UEFA Champions League Thread [Archive]

[Touring Mars]

Champions League 2009-2010 Group Stage Draw


Group A: Bayern Munich, Juventus, Girondins de Bordeaux, Maccabi Haifa

Group B: Manchester United, CSKA Moscow, Beşiktaş, VfL Wolfsburg

Group C: AC Milan, Real Madrid, Olympique de Marseille, FC Zürich

Group D: Chelsea, Porto, Atlético de Madrid, Apoel

Group E: Liverpool, Lyon, Fiorentina, Debreceni

Group F: Barcelona, Internazionale, FC Dynamo Kyiv, FC Rubin Kazan

Group G: Sevilla, Rangers, VfB Stuttgart, Unirea Urziceni

Group H: Arsenal, AZ Alkmaar, Olympiacos, Standard de Liège

 

[Kinetic]

Will take CSKA from that, mouthwatering for AC vs Real

Edit:

Even better

 

[Touring Mars]

Very good group for Rangers, jammy gets...

Looks very good for Liverpool, too...

 

[Omnis]

Group A is going to be crazy.

 

[Touring Mars]

Eduardo has been charged by UEFA for deceiving the referee and faces a two-game suspension. I reckon he might get off more lightly, but I would be delighted if he gets banned, even for one game

 

[Dave A]

The only problem with this is it sets a precedent. I'm all for it if UEFA stick by it and start threatening a banfor every plaer that takes a dive, but if it's a case of Eduardo get's pnished and then every other dive for the next 3 seasons goes unnoticed then what's the point.

 

[RouWa]

Group A is going to be crazy.

Group F is the only group with four current champions, including the ones from Spain and Italy.

I think Arsenal have a good chance to get all 18 possible points in Group H. I can't remenber if any club has achieved this before.

 

[Dave A]

Man Utd have, but if I recall we got dumped out in the first knockout round.

 

[Touring Mars]

Eduardo has now been banned for two games for his dive against Celtic. I hope this does set a precedent insomuch that UEFA will take action to stop the cheats in future - but something tells me that it might cause as much controversy as it tackles (i.e. accusations of bias and inconsistency etc.). Still, Arsene Wenger will no doubt whinge about this until he is sent to the stands (again), but I reckon it's a fair cop...

 

[Jack]

Eduardo has now been banned for two games for his dive against Celtic. I hope this does set a precedent insomuch that UEFA will take action to stop the cheats in future - but something tells me that it might cause as much controversy as it tackles (i.e. accusations of bias and inconsistency etc.). Still, Arsene Wenger will no doubt whinge about this until he is sent to the stands (again), but I reckon it's a fair cop...

As an Arsenal fan I'm in 2 minds about this outcome. I'm glad UEFA have finally bothered to do something about the diving, but will this just be a one off punishment... Why wasn't Ronaldo banned or even fined for his last few years in the premier league. I can see this not being followed up with repeated punishments and Eduardo being targetted (waits for the typical Arsenal fan comments )

Maybe Wenger should complain about Rooney on Saturday

 

[Dave A]

Apart from Rooney's being a perfectly legit penalty and Eduardo's not ruling deciet out of the equation . I agree with your point though, if this is a precedent and all blatant dives will now be looked at with the prospect of a ban if found guilty of attempted deceit then great, but I doubt we'll see this rule used for another could of years which makes it rediclous.

 

[Jack]

Apart from Rooney's being a perfectly legit penalty and Eduardo's not ruling deciet out of the equation .

I disagree

He wasn't getting the ball with such a heavy touch and was already on the way down

I agree with your point though, if this is a precedent and all blatant dives will now be looked at with the prospect of a ban if found guilty of attempted deceit then great, but I doubt we'll see this rule used for another could of years which makes it rediclous.

That I do agree with though 👍

 

[Dave A]

Well, we could debate that but if Rooney went down or not it was still a foul, therefore there was no deceving of the referee. Outside of Rooneys head no one knows if he tried to deceive the ref or if he was just trying to protect his legs or lost balance as Almunia came in. I personally feel that blatant dives should be punished because if you take it beyond a dive where there was no contact that could or would have brought the player down then you get into a pretty big mess of maybes. You can't call Rooneys a blatant dive, there was contact and it was a foul. The penalty was completely Almunias fault for rushing out like he did. Eduardo's wasn't a foul and there was no contact that caused or would have otherwise caused him to fall.

 

[Touring Mars]

So much for these new teams being easy points - Rubin Kazan are beating Barca at the Nou Camp, Debrecen have scored three against Fiorentina (albeit still losing though) and Unirea Urziceni are humping Rangers 4-1 at Ibrox! (Glad I'm not watching this in the pub right now ) Weirdly, of the 8 CL games tonight, 5 are currently away wins and 3 are score draws...

Correction - make that 6 away wins, as Lyon have just taken the lead at Anfield

edit: Jeez, in the time it took me to make this post, three goals went in - Liverpool and Arsenal both concede in injury time to lose points, and Olympiacos scored to get the only home win of the night... still, the night belongs to Rubin Kazan methinks... huge result for them!

 

[Alex.]

 

[darkfinal]

Here, guys. Have a ç so you can spell Barça properly.

Before I go: VISCA EL BARÇA!

 

[Dave A]

Guess what news I'm about to post.....


