2018/19 Champions & Europa League

[Prydzopolis]

What better way to start a new thread (sorry saw Tranq already posted) but huge news

Want to UCL reliably? Time to get Optus sport on a box (not just the app)

Huge! UCL preliminary rounds already underway too!

[Davo]

Reliably though?

[Prydzopolis]

12 hours ago, Davo said:

Reliably though?

If you want to watch via the app or computer then perhaps? Seems like the fetch boxes are almost reliable at this stage.

[Davo]

 

[Tranquilo]

few good games over the last 2 days, Real in control with life after no Ronaldo, Bale stepping up and modric and isco pulling strings.

Ronaldo red card but juve still won 2-0. Couldn't see much in ronaldos touch of the head to the valencia player but with the crap stream i have with optus i find it hard to see the ball on the screen,

Livo also had a great game with PSG superstar neymar coping a bit from fans for not back tracking. Man city off to a losing start!

[luisenrique]

Isco is a ridiculously good player.

[Davo]

Sergio Ramos is copping in on social media.

He's so sure Real are going through to the quarters he deliberately gets a yellow card in the first leg so he can clear his yellows and be available for the next round. He then admits it in an interview and gets an extra match ban. Then he sits in the stand and watches Real's defense fall apart and get knocked out of the tournament.

Now he is suspended for the first group stage match of the next Champions League.

[Carns]

The tears are delicious.

[marron]

I feel like pancakes.

[Tranquilo]

11 hours ago, Davo said:

Sergio Ramos is copping in on social media.

He's so sure Real are going through to the quarters he deliberately gets a yellow card in the first leg so he can clear his yellows and be available for the next round. He then admits it in an interview and gets an extra match ban. Then he sits in the stand and watches Real's defense fall apart and get knocked out of the tournament.

Now he is suspended for the first group stage match of the next Champions League.

all the while he is in the stands filming his documentary 

[Davo]

 

[MartinTyler]

I'm by no means a ManU fan but that was a miraculous effort !!

[Prydzopolis]

Yes, incredible effort this morning. To be honest I didn’t think that it was going to happen. PSG spurned so many half chances & as the minutes were counting down it looked less & less likely and then VAR strikes. Don’t know what people are complaining about, clear handball & that is why VAR has been introduced.

Youve just got to laugh at PSG, I don’t know why they are more hated than man city but something oddly satisfying about them going out in that fashion.

The only one I felt sorry, Gigi 

[Burztur]

7 hours ago, Prydzopolis said:

Yes, incredible effort this morning. To be honest I didn’t think that it was going to happen. PSG spurned so many half chances & as the minutes were counting down it looked less & less likely and then VAR strikes. Don’t know what people are complaining about, clear handball & that is why VAR has been introduced.

Youve just got to laugh at PSG, I don’t know why they are more hated than man city but something oddly satisfying about them going out in that fashion.

 The only one I felt sorry, Gigi 

Qatar and Neymar...

[Smoggy]

9 hours ago, Prydzopolis said:

Yes, incredible effort this morning. To be honest I didn’t think that it was going to happen. PSG spurned so many half chances & as the minutes were counting down it looked less & less likely and then VAR strikes. Don’t know what people are complaining about, clear handball & that is why VAR has been introduced.

Youve just got to laugh at PSG, I don’t know why they are more hated than man city but something oddly satisfying about them going out in that fashion.

The only one I felt sorry, Gigi 

It was a soft penna, he PSG fella had turned his back and didn't know much about it...but thats what happens if you turn your back and have your arm out a bit. Man U have re-found their old late Fergie time vibe...

They could go on to win it...

Edited March 7, 2019 by Smoggy

[Davo]

It’s going to be an interesting one this year. Real Madrid out, PSG out, Dortmund out, looks like Juve could be going (and if they don’t it means Athletico Madrid are out), one of Liverpool or Bayern are going out, Barca should go through but they didn’t get a lead or an away goal in the first leg, City have a lead and three away goals but were pretty bad in the first leg and Otamendi is suspended.

I don’t see United winning it this year but I wouldn’t at all be surprised if any of the remaining teams win it.

[Burztur]

4 English teams in the quarters. When has that happened before?

[Davo]

33 minutes ago, Burztur said:

4 English teams in the quarters. When has that happened before?

I was curious so I looked it up. In the last 10 years there have only been two occasions where four of the quarter finalists are from the same country.

08-09 and 09-10 both had four English clubs in the quarters, and both times three got through to the semis, with 08-09 being an all English final (and this is my counter argument to people who claim last years City side was the best in Premier League history, 08-09 United won the Champions League and was in the middle of winning three league titles in a row at a time when English clubs were dominating in Europe, but I digress...)

Spain has had three teams in the quarters a bunch of times and England have done it a couple of times.

Of course this is all working on the assumption that Liverpool get last Bayern and City get past Schalke, neither is guaranteed.

[Burztur]

4 hours ago, Davo said:

I was curious so I looked it up. In the last 10 years there have only been two occasions where four of the quarter finalists are from the same country.

 08-09 and 09-10 both had four English clubs in the quarters, and both times three got through to the semis, with 08-09 being an all English final (and this is my counter argument to people who claim last years City side was the best in Premier League history, 08-09 United won the Champions League and was in the middle of winning three league titles in a row at a time when English clubs were dominating in Europe, but I digress...)

