The Real Football Thread

[ramjambunath]

Apoel vs Lyon
Napoli vs Chelsea
Milan vs Arsenal
Basel vs Bayern
Leverkusen vs Barcelona

 

[craig1985]

Lyon v APOEL
Napoli v Chelsea
AC Milan v Arsenal
Basel v Bayern Munich
Bayer Leverkusen v Barcelona
CSKA Moscow v Real Madrid
Zenit St Petersburg v Benfica
Marseille v Internazionale Milano

 

[ramjambunath]

Milan Arsenal should be a good match along with Marseille Inter

 

[craig1985]

Lyon are flat track bullies for mine. They'll fill their boots against APOEL but when they have stiff opposition then bye bye.

 

[craig1985]

Europa League:

Porto v Manchester City
Ajax v Manchester United
Lokomotiv Moscow v Athletic Bilbao
SV Salzburg v FC Metalist Kharkiv
Stoke City v Valencia CF
Rubin Kazan v Olympiacos
AZ Alkmaar v RSC Anderlecht
SS Lazio v Club de Atlético Madrid
Steaua Bucharest v FC Twente
Viktoria Plzeň v FC Schalke 04
Wisła Krakow v Standard Liège
Sporting Braga v Beşiktaş
Udinese v PAOK FC
Trabzonspor v PSV Eindhoven
Hannover 96 v Club Brugge
Legia v Sporting Clube Portugal

 

[craig1985]

Europa League Round 16:

SV Salzburg or FC Metalist Kharkiv v Rubin Kazan or Olympiacos
Legia or Sporting Clube Portugal v Porto or Manchester City
Steaua Bucharest or Twente Enschede v Viktoria Plzeň or FC Schalke 04
Wisła Krakow or Standard Liège v Hannover 96 or Club Brugge
Stoke City or Valencia CF v Trabzonspor or PSV Eindhoven
AZ Alkmaar or Anderlecht v Udinese v PAOK FC
SS Lazio or Club de Atlético Madrid v Sporting Braga or Beşiktaş
Ajax or Manchester United v Lokomotiv Moscow or Athletic Bilbao

 

[The Hitch]

Europa League way better.

Ajax MU
Porto- City.

 

[Zam_Olyas]

CL quarter finals could very well be without any team from ol blighty..when was the last time that occur? ..btw i wish universidad de chile could play either CL or EL...they are a good team. In Europa ..go wisla!

 

[Amsterhammer]

Jammy draws for all other Dutch teams except Ajax. Still, we'll be able to 'concentrate on the league' while they're still busy in the EL.

 

[Cobblestoned]

Lyon v APOEL
Napoli v Chelsea
AC Milan v Arsenal
Basel v Bayern Munich
Bayer Leverkusen v Barcelona
CSKA Moscow v Real Madrid
Zenit St Petersburg v Benfica
Marseille v Internazionale Milano

That will result in nice quarter-finals.
Looking forward to it.

 

[craig1985]

Real Madrid go 3-0 up in Sevilla in the first half and Pepe gets himself sent off as well.

 

[Amsterhammer]

Incredible! Barca are doing to the champion of South America what they do to everyone else when they're on form like today - run rings around them. HT score, 3-0 to Barca, game over, Neimar can't even get a sniff of the ball.

What an honor to watch the best team of this generation!

 

[Libertine Seguros]

It's a farce of a tournament really, and the Brazilian season has just come to an end, so you'd expect them to be more tired than European teams anyway, even notwithstanding the fact that the level of football is higher in Europe and Barcelona are on the highest level of those.

It's nice to be able to switch a match off after 20 minutes knowing the result though. It means I don't have to look at Messi, or Hernández, or Guardiola any longer.

Edit: 4-0, with 71% possession. Sounds about as exciting as a Grand Prix in the Schumacher era.

 

[Havetts]

Edit: 4-0, with 71% possession. Sounds about as exciting as a Grand Prix in the Schumacher era.

Oh god, I think it was 2001 or 2002 when Schumacher was champion by the GP of France, when he won cause Raikkonen spinned with only a few laps to go over the oil.

My goodness that was so boring..

 

[Thomsena]

It's nice to be able to switch a match off after 20 minutes knowing the result though. It means I don't have to look at Messi, or Hernández, or Guardiola any longer.

Why don't you just skip the match then. It's not like the two teams were randomly chosen to play each other a couple of minutes before kickoff...

 

[Amsterhammer]

Why don't you just skip the match then. It's not like the two teams were randomly chosen to play each other a couple of minutes before kickoff...

He's obviously not happy unless he can moan about Barca or certain of their players - it seems to be his mission. Sad that Santos could provide no opposition, even sadder that Neymar doesn't get a red card for that absurd hair on his head.

I do, however, agree with LS that this competition is a joke. At least from 2013 we'll have the games at sensible times as the tournament will be played in Marocco.

 

[palmerq]

I thought santos might have put up a bit of a fight.. i was wrong, shame, the south americans usually take this a bit more seriously than the europeans, santos have some good players, it's a very impressive win for barca, I like this competition, hopefully it becomes more prestigious or errr they just give you more money for winning it(that'll work)..

maybe barca will make a move for neymar in january seeing as villa broke his leg, if they can afford it....

 

[Libertine Seguros]

Why don't you just skip the match then. It's not like the two teams were randomly chosen to play each other a couple of minutes before kickoff...

TBH they should just make it the old fashioned way and just have the Champions' League winners play the Copa del Libertadores winners, since they both got free passes to the semis anyway.

Barcelona are good to watch when they're losing - the game against Getafe, with their desperate pushes to score, or the nervewracking finale against Athletic, were very good football to watch. When it's too easy for them, it's just no fun. Yes, the football is pretty, but it ceases to be pretty when the domination is so easy (71% possession!) because they don't need to try. Just like Michael Schumacher's laptimes ceased to be impressive when he had a 30 second lead at the head of the race, because you're not watching a competition anymore.

I had hopes for Santos putting up a fight, but the combination of the end of the season for them and Barcelona's sheer quality turned it into the usual exhibition, so I turned it off.

 

[Havetts]

Feyenoord is humiliating FC Twente with 3-0 at halftime, are we Barcelona-like now!?

 

[The Hitch]

The only good club world championship was the one in 2000 where Man u skipped the FA Cup, it was group stages, 2 clubs from every continent.

It was quality. Both European clubs - Man U treble winners, and Real Galacticos, got absolutely owned by the South Americans, and they were both trying.

 

[palmerq]

The only good club world championship was the one in 2000 where Man u skipped the FA Cup, it was group stages, 2 clubs from every continent.

It was quality. Both European clubs - Man U treble winners, and Real Galacticos, got absolutely owned by the South Americans, and they were both trying.

That was cool, the south americans and club necaxa(I like their name :S) did great, edmundo was on good form too, I think the heat killed man united .. i think that tournament is a bit big though to fit into the calendar.. but it was the best one.. I think they way it is just now is the best way unless fifa make the world football calendar mandatory which they might be trying to do with the world cup in qatar :S, could be interesting if those rumours happen..

Long live the club world cup

 

[Zam_Olyas]

Santos have been bad after they won copa ..if not for neymar they might even be relegated

 

[Zam_Olyas]

Lazio and udinese 1 all with 2nd half about to start...and on the desktop keeping an eye on valencia v malaga ..0-0

 

[l.Harm]

Feyenoord is humiliating FC Twente with 3-0 at halftime, are we Barcelona-like now!?

Scary 2nd half though

Wednesday Udinese-Juve, interesting match for the title.

 

[craig1985]

I hope Lazio lose to Siena.