2016-17 UEFA Champions League

Mr.Nice Guy

It finishes 2-1 to Monaco. A deserved win. Aside from a few moments before the first half ended, Monaco bossed the game.

The BT pundits didn't respect Monaco enough beforehand. They have been excellent this season; they beat Villareal to make the Champions League (winning both legs) and they deservedly beat PSG recently too.

The Talking Bread

Mr.Nice Guy wrote: »

Rubbish atmosphere in Wembley. I'm sure there's a monetary advantage over White Hart Lane but the noise is much reduced.

they dont have a choice to be fair

Rayne Wooney

Spurs got 85,000 in Wembley?

Surprising that

Jelle1880

Thanks Morata.

Dirty Dingus McGee

Delighted to see Spurs lose to Monaco tonight.


http://www.independent.ie/sport/soccer/premier-league/monaco-no-harder-than-stoke-insists-pochettino-35046991.html

Tottenham Hotspur may have re-created the Wembley pitch in training and been excited to use the Champions League balls and bibs this week, but manager Mauricio Pochettino does not believe the group stage represents a significantly bigger challenge than facing Stoke City.

Spurs' victory at the Bet365 Stadium was not on the cliched cold Tuesday night, but Pochettino claims performances such as the one they produced last Saturday demonstrate that Spurs are ready for the Champions League and the visit of Monaco to their new European home at Wembley.
"When you're a manager in the Premier League you prove if you're good or not, because the Premier League is the toughest competition in the world," said Pochettino.

"When you compete against Manchester United, City, Liverpool, Chelsea and Arsenal, we're talking about the top clubs in the world.

"In the Champions League, we play Monaco, CSKA Moscow and Bayer Leverkusen, and it's just as tough to play against Monaco as it is to play against Stoke, in Stoke.There is nothing to prove."

t is anticipated that around 85,000 people will attend tonight's game, when Tottenham will light up the Wembley arch and adorn lampposts on Olympic Way in club colours to make the White Hart Lane regulars feel welcome.

Spurs got a pre-match boost when it was confirmed that Eric Dier had finally signed a new five-year contract, while the club are close to agreeing new deals with Danny Rose, Kyle Walker, Dele Alli and Jan Vertonghen. (© Daily Telegraph, London)

It's brilliant whenever the rug is pulled from under teams that display real arrogance before a match is played.

A Dub in Glasgo

I have been watching the BT Sports Goals show tonight, great format and did not miss a thing tonight

The Talking Bread

A Dub in Glasgo wrote: »

I have been watching the BT Sports Goals show tonight, great format and did not miss a thing tonight

im shocked a station never did it before or did BT pay to show all live games?

citytillidie

Match Day One Results
Basel (SUI) 1 V 1 Ludogorets Razgrad (BUL)
Paris Saint-Germain (FRA) 1 V 1 Arsenal (ENG)
SL Benfica (POR) 1 V 1 Beşiktaş (TUR)
Dynamo Kyiv (UKR) 1 V 2 Napoli (ITA)
FC Barcelona (ESP) 7 V 0 Celtic (SCO)
Manchester City (ENG) 4 V 0 Borussia Mönchengladbach (GER)
FC Bayern München (GER) 5 V 0 Rostov (RUS)
PSV Eindhoven (NED) 0 V 1 Atlético Madrid (ESP)
Bayer Leverkusen (GER) 2 V 2 CSKA Moskva (RUS)
Tottenham Hotspur (ENG) 1 V 2 Monaco (FRA)
Legia Warszawa (POL) 0 V 6 Borussia Dortmund (GER)
Real Madrid (ESP) 2 V 1 Sporting CP (POR)
Club Brugge (BEL) 0 V 3 Leicester City (ENG)
Porto (POR) 1 V 1 FC København (DEN)
Juventus (ITA) 0 V 0 Sevilla (ESP)
Lyon (FRA) 3 V 0 GNK Dinamo (CRO)

mansize

A Dub in Glasgo wrote: »

I have been watching the BT Sports Goals show tonight, great format and did not miss a thing tonight

Love it

mansize

The Talking Bread wrote: »

im shocked a station never did it before or did BT pay to show all live games?

