We had the Thursday - Saturday thing before. I think it was in 12/13 when we had 4 German teams in the EL group stages and it was a constant problem for the Bundesliga matchdays after EL games. For the following season, they agreed on allowing more weekends with 3 games on Sunday. But if 5 or 6 teams end up playing in the EL, we probably need 4 or 5 Sunday games, sometimes maybe even 6. I doubt they planned for that.
If it happens, I hope they'll agree on exceptions and most likely they won't need it too often, because I doubt that all clubs will progress through the first knockout rounds.
Oh yes, you're right. In 12/13 Leverkusen and Gladbach had to play on Saturday after their first match in the ro32 and then Stuttgart and Hannover the following matchday.
I've looked it up. This year Dortmund:Leverkusen would follow the first matchday and Gladbach:Augsburg the second. So with three sunday games they could possibly handle four of the clubs, but that's all theoretical right now anyway.
The way I see it:
Bayern will be playing in CL for sure.
Wolfsburg is 50/50 for me. A win in Moscow could already be enough and I think they can take points off of United at home, but teams often struggle when they have to travel to Russia.
Gladbach is 35/65 for me. They need to beat Sevilla, which will be tough but manageable but even then Sevilla must not win against Juve (because I don't see Gladbach winning in Manchester), who are a bit weak atm imho.
Leverkusen: 20/80 for me. Assuming both beat BATE they have would to beat Barca at home.
Dortmund will advance for sure.
Schalke made things messier than they had to be and I can see them dropping points again tonight, but in the end I'd be very surprised if they don't make it through.
Augsburg is 50/50 to me. They have two home games and their away is "only" against Partisan, if they beat AZ tonigh they have a fairly decent chance.
How will this affect the Wolfsburg vs Bayern game then at the end of February? I'm assuming from reading this thread that It's highly unlikely that it'll be the Friday game with one/both of them still being in Europe, and the last 16 games of the Champioons League being the Tuesday/Wednesday before the weekend game.
Now if (Big IF) Wolfsburg finish 3rd int he group and play Europa League, is it more likely that the game will be on the Sunday?
Trying to narrow this down to see if I can book flights while they are cheap...
EL teams always play on sunday in Germany, unless the scenario Balu described happens and we have 4-6 teams in the EL, but even then this would be a high profile game and giving Bayern a big advantage by denying Wolfsburg the usual time to regenerate would probably cause some sort of outrage, so I'm fairly certain that they will put it on a sunday in any case if Wolfsburg get relegated to the EL, to avoid the drama.
He's constantly missing sitters, even today. Against Stuttgart he converted from 2 yards out. In the CL he scored a penalty. The other shot he had in that game was alone in front of goal where he shot straight at the keeper, then converted the rebound into the empty net. Leverkusen is just creating so many chances for him. Aside from the Roma and Stuttgart match it really shows though that they don't have a reliable finisher anymore.
