The European Leagues & Competitions Thread V2

[Jase 43,479]

 

[killer1257 3,282]

 

This news may be more important than our result on Saturday

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[Rapkun 668]

We'll get the confirmation monday but from today's news it's better to assume 5th place is no longer a UCL qualification spot.

[Jase 43,479]

 

[Jase 43,479]

38 minutes ago, Rapkun said:

We'll get the confirmation monday but from today's news it's better to assume 5th place is no longer a UCL qualification spot.

Thanks for that, 3 days before we know the outcome.  

[Pizy 17,860]

The full 2 year ban being upheld was always a pipe dream. But it would be absolutely ridiculous if they get completely exonerated.

Theyre going to go on a tear in the market if they do as a big 'fuck you' to UEFA.

[Jase 43,479]

1 hour ago, killer1257 said:

This news may be more important than our result on Saturday

Gesendet von meinem VOG-L29 mit Tapatalk

We still need to ******* win regardless. IF (the biggest IF possible!) everything goes our way (HA HA!), we could secure Champions League qualification by Monday morning. 

[DDA 9,570]

City will 100% be exonerated from this mickey mouse 2 year ban. 

If they recieve a 1 year ban, then I will be shocked. 

The brown envelopes were swapping hands as soon as it was announced. 

Football is as corrupt as boxing. 

Don't hold your breath.

[Laylabelle 9,296]

A year be fine! They can't get off scot free or what's the point of it all in the first place?

[Special Juan 27,103]

I said from the start, money talks, bullshit walks....

They will have been back handers like never before.

[LAM09 6,547]

 CAS has a habit of siding with the governing body implementing the rules. This cheeseman fella and other correspondents are just reporting City/Pep's statement in my opinon. 
If however this isn't the case, there needs to be an immediate demand of the ruling and what City actually provided that countered UEFA's allegations and the evidence. I for the life of me can't see how City escape this. 

We'll find out soon enough

[NikkiCFC 7,582]

 

[LAM09 6,547]

Juventus being awarded penalties for anything. Harsh result on the balance of play for Atalanta.

[OneMoSalah 8,614]

39 minutes ago, LAM09 said:

Juventus being awarded penalties for anything. Harsh result on the balance of play for Atalanta.

Have really enjoyed watching Atalanta this season. Real fun to watch, score lots of goals. A team that is made up of a lot of players who aren’t necessarily superstars but understand each other very well and are willing to put the work in.

[Vesper 27,310]

Why anybody could win it – the lowdown on the Champions League hopefuls

https://theathletic.com/1921186/2020/07/11/champions-league-draw-bayern-barcelona-man-city-juventus-real-madrid-psg-chelsea/

(Contributors: Raphael Honigstein, James Horncastle, Dermot Corrigan, Sam Lee, Liam Twomey, Carl Anka and Kieran Devlin)

The Champions League is back in less than a month and after yesterday’s draw, complete with Pedro Pinto, dodgy internet connections and plenty of mask-wearing men, we now know who may face who in the eight-team extravaganza in Lisbon.

Four last-16 ties still need to be decided, and those games will be played over the weekend of August 7-8. Manchester City hold a slender 2-1 lead over Real Madrid before their tie at the Etihad, with the winner of that playing Juventus or Lyon. The Italian champions have a 1-0 deficit to overturn in Turin if they wish to advance. Barcelona and Napoli are locked at 1-1 ahead of their second leg at the Nou Camp, with the victors facing Bayern Munich (or Chelsea, if they somehow overturn that 3-0 defeat at Stamford Bridge in the first leg).

Quarter-finals (Single legs, August 12-15)
Manchester City/Real Madrid v Juventus/Lyon
RB Leipzig v Atletico Madrid
Barcelona/Napoli v Bayern Munich/Chelsea
Atalanta v Paris Saint-Germain

Semi-finals (Single legs, August 18-19)
Winner of QF1 v Winner of QF3
Winner of QF2 v Winner of QF4

Final (August 23)

Our experts have put their heads together to give you the lowdown on the 12 sides left in it, and have even made cases — some more speculative than others — for each lifting the trophy…

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Why Bayern Munich could win it

The draw hasn’t been kind to Bayern. Following the second leg of their last-16 tie against Chelsea in Munich (the Bundesliga champions are 3-0 up), they will face Barcelona or Napoli and then most likely Real Madrid, Manchester City or Juventus in any semi-final. Some of the treble speculation in the German media will be dampened, and that’s perhaps not the worst thing. The confidence with which some had predicted Bayern completing the treble next month had been bordering on over-exuberance.

