Champions League

[speeeeeeedie]

I'm late with my annual Champions League thread. We all know that the usual suspects will be there at the end but I do enjoy watching it.

Here are the groups;

Group A Man City, PSG, RB Leipzig, Bruges
Group B Atletico Madrid, Liverpool, Porto, AC Milan
Group C Sporting Lisbon, Borussia Dortmund, Ajax, Besiktas
Group D Inter, Real Madrid, Shakhtar Donetsk, FC Sheriff
Group E Bayern Munich, Barcelona, Benfica, Dynamo Kyiv
Group F Villarreal, Man United, Atalanta, Young Boys
Group G Lille, Seville, Salzburg, Wolfsburg
Group H Chelsea, Juventus, Zenit, Malmo

 

[SuperBrfc]

I haven't bothered with the group stages for a few years, but I'm taking a keen interest this time. Brilliant to see Young Boys get a 95th minute winner against that lot. I'll take that as revenge for the Alan Smith goal at Ewood when Saha punched the ball into his path.

Liverpool v Milan lived up to its billing. After a blistering start, Liverpool were somehow trailing at half time. Good fightback in the second half though. City getting a hatful isn't a surprise these days, but them conceding three at home last night was. Interesting to see how both defences get on in the tougher games. PSG up next for City.

Elsewhere, two goals from Jason Roberts' strike partner (what might have been) for Bayern to down Barca and four goals from Sebastian Haller for Ajax as they beat Sporting Lisbon 5-1! The same Haller who was anonymous at West Ham.

I saw a result in the Europa League last night that made me smile. Spartak Moscow 0-1 Legia Warsaw. If ever there was a perfect Europa League group for Rovers...😁.

[oldjamfan1]

That wee guy that just scored against Citeh looks a player.

[DE.]

Real Madrid 1-2 Sheriff Tiraspol 😂 not a bad goal to win the game with!

Edited September 29, 2021 by DE.

[roverandout]

Can't believe they didn't go for him. Desperately lack a goal scorer. Sterling looks finished at club level.  Grealish offers alot bar goals.  Huge mistake not signing him. I can't stand psg though.  Such a plastic club 

[roversfan99]

1 hour ago, roverandout said:

Can't believe they didn't go for him. Desperately lack a goal scorer. Sterling looks finished at club level.  Grealish offers alot bar goals.  Huge mistake not signing him. I can't stand psg though.  Such a plastic club 

Some would say that City are too.

[speeeeeeedie]

Ronaldo bailed out Man U again yesterday. 2 cracking goals from him salvaged a draw and left qualification in their hands.

Solskjaer threw as many subs on as he could with 20 minutes to go and hoped for the best. 

If reports are true that he had 3 games after Liverpool to save his job I'd be a bit worried if I was him.

Spurs were all at sea, They got lucky last night, next up is City.

[arbitro]

https://www.skysports.com/football/news/11945/12494889/champions-league-last-16-re-draw-to-take-place-after-error-involving-atletico-madrid-liverpool-and-man-utd

Deary me. These people are entrusted with the governance of European football and can't even get this right.

Shambolic.

[speeeeeeedie]

3 hours ago, arbitro said:

https://www.skysports.com/football/news/11945/12494889/champions-league-last-16-re-draw-to-take-place-after-error-involving-atletico-madrid-liverpool-and-man-utd

Deary me. These people are entrusted with the governance of European football and can't even get this right.

Shambolic.

Farcical. They blamed computer software too, rather than some idiot messing it up.

Here was the initial draw;

Benfica vs. Real Madrid
Villarreal vs. Manchester City
Atletico Madrid vs. Bayern Munich
FC Salzburg vs. Liverpool
Inter Milan vs. Ajax
Sporting CP vs. Juventus
Chelsea vs. Lille
Paris Saint-Germain vs. Manchester United

Now replaced by this;

FC Salzburg vs. Bayern Munich
Sporting CP vs. Manchester City
Benfica vs. Ajax
Chelsea vs. Lille
Atletico Madrid vs. Manchester United
Villarreal vs. Juventus
Inter Milan vs. Liverpool
Paris Saint-Germain vs. Real Madrid

 

[Silas]

5 minutes ago, speeeeeeedie said:

Farcical. They blamed computer software too, rather than some idiot messing it up.

