Champions League/Europa League 2019/20

Good start for the Premier League clubs in the Champions League - Liverpool wasting a load of chances and losing 2-0 to Napoli, and Chelsea missing a penalty and losing at home to Valencia.

PSG trashed Real Madrid 3-0 despite missing Mbappe, Cavani and Neymar

Hazard looks out of his depth at a ‘super club’.

Spurs 2-7 Bayern

Have to question the future of Pochettino now, looks like he’s taken them as far as he can. Might end up at United before Xmas?

Guess Wenger was right about Gnabry...just took Bayern to get him to that level.

The difference between great and overrated was also evident. Lewandowski two sensational goals, whereas Kane reliant on penalties. Hardly saw Kane involved at all.

Just John wrote:
Might end up at United before Xmas?

Only way I see this happening is if United have relegation concerns.

Liverpool 3-0 up and Salzburg bring it back to 3-3. Incredible match

BT Sport has regained rights to show Champions League football. They will pay in excess of £1.2 billion for a three-year deal starting in 2021, after beating off competition from Sky and ITV.

Fantastic game between Madrid and PSG finishes 2-2. A fabulous game to illustrate the beauty of football.

UCL Draw Last 16

PSG v Borussia Dortmund
Manchester City v Real Madrid
Valencia v Atalanta
Liverpool v Atlético Madrid
Bayern Munich v Chelsea
Juventus v Lyon
RB Leipzig v Tottenham
Barcelona v Napoli

Europa League Draw

Wolves v Espanyol
Olympiacos v Arsenal
Club Brugge v Man U

Knockout stages of the Champions League start tonight. I doubt there’ll be anywhere near as much drama as last year’s hectic knockout stage!

Odds on winning the greatest trophy this season - Liverpool 4/1. Man City 4/1. Barcelona 7/1. PSG 7/1. Bayern 7/1. Juventus 10/1. Real 14/1. Tottenham 25/1. Chelsea 40/1.

Can’t look beyond Liverpool to successfully defend their crown and 4/1 is an excellent price. Far and away the most dominant side in Europe at the moment.

Surprised City are joint favourites as I don’t give them any real chance with their problems defensively this season.

I know Atletico are having a poor season this year, but I massively worry about this tie. I'd much rather have faced a team that were going to have a go, as I'd fancy Liverpool to overcome any team who'd try that. In this case, Atletico are going to sit back and frustrate - the whole team is going to have to keep it's concentration in this game. I'd expect 0-0 tonight (similar to the Bayern/Liverpool tie last year) and then Atletico will aim for away goals at Anfield - meaning Liverpool could be out with a score draw.

I think the key will be how Simeone tries to deal with the full backs - I expect he'll leave them alone and just be confident that they'll be able to deal with any crosses they put in.

It’s hard to see it not being Liverpool, I suppose there’s some feeling that City will rest players to focus on the CL. PSG have sorted themselves out a bit, and one of the few not involved in a title race. Usually Bayern, Juve and maybe a Spanish side is running away with a league.

Worth a play on Real Madrid if you think they’ll beat City.

Think Liverpool will comfortably see off A Madrid (over two legs) who are suffering a number of injuries as well as poor scoring form  - having the second leg at Anfield is a boost as well.

The Dortmund-PSG tie should be a lot closer. Sancho and Haaland well placed to exploit PSG’s defensive frailties.

Love to see Atletico do Liverpool. The hype on this Liverpool side is ridiculous. They’re a good side, but it’s a woeful PL standard.

Atlético 1-0 Liverpool FT - Still expect Liverpool to turn that around at Anfield.

1-0 won’t be enough. Baffled that Klopp got booked for very little, but Simeone got nothing for all his antics (including going on the pitch!).

Good result for Dortmund over PSG, but they’ll need more goals in Paris.

Just John wrote:Love to see Atletico do Liverpool. The hype on this Liverpool side is ridiculous. They’re a good side, but it’s a woeful PL standard.

