Champions League 2011/12

I wish we get this group.

1. Manchester United (United is my favourite team from "big clubs")
2. Milan (I wish to see so good team at Maksimir)
3. Basel/BATE Borisov (Before 2-3 years we demolish Basel in Zagreb so i think we can get some points from them, also from BATE.
4. Dinamo Zagreb
 
If I were a Dinamo fan I would want:

Porto
Villareal/Lyons
Basel

I think Dinamo might have a chance to get through a group like that.
 
You are right. But, our fans want some "bigger" clubs as United or Milan, and one club who can fight with us for 3rd place in group.
 
lookin through the pots i think the "group of death" would be something like barca, milan, man city and dortmund
 
A
Bayern
Villareal
Man City
Napoli

B
Inter
CSKA Moscow
Lille
Trabzonspor

C
Man Utd
Benfica
Basel
Otelul

D
Real Madrid
Lyon
Ajax
Dinamo Zagreb

E
Chelsea
Valencia
Leverkusen
Genk

F
Arsenal
Marseilles
Olympiakos
Dortmund

G
Porto
Shakhtar Donetsk
Zenit Leningrad
Apoel Nicosia

H
Barcelona
Milan
Bate Borisov
Plzen
 
skupina_419874S1.jpg

We must have fun with Real, and beat Ajax who are our old client for win. Maybe we can get a draw against Lyon at home, but very hard.
 
Group A is wide open. I think only City have a big chance of going through but Napoli and Villareal are in there. Bayern are not impossible to pass.
 
I think that this is what the 2 round teams will look like :

A
Bayern
Napoli

B
Inter
Lille

C
Man Utd
Benfica

D
Real Madrid
Lyon

E
Chelsea
Leverkusen

F
Arsenal
Marseille

G
Porto
Shakhtar Donetsk

H
Barcelona
Milan
 
azur said:
Right, CHAMPIONS League should be played only by clubs champions of something. So, i wonder what arsenal is doing here...
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Hmm ... Porto - champion of Portugal 2010/11, Shakhtar - Champion of Ucraine 2010/11, Zenit - Champion of Russia 2010, Apoel - champion of Cyprus 2010/11, All champions of their countries, that you still want to ... :P

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It is a very sorry Bate and Dinamo Zagreb, they got a really strong contenders, and they probably did not come out of the group stage of the tournament, but I will hope that they will show a good game and be able to compete with such giants as Real Madrid, Lyon, Ajax, Barcelona and Milan, because it's pretty exciting team that can fight with anyone, anywhere, especially Bate. Good luck! :P I hope and Russian teams, as a group they are not very complicated and can hope that will see two Russian teams in the Champions League in the fall. Especially fortunate to Zenit, though ... :D Good luck for all russian teams in CL! :BSCARF::RSCARF:

cfdh_edmundo said:
Zenit Leningrad
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Maybe you were referring to St. Petersburg, the name "Leningrad" does not exist as 20 years. :P
 
Lyon vs. Real again!! :LOL:

These 2 really hate each other by now! and let's see if Karim comes to Real's rescue against Lyon again!

Shakhtar vs. Zenit should be a pretty interesting battle as well!!

Strongest Russian team vs. Strongest Ukranian, both rich, both great players and managers, should be very interesting for all of Eastern Europe!
 
I think the following will make it out of the group stage

Gp A: Bayern & Man City
Gp B: Inter & CSKA
Gp C: Man Utd & Benfica
Gp D: Real Madrid & Ajax
Gp E: Chelsea & Leverkusen
Gp F: Arsenal & Dortmund
Gp G: Shakhtar & Zenit
Gp H: Barcelona & Milan
 
My proposal is:

Gp A: Bayern & Man City
Gp B: Inter & CSKA
Gp C: Man Utd & Benfica
Gp D: Real Madrid & Lyon
Gp E: Chelsea & Leverkusen
Gp F: Arsenal & Dortmund
Gp G: Porto & Zenit
Gp H: Barcelona & Milan
 
and there u have it... yet another benfica-man utd..... yet another lyon-real madrid... am i the only one who is getting bored of this competition? the same matchups again and again, on an almost seasonal basis. a very curious qualifying process (to say the least), wich seems to be conceived specifically to keep some good teams from rich federeations out and some other teams from weaker federations in (and when u consider which countries voted for platini, it makes perfect sense).

what they managed to achieve with this competition's format is almost impossible. they mixed 2 different kinds of competitions, to create a monster with all the flaws of those 2 competitions and none of the good aspects.
cups are more exciting than leagues (because of the elimination process of the knockout rounds), but they're also much more random and the final outcome is not as reliable as it is in a league (because the teams-matching procedure may guarrantee some teams a much easier road to the final than some others).
leagues instead are much more balanced and less random (as each team has to face all the other opponents), but the lack of an elimination process makes them also less exciting than cups.