Here was the initial draw;

Benfica vs. Real Madrid
Villarreal vs. Manchester City
Atletico Madrid vs. Bayern Munich
FC Salzburg vs. Liverpool
Inter Milan vs. Ajax
Sporting CP vs. Juventus
Chelsea vs. Lille
Paris Saint-Germain vs. Manchester United

Now replaced by this;

FC Salzburg vs. Bayern Munich
Sporting CP vs. Manchester City
Benfica vs. Ajax
Chelsea vs. Lille
Atletico Madrid vs. Manchester United
Villarreal vs. Juventus
Inter Milan vs. Liverpool
Paris Saint-Germain vs. Real Madrid

 

Benfica probably biggest winner and Liverpool biggest loser. 

Shambles. 

[speeeeeeedie]

55 minutes ago, Silas said:

Benfica probably biggest winner and Liverpool biggest loser. 

Shambles. 

Real probably aren't too thrilled. They swapped Benfica, for PSG.

RB Salzburg went from Liverpool to Bayern Munich. 

[speeeeeeedie]

The first two knockout games were yesterday. 

City tore Sporting Lisbon apart and won 5-0, away. Bernardo Silva scored a cracker.

PSG beat Real Madrid 1-0 due to some last minute brilliance from Mbappe. Messi looked lost and also missed a penalty.

City are through. PSG will be kicking themselves. They should have scored more than 1. Real played not to lose, didn't have a shot on target, and now have 2 players suspended for the second leg in Madrid. However, PSG have a history of failing to do what they need to and at only 1-0 down and playing at home Madrid won't be feeling like Sporting today.

[riverholmes]

Harvey Elliot started for Liverpool in midfield in the last sixteen tie against Inter. An incredible progression for Elliot who helped us to our 15th place league finish last season, mostly playing as a right wing forward. Though Elliot was one of the league's top assist-makers last year, in a reasonable line-up and role, he surely would have helped propel us much higher.

Consider that almost one year ago, on 17 Feb 2021, we lost 2-1 to Barnsley, playing, apparently a version of  3-5-2 with a midfield of Travis, Downing and Dack, with Elliot Bennett and Barry Douglas our wing backs and Gallagher up front with Armstrong. Harvey Elliot came off the bench on 76 minutes and assisted a late Armstrong consolation. The following game, we lost 1-2 to Preston, with, apparently, a 4-3-3 type formation, with Gallagher right wing, Rothwell left wing (subbed at half-time as we trailed 0-2) and Harvey Elliot coming off the bench after 63 minutes.

But, steering it on topic of the Champions League, it looks like Elliot was selected today ahead of Henderson, Keita, Oxlade-Chamberlain and Milner, which is astonishing. It also highlights the depth that they have, as Curtis Jones could also play with Fabinho and Thiago and with the signing of Diaz, it seems that they've gained in belief, no longer so reliant on Origi as key back-up upfront. 

Edited February 16, 2022 by riverholmes

[speeeeeeedie]

17 hours ago, riverholmes said:

Harvey Elliot started for Liverpool in midfield in the last sixteen tie against Inter. An incredible progression for Elliot who helped us to our 15th place league finish last season, mostly playing as a right wing forward. Though Elliot was one of the league's top assist-makers last year, in a reasonable line-up and role, he surely would have helped propel us much higher.

Consider that almost one year ago, on 17 Feb 2021, we lost 2-1 to Barnsley, playing, apparently a version of  3-5-2 with a midfield of Travis, Downing and Dack, with Elliot Bennett and Barry Douglas our wing backs and Gallagher up front with Armstrong. Harvey Elliot came off the bench on 76 minutes and assisted a late Armstrong consolation. The following game, we lost 1-2 to Preston, with, apparently, a 4-3-3 type formation, with Gallagher right wing, Rothwell left wing (subbed at half-time as we trailed 0-2) and Harvey Elliot coming off the bench after 63 minutes.

But, steering it on topic of the Champions League, it looks like Elliot was selected today ahead of Henderson, Keita, Oxlade-Chamberlain and Milner, which is astonishing. It also highlights the depth that they have, as Curtis Jones could also play with Fabinho and Thiago and with the signing of Diaz, it seems that they've gained in belief, no longer so reliant on Origi as key back-up upfront. 

It does look like Liverpool have sorted out the personnel problems that cost them last season. Ox, Gomez, Matip, and Origi were also on the subs bench.

It was fantastic for Elliott. I think that he is a superb player, but he didn't play well last night. In his defence it was against an Italian team who were at home and pressed well. Klopp's subs changed the game. Henderson immediately got hold of midfield, and as is becoming customary with Liverpool they scored off a set piece.

