City V Barca
Olympiacos v Man Utd
AC Milan v Atletico Madrid
Leverkusen v PSG
Galatasary v Chelsea
Schalke v Real Madrid
Zenit v Dortmund
Arsenal v Bayern Munich

[pineapple stu]

Nasty for Arsenal and Man City, who missed out on winning their groups by a single goal I think.

[DeLorean]

Definitely worth winning the group this time around. City have every chance against Barca though I would think, couldn't really say the same for Arsenal. Munich will play the two legs this time! On current form Atletico should easily account for Milan.

[DeLorean]

City didn't deserve to top their group anyway to be fair, just a case of Bayern taking their foot off the pedal.

[McNasara]

Some interesting facts:

Man City vs Barcelona
Manuel Pellegrini (Man City coach) has a very bad record against Barca (4-4-14), but City have never lost against Spanish team at home and the Catalonians haven't won in their last five away games in England.

Olympiacos vs Man Utd
Man Utd won every game (5) against Greek clubs at home (goal difference 17:1) and Oly lost every game (11) in England (goal difference 3:34).

Galatasaray vs Chelsea
Galata haven't lost in last five home matches versus clubs from England.

Schalke vs Real Madrid
Real Madrid didn't win in last ten away games in Germany (0-2-8).

[Closed Account 2]

Europa League R32

Dnipro v Spurs
Betis v Rubin Kazan
Swansea v Napoli
Juventus v Trabzonspor
Maribor v Sevilla
Plzen v Shakhtar
Odessa v Lyonnais
Lazio v Razgrad
Esbjerg v Fiorentina
Ajax v Salzburg
Tel-Aviv v Basel
Porto v Frankfurt
Anji v Genk
Kiev v Valencia
Paok v Benfica
Liberec v AZ Alkmaar

[Closed Account 2]

Europa League R16

R16

Liberec/AZ v Anji/Genk
Lazio/Razgrad v Kiev/Valencia
Porto/Frankfurt v Swansea/Napoli
Odessa/Lyonnais v Plzen/Shakhtar
Maribor/Sevilla v Betis/Rubin
Dnipro/Spurs v Paok/Benfica
TelAviv/Basel v Ajax/Salzburg
Juve/Trabzon v Esbjurg/Fiorentina


Potential Seville derby in there and potential Juventus v Fiorentina (latter are the only team to beat them in the league this season so far).

[Neish]

Man City V Barca
Should be a great game both have excellent attack and rather dodgy defences

Olympiacos v Man Utd
United should win but on recent form anything is possible

AC Milan v Atletico Madrid
Fancy Atletico to take this

Leverkusen v PSG
After watching Leverkusen against United PSG should easily beat them

Galatasary v Chelsea
Chelsea should be too strong but would be funny if a Drogba goal or two sent them out. One things for sure both sets of fans will get on well together

Schalke v Real Madrid
Real should easily dominate

Zenit v Dortmund
Dortmund would be too strong for Zenit

Arsenal v Bayern Munich
Again should be a good game but can't really see Arsenal beating Bayern

[DannyInvincible]

When he was informed about the goal difference thing, Pellegrini was quick to assume an air of supreme defiance, as in 'we don't care who we meet we're not concerned about such petty details as topping the group'.

I wonder would he say the same thing now.

[DeLorean]

http://25.media.tumblr.com/789f8947026556f18b71431cd119ba3a/tumblr_mxwolfqMHV1ro94ojo1_250.gif


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CtnFolQXe-w

[McNasara]

Tuesday 18 February 2014
Team 1
Team 2


Bayer 04 Leverkusen v Paris Saint-Germain (http://odds-comparison.bestbetting.com/football/champions-league/knockout-phase/round-of-16/paris-saint-germain-v-bayer-04-leverkusen/bayer-04-leverkusen-v-paris-saint-germain/qualify-from-tie/) (19:45 GMT)
3.75
1.36




Manchester City v FC Barcelona (http://odds-comparison.bestbetting.com/football/champions-league/knockout-phase/round-of-16/fc-barcelona-v-manchester-city/manchester-city-v-fc-barcelona/qualify-from-tie/) (19:45 GMT)
2.87
1.5




Wednesday 19 February 2014
Team 1
Team 2


AC Milan v Atlético de Madrid (http://odds-comparison.bestbetting.com/football/champions-league/knockout-phase/round-of-16/atl%C3%A9tico-de-madrid-v-ac-milan/ac-milan-v-atl%C3%A9tico-de-madrid/qualify-from-tie/) (19:45 GMT)
3.5
1.42




Arsenal v FC Bayern München (http://odds-comparison.bestbetting.com/football/champions-league/knockout-phase/round-of-16/fc-bayern-m%C3%BCnchen-v-arsenal/arsenal-v-fc-bayern-m%C3%BCnchen/qualify-from-tie/) (19:45 GMT)
5.3
1.28




Tuesday 25 February 2014
Team 1
Team 2


Zenit Saint-Petersburg v Borussia Dortmund (http://odds-comparison.bestbetting.com/football/champions-league/knockout-phase/round-of-16/borussia-dortmund-v-zenit-saint-petersburg/zenit-saint-petersburg-v-borussia-dortmund/qualify-from-tie/) (17:00 GMT)
5.5
1.23




Olympiacos v Manchester United (http://odds-comparison.bestbetting.com/football/champions-league/knockout-phase/round-of-16/manchester-united-v-olympiacos/olympiacos-v-manchester-united/qualify-from-tie/) (19:45 GMT)
5.3
1.25




Wednesday 26 February 2014
Team 1
Team 2


FC Schalke 04 v Real Madrid (http://odds-comparison.bestbetting.com/football/champions-league/knockout-phase/round-of-16/real-madrid-v-fc-schalke-04/fc-schalke-04-v-real-madrid/qualify-from-tie/) (19:45 GMT)
9.8
1.14




Galatasaray SK v Chelsea (http://odds-comparison.bestbetting.com/football/champions-league/knockout-phase/round-of-16/chelsea-v-galatasaray-sk/galatasaray-sk-v-chelsea/qualify-from-tie/) (19:45 GMT)
4.75
1.25