BT own all the rights. Sky used do it online for the
Matches they had

A Dub in Glasgo

The Talking Bread wrote: »

im shocked a station never did it before or did BT pay to show all live games?

From Wikipedia

'BT Sport has exclusive live coverage of the UEFA Champions League and UEFA Europa League from 2015 until 2018. Gary Lineker fronts all of the Champions League action with Jake Humphrey, Lynsey Hipgrave, Matt Smith and Paul Dempsey also presenting coverage. James Richardson hosts the Goals Show every Champions League matchday which keeps viewers up to date of all the scores and they can watch every goal go in live. Pundits include Julien Laurens, Raphael Honigstein, James Horncastle and Andy Brassell. Howard Webb is also on hand to offer expert opinion on any controversial refereeing decisions.'

citytillidie

The Talking Bread wrote: »

im shocked a station never did it before or did BT pay to show all live games?

Sky never did it BT started last season doing it but other countries have been doing it for years

mansize

citytillidie wrote: »

Sky never did it BT started last season doing it but other countries have been doing it for years

Sky did it online

Burial.

The City/Barca games should be fun viewing.

Charizard

LuckyGent88 wrote: »

Ronaldo actually scored a free kick!!!!

The one time I dont watch a Madrid game, feels like its been a couple of years since he scored one.

citytillidie

mansize wrote: »

Sky did it online

Big difference between online and on the tv

GreNoLi

Can't see any dark horses, usual suspects.

Irish_rat

Burial. wrote: »

The City/Barca games should be fun viewing.

It will be the same as the last few seasons they've met.

City are a level below Barca

764dak

Do you recall when Arsenal used Wembley as home in 1999-2000 UCL? Arsenal didn't progress from the group.

NIMAN

GreNoLi wrote: »

Can't see any dark horses, usual suspects.

Yeah, there is still a lot of muck in the group stages.

To see Dortmund win 6 nil away from home kind of sums it all up. They are a decent side but nowhere near good enough to challenge the big guns when it gets to March/April next year, yet they are slaughtering teams for fun.

The Group stages are no longer entertaining, with very few shocks any more.

The Golden Miller

NIMAN wrote: »

Yeah, there is still a lot of muck in the group stages.

To see Dortmund win 6 nil away from home kind of sums it all up. They are a decent side but nowhere near good enough to challenge the big guns when it gets to March/April next year, yet they are slaughtering teams for fun.

The Group stages are no longer entertaining, with very few shocks any more.

Dortmund at their best could take any team if they are set up right. Going forward they are very hard to stop

kfallon

Charizard wrote: »

The one time I dont watch a Madrid game, feels like its been a couple of years since he scored one.

He scored one in the knockout phase last season against Wolfsburg!

The Talking Bread

39 direct free kicks at major international championships, 0 goals!!

In last 6 years at club level: 12 scored from 141 attempts

Over to you Gareth Bale, Kroos can hit them also

A Dub in Glasgo

NIMAN wrote: »

Yeah, there is still a lot of muck in the group stages.

To see Dortmund win 6 nil away from home kind of sums it all up. They are a decent side but nowhere near good enough to challenge the big guns when it gets to March/April next year, yet they are slaughtering teams for fun.

The Group stages are no longer entertaining, with very few shocks any more.

You do realise the more you make it a closed shop with the top 10 teams in Europe, the bigger the gap between those 10 and the rest?

Also note that there is no surprises in the Group Stage as that is the way it is specifically designed with the 4 pots thus the 'big' teams avoid each other until the knock out stages

inforfun

The Talking Bread wrote: »

39 direct free kicks at major international championships, 0 goals!!

In last 6 years at club level: 12 scored from 141 attempts

Over to you Gareth Bale, Kroos can hit them also

Pierre Van Hooijdonk in 3 years Feyenoord scored 18 from 54 attempts.