That is not to say there aren’t plenty of reasons to back Hansi Flick’s team for the club’s sixth European Cup. Their form has been outstanding in 2020: 21 wins and one solitary draw in all competitions, including 11 straight wins since the restart in May. Bayern have no significant injuries, a well-oiled starting XI and their superior pressing/possession system tends to overwhelm sides. A nice break after the conclusion of domestic duties should also see them travel to Lisbon with refreshed legs and minds.

In Robert Lewandowski (51 club goals this season), they also have a potential Ballon d’Or winner up front, a back-to-his-best Thomas Muller behind him and Serge Gnabry and Kingsley Coman on the wings. Then there’s Joshua Kimmich in midfield, Thiago and/or Leon Goretzka, Alphonso Davies on the left, David Alaba at the heart of the defence, Manuel Neuer in goal… It’s a line-up that smacks of poise, power and precision.

What they don’t have, by contrast, is a lot of depth. Youngsters such as 19-year-old Dutch striker Joshua Zirkzee have occupied most of the places on the substitutes’ bench in lieu of more established alternatives. Bayern are relatively ill-equipped to deal with injuries or suspensions, and must therefore hope that they can come through the remaining rounds unscathed.

Perhaps playing one-legged ties will work in their favour in that respect.

Raphael Honigstein

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Why Real Madrid could win it

Had their Champions League last-16 second leg at Manchester City gone ahead as scheduled in March, Real Madrid would have had a tiny chance of progressing. The mood was not good in the camp following City’s 2-1 win in the Spanish capital, and new injuries to Thibaut Courtois and Marcelo, added to long-term absentees Eden Hazard and Marco Asensio, led many around the Bernabeu to accept their competition was probably over.

Things will look very different when Madrid travel to Manchester for the rearranged game now taking place on August 7. Zinedine Zidane’s side have shown an impressive, machine-like concentration and resolve in grinding out eight consecutive victories to brush aside Barcelona in the La Liga title race. All their key injured players should be back too, although Sergio Ramos is still suspended after being sent off in the first leg, while key older players such as Luka Modric and Karim Benzema have benefited from the unexpected rest.

Should Madrid make it to Portugal for the final stages, they will be very well set. The accelerated format could again suit the solid, efficient tactics Zidane has been using, with his team conceding just two goals in eight games since the break, and also finding a way to win tight games even when not sparkling.

The draw has not been especially kind, but a potential path of Juventus, Bayern/Barcelona and Atletico Madrid will help keep everyone focused and motivated. Almost all the team’s key players know exactly what it takes to win the biggest competitions. Zidane’s record as coach is three trophies from two-and-a-half Champions League seasons, so he knows how to get the job done, even if nobody has yet been able to figure out exactly how he does it.

Madrid’s biggest problem is that scoreline against City, but if they can find a way past Pep Guardiola’s side they will take some stopping.

Dermot Corrigan

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Why Manchester City could win it

Well, ‘if you want to be the best you have to beat the best’ and all that.

City should have no problems with motivation, either, as they consider the prospect of having to beat Real Madrid, Juventus, Bayern Munich/Barcelona and then Paris Saint-Germain if they are to win their first Champions League this season.

But hold on a moment, it’s not necessarily quite so difficult. Juventus trail Lyon heading into the second (admittedly home) leg of their last 16 tie, and although the French side haven’t seen league action since March, they are playing friendlies and do have the French League Cup final against PSG on July 31.

And it may be Napoli in the semi-final if they take advantage of Barcelona’s issues, and then get past Bayern — anything is possible over 90 minutes. It may not even be PSG in the final, and as good as Atalanta are, City battered them 5-1 in the group stage.

