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2016-17 Champions League

A

andyt

Canes Moderator
Staff member
We've gotten through all the qualifying rounds, now we're at the playoff round.

Ludogorets Razgrad v. Viktoria Plzen
Celtic v. Hapoel Be'er Sheva
Copenhagen v. APOEL
Dundalk v. Legia Warsaw
Dinamo Zagreb v. Red Bull Salzburg
Steaua Bucuesti v. Man City
Porto v. Roma
Ajax v. Rostov
Young Boys v. Borussia Monchengladbach
Villareal v. Monaco

Celtic, Red Bull Salzberg, APOEL, Legia Warsaw, Dinamo Zagreb, Ludogorets, Copenhagen and Dundalk came through from the 2nd qualifying round. Dundalk is the first Irish side to reach the playoff round.

The first legs will be played on 8/16-17, second legs the following week. The losing teams go into the Europa League Group Stage.
 
A. Go Dundalk

B. Celtic managed to get through Astana to this round only by benefit of a 94th minute PK from young Moussa Dembele, so that big wage bill has already been covered more or less. I do NOT like their matchup with a very disciplined Israeli side since they are still feeling their way into a completely different style of possession under the Brodg.

C. Porto vs Roma is one heck of a heavyweight contest for this stage of proceedings.
 
First set of qualifiers complete.

Celtic advance 5-4 on aggregate over Hapoel Be'er Sheva
Legia Warsaw advance 3-1 on aggregate over Dundalk
Monaco advance 3-1 on aggregate over Villareal
Porto advance 4-1 on aggregate over Roma...with a 3-0 win in Rome today
Ludogorets Razgrad advance 4-2 on aggregate over Viktoria Plzen
 
Celtic BARELY survived their trip to the Negev desert to finish up that second leg against Hapoel. Prolly didn't help that some of their dumber and more anti semitic supporters groups flew Palestinian flags in the first leg in Glasgow. I know you can't totally escape that crap, but c'mon now.

Shame Dundalk fell short. They were awfully close to being the first Irish side in Groups.

And Roma ... TWO straight reds? They were a mess in those Exhibitions and are still a mess.
 
Second set of qualifiers complete:

FC Copenhagen advance 2-1 on aggregate over APOEL Nicosia
Borussia Monchengladbach advance 9-2 on aggregate over Young Boys
FC Rostov advance 5-2 on aggregate over Ajax
Man City advance 6-0 on aggregate over Steaua Bucuresti
Dinamo Zagreb advance 3-2 on aggregate over Salzburg, needing extra time today.

The Group Stage Draw is tomorrow. Here are the pots. Keep in mind that the champions of the top 8 leagues automatically go into Pot 1 unless the holder isn't also champion of one of those leagues. Since Real Madrid didn't win La Liga, Dynamo Kiev, the champion of the 8th ranked league, gets seeded by coefficient, rather than with the other champions in Pot 1.

Pot 1:
Real Madrid, Barcelona, Leicester City (with their 15.256 coefficient), Bayern Munich, Juventus, Benfica, PSG, CSKA Moscow

Pot 2:
Atletico Madrid, Borussia Dortmund, Arsenal, Man City, Sevilla, Porto, Napoli, Bayer Leverkusen

Pot 3:
Basel, Spurs, Dynamo Kiev, Lyon, PSV Eindhoven, Sporting Lisbon, Brugge, Borussia Monchengladbach

Pot 4:
Celtic, Monaco, Besiktas, Legia Warsaw, Dinamo Zagreb, Ludogorets Razgrad, Copenhagen, Rostov

If the pots were based solely on coefficient, with out the champions being placed in Pot 1, they'd look like this:

Pot 1:
Real Madrid, Barcelona, Bayern Munich, Juventus, Benfica, PSG, Atletico Madrid, Borussia Dortmund

Pot 2:
Arsenal, Man City, Sevilla, Porto, Napoli, Bayer Leverkusen, Basel, Spurs

Pot 3:
Dynamo Kiev, Lyon, PSV Eindhoven, Sporting Lisbon, CSKA Moscow, Brugge, Borussia Monchengladbach, Celtic

Pot 4:
Monaco, Besiktas, Legia Warsaw, Dinamo Zagreb, Ludogorets Razgrad, Copenhagen, Leicester City, Rostov
 
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The draw:

Group A: PSG, Arsenal, Basel, Ludogorets Razgrad

Group B: Benfica, Napoli, Dynamo Kiev, Besiktas

Group C: Barcelona, Man City, Borussia Monchengladbach, Celtic

Group D: Bayern Munich, Atletico Madrid, PSV Eindhoven, Rostov

Group E: CSKA Mosco, Bayer Leverkusen, Spurs, Monaco

Group F: Real Madrid, Borussia Dortmund, Sporting Lisbon, Legia Warsaw

Group G: Leicester City, Porto, Brugge, Copenhagen

Group H: Juventus, Sevilla, Lyon, Dinamo Zagreb
 
andyt said:
The draw:
Group C: Barcelona, Man City, Borussia Monchengladbach, Celtic
Click to expand...

Now, THAT'S gonna leave a mark.

Great draw for ticket sales, not so much for the Bhoys' chances of getting anywhere close to the bottom of the Group. I mean, Gladbacch is a pretty steep ask, much less the other two. On the upside, maybe City will wilt in the cauldron of Parkhead, and ... we'll still end up 4th.
 
