The European Leagues & Competitions Thread V2

[NikkiCFC 8,285]

 

[Vesper 30,091]

1 hour ago, NikkiCFC said:

 

Olympique Marseille, Benfica, Porto, Sporting, Ajax, Feyenoord, PSV, Anderlecht, Club Brugge and all Spanish clubs except Atlético Madrid

 

lol

such powerhouses... not

[Vesper 30,091]

Luigi Riva obituary

 

One of Italy’s greatest forwards and the star of the Sardinian side Cagliari when it won the 1970 league title

https://www.theguardian.com/football/2024/feb/08/luigi-riva-obituary

 

Luigi Riva, right, in a World Cup semi-final in Mexico, 1970. He was one of the scorers when Italy beat Germany 4-3. Photograph: Alessandro Sabattini/Getty Images

The Italian footballer Luigi Riva, who has died aged 79, was his country’s all-time leading scorer with 35 goals in 42 international appearances between 1965 and 1974. A swift and deadly forward, he established his reputation by making the most of the limited opportunities offered to attackers confronting the stern defensive tactics espoused by coaches in Italy’s domestic league.

 

Just under six feet tall, with a saturnine visage, a lean build and a devastating mixture of speed and shooting power, “Gigi” Riva scored the first of two goals in the final of the 1968 European championships, giving Italy victory over a highly rated Yugoslavia team in Rome. Two years later in Mexico City he scored in Italy’s enthralling 4-3 victory in extra time over West Germany in a World Cup semi-final, before making much less impression as he and his teammates were humbled 4-1 in the final by Pelé’s resplendent Brazil.

 

But Riva is most fondly remembered as the star of a club team from Sardinia who, under the coach Manlio Scopigno, known as “the philosopher”, won the Italian first division championship in 1969-70. Only six years after leading Cagliari to promotion from the second tier, Riva unlocked catenaccio (doorbolt formation) defences to score the goals with which they captured the Serie A title from the northern giants of Turin and Milan.

The depth of that Sardinian affection could be seen at his funeral, held in the city where he had seen out his playing career despite lucrative offers from Juventus and other clubs, and where he lived for the rest of his life. An estimated 30,000 people – almost twice the current capacity of the club’s stadium – congregated in [link:https://www.theguardian.com/football/cagliari|Cagliari] outside the Basilica of Our Lady of Bonaria, waving flags, banners and scarves in the dark red and blue club colours he had worn with such distinction.

snip

 

[KEVINAA 129]

thread bump.

Live scores for current Champions League/ UCL matches.

https://www.uefa.com/livescores/

 

[Fulham Broadway 17,299]

Great equaliser by Copenhagen

[cosmicway 1,333]

On 21/12/2023 at 13:48, NikkiCFC said:

Not into this war but as a fan I would prefer league system with best 10-12 teams in Europe. Group stage is pointless and even last 16 look at the draw. Nothing interesting there. With a Super League you would have best teams playing each other and as a consumer of football I would have more joy. 

Fewer teams/matches in the domestic leagues and the stage of 16 in the champions league to become a mini league.
Simlilarly for the other UEFA cups.
This is the solution, more European football but no "superleague".

[Vesper 30,091]

Old Smoker schooled Tuchel

1 nil Lazio

FT

[Costa19 858]

1 minute ago, Vesper said:

Old Smoker schooled Tuchel

1 nil Lazio

FT

Bring him back.

Nah but for real, sad that he wanted to go back to Italy and later regret it as he said a couple of times lately.

[NikkiCFC 8,285]

Sarri is my favorite Chelsea coach. Shame didn't stay longer. Definitely better than Tuchel. 

[Vesper 30,091]

5 hours ago, NikkiCFC said:

Sarri is my favorite Chelsea coach. Shame didn't stay longer. Definitely better than Tuchel. 

mine is deffo

[Costa19 858]

10 hours ago, NikkiCFC said:

Sarri is my favorite Chelsea coach. Shame didn't stay longer. Definitely better than Tuchel. 

I remember the they we annouced him after some weeks drama.
I was outside in the playground swinging my kid when I got the notification and just shouted Foooooking yes!! 

As I wrote before, I think Sarri would do wonders with this team.

[Reddish-Blue 2,489]

10 hours ago, NikkiCFC said:

Sarri is my favorite Chelsea coach. Shame didn't stay longer. Definitely better than Tuchel. 

