Milan down to 10, a straight red.
There's a pattern here.
Printable View
Milan down to 10, a straight red.
There's a pattern here.
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!
Megaphone fan in Naples is giving it plenty or was that the official pa?
Arsenal down to 10, must have missed their Uefa dues.
Samaras gets one back for Celtic, leaped like a gazelle to stroke one home from a corner.
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.
Samaras running rings around the Barca defence, had a certain goal bound shot cleared of the line.
Dortmund players diving like swans in France.
2-0 Napoli! Can they do it?
Forde would easily have got down to save that Dortmund 2nd goal.
I see the Basel red card was just farcical, a 100% cheat.
For Schalke's 2nd there were only 4 players offside.
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.
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.
Szczezny just did a Noel King on Tony O'Donoghue. It's been a tough year for TOD, poor guy.
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..
Hang on, someone said he was signing a new contract with Millwall, so doubtful...
Hopefully.
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.
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.
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?
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?
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).
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.
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-scha...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.
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.
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.
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_____11 6.35
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
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
Nasty for Arsenal and Man City, who missed out on winning their groups by a single goal I think.
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.
City didn't deserve to top their group anyway to be fair, just a case of Bayern taking their foot off the pedal.
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).
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
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).
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
Tuesday 18 February 2014 Team 1 Team 2 Bayer 04 Leverkusen v Paris Saint-Germain (19:45 GMT) 3.75 1.36 Manchester City v FC Barcelona (19:45 GMT) 2.87 1.5 Wednesday 19 February 2014 Team 1 Team 2 AC Milan v Atlético de Madrid (19:45 GMT) 3.5 1.42 Arsenal v FC Bayern München (19:45 GMT) 5.3 1.28 Tuesday 25 February 2014 Team 1 Team 2 Zenit Saint-Petersburg v Borussia Dortmund (17:00 GMT) 5.5 1.23 Olympiacos v Manchester United (19:45 GMT) 5.3 1.25 Wednesday 26 February 2014 Team 1 Team 2 FC Schalke 04 v Real Madrid (19:45 GMT) 9.8 1.14 Galatasaray SK v Chelsea (19:45 GMT) 4.75 1.25