2018-19 UEFA Champions League

~Rebel~

The Golden Miller wrote: »

Messi can be great, even if his team loses, but as often as he's great he's susceptible to poor performances now and again too. When left to do it on his own, as is becoming the Barca system, its as if he becomes disillusioned at times. Head goes down, mazy run after mazy run and into a wall. To beat Liverpool, Barca will have to come up with something better than to just rely on Messi, he'll be closed out. Vary things up, but Barca are one dimensional.

Will be an interesting game - especially from the fullbacks point of view. Both teams get a lot of their width from their fullbacks. Whichever team can nullify the oppositions, and make use of their own, will come out on top I think.

bucketybuck

The Golden Miller wrote: »

Messi can be great, even if his team loses, but as often as he's great he's susceptible to poor performances now and again too. When left to do it on his own, as is becoming the Barca system, its as if he becomes disillusioned at times. Head goes down, mazy run after mazy run and into a wall. To beat Liverpool, Barca will have to come up with something better than to just rely on Messi, he'll be closed out. Vary things up, but Barca are one dimensional.

Imagine he had some of Ronaldo's drive and will to win, he could have been up there with Ronaldo as one of the very best.

citytillidie

Semi-Final 1st Legs
Tuesday
Tottenham Hotspur (ENG) V Ajax (NED) - Live on BT Sport 2 / RTE 2

Wednesday
Barcelona (ESP) V Liverpool (ENG) - Live on BT Sport 2

ShamoBuc

Spurs looked a bit jaded today, Ajax might just take them without Son and Kane and Deli Alli was his usual crap self.
Barca were very disjointed looking tonight as they won they league, Pool looked seriously impressive in their last game, I fancy them to punish Barca.

yourdeadwright

ShamoBuc wrote: »

Spurs looked a bit jaded today, Ajax might just take them without Son and Kane and Deli Alli was his usual crap self.
Barca were very disjointed looking tonight as they won they league, Pool looked seriously impressive in their last game, I fancy them to punish Barca.

You'd have to fancy the winner of the Liverpool v Barca Tie to win the whole thing at this point,

Madly Liverpool & Ajax have never meet in a proper game before so I'd like to see that final

8-10

yourdeadwright wrote: »

Madly Liverpool & Ajax have never meet in a proper game before so I'd like to see that final

How soon we forget

yourdeadwright

8-10 wrote: »

How soon we forget

There you have it ,
I got to say I did think when I read that stat it seemed odd giving both clubs have huge European history ,

8-10

yourdeadwright wrote: »

There you have it ,
I got to say I did think when I read that stat it seemed odd giving both clubs have huge European history ,

In fairness that was the only tie between them and they've played over 700 games in Europe since, winning 9 European Cups, 4 UEFA Cups and a Cup Winners Cup between them and 9 times runners-up

So it is remarkable that the last tie they played was when de Valera was President!

Harry Palmr

Bjorn Kuipers will ref Barca v Liverpool which should be good news.

8-10

Ajax TV have some excellent hype videos for each round, here's 3 of the most recent to get you excited for tonight (Juve one is my favourite by far):

Real Madrid:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZhlsJo5YxkI

Juventus:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UGt_ZjRhzic

Spurs:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QfaZARiG7ZU

shamrock55

I think the Madrid one is the best, the others are a bit meh

8-10

shamrock55 wrote: »

I think the Madrid one is the best, the others are a bit meh

Yeah I like the Madrid one also, really got me that day of the game (was before second leg). Spurs one is complete meh but it's gameday and Edwin is a legend so it's still exciting.

RollieFingers

Should be a good game tonight, would like to see Ajax get to the final. It's great to see four attacking sides who play exciting football left, that's what you want at the business end of the competition.

greendom

Mauricio Pochettino: "Ajax had the whole week to prepare for this game, not us, it's unfair."

🗣 Erik ten Hag: “We play in the Eredivisie where we get €10m from TV rights. They play in the Premier League where they get £200m. So you tell me what’s fair?" ”

:D

Kiith

Neither of them are wrong.

Plus, they spent more then us last year :pac:

greendom

Kiith wrote: »

Neither of them are wrong.

Plus, they spent more then us last year :pac:

Which would you rather have

The lower revenue or 4 days instead of 7 to prepare for a CL semi?

greendom

Kiith wrote: »

Neither of them are wrong.