For me it's:   Mourinho > Ancelotti/Conte (League titles) > Sarri > Tuchel

[NikkiCFC 8,285]

6 hours ago, Reddish-Blue said:

For me it's:   Mourinho > Ancelotti/Conte (League titles) > Sarri > Tuchel

Exactly the same if we speak about quality. 

Edited February 15, 2024 by NikkiCFC

[Vesper 30,091]

Which Premier League teams are on course to play in Europe in 2024-25?

https://theathletic.com/5275133/2024/02/16/premier-league-europe-champions/

A glance at the Premier League table can be a near-useless activity during the early months of a season, but now it’s time to whip out the magnifying glass.

Manchester City, Liverpool and Arsenal have started to pull away from the rest, meaning the race for the top four seemingly has just one more seat to fill.

However, there still could be two Champions League spots up for grabs this year, with the Premier League in contention to gain an extra qualification place following the competition’s expansion from a 32- to a 36-team format from next season.

Simply, this would be more likely to happen if the English clubs progress as far as possible in the three European competitions this season, with City, Arsenal, Liverpool, West Ham United, Brighton & Hove Albion and Aston Villa all bidding to qualify for the quarter-finals of the Champions League, Europa League and Conference League.

The permutations are complex (and further outlined in the link below), but the point remains — there are plenty of European spots still up for grabs when factoring in the three UEFA tournaments.  

GO DEEPER

Is the Premier League still on track for five Champions League spots?

So, who is most likely to finish in those lucrative places? Let’s run the numbers…

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Opta’s predicted league table makes a projection of the final standings by forecasting the outcome of each team’s remaining fixtures, based on the strength of the respective sides, before simulating the league season thousands of times to calculate an average of their potential finishes.

The varying performances of sides pushing for European spots can make such an undertaking… well, hard to predict, but Opta’s model suggests that things look most likely to stay as they are in the Premier League table — a trend that The Athletic previously analysed earlier in the season.

GO DEEPER

The 2023-24 Premier League table is unlikely to change dramatically - here are the numbers that prove it

With Tottenham Hotspur likely to hold their fourth position ahead of Villa, who are predicted to retain fifth, the only predicted change in the current formation is Brighton rising from ninth to eighth, leapfrogging a West Ham side surely short of confidence after their recent 6-0 home demolition at the hands of Arsenal.

So much can change between now and the end of the season, so it’s worth looking at which of the aspiring teams have the trickiest fixtures coming up — bucketed into easy, medium and hard levels of difficulty depending on the strength of the opposition, using Opta Power Rankings.

Spurs do have a buffer on the chasing pack (given fifth could be enough for Champions League qualification and they are six points clear of sixth-placed Manchester United and have a far superior goal difference), but a tricky few weeks starting in the middle of April sees Ange Postecoglou’s side face Newcastle United, City, Arsenal and Liverpool in consecutive games.

Meanwhile, Newcastle have a chance to put the pressure on Manchester United, currently one place and five points above them, with a favourable fixture list that includes a trip to Old Trafford towards the end of April (which will be postponed if either or both advance from the FA Cup’s last 16 to play in its semi-finals that same weekend).

Let’s look at the clubs in the mix for Europe… 

snip

Chelsea

Current position: 10th

Predicted position: 10th

For Chelsea, this season feels like an exercise in taking the positives where you can.

Here’s one: their 3-1 victory over Crystal Palace on Monday made it 11 points earned from the 15 times they have been in losing positions this season — better than the whole of last season’s eight points from the 20 times where they went behind.

Sure, we can talk about Chelsea’s profligacy in front of goal, and how often they have spurned chances with some wasteful finishing from Nicolas Jackson, Raheem Sterling and their other forwards. But the issues lie further back down the pitch, with Chelsea seemingly unable to make the most of promising opportunities in the first place. Before we think about chance conversion, we need to think about the runs that are not made, the passes that are not executed, and the shots that are not taken.

Looking across multiple seasons, Chelsea are trending downwards in the share of possession sequences that end in a shot. They have some good build-up play, but have often been blunt at the top end.

The next few weeks are an opportunity to take further positives in a transitional season under first-year head coach Mauricio Pochettino, with games against Manchester City, Spurs, Newcastle and Arsenal in the next five.

Opta’s model gives Chelsea an outside chance of pushing for a final position between sixth and eighth, but the likelihood is that another mid-table finish is on the cards.

[KEVINAA 129]

No two teams have lost more Round of 16 ties than Porto (8) & Arsenal (9)