Champions League 2015/16

[King 277]

The grand daddy of them all, now on BT :lol

[The Fury 65]

Jesus Christ I feel for luke Shaw. That is an horrible leg break that'll end his season.

[Evil Gringo 279]

Group stage underway and it looks bad for Luke Shaw over in Holland.

 

He breaks through, looks to shoot and gets creamed ending up with what looks like a really bad leg break the poor lad. Not even a booking for the challenge either, bloody ref - if some one breaks someone's leg how is it not a foul and a red?

 

Still 0-0 between United and PSV and 0-0 between City and Juve although Pogba has had a goal ruled out for offside in that game.

 

Oh and Di Maria has scored his first goal for PSG, Atletico are 2-0 up, Real are one up and Bale has gone off injured too.

 

In short however f**k PSV, always disliked them going back to 97 when Bosvelt stamped on Irwin.

[Evil Gringo 279]

Thank you Memphis, now let's lace a few more in for Luke

 

EDIT: Bloody bulls**t, the guy that breaks Shaw's leg and shouldn't be on the pitch scores the god damn equaliser and then we throw it away by wasting what chances we made.

 

Still at least City lost as well.

Edited September 15, 2015 by Evil Gringo

[Evil Gringo 279]

Ladies and gentleman.... Eden Hazard missed a penalty.

 

Chelsea are still winning 2-0 but it sums the start of his season in London... in fact when Chelsea won another later in the half Oscar took it off him and scored. Willian has been taken off injured as well but at least they are winning to take a little bit of the squeeze off Jose.

 

Arsenal are losing in Zagreb thanks to an Ox own goal off all things. Wenger made six changes before game and that lack of consistency seems to be affecting their play a little bit too.

 

Roma and Barca are level in Rome and Zenit are beating Valencia in Spain in the other bigger games.

[Guest Magic]

Not the greatest week in Europe for the English teams all in all. Think Arsenal will have every right to be the most disappointed, but these Easter European teams are always well drilled, tough to beat and far from lacking quality and if the English sides think they can just turn up and roll them over with a second string squad then I think they'll be in for a bit of a shock. No easy games in this competition.

 

I watched Barca/Roma. Not the greatest game in the world, Barcelona didn't overly impress me going forward given the talent they have. Perhaps they just had an off night but I wouldn't be rushing to the bookies to back them to retain their title just yet. Roma were pretty solid at the back though and looked dangerous on the counter at times with Salah's pace. I could see them having a decent run in the tournament, perhaps quarter finals.

[Evil Gringo 279]

The run of former United players scoring this season continues asHernandez scored for Leverkusen on his CL debut as they won 4-1.

 

Hulk scored twice as Zenit won, Porto and Kiev drew, Lyon and Gent drew and that man Muller continues to be awesome, scoring two for Bayern.

 

What a goal by Florenzi though - Roma deserved to get something from the game after a goal of that quality and I'm glad they did.

[Evil Gringo 279]

Oh dear, oh dear.

 

Arsenal have lost at home to Olympiakos and Chelsea have lost at Porto tonight in another terrible night for English clubs in the CL. Just what has gone wrong recently?

 

Plus that noose has to be tightening around Jose's neck - he left Matic, Terry and Hazard out tonight and boy has it backfired.

[Shaun2J 127]

Surely that's Arsenal done? Back-to-back games against Bayern and I'm not too sure they'll get out of that one.

[Guest Laffy]

Arsenal do not have a prayer no way are we qualifying for the next round.

[Evil Gringo 279]

Well what those Southerners couldn't do last night, Manchester did tonight as both sides came from behind against German teams to win 2-1.

 

Manchester 2 London 0

Manchester 2 Germany 0

 

Also United win in Europe and are top of the league - this time last year I'd have snapped off your hand for that.

[Guest Magic]

Wolfsburg and Monchengladbach are hardly Bundesliga's biggest hitters, but credit where it is due, you can only beat what is in front of you.

 

Of the two games I watched City. They got away with it big time out there, with Hart pulling of good saves and Gladbach throwing a way a tonne of good chances. Still, they should qualify and if they do and go on to progress in the knockouts then no one will remember a couple of sketchy performances in the group stage.