Atletico Madrid would be tough but…

Oh, who knows what’s going to happen?

City know what they need to do if they are to have any chance of winning the Champions League and it’s something they’ve known for a long time. Pep Guardiola spelt out their two big issues this week: sometimes they need “45 chances” to score a goal, and sometimes they “give goals away”.

So in the four games that stand between City and the first European Cup in club history, they need to avoid the issues that crept up in around a third of their Premier League games this season. But… they have still blitzed most teams, retained the Carabao Cup, are in the FA Cup semi-finals and, despite those issues, they beat Real Madrid in their own backyard and they are still very much in the Champions League.

There’s no point wondering about who comes next, City just need to focus on themselves. And they are pretty good, you know.

Sam Lee

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Why Juventus could win it

As Sami Khedira said at the start of the season, you don’t sign Cristiano Ronaldo and Matthijs de Ligt to go out in the last 16 or the quarter-finals. Particularly when you’re drawn against Lyon, who have a 1-0 lead from the first leg but should still be rusty by the time the Champions League returns despite planned friendlies against Celtic, Rangers and Belgium’s Gent, and the French Cup final with PSG in three weeks.

If Juventus are to end their 24-year wait to lift the trophy again, they will have to do it the hard way with Real Madrid or Manchester City awaiting them in the quarter-finals and then Bayern, Barcelona or Napoli in the semis.

Here’s the thing though. De Ligt is backing up why Juventus invested so heavily in him last summer. Giorgio Chiellini should be fit again after an injury-wrecked season to lend his experience when it truly matters. Rodrigo Bentancur is emerging as one of the most complete midfielders in world football. Paulo Dybala is perhaps the most in-form player in Europe right now and then the final eight is in Portugal, where Ronaldo won the Decima with Real Madrid in 2014 and the inaugural Nations League for the host nation last summer.

Ronaldo has two years left on his contract at the end of this season but at 35 his window for a sixth Champions League success is closing. He showed up in the knockout phase last year with a hat-trick to overturn a 2-0 first leg deficit against Atletico Madrid and goals in both legs of the quarter-final against Ajax, but they weren’t enough to take Juventus through.

Coach Maurizio Sarri was brought in last summer on the back of winning the Europa League with Chelsea in the hope that his brand of football, best exemplified at Napoli, is more conducive to glory in continental competition. But the team has so far blacked out in a handful of important games and remains a work in progress.

There is still a month for it to click though, and if it does Juventus will be a force to be reckoned with.

James Horncastle

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Why Paris Saint-Germain could win it

A lopsided bracket means PSG will face Atalanta in the quarter-finals and possibly one of RB Leipzig and Atletico Madrid in the semi-finals before facing the lone survivor from the slobberknocker on the other side of the draw for a chance at “Old Big Ears”. It’s perhaps the best route to the trophy.

Ligue 1 play ended in early March, but the change from two-legged ties to single-elimination games nudge PSG to the front of the queue. Kylian Mbappe, Angel Di Maria, Mauro Icardi and Edinson Cavani are among a bevvy of attacking players who can go supernova at any point and flip a game on its head. PSG don’t need to be perfect in defence, or diligent in their pressing or passing, they just need one of their superstars to catch fire for short spells at a time.

Plus there’s Neymar, who despite recent meme-ified Champions League campaigns is still responsible for its best individual performance. Neymar’s seven-and-a-half minutes in the close of La Remontada saw him provide a goal, assist and a penalty, three goals that changed the footballing landscape forever. That astonishing Barcelona comeback was against PSG, of course. Now he’ll be looking to deliver the catharsis onlookers have been expecting since he joined them three years ago.

In this new sprint-finish, Wild West Champions League race, PSG have more gunslingers with quick brains, quick feet and quick triggers than anyone. And in Thiago Silva, a defender responsible for one of the best Glastonbury performances of 2019.

Paris Saint-Germain may not be the best team in Europe, but no one else is better equipped to be better than you at the end of any 90-minute segment.

Carl Anka

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Why Atletico Madrid could win it

The case for Atletico being this year’s Champions League winners is quite simple — they outplayed holders Liverpool over two legs when they were struggling for form before the COVID-19 break, so Diego Simeone’s team should fear nobody now that they are playing much better.

