Champions League 2012/13

Yeah well done Gladbach anyway! Very good effort!

And you know you can't really replace Marco Reus!

And what did I say, there was a red card in Fener vs. Spartak match and it was for the man I warned about at half time, Demy De Zeeuw! lol, stupid card! Could've easily cost his team in those tense last 10 mins!

Good game and effort from both teams overall. Suchy's shot that hit post was nice. Spartak better in 1st half, Fener better in 2nd half.
 
draw is today init? potential group of death: barça, man city, psg, dortmund. that'l be crazy.
 
We do don't we? I mean we've had some great groups in the last couple of years IMO

ours was the only piss easy one I can remember last year and well, that didn't turn out so well.
 
I think it is good the way it is, I think there is the potential for there to be really poor groups if you don't have the seeding/pot system.
 
I just think it keeps the big guns at the top and gives the other teams no chance at all, it's completely unfair.

The groups in the 90s and early 00's were much better.

Rememeber United, Bayern, Barca all in one group in 99?
 
There is a reason, why the competition is called CHAMPIONS leauge. I guess we're all happy, if an underdog makes it to the last rounds, but the real idea behind this cup is to see the best teams of Europe play against each other and to ensure they aren't eliminating themselves in group stages the actual system was established. And I have to say I like it as it guarantees at least two strong teams per group competing with two "weaker" teams, which is better then four big teams in one and four small teams in another group. The last point would also lead to a tournament, where the better teams face weaker ones in the elimination part, which would take away the tension of most of the matches and would make the last rounds more uninteresting then the groups.

And btw: There are still "Killer groups" possible. Bayern's group last year wasn't that easy and this year has also some quite dangerous combinations for the highest-ranked teams.
 
If the bloody thing is called CHAMPIONS league, then it should only be for champions no matter if they are Juventus, Man City or Differdange....

The CL is the major reason why there is unfair competition in football (the division of the TV money). But i've already stated that countless times, so i will stop about that.

Concerning the pots, i gree with matherto. A group with Barcelona, Juventus, Bayern and Man Utd should be possible, just like a group with Lille, Anderlecht, Celtic and Ajax.
 
If anyone wants a live stream of the group stage lottery, here is the stream of Germany's CL broadcaster. The commentary is in German, but the quality is very good. ;)

Livestream @ZDF

@Gerd: Panos showed, what hard groups are possible. And I still think groups like yours would make the last rounds probably very boring, as mathematically one half of the good teams would already be eliminated in group stage.
 
Feel sorry for Ajax. Madrid again and City too, suppose yet again they'll end up in the Europa League. Can't do anything about it either because of the seeding so they'll be permanently stuck in hard groups.

Don't get the bollocks about only certain groups being open to certain teams despite them being in the same pots, it's all fucking rubbish.
 
To have a nice overview, a new post with only the results. These are the results of today's drawing for the group stages of the 2012/2012 CL season:

Group A:
- FC Porto
- FC Dynamo Kyiv
- Paris Saint-Germain FC
- GNK Dinamo

Group B:
- FC Arsenal
- FC Schalke 04
- Olympiacos FC
- Montpellier Herault SC

Group C:
- AC Milan
- FC Zenit St. Petersburg
- RSC Anderlecht
- Malaga CF

Group D:
- Real Madrid
- Manchester City FC
- AFC Ajax
- Borussia Dortmund

Group E:
- FC Chelsea
- FC Shakhtar Donetsk
- Juventus
- FC Nordsjaelland

Group F:
- FC Bayern München
- Valencia CF
- LOSC Lille
- FC Bate Borisov

Group G:
- FC Barcelona
- SL Benfica
- FC Spartak Moskva
- Celtic FC

Group H:
- Manchester United
- SC Braga
- Galatasaray A.S.
- CFR 1907 Cluj
Click to expand...

This means we already see some interesting matches very early in the competition, Real vs. City or Chelsea vs. Juve for example and the results are also very good for Schalke and Bayern, there were definitely harder groups possible. The toughest groups should be D and E, the "easiest" ones F and H.
 
Don't think D is particularly hard. Real and City will battle it out for top spot and that'll be that.

The groups really aren't interesting at all and the same teams are gonna get through to the knockouts.
 
My predictions:

Group A:
1. FC Porto
2. Paris Saint-Germain FC
3. FC Dynamo Kyiv
4. GNK Dinamo
I see Porto being very tough (especially at home), and PSG not very impressive. D.Kyiv is a very good team, however if Porto and PSG play well, I only see them 3rd.

Group B:
1. FC Arsenal
2. FC Schalke 04
3. Montpellier Herault SC
4. Olympiacos FC
I see Arsenal easily beating Schalke in Emirates, earning a draw or a win in Germany, winning both matches against Montpellier, and beating Olympiakos in England (if they have qualified until the 6th game, they may play the reserves at the 6th game like every year). Schalke and Montpellier will battle for the 2nd place, and I see us left 4th due to our shaky defence.