The Talking Bread

A Dub in Glasgo wrote: »

NIMAN wrote: »

Yeah, there is still a lot of muck in the group stages.

To see Dortmund win 6 nil away from home kind of sums it all up. They are a decent side but nowhere near good enough to challenge the big guns when it gets to March/April next year, yet they are slaughtering teams for fun.

The Group stages are no longer entertaining, with very few shocks any more.

You do realise the more you make it a closed shop with the top 10 teams in Europe, the bigger the gap between those 10 and the rest?

Also note that there is no surprises in the Group Stage as that is the way it is specifically designed with the 4 pots thus the 'big' teams avoid each other until the knock out stages

He isn't disputing any of that just saying the group stages can be quite tedious at times. Spurs group should be interesting though after that defeat, other than that you could probably pick 12 or 13 that are bound to progress

GreNoLi

Competition needs a shake up, champions only, wishful thinking.

The Talking Bread

GreNoLi wrote: »

Competition needs a shake up, champions only, wishful thinking.

that would be awful.

dr.kenneth noisewater

GreNoLi wrote:

Competition needs a shake up, champions only, wishful thinking.

Some of the worst teams in it this year are champions! Legia and Celtic especially

A Dub in Glasgo

The Talking Bread wrote: »

that would be awful.

Probably too young to remember when it was Champions only :pac:

Irish_rat

dr.kenneth noisewater wrote: »

Some of the worst teams in it this year are champions! Legia and Celtic especially

Yeah as are teams from the big leagues. Spurs lost to Monaco.

Mönchengladbach got mauled by City.

It's always nice to see the smaller teams achieving the group stage qualification. Ludogorets and Copenhagen did well and made a nice bit getting this far.

A closed shop might be good for the competitive nature of the competition but not so good for the game in general.

Irish_rat

The Talking Bread wrote: »

that would be awful.

For the first few years yes.

Continuous CL entry would guarantee new European powerhouses though. The money is that big.

A closed shop is going to destroy the game outside the top 4 leagues.

Doctor Jimbob

dr.kenneth noisewater wrote: »

Some of the worst teams in it this year are champions! Legia and Celtic especially

Hard for them to compete when UEFA keep bowing to the rich clubs, making them richer, and widening the gap.

Not saying either of the mentioned clubs would be putting up a real challenge, but a more level playing field might make things more interesting.

The Talking Bread

A Dub in Glasgo wrote: »

Probably too young to remember when it was Champions only :pac:

eh, no? Club football was completely utterly different back then. Surely you can acknowledge that reducing it to champions in the modern age would result in most of the tournament being walkover games.

Doctor Jimbob

The Talking Bread wrote: »

eh, no? Club football was completely utterly different back then. Surely you can acknowledge that reducing it to champions in the modern age would result in most of the tournament being walkover games.

Right now they're either walkover games or two 'big clubs' pussyfooting around each other, so I'm not sure it would make a massive difference in terms of spectacle.

The Talking Bread

Doctor Jimbob wrote: »

Right now they're either walkover games or two 'big clubs' pussyfooting around each other, so I'm not sure it would make a massive difference in terms of spectacle.

in fairness, the group stages are mainly a write off but from the last 16 generally you have a proper competition which wouldnt compare much to a solely champions league. Sadly, thats how soccer has developed but I think the notion of resorting to champions only wont result in the romance, intrigue or interest people seem to expect it to.

Perhaps a gradual stemming down over the next 10 years, reducing the multiple entries from the top leagues incrementally would be a good idea. But there is too much money in it now that it will never happen.

dr.kenneth noisewater

The Talking Bread wrote:

Perhaps a gradual stemming down over the next 10 years, reducing the multiple entries from the top leagues incrementally would be a good idea. But there is too much money in it now that it will never happen.