Those two legs against Liverpool showed this new-look Atletico has many of the qualities of previous Simeone sides. Sure, they rode their luck at times against Jurgen Klopp’s men, but they also showed the determination, aggression and ability to roll with the punches any team is going to need during these quick-fire knockout stages in Portugal.

Atletico have returned to action looking much sharper than they did pre-lockdown. The transformation of Marcos Llorente — the hero of Anfield — from back-up holding midfielder to an effective second striker has been fantastic. Others such as Jose Maria Gimenez, Koke, Saul, Yannick Carrasco and Diego Costa have found better form, and inconsistent Portuguese starlet Joao Felix may get a boost from playing back on home soil.

The draw has also been pretty kind — with most of the remaining big-hitters in the other half. RB Leipzig and Atalanta are slight unknown quantities at this level, but Simeone’s men will fancy their chances of rolling them over. Also, there could just be something fateful for Atletico about returning to Lisbon – where Sergio Ramos broke their hearts in the 93rd minute of the 2014 Champions League final — and finally winning the club’s first-ever European Cup.

Dermot Corrigan

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Why Barcelona could win it

Barcelona’s best hopes of winning this Champions League come down to two words — ‘Lionel’ and ‘Messi’.

Their myriad on and off the pitch problems have been clear during the last month’s return in La Liga — a hapless president under pressure, an inexperienced coach unable to impose his ideas or personality, senior players whose best days are behind them, newer signings who have yet to settle properly. Nobody watching any of their post-lockdown games — except maybe last weekend’s win at Villarreal — would give them much chance at all of winning Europe’s elite competition. Or even of getting past Napoli in their rescheduled last 16, second leg at the Nou Camp on August 8 despite the slight advantage of their 1-1 draw in Italy.

But… and it’s a big but… Barca still have the world’s best player, who is hugely hungry to lift the Champions League trophy for the first time since 2015. Messi knows too long has passed since he won club football’s biggest competition, and also that at 33 he does not have too many chances left to add to his four winner’s medals.

The quick-fire, single-game format might suit Messi in that a short, sharp, focused burst of brilliance could be enough. He and his team will also not have to worry about their recent embarrassing tendency to flop in away legs. The draw has not been kind with all of Madrid, plus Bayern Munich and Manchester City in their half — however it means Barcelona will not lack for motivation whoever they face along the way to the final. Fear of potential embarrassment against such historic and powerful opponents could push the team’s other veterans, Gerard Pique, Sergio Busquets and Luis Suarez, into one final big effort too.

Messi is also mad as hell at the moment and needs to take out his frustration in some way. The best possible relief would be a thrilling, condensed spell where he makes up for his team’s flaws with enough moments of individual genius to turn tight games their way.

It’s maybe not the most likely outcome for the competition, but if anyone can do it, Messi can.

Dermot Corrigan

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Why RB Leipzig could win it

If only they still had Timo Werner… While Leipzig take on Europe’s most defensively stubborn team in Atletico Madrid, the 24-year-old, scorer of 34 club goals this season, will be undergoing pre-season training with Chelsea or watching on in amazement as his new employers embark on an unlikely run in Lisbon after overcoming Bayern Munich in spectacular fashion in the last 16.

There’s no point pretending Werner won’t be missed in the Portuguese capital. Coach Julian Nagelsmann has plenty of wide players and attacking midfielders such as Dani Olmo, Christopher Nkunku, Ademola Lookman and Emil Forsberg at his disposal but Danish targetman Yussuf Poulsen is the only real centre-forward left in the squad — unless Leipzig manage to buy Patrik Schick from Roma or to extend his loan.

But they shouldn’t be written off too quickly. Their composed performances against Tottenham Hotspur in the last 16 showed they can win through dominance in midfield, where any combination of Kevin Kampl, Tyler Adams, Konrad Laimer and Marcel Sabitzer provides a highly competitive blend of muscle and brain. (Plus, there’s the highly-rated Amadou Haidara on the bench.) Werner was largely anonymous in the 3-0 second-leg win over Jose Mourinho’s sorry Spurs, truth be told, but that didn’t stop the Bundesliga’s third-best team on the night.