Group C:
1. FC Zenit St. Petersburg
2. Malaga CF
3. RSC Anderlecht
4. AC Milan
I'm not sure about Milan this year, they seem too weak (have to see them in more matches though). Zenit seems like 100% to go through, while Malaga must battle hard because they've lost some of their good players. Anderlecht is a good side, they may make a surprise in this group.

Group D:
1. Real Madrid
2. Manchester City FC
3. Borussia Dortmund
4. AFC Ajax
I just don't see City messing up like last year.

Group E:
1. FC Chelsea
2. Juventus
3. FC Shakhtar Donetsk
4. FC Nordsjaelland
Chelsea is very strong both home and away so they should not have any problems. Juventus may only lose some points from Chelsea. Every team to beat Nordsjaelland easily.

Group F:
1. FC Bayern München
2. Valencia CF
3. LOSC Lille
4. FC Bate Borisov
I haven't watched those team closely, I have just put them in their respective pot order.

Group G:
1. FC Barcelona
2. FC Spartak Moskva
3. SL Benfica
4. Celtic FC
I just don't see Celtic capable of doing anything, and I think Spartak can do something better from Benfica. It's a close one though.

Group H: | or Group H:
1. SC Braga |1. Manchester United
2. Manchester United |2. Galatasaray A.S.
3. Galatasaray A.S. |3. SC Braga
4. CFR 1907 Cluj |4. CFR 1907 Cluj
Those are my thoughts, I haven't seen Galatasaray this year, but they seem to have determination, like Braga. I think there is a slight chance we see United in the Europa League again this year.
 
Magical:
SYNCHRONIZED-DIVING.gif
 
gerd said:
If the bloody thing is called CHAMPIONS league, then it should only be for champions no matter if they are Juventus, Man City or Differdange....

The CL is the major reason why there is unfair competition in football (the division of the TV money). But i've already stated that countless times, so i will stop about that.

Concerning the pots, i gree with matherto. A group with Barcelona, Juventus, Bayern and Man Utd should be possible, just like a group with Lille, Anderlecht, Celtic and Ajax.
Click to expand...

umm this is how it was before CL, was it? but u know...football is about money
 
-Panos- said:
My predictions:

Group A:
1. FC Porto
2. Paris Saint-Germain FC
3. FC Dynamo Kyiv
4. GNK Dinamo
I see Porto being very tough (especially at home), and PSG not very impressive. D.Kyiv is a very good team, however if Porto and PSG play well, I only see them 3rd.
Click to expand...

They are good, but they are not playing very good. I think Dinamo Zagreb could have some chances against Dynamo Kyiv because Dinamo already won in preseason match against Kyiv (1-0).
http://www.gnkdinamo.hr/gnk-dinamo-dynamo-kijev.html
Also, if some club as Lorient and Ajaccio could take a 1 point of PSG, why Dinamo couldn't do that, esepcially if they continue their good run. (Our coach has 31 game without loss.)
I think we could fight with Dynamo about 3rd place and Europa League.
 
I think both Dinamos have a good chance in this group. Yes maybe on paper PSG and Porto are stronger, but its still a kind draw given you have to have a pot one and pot two team. Porto were garbage in last year's CL finishing 3rd behind Apoel andZenit are they much better in terms of players this year? If Zenit and Apoel can finish above them I think Zagreb and Kiev can. I think PSG could be a threat, but has the team gelled enough yet? The defense doesn't strike me as world class. Kiev have some great players like Brown, Milyevsk, Yarmalenko and Koleniplhya (the winger whose name I have spelt wrong) theyalready beat Feyenjoord and Gladbach over two legs and both these teams are as good as Porto, Gladbach are probably better. Last year Dinamo Zagreb did ok in the CL, they were beaten soundly by Real Madrid, but that was one of the top 5 teams in Europe. They did ok against Ajax and apart from the second game home to Lyons (which was a suspicious one that a lot of people thought might have been rigged) were a good team at home.
 
Porto finshed 3rd in their group last year and these were their results:

vs Apoel (1st place team) - drew at home (1-1) lost away (2-1)
vs Zenit (2nd place team) - drew at home (0-0) lost away (3-1)
vs Shakhtar (4th place team) - won home and away.

With eight points from a possible 18 they were the worst 1 seed team last year. I think Feyenjoord, who finished second in the Dutch league (ahead of teams like PSV, Twente and AZ) are as good as this, similarly Gladbach who finshed 4th in the Bundesliga (which is much, much, much stronger than the Portuguese league).
 
Feyenoord isn't imo, they've lost their best players and their only good striker. They've sold Vlaar, El Ahmadi, Bakkal and Guidetti has returned to Manchester City. PSV and Twente are stronger.
 
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