Atlético 1-0 Liverpool FT - Still expect Liverpool to turn that around at Anfield.

The premier league is at a real low point at the moment, Liverpool are a good team but I can't see them having much impact pre 2014 personally.

Think last night went exactly as expected - all the confidence for Liverpool in this tie came from non-Liverpool fans. Atletico had been recognised as the worst possible tie and so it comes to pass. I still remain confident that we'll be able to beat them by 2 at Anfield. Liverpool have been poor away from home in Europe in general and Atletico are purpose built to beat this Liverpool side in this kind of game. 

I'd be confident of keeping a clean sheet at Anfield given how little they threatened and the lucky nature of the goal, so then we just need to be a bit quicker on the ball, find ways to get Robertson and Alexander Arnold into the game and it should be fine. 

Given the win last year and the desire to end the PL drought, any progress in the CL this year is a bonus for me!

Crimey wrote:Think last night went exactly as expected - all the confidence for Liverpool in this tie came from non-Liverpool fans. Atletico had been recognised as the worst possible tie and so it comes to pass. I still remain confident that we'll be able to beat them by 2 at Anfield. Liverpool have been poor away from home in Europe in general and Atletico are purpose built to beat this Liverpool side in this kind of game. 

I'd be confident of keeping a clean sheet at Anfield given how little they threatened and the lucky nature of the goal, so then we just need to be a bit quicker on the ball, find ways to get Robertson and Alexander Arnold into the game and it should be fine. 

Given the win last year and the desire to end the PL drought, any progress in the CL this year is a bonus for me!

Pretty much this. Amazing the difference in opinion on how easy this tie would be for Liverpool, between Liverpool fans and other fans. Would rather Real Madrid than Atletico Madrid any day.

Confident of the win at Anfield, but would not fancy trying to put 3 past them, so an away goal would make things very interesting.

Barcelona signing Braithwaite stinks. A relegation threatened side lose their main striker because a multi hundred million pound team have a couple of injuries.

Soul Requiem wrote:Barcelona signing Braithwaite stinks. A relegation threatened side lose their main striker because a multi hundred million pound team have a couple of injuries.

Very bad rule. Bloody rules, always odd to see them weighed in favour of the bigger clubs

Dolphin Ziggler wrote:

Soul Requiem wrote:Barcelona signing Braithwaite stinks. A relegation threatened side lose their main striker because a multi hundred million pound team have a couple of injuries.

Very bad rule. Bloody rules, always odd to see them weighed in favour of the bigger clubs

It is, Levante now lose a player and are unable to replace him. The Spanish FA bend over backwards for Barca and Madrid.

Chelsea, unsurprisingly, get done in quite heavily by Munich, making it another PL loss in the last 16.

An unambitious Napoli get a 1-1 draw at home to Barca, which surely won’t be enough. Barca’s defence looked incredibly flimsy whenever Napoli got at them - the Catalans very unlikely to be winners of the CL this season.

Madrid/City should be an excellent tie with plenty of goals.

City looked a class apart from Real Madrid last night. Madrids goal complete bolt from the blue to take the lead.

City probably justifying their favorites tag.

I think based on the first legs, Bayern & City have got to be considered the favourites. Will be interesting to see how soon they meet? I also wouldn't be massively surprised, if Atletico get through, for them to go on a good run as well - especially given they're not in a title challenge.

Atalanta and Leipzig comfortably through to the quarter-finals. Without Kane and Son, Tottenham had precious little chance.

Tomorrow should be a little more interesting with both ties up for grabs.

Liverpool out AET. Tactically they did everything right, and would have sealed the tie in 90 minutes had it not been for an inspired effort from Oblak. Then, having looked as though they sealed the tie with Firmino's goal, a diabolical goalkeeping performance from Adrian cost them very dearly (he also cost them dearly in the FA Cup against Chelsea).

Dortmund also out to PSG.

