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Champions League 2014/15
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In the latest episode of the United Hour Podcast, Nik (@Rood) is joined by CEO Duncan Drasdo and Financial Director Andy Green from the Manchester United Supporters Trust for a special episode on all things behind the scenes at Old Trafford including a brief history of MUST and their aims today, views on INEOS and Sir Jim Ratcliffe so far, and the Old Trafford regeneration.
Horrible what happened to Legia. They really smashed Celtic to bits, too. Completely undeserved due to a clerical error.
I'm really excited for this draw. My home town team Malmö FF got through on away goals , 4-4 against Sparta Prague. Malmö lost 4-2 in the first leg in Prague, and the home game in Malmö was absolutely fantastic. The entire stadium was filled to the brim and the entire crowd sang and cheered the team on for 90 minutes. Malmö won 2-0 by two really great goals by Markus Rosenberg (who scored an incredible 0 goals in 2 seasons at West Brom!). I've never seen or been a part of anything like it before. I'm so glad I was there! Praying for an away game in Cyprus now!
I'm really excited for this draw. My home town team Malmö FF got through on away goals , 4-4 against Sparta Prague. Malmö lost 4-2 in the first leg in Prague, and the home game in Malmö was absolutely fantastic. The entire stadium was filled to the brim and the entire crowd sang and cheered the team on for 90 minutes. Malmö won 2-0 by two really great goals by Markus Rosenberg (who scored an incredible 0 goals in 2 seasons at West Brom!). I've never seen or been a part of anything like it before. I'm so glad I was there! Praying for an away game in Cyprus now!
I hope you get Celtic and trash them, then Legia get them in EL again and win twice, obviously given walkover for both games because there's an ineligible Legia fan in the stands.
It's not Celtic's fault that Legia fecked up.
Yes he can but just don't think he will this season. I think they've over achieved a little in recent years in Europe.
Celtic back in?? Hope Arsenal get Athletic, otherwise I don't think I'll watch any of these games
Overachieved? They deservedly made the final in 2013 and narrowly missed out on the Semi's due to wasted chances.
Is there any way that Celtic could say "we don't want it like this"? Would Uefa even allow it?
Nope, they won't give up on several million handed to them.
Yes those are over achievements they won't be able to repeat IMHO.
That's hilarious.
I guess we'll have to agree to disagree.
Reckon it'll be Bayern's year.
Just stated my opinion and nothing else.
Didn't someone already cover this in the Ronny Deila thread? The difference in these cases being that the Debrecen player wasn't suspended, just not registered for the game. Playing a suspended player results in an automatic 3-0 forfeit as per the rules.
@Sarni a player can only be suspended for games he's registered for
re: your point about big clubs being favoured... sure I'd bet there is (passive) favoritism, but the simple answer as to why something like this would "never happen to the big clubs" is easy... they're a lot more unlikely to make such mistakes because they are big clubs.
Personally, I agree there should be some sort of "common sense" ruling or committee for cases like this, but on principle/by law UEFA are 100% within their rights.
Gutted for them. But more chances for Poland in the EL I would say. They are a great team.
Arsenal the best team in the playoffs, Bayer 2nd for me. Really hated the attitude at the club the last years but Bayer(the company) gave them 75! million this summer and they made great transfers for 30 million.
If you look at the team you see great talents like Brandt or Öztunali and so many great young players who can make the next step like Son or Calhanoglu.
The new trainer made great attacking football in Salzburg and the whole club seems buzzing. Im reall rooting for them, strange.
Lets see if they can lose the Bayer "spirit"(roll over when you play againt a big club)
Play-off draw starting now... one of the balls escaped
Maribor draw Celtic
Salzburg (very promising team, did well last season in the EL) face Malmö
Aalborg v APOEL
Steaua v Ludogorets
Slovan Bratislava v BATE Borisov
That was the champions route
Salzburg (very promising team, did well last season in the EL) face Malmö
Aalborg v APOEL
Steaua v Ludogorets
Slovan Bratislava v BATE Borisov
That was the champions route
I think the word in rules is "ineligible". They were both that I believe.
And appears that Legia player wasn't suspended either for that Celtic clash, but for previous three, for which he wasn't -- registered.
EDIT: Actually...
Article 14bis
Forfeit
1 A match is declared forfeit if a player who has been suspended following a
disciplinary decision participates in the match.
2 A match is also declared forfeit in application of Article 19(1) of these
regulations.
3 A match may be declared forfeit if a player who is ineligible under the regulations
of the competition concerned participates in the match, as long as the opposing
club files a protest.
Guess it's a case of #3.
I'm fairly sure that it's the "suspended" part that only surely leads to a forfeit. Once again, a player is only suspended for games when he is registered, so by not registering the player in question against St Pats he technically didn't sit out those 2 games of his suspension. It's surprising the amount of people that assume UEFA are comprised of a bunch of amateurs who don't know their (or FIFA's) own rules.
Yeah, edited previous post.
League route:
Besiktas v Arsenal
Standard v Zenit
FC København v Bayer Leverkusen
Lille v FC Porto
Napoli v Athletic
Unlucky Athletic, the loss of Ander will be felt IMO.