[Guest Jayfunk]

Wolfsburg were second in the German league last year also if you believe Owen Hargreaves then they are the greatest....god awful commentator

[Guest Magic]

Yeah excactly. Second in a one horse race.

 

Anyone in the top half of the Bundesliga can qualify for the Champions League if they can hit a purple patch or stumble on a couple of good players. Over the last ten years Dortmund, Schalke, Wolfsburg, Stuttgart, Werder Bremen, Leverkusen, Monchengladbach have all joined Bayern Munich in the CL. That's 8 different teams. Its a revolving door and I can't see it changing anytime soon while Bayern continue to have the monopoly on the leagues top players that they do. We had a couple of seasons of Dortmund challenging, but almost as soon as it started the status quo was quickly reverted to with Bayern just cherry picking Lewendowski and Gotze.

 

Wolfsburg also lost their best player in the summer that contributed hugely to them getting where they are.

Edited October 1, 2015 by Magic

[Evil Gringo 279]

A point in Moscow, I'll take that given LVG did rest a few players it seems and we came from behind to nick the draw. City won as well, a late goal giving them the nod over Sevilla.

 

But what a result for Arsenal - beating a Bayern side who where unbeaten this season and kick starting their CL campaign.

[Guest Laffy]

Gent v Wolfsburg

 

Roma v Real Madrid

 

Paris St-Germain v Chelsea

 

Arsenal v Barcelona

 

Juventus v Bayern Munich

 

PSV Eindhoven v Atletico Madrid

 

Benfica v Zenit St Petersburg

 

Dynamo Kiev v Manchester City

 

Arsenal will not progress to the next round there is no way they are beating Barca, Man City and Chelsea though do have a good chance of progressing.

[King 277]

I might have fancied Arsenal if the 2nd leg was at home, but now not a chance!!

[BRM 220]

Chelsea picked up just 2 fewer points in The Champions League than they have in the Premier League so far this season. Still they haven't looked all that good in this competion. Looking at the teams that they could of drawn other than maybe at a push Juventus this is as bad as it could of gotten for them.

 

Arsenal will obviously struggle against Barca, but hey who wouldn't?

 

Man City you would fancy against the Ukrainians. But as always with Man City it depends which version of them turns up.

[Guest Magic]

City will probably be the only English side in the last 8 I would think. Barca will turn over Arsenal at a canter, and unless something seriously picks up at Chelsea I can't see them beating PSG. They have until March which is a long way away in football but still.

 

Fancy Bayern this year. King Bob to power home the goals to finally give Pep his Champions League win in Germany that he craves. (Before jumping ship perhaps? He loves to go out on top.)

[King 277]

I think Barca will walk it this year, if the 3 Amigos are on form up front, nothing can stop them.

[BRM 220]

It would be a big shock in my eyes if someone manages to stop Barcelona from becoming the first side to defend it. You can maybe see them losing a one off game in the final but over 2 legs they just have to much for anyone to handle right now.

 

I do hope I'm wrong but struggle to see past them.

[King 277]

City Vs Real Madrid

 

Bayern Vs Atletico.

 

Thoughts?

[Guest Laffy]

If City can get a good score at home it might be possible for them to progress but Madrid at home with a sniff at the final will be hard

[BRM 220]

Hard to see City progressing go Milan with the 2nd leg in Madrid. Wolfsburg took a 1 goal advantage out to Spain and in the end Madrid seemingly made easy work of progressing. Both sides can be a bit Jekyll and Hyde so it does promise to be a interesting tie. Plus who knows maybe it's written in the stars that they face Bayern in the final.

[Evil Gringo 279]

If ever there was a side that can snuff out Bayern and grind out a win, then its Atletico. I can see another all Madrid final to be honest and this time, I can see Atletico winning it.

 

Funny thing - if City win the CL and Liverpool win the Europa League and somehow West Ham or United finish 4th then the 4th place team won't qualify as you can only have 5 sides from one country maximum in the CL. Also if City win the CL and finish 4th then the 5th place team in the league will not qualify.