Plus, they spent more then us last year :pac:

Which would you rather have

The lower revenue or 4 days instead of 7 to prepare for a CL semi?

ERG89

It helps when there are 18 teams in the league like there is in the Eredivisie. If Spurs game got delayed when would thet want to play it??
The league ends in only 12 days time

Kiith

Surely Spurs should have been moved to Friday and Liverpool Saturday morning, given Spurs are on Tuesday and Liverpool on Wednesday? Unless there was a reason for this.

8-10

The whole fact there is a Tuesday - Wednesday and Wednesday - Tuesday fixture for teams in the same round of the same competition is crazy to begin with. One semi final has 8 days between legs and the other has 6 days.

Spurs should be happy they got the Tuesday - Wednesday draw

Fitz*

UEFA chose the days for CL, and the league work around that.

I don't know why the exact dates were chosen but the Tuesday / Wednesday model is because of free to air games in different countries only being available on one of the days, like in Ireland with RTE only on Tuesday and then BT on Wednesday (I know Virgin Media has both but not free to air). It ensures that one leg of each tie will be seen free in every country.

Just grasping for reasoning here but could it be something with each team having to have a even ratio of Tuesday:Wednesday and Wednesday:Tuesday ties?

citytillidie

8-10 wrote: »

The whole fact there is a Tuesday - Wednesday and Wednesday - Tuesday fixture for teams in the same round of the same competition is crazy to begin with. One semi final has 8 days between legs and the other has 6 days.

Spurs should be happy they got the Tuesday - Wednesday draw

That is done for TV channels RTE would not be happy to miss a Liverpool Semi-Final

8-10

citytillidie wrote: »

That is done for TV channels RTE would not be happy to miss a Liverpool Semi-Final

LOL they're not doing it for keeping the likes of RTE happy

It's the paid TV networks that hold too much power

citytillidie

Kiith wrote: »

Surely Spurs should have been moved to Friday and Liverpool Saturday morning, given Spurs are on Tuesday and Liverpool on Wednesday? Unless there was a reason for this.

Sky and the Premier league did not think about changing the Liverpool game and after this announcement they really could not change it when they did not mark it as a possible change.

Friday 26 April 2019
20:00 Liverpool v Huddersfield (Sky Sports)

Saturday 27 April 2019
12:30 Spurs v West Ham (Sky Sports)*
17:30 Brighton v Newcastle (BT Sport)
*May move to 28 April because of UEFA Champions League participation the Tuesday after

Sunday 28 April 2019
14:05 Burnley v Man City (Sky Sports)*
16:30 Man Utd v Chelsea (Sky Sports)*
*May move to 27 April because of UEFA Champions League participation the Tuesday after

Monday 29 April 2019
20:00 Leicester v Arsenal (Sky Sports)*
*Will move to 12:00 28 April if Arsenal reach UEFA Europa League semi-finals

Sure they moved Newcastle V Liverpool from Sunday to Saturday night with Liverpool playing on Tuesday. May as well just left it on Sunday for all it does for Liverpool.

citytillidie

8-10 wrote: »

LOL they're not doing it for keeping the likes of RTE happy

It's the paid TV networks that hold too much power

You think if a tv station pays money for the Champions League will not complain to UEFA if they are unable to show teams because they only have rights for one night. All teams will play 3 games on a Tuesday and 3 on a Wednesday in the group stage and then each Knockout round one leg will be on a Tuesday and the other on a Wednesday. It is for all of the tv companies. I just highlighted RTE as that is what effects Irish viewers.

8-10

citytillidie wrote: »

You think if a tv station pays money for the Champions League will not complain to UEFA if they are unable to show teams because they only have rights for one night. All teams will play 3 games on a Tuesday and 3 on a Wednesday in the group stage and then each Knockout round one leg will be on a Tuesday and the other on a Wednesday. It is for all of the tv companies. I just highlighted RTE as that is what effects Irish viewers.

It's UEFA's mess though, they don't have to give out rights per day of the week then mix around schedules, they can give out rights per tie whenever they fall. It just seems like the power is imbalanced and the associations should call the shots more

citytillidie

8-10 wrote: »

It's UEFA's mess though, they don't have to give out rights per day of the week then mix around schedules, they can give out rights per tie whenever they fall. It just seems like the power is imbalanced and the associations should call the shots more

Yes it is a mess but not that big of a mess when that has been the case for years now so every team knows what it will be like, what can the associations do? It is a UEFA competition and will do what they can to get the most money. They give out multi year contracts so they can't really give it out per tie.