Spain has had three teams in the quarters a bunch of times and England have done it a couple of times.

Of course this is all working on the assumption that Liverpool get last Bayern and City get past Schalke, neither is guaranteed.

Yes, Liverpool and City are by no means guarantees. As solid as PSG getting to the next round imo

[HillsWanderer]

Forza Juve!

[Davo]

I wonder what odds you would have got for a multi of Ajax, United and Juventus to progress after they all lost in the first leg?

[Carns]

 

[Davo]

 

[MistahCampoy]

Quarter-finals
09/04/2019	20:00	Liverpool FC		-		FC Porto	-:-
09/04/2019	20:00	Tottenham Hotspur		-		Manchester City	-:-
10/04/2019	20:00	AFC Ajax		-		Juventus	-:-
10/04/2019	20:00	Manchester United		-		FC Barcelona	-:-
16/04/2019	20:00	Juventus		-		AFC Ajax	-:-
16/04/2019	20:00	FC Barcelona		-		Manchester United	-:-
17/04/2019	20:00	FC Porto		-		Liverpool FC	-:-
17/04/2019	20:00	Manchester City		-		Tottenham Hotspur	-:-
Interesting line ups

[Burgerman]

Thoughts on the var call, what a way to break $hity hearts

[Smoggy]

So that Citeh v Spurs came was intense! What a game...only seen the last 30 mind!

Ajax to win it ! Great comp this year.

Edited April 17, 2019 by Smoggy

[marron]

Aguer-NO!

Haha.

But on a serious note **** I hate VAR. Hate it hate it hate it. You cannot celebrate any more. The sponteneity is gone. One eye will always forever be on the ref for some infringement. It really ruins everything. It creates drama, it's true, and schadenfraude in spades (like this morning), but, I just hate it. And I don't care if it gets it right (like it has in the CL the last couple of days, although the Spurs one was a bit dicey). Football is about goals. How do you turn the best thing about the game into a ******* tax audit. Well done.

 

Anyway - would love to see Ajax go all the way because they are fun to watch. They won't of course but it's fun to think about. I still have fond memories of '95 with all my dutch relos getting excited even though none of them are football fans, let alone Ajax fans. That was a team alright.

Again though - next year, the team will be split up and sent to the four corners of bench warming mega millionaire purgatory. What a ******* world. I'm going outside to kick a can.

[Smoggy]

19 minutes ago, marron said:

Aguer-NO!

Haha.

But on a serious note **** I hate VAR. Hate it hate it hate it. You cannot celebrate any more. The sponteneity is gone. One eye will always forever be on the ref for some infringement. It really ruins everything. It creates drama, it's true, and schadenfraude in spades (like this morning), but, I just hate it. And I don't care if it gets it right (like it has in the CL the last couple of days, although the Spurs one was a bit dicey). Football is about goals. How do you turn the best thing about the game into a ******* tax audit. Well done.

 

Anyway - would love to see Ajax go all the way because they are fun to watch. They won't of course but it's fun to think about. I still have fond memories of '95 with all my dutch relos getting excited even though none of them are football fans, let alone Ajax fans. That was a team alright.

Again though - next year, the team will be split up and sent to the four corners of bench warming mega millionaire purgatory. What a ******* world. I'm going outside to kick a can.

At least you dont have to explain to your wife why it isnt pronounced A- JACKS and should be I- AXE..... ******* A-JACKS is a cleaning fluid in the UK lol

[MartinTyler]

ECL final should be more interesting this year due to one of the significant over achievers (Ajax/Spurs) reaching the final.

[Prydzopolis]

On Juve, I didn’t think Ajax dominated for two legs as some have made out. The first leg was even, a real tactical battle & 1-1 was a fair result. Second leg, first half was all Juve & you’d thought they were the better team but Ajax did have there chances. If the first half had carried out as the first then I would have expected Juve to win.

The second half was very different, Ajax were a different team & it was almost as if they weathered the storm thinking “they played a fantastic game but the result is 1-1, these guys are beatable”. The moment it all changed was the goal, the belief drained out of the team & they were so lackluster. For a team that have put so many resources towards winning the champions league & the success of the season (a win this weekend will wrap up the title but out of the copa Italia) was dependent on the outcome of this game. It was like a deer in the headlights & they silenced the crowd. 

The biggest surprise for me was Allegri, he was tactically off his game. In so many big games he has shone by the way he out thinks his opponent. The manager was a pep assistant at Bayern, probably for the first time Allegri didn’t have any answers. Perhaps we shouldn’t be surprised especially after the Madrid scalp in the last round.

For Juve, this was a disaster. Will be considered a big failure this season. The match highlighted the one sided aspect to Juve’s midfield & needed to be refreshed last summer. This game won’t surprise many Juventini who haven’t been happy with the way we have played this season. Allegri has brought so much success to Juve, but this season has not been good. In the past he has continually refreshed this team when we needed to sell players. Will he be given the chance again? Will Juve look to bring in a high profile manager to match the high profile player they brought in? Some interesting changes at Juve in the off-season.