Its prob too late now, if UEFA try do this then the top clubs will just create their top tournament. Only way I seen weaker countries getting better is joining together and creating regional leagues like a Scandinavian league or Benelux league for example

inforfun

There has been talk about a Benelux league for ages but that is not goign to happen.
If youlast season's final league standing of Holland and Belgium you would have this:




So, for example ADO den Haag would miss out.
I can assure you that for example in Rotterdam we would much rather go to Feyenoord - Den Haag (see the Good guys thread last week) than Feyenoord - Zulte Waregem.

The Dutch league itself doesnt have many problems, stadiums are reasonably full, league is not short of excitement, Dutch football fans do like the league.
Bit is in Europe where the clubs fall short.
But nothing other than goign back to the max 3 foreigner rule of the past is goign to stop that.

In those days clubs had to be picky with who the brought in so players like Van Basten, Gullit to name just 2 didnt go abroad when they were 19, they went 4 or 5 years later and that obviously levelled the playing field somewhat in Europe.

Despite the result last night but that so called B-team of Utd, would walk the current Dutch league. Wouldnt have happened in the 80's and 90's that a English team with 8 subs had a chance of winning the Dutch league.

764dak

A Benelux league without Luxembourg?

inforfun

764dak wrote: »

A Benelux league without Luxembourg?

They can come and watch.

The Talking Bread

764dak wrote: »

A Benelux league without Luxembourg?

I would imagine only 1 or 2 Lux. teams would even struggle to make a second or third division in a league incorporating Belgian and Dutch teams so I assume that is why he didnt incorporate them in to the would be top division. . But it would do them good to be part of it and probably fair to allow them join the top division but they would get hammered every week starting off so building up the leagues would be better

citytillidie

Playing Tuesday
Group E
Monaco (FRA) V Bayer Leverkusen (GER)
CSKA Moskva (RUS) V Tottenham Hotspur (ENG)

Group F
Borussia Dortmund (GER) V Real Madrid (ESP)
Sporting CP (POR) V Legia Warszawa (POL)

Group G
Leicester City (ENG) V Porto (POR)
FC København (DEN) V Club Brugge (BEL)

Group H
Sevilla (ESP) V Lyon (FRA)
GNK Dinamo (CRO) V Juventus (ITA)

Playing Wednesday
Group A
Ludogorets Razgrad (BUL) V Paris Saint-Germain (FRA)
Arsenal (ENG) V Basel (SUI)

Group B
Beşiktaş (TUR) V Dynamo Kyiv (UKR)
Napoli (ITA) V SL Benfica (POR)

Group C
Borussia Mönchengladbach (GER) V FC Barcelona (ESP)
Celtic (SCO) V Manchester City (ENG)

Group D
Atlético Madrid (ESP) V FC Bayern München (GER)
Rostov (RUS) V PSV Eindhoven (NED)

Mr.Nice Guy

A lot of interesting matches tonight that I'd like to see. Not sure which one to watch.

Here's the Leicester vs Porto line-ups:

Leicester: Schmeichel; Luis Hernández, Morgan, Huth, Fuchs; Mahrez, Drinkwater, Amartey, Albrighton; Slimani, Vardy

Porto: Casillas; Layún, Felipe, Marcano, Telles; Danilo, André-André, Óliver; Otávio, Adrián, A.Silva

I saw Porto play Boavista the other day and they weren't great defensively. Layun at right-back couldn't cross well all night. Otavio is an excellent player as is Silva and they should cause some problems but I think Leicester can get at Porto. Should hopefully be goals in this one. TV3 have this match.

LuckyGent88

Dortmund started really strongly against Real. Just missing the final killer pass so far

LuckyGent88

And now Ronnie scores against run of play

Mr.Nice Guy

Ronaldo has scored. Just 2 goals away from 100 goals in European football.

Lovely Bloke

CR7 :cool:

Mr.Nice Guy

Slimani scores for Leicester.

Vicxas

G'wan the Leicester!

Debil

Dortmund's defending is ridiculous. Only a matter of time before they get caught on the break.