NIMAN

Could uefa not put the 2 semi on the one night?

Would be some night of football for the neutral.

BullBlackNova

NIMAN wrote: »

Could uefa not put the 2 semi on the one night?

Would be some night of football for the neutral.

Kicking off one after the other or at the same time?

Because both are terrible options!

ArmaniJeanss

NIMAN wrote: »

Could uefa not put the 2 semi on the one night?

Would be some night of football for the neutral.

On at the same time is bad for various reasons.
On at different times (say 6pm and 8.15 pm) is bad for different reasons, especially in the second leg when games can overrun an hour.

citytillidie

NIMAN wrote: »

Could uefa not put the 2 semi on the one night?

Would be some night of football for the neutral.

UEFA want to max money so would never do that. It was changed in the 1999-2000 season to having the semi-finals on different nights not is if it is anything new

Bleating Lamb

What if any terrestrial Channel is showing Spurs game tonight and Pool game tomorrow night?


TIA

citytillidie

Bleating Lamb wrote: »

What if any terrestrial Channel is showing Spurs game tonight and Pool game tomorrow night?


TIA

RTE tonight for Spurs game Liverpool game is not on free tv tomorrow night in Ireland

Shanotheslayer

NIMAN wrote: »

Could uefa not put the 2 semi on the one night?

Would be some night of football for the neutral.

What? How? You can only watch one game.

I can think of nothing worse.

Harry Palmr

Is anyone else unfeasibly excited by Spurs v Ajax? Due to me not having pay TV and RTE always going with Liverpool/United this is actually the first time I'll have seen them this campaign. They better live up to the hype.


Spurs XI: Lloris, Trippier, Sanchez, Alderweireld, Vertonghen, Wanyama, Rose, Eriksen, Dele Alli, Lucas Moura, Llorente - https://twitter.com/SpursOfficial


Ajax XI: Onana, Veltman, De Ligt, Blind, Tagliafico, De Beek, De Jong, Schöne, Ziyech, Neres, Tadić - https://twitter.com/AFCAjax

Guy:Incognito

Kiith wrote: »

Neither of them are wrong.

Plus, they spent more then us last year :pac:

No they didnt. You just spent all yours on a stadium

LuckyLloyd

Some atmosphere

ShamoBuc

Hopefully we see a couple of early goals and a crunching tackle or two.
Tadic to s ore.

Fancy Ajax 1-2.

Berserker

Harry Palmr wrote: »

Is anyone else unfeasibly excited by Spurs v Ajax?

Been like a child at Christmas all day. Really looking forward to this. House to myself, missus is working. Dinner done and dusted. Phone off the hook. Mobile on airplane mode.

davycc

Come on you spurs!

Berserker

Lovely bit of football from Ajax and an early goal. Great for the neutrals. Ajax look very good on the ball so far.

gimli2112

just been watching this the last five minutes Ajax look scary good

Quazzie

Spurs being punished for playing like the away team

The Golden Miller

The Golden Miller wrote: »

Ajax and Liverpool are gonna have a field day v Spurs and Barca imo. Ajax to win outright. Every 20 years or so they rise and win it out of the blue. The time has come again. The total footballers!

This will come to pass. I'm rarely wrong

Wrongway1985

Foolish of the Spurs defense seemed to stand still VAR is in play lads break your bollocks to attempt to get the ball instead of hoping for flags to bail them out. Can't fault the determination of Ajax deservedly ahead.

The Golden Miller

Playing away suits Ajax, stronger even away. The home team has to open, leaving more space. No one can live with them in an open game of football

davycc

Kane world have buried that header in his sleep ffs Lorrente !

ShamoBuc

He looked clearly concussed, howi n the name of God was he allowed go back on, he could barely stand up.
Cleared by a doctor?

LuckyLloyd

ShamoBuc wrote: »

He looked clearly concussed, howin the name of God was he allowed go back on, he could barely stand up.
Cleared by a doctor?

The ref even came over to check on it and prompt them to not put him back out there. Bizarre by the Spurs coaching staff.

Berserker

ShamoBuc wrote: »

He looked clearly concussed, howin the name of God was he allowed go back on, he could barely stand up.
Cleared by a doctor?

Think he passed out when he came off. They had to carry him off the pitch.