HNIM said:
Wow... hope Spurs don't find a way to screw this up.

And yeah, those pool setups really created some imbalance.
Click to expand...

Spurs gonna be Spursy.

The consensus I've seen online is that Spurs and Leicester got relatively easy draws to advance. Celtic...not so much.
 
UEFA has agreed to add more guaranteed spots in the UCL Group Stage for the top 4 leagues starting with the 2018-19 season. La Liga, the Bundesliga and Premier League will each have their 4th spot guaranteed, rather than having to go through the playoff round. Serie A picks up 2 guaranteed spots, as their 3rd place team is now guaranteed entry into the Group Stage but the 4th place team now qualifies for the UCL Group Stage rather than the Europa League Group Stage. The Premier League was in danger of losing it's 4th spot to Serie A after this season, but now those fears should be eliminated. The leagues that are 5-7 in the coefficient rankings are pretty far behind the top 4. The Europa League winner will also now go directly to the Group Stage rather than the playoff round

The coefficient calculation will also change.

http://www.espnfc.us/uefa-champions...-extra-champions-league-spots-for-top-leagues
 
andyt said:
Spurs gonna be Spursy.

The consensus I've seen online is that Spurs and Leicester got relatively easy draws to advance. Celtic...not so much.
Click to expand...

To be fair, Leicester was in Pot 1 and Spurs in Pot 3 with at least some hope of decent luck. Celtic on the other hand were slumming it in Pot 4, and were NEVER going to get a "good" draw. We were just hoping for a 2nd tier club a little more manageable than Man City ... or to get Foxes for the top tier opponent since they are by FAR the weakest and thinnest of the lot. At least I'll have incentive to watch Fab Johnson do his thing for Gladbach since he'll be facing off with my Bhoys twice.
 
andyt said:
UEFA has agreed to add more guaranteed spots in the UCL Group Stage for the top 4 leagues starting with the 2018-19 season. La Liga, the Bundesliga and Premier League will each have their 4th spot guaranteed, rather than having to go through the playoff round. Serie A picks up 2 guaranteed spots, as their 3rd place team is now guaranteed entry into the Group Stage but the 4th place team now qualifies for the UCL Group Stage rather than the Europa League Group Stage. The Premier League was in danger of losing it's 4th spot to Serie A after this season, but now those fears should be eliminated. The leagues that are 5-7 in the coefficient rankings are pretty far behind the top 4. The Europa League winner will also now go directly to the Group Stage rather than the playoff round

The coefficient calculation will also change.

http://www.espnfc.us/uefa-champions...-extra-champions-league-spots-for-top-leagues
Click to expand...

This is mostly seen as a concession to the bigger leagues and bigger clubs to get ahead of a new UEFA chairman who might well come from one of outer boroughs. As you know there are persistent rumblings about a so-called Super League so the big money boys don't have to slum it with the likes of the Scandinavians and Scots. For the record, the second that Super League crap actually happens, I'm out. It'll be straight up league football for me ... with whomever is left behind. Screw that rich get EVERYTHING attitude.
 
If you are Leicester though wouldn't you have wanted a sexier draw? I know it doesn't help you maybe advance but getting somebody like Napoli, Atletico Madrid or Borussia Dortmund to your place in what is probably your only CL run might have been nice.
 
davemess said:
If you are Leicester though wouldn't you have wanted a sexier draw? I know it doesn't help you maybe advance but getting somebody like Napoli, Atletico Madrid or Borussia Dortmund to your place in what is probably your only CL run might have been nice.
Click to expand...

Three great cities to travel to though.
 
davemess said:
If you are Leicester though wouldn't you have wanted a sexier draw? I know it doesn't help you maybe advance but getting somebody like Napoli, Atletico Madrid or Borussia Dortmund to your place in what is probably your only CL run might have been nice.
Click to expand...

Yeah. Porto is a decent draw I'd think, but you're right abut the rest. Nice matchups for advancement purposes but no traditional names. At least if Celtic are going to go home a bloody mess, they'll get home dates with Barca and Pep's City to enjoy. Spring the upset in one of those and the emotional payoff is huge.
 
On the other hand, it was pointed out that they got three pretty amazing cities to go visit for away legs. I wouldn't mind spending some time in Porto, Bruges and Copenhagen.
 
Pot 4:

Besiktas (Turkey), Celtic, Monaco, Legia Warsaw, Dinamo Zagreb, Ludogorets Razgrad, Copenhagen, Rostov

Forza BESİKTAS
 
Ronaldo should have been sent off for the handball. Instead he scores, and almost twice.
 
Match Day 2 results:

CSKA Moscow 0-1 Spurs
Monaco 1-1 Bayer Leverkusen
Borussia Dortmund 2-2 Real Madrid
Sporting Lisbon 2-0 Legia Warsaw
Copenhagen 4-0 Brugge
Leicester 1-0 Porto
Dinamo Zagreb 0-4 Juventus
Sevilla 1-0 Lyon
Arsenal 2-0 Basel
Ludogorets Razgrad 1-3 PSG
Besiktas 1-1 Dynamo Kiev
Napoli 4-2 Benfica
Borussia M'gladbach 1-2 Barcelona
Celtic 3-3 Man City
Atletico Madrid 1-0 Bayern Munich
Rostov 2-2 Eindhoven
 
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