Besiktas v Arsenal
Standard v Zenit
FC København v Bayer Leverkusen
Lille v FC Porto
Napoli v Athletic
Unlucky Athletic, the loss of Ander will be felt IMO.
Neapel vs Bilbao Woah
Kopenhagen vs Bayer They go through in 7 of 10 times.
Arsenal vs Besiktas That could be hard for Arsenal. Will Özil be ready?
Kopenhagen vs Bayer They go through in 7 of 10 times.
Arsenal vs Besiktas That could be hard for Arsenal. Will Özil be ready?
That was obviously the Celtic/Legia ball.Play-off draw starting now... one of the balls escaped
Nah, the last time a Turkish club did anything of note was 2007. I'm expecting a comfortable 3 or 4 goal win on aggregate for Arsenal.
Favourites to go through IMO,
Arsenal
Zenit
Bayer Leverkusen
Porto (hard to tell, they've gotten in so many new players + new manager but I'd favour them slightly)
Napoli (last year's Athletic were excellent, but lack of experience at this level and loss of Ander should favour the Italians)
Pretty much one of the easier draws for Arsenal. Porto / Bilbao / Napoli /Zenit would all have been much tougher.
Napoli v Bilbao. Wow. I'd love to see both teams in the CL, sucks.
Napoli's game will be the one to watch.
They could've gotten only Bilbao from those.
My first thought when I saw this thread?
"fecking Moyes."
"fecking Moyes."
Its only just sunk in, with the draw, that United won't be in this year's Champions League...
...%>£&
...%>£&
Thanks for the view. Not really into Porto.
Yeah, I base my view on Turkish sides a bit on their history. But dont forget Gala vs Juve last season. Its a fine league.
Other thing;
If Napoli lose Italy would only have 2 teams in the CL and one of them will get a very tough group. Crazy how much they have fallen in a few years.
That would have done.
Ah yeah had forgotten about that, in fairness because I saw that more as Juve failing than Gala succeeding
Re: Napoli, they've probably been one of the better Italian teams of late (in the CL anyway, in the EL they did poorly).. not so much luck with draws either,
In 2011-12 they were drawn into a group with Bayern, Man City and Villarreal and finished 2nd, then drew Chelsea in R16 and went out after extra time.
In 2013-14 they were drawn into a group with Arsenal, Dortmund and Marseille finishing 3rd (on equal pts with 1st and 2nd, but inferior GD).
Now 2014-15 for the play-offs they draw Athletic
So in three CL campaigns they've so far drawn 7 teams from the Top-3 leagues and the only other one was from a Top-5 league (France)
talk about bad luck (well that and a poor coefficient of course)Ah yeah had forgotten about that, in fairness because I saw that more as Juve failing than Gala succeeding
Re: Napoli, they've probably been one of the better Italian teams of late (in the CL anyway, in the EL they did poorly).. not so much luck with draws either,
In 2011-12 they were drawn into a group with Bayern, Man City and Villarreal and finished 2nd, then drew Chelsea in R16 and went out after extra time.
In 2013-14 they were drawn into a group with Arsenal, Dortmund and Marseille finishing 3rd (on equal pts with 1st and 2nd, but inferior GD).
Now 2014-15 for the play-offs they draw Athletic
So in three CL campaigns they've so far drawn 7 teams from the Top-3 leagues and the only other one was from a Top-5 league (France)
Haha, no prob. The pitch was crazy too.
Yeah. That is always a bit harsh with the coefficient thing. Dortmund was in pot 3!! after a CL final. 3 years would be a better time frame imo for that.
But you also have to say that the whole club is a bit off. The fans are very infamous. The players not so great sometimes too(Schweini got wrecked in a CL game in 2011).
Wouldnt mind Bilbao but you earn what you earn.
I'm liking the prospect of this seasons cl. European football is getting more competitive by the year, a far cry from the shambles of 5-3 years ago. Just wish they'd bring back the second group stage, it was wonderful to see all the big clubs mashed into a group of death scenario every season.
I would've liked to see both Napoli and Athletic in the CL instead of the likes of Zenit who now probably have another free-pass despite being absolute crap (still can't believe how they made the knock-out stage last season, winning only 1 of 6 games and with a -4 GD
). Last year's Standard would stand a chance, but they've seen too many important departures (esp. great prospects Batshuayi to Marseille and Ezekiel to Qatar ffs what a waste), to be fair they already far exceeded anyone's expectations here in Belgium by beating Panathinaikos -- esp. when their play didn't really merit it.Hope Athletic can reach the group stage, they really deserve it for their great work in the past few seasons. Just hope they won't be another Villarreal/R.Sociedad who both completely underperformed in GS lately. At least teams like Sevilla and Valencia would only bottle it after the group stage.
Punishment should be proportionate to the crime. This is a complete joke. The heavy fine would be satisfactory.
What shambles might that be? If anything in the interim the CL has become less unpredictable than before...
Semi-finalists
2008-09: Man Utd, Barça, Arsenal, Chelsea
2009-10: Bayern, Barça, Internazionale, Lyon
2010-11: Man Utd, Barça, R.Madrid, Schalke
2011-12: Bayern, Barça, R.Madrid, Chelsea
2012-13: Bayern, Barça, R.Madrid, Dortmund
2013-14: Bayern, Atlético, R.Madrid, Chelsea
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