Further encouragement can be gleaned from the return to full fitness of central defender Ibrahima Konate, who had missed most of the campaign. Captain Willi Orban, another high-profile absentee, might make it back in time from November knee surgery as well.

Leipzig’s best chance of causing the biggest surprise in European football since Red Star Belgrade won this competition in 1991 comes courtesy of the format and draw, however. The one-off ties can naturally help the outsiders, and Leipzig have shown against Bayern (two draws) and Borussia Dortmund (one draw, one defeat) this season that they can hold their own against top opposition. It was their results against lesser sides that had let them down after the winter break.

Landing on the weaker side of the draw is another huge boon. A few days ago, The Athletic asked Adams whether Leipzig could become 2020’s version of Croatia at the last World Cup, making it all the way to the final. The American agreed, in principle, but it remains to be seen whether the parallels come to pass.

Atletico Madrid are significantly stronger than Russia, and Paris Saint-Germain, their most likely semi-final opponents, have a bit more firepower than England did. Nevertheless, Leipzig have an outsiders’ chance.

Raphael Honigstein

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Why Atalanta could win it

Atalanta have scored more than 100 goals this season and they love playing one v one at the back. So the prospect of them meeting Paris Saint-Germain in the quarter-finals with Rafael Toloi and Jose Palomino squaring up to Kylian Mbappe and Neymar and daring them to dribble past them should have you reaching for the popcorn.

The men from Bergamo are never out of games. You can’t keep them down. They launch comeback after comeback after comeback which should have PSG scared; petrified even. If there’s one team you wouldn’t back to hold onto a lead in Europe, it’s the Parisians.

This will also be the game in which France Football calls an end to the voting for the Ballon d’Or, cuts it in half and awards a piece each to Papu Gomez and Josip Ilicic. Qatar will pull out of funding PSG and buy Atalanta instead.

All jokes aside, this is emotionally significant for Atalanta and their city, which suffered immensely through the pandemic. Coach Gian Piero Gasperini and his players want to give the people a lift. They are playing for them and have restarted the season as they mean to go on, with nine straight wins in Serie A. Looking at the side of the draw they find themselves on, you’d back Atalanta to break through Atletico Madrid and give RB Leipzig a real fight in a battle between Europe’s two model clubs.

They have nothing to lose. Atalanta will be back in the Champions League next season but must look at this as a once in a lifetime opportunity. Three games are all that separate them from a triumph that would eclipse even what Porto achieved in 2004.

James Horncastle

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Why Napoli could win it

Barcelona don’t win the Champions League anymore. They’ve become like Argentina, too dysfunctional even for Messi’s talent to shine through and deliver the trophies that truly matter. Napoli know this and go to the Nou Camp for their last-16 decider with a reputation for raising their game against the elite. Even before coach Rino Gattuso arrived in December and galvanised a fractured dressing room, they were capable of taking four points from six off holders Liverpool in the group stage and keep knocking off Juventus, Lazio and Inter Milan domestically.

This Napoli team are different to the Sarri and Carlo Ancelotti vintages that went before. They can still play wonderful combination football. But they also dig deep. They play in the image of their coach — with a knife between their teeth, as the old Italian phrase goes.

Napoli gave up very few chances to Barcelona in the first leg and came together as a cup team under Gattuso, lifting the Coppa Italia last month to turn a tumultuous season into a success. Gattuso knows what spirit and temperament his players will need at the Nou Camp, having learned how to judge the mood on nights like this during his playing days with AC Milan. He will make it relatable and it’s the humanity behind every aspect of the way Gattuso works that marks him out as such a promising young coach.

Barcelona’s formidable home record in Europe remains intact but you just know Dries Mertens, the greatest Napoli player since Diego Maradona, is going to try to upstage Messi, the true heir to Maradona. The Belgian has six goals in seven Champions League games this season, and isn’t done yet.

Barcelona will also be without midfielders Sergio Busquets and Arturo Vidal.

James Horncastle

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Why Lyon could win it

Lyon won’t win this Champions League.