Liverpool are out the Champions league. And I say that as graciously as a brick wall collapsing.
In all seriousness, I'm very glad, not because it's Liverpool, but because it's Benitez. He has to be the most negative manager Liverpool have ever had. And I'm not saying this because I don't like Liverpoool, but a lot of Liverpool fans who remember the team in the 80's must be sick when they see how they play now. Defending a 1-0 lead against us by bringing on anothe defender and playing 5-4-1 say's it all about Benitez.

He's a manager that sets out to not conceed first, and to score second. And I'm srry, but for a top team with top players and the faclitlities to back that up, you should be looking to dominate games, not be up there because you snuff the opposition out. As much as I don't like Arsenal and Chelsea, the difference between them and Liverpool is that I can enjoy watching them when they're on form. Hell, I though Liverpool were fantastic when they went on that late run last season, battering everyone 4-0. But that run seems to have been born from a combination of a peak in confidence and having no other choice being so close to the title but not quite there rather than a desire and willingness to go all out and ruthlessly attack teams in general.

I've said it before and I stand by it, Benitez is the biggest reason Liverpool will not win the league that you have. Not only is he not rilliant int he transfer window besides Torres who is fabulous, but his tactics are pathetic for a team with so much history and pretige. I don't want Liverpool to start winning titles again, but I hate to see teams use the tactics like Benitez has Liverpool playing all too often no matter who they are. Today he took his only front man off for Benayoun at 1-0, then replaced a defender then took Gerrard off for Aquilani with 30 seconds to go. That's a major V sign to everything Liverpool once were.

 

[mafia_boy]

As much as I don't like Arsenal

Then you'll hate what I post next then even more Dave A.......

ARSENAL HAVE WON GROUP H!! YAY!

I have to say though, that shot by Vermaelen would've gone in at the 15 minute mark to make it 1-0 if it wasn't for Arshavin's FAT head blocking Liege's goal posts and stopping the goal going in! Ohwell, 2-0.....good win for them, they pretty much dominated most of the match!

I'm stunned at the way Barca took apart Inter! Injury worries my foot, they still have a wealth of talent to make the final 16 and are still a danger!

 

[RouWa]

Bayern beat Florence 2:1. The Italians said Klose's goal was offside, but it was not as this picture clearly shows:

 

[DK]

Arsenal got screwed over by the same dunce who screwed Ireland out of the World Cup.

 

[Dave A]

Arsenal managed to put that screw back in quite impressively. I'm not here to talk about them though, I've just seen Manchester United beat AC Milan 4-0 and I'm still grinning like a loon. That's a fantastc result, we were by far the better team over the two legs, a 7-2 aggregate no doubt flatters a little, but boy do I not care right now.

On another note Real Madrid are out losing 2-1 on aggregate to Lyon, I saw the highlights and they could have easilly won that game in the first half. That's what happens when you don't take your chances regardless of how much firepower you have on the pitch.

 

[Interpol-007]

Inter won the match today. The special one is happy. Bravo

 

[sems4arsenal]

So Arsenal need a miracle at camp nou with all the injuries and Bayern will be difficult game for Man utd ,amazing maybe all the English opposition will be out before the semi final that will leave Barca with a very easy route to the Bernabue.
C'mon GOONERS

 

[Touring Mars]

Did anyone else just hear a faint bang in the distance? That was my mate Jon (a Spurs supporter) exploding.

Young Boys 3 - 0 Tottenham after 30 minutes of the first leg

 

[CAMikaze]

He probably picked himself off of the floor after they were able to claw back 2 (this is crucial due to UEFA CL Rules regarding) Away Goals against those Swiss Whipper-snappers from Bern(SCB Young Boys). It'll be a interesting night at White Hart Lane next Wednesday.

 

[Touring Mars]

The 2010 Champions League Draw


Group A: Inter Milan

; Werder Bremen

; Tottenham Hotspur

; FC Twente

Group B: Lyon

; Benfica

; Schalke 04

; Hapoel Tel Aviv

Group C: Manchester United

; Valencia

; Rangers

; Bursaspor

Group D: FC Barcelona

; Panathinaikos

; FC Copenhagen

; Rubin Kazan

Group E: Bayern Munich

; Roma

; Basel

; CFR Cluj

Group F: Chelsea

; Marseille

; Spartak Moscow

; Žilina

Group G: AC Milan

; Real Madrid

; Ajax

; Auxerre

Group H: Arsenal

; Shakhtar Donetsk

; Braga

; Partizan Belgrade

Key:
2010 CL Winners
2010 CL Runners-up
2009 CL Winner
2009 CL Runners-up
2009 UEFA Cup Winners

 

[sems4arsenal]

Strange A stupidly easy group for us gooners for the 3rd year running well you could argue that most groups look easy and predictable.Still can't believe Tottenham are in the champions league though

 

[Touring Mars]

One thing I noticed was the Bursaspor away kit... it looks exactly like a Celtic strip, so it should make the Rangers v Bursaspor game at Ibrox more interesting!

Arsenal have dodged several bullets, but I guess that is mainly because they were top seeds - I reckon they are the weakest of the top seeds, but they should clear the group stage with no bother. Rangers, on the other hand, have no chance IMO. Group G looks very tasty, but the real talking point will be how defending champion Jose Mourinho gets on with Real Madrid...

 

[Akmuq]

We can beat inter any day. But seriously I think the spurs will finish 2nd in their group with a home draw against inter.

 

[Joker-GTBR]

Barcelona 5 Panathinaikos 1

Half of GTP Greek members are using Barcelona avatars.