Perisic is a good player. He gave Alexander-Arnold a difficult time.

In the other tie Bayern were outplayed by Salzburg, but got away with a draw.

 

[islander200]

Galling to say but great win and performance by Rangers last night.

Ryan Kent who Mowbray wanted to bring here was class.A premier League club will sign him this summer surely

[oldjamfan1]

40 minutes ago, islander200 said:

Galling to say but great win and performance by Rangers last night.

Ryan Kent who Mowbray wanted to bring here was class.A premier League club will sign him this summer surely

Amazing result for them last night and a shocker for their rivals, but neither tie is over yet. I'm very tempted to put a fiver on a double for Celtic and Dortmund both to qualify. Celtic will not be as bad again and if Haaland is back for Dortmund and they get the first goal it will be interesting. Away goals don't count in the way they used to so a 2-0 win for either of the sides who are behind takes it to extra time.

[Wheelton Blue]

The Barca/Napoli game was a decent watch.

With regard to Barca, how the mighty have fallen! They really struggled until Busquets came on as a sub when they took control. If Ferran Torres wasn't so inept, they would have won comfortably though.

The return leg will be interesting.

[frosty]

1 hour ago, oldjamfan1 said:

Amazing result for them last night and a shocker for their rivals, but neither tie is over yet. I'm very tempted to put a fiver on a double for Celtic and Dortmund both to qualify. Celtic will not be as bad again and if Haaland is back for Dortmund and they get the first goal it will be interesting. Away goals don't count in the way they used to so a 2-0 win for either of the sides who are behind takes it to extra time.

Dortmund possibly. Bodo/Glimt's results so far this season though and last night suggest they're simply a much better team than Celtic, would be very surprised if they turned it around. 

[speeeeeeedie]

For the first time in a long while I didn't watch any Champs League games this week. I probably should have watched yesterday instead of sitting through Rovers latest no goal show.

This week we had;

Chelsea 2-0 Lille - They are far too good for Lille, barring a disaster Chelsea are through.

Villareal 1-1 Juventus - No idea on this one. 

Atletico 1-1 Man U - I saw the highlights and Man U got away with a draw. Anything can happen at Old Trafford though. I admire the way Simeone's teams play but cannot stand how they do it. Niggling, falling over, cynical fouls, the lot.

Benfica 2-2 Ajax - back in time for this one. Looked like an entertaining game. 

The final is going to be moved from St. Petersburg. Wembley has been touted but it's hosting in 2 years so that's not likely. 

 

[chaddyrovers]

 

 

 

[AllRoverAsia]

I was wide awake in the wee hours after watching the Test match and put the RM v PSG game on with PSG now leading the tie 2-0.

And then it happened!

From 60 mins on should be compulsory viewing for our 'strikers' at Rovers.

[roverandout]

Psg perennial bottlers. Defensively they're a shambles.  Never rated Kimpembe.  Donnarumma was hopeless.  Their midfield is shit. Take out the front 3 they're garbage.  

[RoverDom]

The problem is the French league. PSG don't play top sides domestically so don't have to grind out results against decent sides so they're never going all the way in the champions league. 

They also have a lot of sulky players, so when the going gets tough  heads drop. 

Fantastic game to watch though but as soon as Real got one back, you knew what was happening. 

 

Agree with Allroverasia, should show that to our attackers. We'd maybe have to pause it though and explain that benzema put the round thing in the netty thing and that's a good thing. 

[speeeeeeedie]

I agree with the thoughts regarding PSG and last night's game. 

They will always struggle against the top echelon teams in the Champs League. They don't have the level of competition needed week in week out and aren't used to being pressured.

A run to the final 2 years ago was aided by playing 1 legged games in the quarters and semi's.

As to the game PSG kept the ball for about 2 minutes straight not too long before Benzema scored his first. They were showing off, and wasting time. Messi was a passenger in both legs. 

Apparently Leanardo (PSG director) tried to confront the ref after the game as he was adamant that Donnarumma was fouled by Benzema. Although from what I saw the keeper kicked the floor.

[speeeeeeedie]

City and Bayern cruised through to the quarters. City did their job in the first leg. Bayern had to wait until their home leg before overwhelming Salzburg.

Liverpool are through but they were lucky. They were in the driver's seat after a 2 goal away win but Milan had the momentum at Anfield and were harshly punished by a questionable sending off. However, Salah hit both posts separately when it seemed easier to score either time.