Sure, they qualified from a difficult group at the expense of Zenit St Petersburg and Benfica.

They hold a 1-0 lead over Juventus after the first leg of their last 16 tie in France.

Naturally, they have some seriously gifted players in Memphis Depay, Bruno Guimaraes, Joachim Andersen and Houssem Aouar.

Inevitably, their latest in a long line of academy prodigies, 16-year-old Rayan Cherki, will presumably win a procession of Champions Leagues in his career.

But they will have played one competitive game in five months before that second leg against Juventus after France called a locked-down Ligue 1 at the end of April with Lyon seventh in the table; and therefore outside of the European places for 2020-21.

Meanwhile, new manager Rudi Garcia, appointed in October after Sylvinho was sacked for picking up three points from seven games, has struggled to galvanise this talented group after their appalling start to the season. There was acrimony from the off as Garcia had implied Lyon were favoured by referees when he was Marseille’s manager in 2018, and following his appointment Lyon fans started a petition (signed by thousands) to terminate his contract immediately.

Lyon are in a bit of a crisis off the field, and the weakest side left in the toughest half of the draw. So no, Lyon can’t win the Champions League.

But do you know who’s really good at football? Moussa Dembele. The former Celtic striker has been Lyon’s top scorer for both seasons he has played there, and is averaging a goal every 150 minutes in 2019-20. A deceptively technical targetman, he’s noticeably improved his link-up play and variety of finishing since leaving Glasgow and, only turning 24 this Sunday, is markedly improving with each subsequent season.

You know what? Lyon will win this Champions League, with Dembele scoring six goals in four games, resulting in him being sold for nine figures, and Celtic pocketing a healthy sell-on fee.

There you go. Something that will definitely happen.

Kieran Devlin

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Why Chelsea could win it

Renowned essayist and scholar Nassim Nicholas Taleb called it a black swan: a high-profile, hugely significant event considered so unlikely that nothing in the past can point to it being possible, and therefore no one can see it coming.

In Munich, that definition conjures only one memory: the 2012 Champions League final.

Chelsea had no right to break Bayern’s hearts on penalties that night, or even to survive long enough for Didier Drogba’s towering 88th-minute header to send the match into extra time, where Petr Cech kept out Arjen Robben’s penalty to take the game to that shootout.

But in football, as in life, sometimes all logic and likelihood are suspended. In those moments, something else rushes in to fill the void: chaos, or destiny, depending on your point of view.

Eight years on, Chelsea will return to the Allianz Arena on August 8 needing arguably an even greater miracle. Trailing by three away goals to a resurgent and supremely confident Bayern, Frank Lampard needs to find a way to set up his team to score, score and score some more, while somehow burying their worst defensive impulses against one of Europe’s most dangerous attacking sides.

But would it really be more shocking than 2012, when Chelsea faced a Bayern team that would win a treble the following season without their captain John Terry, Branislav Ivanovic, Ramires and Raul Meireles through suspension, and with their starting centre-backs David Luiz and Gary Cahill having approximately 40 per cent of their combined hamstrings in full working order?

Lampard’s team cannot count on a core of determined veterans this time, nor the greatest big-game match-winner in club history. But it does have youth, talent and, in Christian Pulisic, an attacker on a superstar trajectory.

Bayern might be the best team in Europe on current form, but they are not invincible. If Chelsea do somehow pull off the unthinkable again in Bavaria, a semi-final against Barcelona or Napoli — two more clubs they saw off on their run through that knockout phase eight years ago — followed by a potential final against whoever emerges from the weaker half of this draw, will hold few fears.

Liam Twomey

[LAM09 6,547]

Have really enjoyed watching Atalanta this season. Real fun to watch, score lots of goals. A team that is made up of a lot of players who aren’t necessarily superstars but understand each other very well and are willing to put the work in.

The job Gasprini has done (especially the last two years) is extraordinary. Got them in the CL with one of the lowest wage bills in the league (equivalent to a Championship side IIRC) and now, they are second in the league with a realistic chance of CL success.

[NikkiCFC 7,582]

 

[Vesper 27,310]

2 hours ago, NikkiCFC said:

 

roflmaoooo

he looked well on the lash