But with the news elsewhere, I'd be surprised if we see either the Champions League or Europa League played to a conclusion this season.

Their season effectively over, but seems everyone else’s will be too.

Not surprised by the result, been way off their best since the winter break, and Atlético/Simeone just thrive in games like this.

So the powers that be decided to stage PSGs game behind closed doors but all that resulted in is a massive crowd gathering outside the ground instead, waste of time as a policy.

Real Madrid players having to self-isolate for 15 days, meaning the game against City on the 17th will almost certainly be postponed.

Nearly time to bid adieu to the season.

Soul Requiem wrote:So the powers that be decided to stage PSGs game behind closed doors but all that resulted in is a massive crowd gathering outside the ground instead, waste of time as a policy.

you cant stop stupid

CL draw QF ties and then SF pairings

Real Madrid or Man City v Lyon or Juventus
Napoli or Barcelona v Chelsea or Bayern Munich

Atalanta v PSG
RB Leipzig v Atletico Madrid

Weaker bottom half of draw, looks like Atletico or the notorious bottlers PSG could make the final

City through thanks to some Varane gifts.

Lyon knock out Juve

Juve/Lyon was highly entertaining. Controversial pens, tense finish, a scorcher from CR7 and a referee very eager to dish out cards.

As a diehard Milan fan nothing makes my day better than when Juventus lose

Somewhat unsurprisingly, Juve have sacked Sarri

Pirlo already appointed as Juventus manager.

GOAT carries his side to the next round of champo ligo

Bayern-Barca should be a brilliant tie. This Bayern side are superb, and Barca are not... But Messi is Messi.

An 89th minute equaliser and a stoppage time winner turn bottlers PSG into the comeback kids, knocking out the neutral's favourite Atalanta

Atalanta were lucky to hold on that long; PSG's poor finishing nearly cost them a semi-final place. Tuchel will be praying for an ultra-quick return for Mbappe to full fitness, they look an entirely different side with him + Neymar on the pitch.

So uh, yeah, Barca are out

Barca players have scored 3 times tonight

Barcelona’s arrogance in believing PSG wouldn’t prize away Neymar coupled with wasting £400m on Dembele, Coutinho and Griezmann.
They’ve shown ridiculous ‘loyalty’ to players past their sell by dates - pique, Alba, Busquets and Suarez.

Only Barcelona could’ve found away to waste 5 years off Messi’s prime

Old, slow, mediocre, unmotivated.

Messi should be opting out of his contract asap.

Barca need to be convincing Pochettino to take the job

Blimey, you watch a different thing for one night and you come back to find Barca have lost 8-2. Thought Bayern would win, but that's ridiculous! Genuinely misread the score at first, thought it said 2-0 Barca!

And well done to Leipzig for putting out Atletico, that was a fantastic result for football.

GSC wrote:Barca need to be convincing Pochettino to take the job

Problem they have is that they've got a presidential election coming up, so job security prospects might not be great.

Barcelona’s senior players have told Bartomeu to contest the election this year - which he will lose by landslide. Additionally the same senior players don’t want Pochettino and only want Xavi to right the ship.

Jeff Navarro wrote:Barcelona’s senior players have told Bartomeu to contest the election this year - which he will lose by landslide. Additionally the same senior players don’t want Pochettino and only want Xavi to right the ship.  

How about the players stick to their job which is playing.

Man City dumped out the CL. Can’t defend.

Soul Requiem wrote:

Jeff Navarro wrote:Barcelona’s senior players have told Bartomeu to contest the election this year - which he will lose by landslide. Additionally the same senior players don’t want Pochettino and only want Xavi to right the ship.  

How about the players stick to their job which is playing.

I don’t know what you want me to say, but Barcelona are a club run by members so they’ll naturally side with the players as they are the most vital commodity. That said Bartomeu has been inept in the transfer market for a good few years so if he’s sacked he can’t complain.