well the champions league is certainly not as exciting as a cup. the double format group stages\knockout stages leaves us with only 29 knockout-type matches (while there are 96 league-type matches in the first phase).
and it's not just the fact that the elimination rounds are only a minority. truth to be told, even the knockout stages aren't really proper "knockout stages". the 2 legs rule and the away goal rule usually turn 1 of the 2 legs into a borefest, wich has really none of the excitement and thrilling that usually belong to cup-matches.
and just to make things even worse, "the team-selection program" (random preliminary stages my ass!) and the whole seeding process usually leaves us with very predictable and repetitive knockout stages. i mean, let's be honest, every year it's pretty easy to spot wich teams are gonna get to the next stage. yeah sure, there are usually 1\2 groups slightly balanced (this year it's group a and f) and sometimes we can witness some rare unexpected results... but most of the times it's pretty easy to predict what's gonna happen in the next stage. and that's pretty obvious when u put in the same competition clubs like man utd and otelul galati or barcelona and bate borisov.

so it is much more boring than a cup.... but amaizingly, it isn't even as fair and balanced as a league. i don't even have to explain that... just look at how the clubs are paired up in the preliminary stages or how the groups are formed!

so there u have it: a competition wich is as exciting as a league and as fair and balanced as a cup (or, in other words, boring as a league and random as a cup). WOW.
honestly i can't stand this anymore. i just can't watch another chelsea-barcelona or another inter-bayern... not again.

and the saddest part of it is that, in order to make champions league "fatter" and to increase the number of matches (and, consequently, to make more money), uefa didn't just ruin champions league.... they've also ruined europa league, turning it into a completely worthless competition. great job.
sorry for this long rant, but sometimes i feel like i'm the only one who doesn't like champions league and europa league current formats... and who knows, maybe i am the only one.
 
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Well I'm certainly bored of watching Lyons play Champions League football but hopefully they'll only have 6 games then "bonsoir" ;)

I can see what you are saying, there are some high profile dull groups in there (e.g. Man Utd's group looks like it will be decided by week 4, the Milan - Barca group looks like those two will go through so wont be very interesting.) I agree that the current format isnt perfect, and it's poor for the Europa League. But I dont see how it will or even can be changed.

However I think there are also some other interesting groups.

G is very interesting, Shakhtar and Zenit play some of the most attractive football in Europe. Porto are usually strong but will be in transition this year so those three are evenly balanced. APOEL also have CL experience and will be difficult for those teams to beat in Cyprus (a few years ago they got 3 draws when in a group with Chelsea, Atletico and Porto - yes another repeat matchup for this year), so I think that group will be well worth watching.

Arsenal, Marseilles and Dortumund again is a great group in terms of attacking football, and any two of those 3 could go through and certainly Dortmund and Arsenal can, on their day, match the biggest teams.

You could even say that the Bayern and Man City group will be interesting. Most will expect those to go through, but they can't afford any slip-ups - Napoli will be waiting in case they do. Also Napoli are a strong team and will be very hard to beat on their own ground even for the likes of Bayern.



Inter's group is also very tight, Inter are still in transition, Lille are the French champions (but have lost some key players) and CSKA are leaders in Russia (very close with Zenit at the moment) and have some great attacking players like Honda and Dzagoev both of whom would shine in any of the big leagues. So you have a three way battle there for two places, and Trabzonspor could shave a few points of those teams at home on the Black Sea coast.
 
cfdh_edmundo said:
A
Bayern
Villareal
Man City
Napoli

B
Inter
CSKA Moscow
Lille
Trabzonspor

C
Man Utd
Benfica
Basel
Otelul

D
Real Madrid
Lyon
Ajax
Dinamo Zagreb

E
Chelsea
Valencia
Leverkusen
Genk

F
Arsenal
Marseilles
Olympiakos
Dortmund

G
Porto
Shakhtar Donetsk
Zenit Leningrad
Apoel Nicosia

H
Barcelona
Milan
Bate Borisov
Plzen
Click to expand...

This town is called Saint Petersburg, Petrohrad now :P
 
Delighted that Genk are in it...but i fear they will be ridiculised. Lost some of their best players. Their succes coach went away for the big Gulf money. Like most teams from litle countries a success seasan (with lots of homegrown players) can turn out to be a very bitter one the year after.

Ben, i only partly agree with you. Yes, the CL is unfair. But football IS unfair. To me it should be a competition between champions and no other clubs. This would even things out in the longe term (well, a tiny litle bit). So what if big clubs like Man City, Chelsea, Inter are not in the CL? They were not champions...
Those big clubs might make the Euro legue more interesting too.
 
to be honest "fairness" is not my main concern. the thing is i just don't find this competition entertaining. the knockout stages have none of that excitement u usually get in those competitions with elimination rounds (like the world cup). u never see the 2 teams really "going at each others" and focusing on both defending and attacking, because the 2 legs system (combined with the away goal rule) completely screws up the spirit of "cup-like" competitions. almost always, one of the 2 teams is confortable with simply not loosing and that completely ruins the games.

and it's also a very poor competition when u think of it as a league (and not a cup), because if u really wanna create a european league, then there can't be such a wide gap between the clubs. u can't put in the same league clubs like real madrid, inter, man utd, barcelona, milan chelsea...... and clubs like zilina, debreceni or maccabi haifa. the result will just be boring and predictable.
i mean, i look at this season preliminary stages and i see:
wisla - apoel
maccabi - genk
bate - sturm graz
and then i see...
lione - rubin
arsenal - udinese

now i honestly don't care what logic process is behind this pairings..... by matching theese clubs they're making sure that 2 teams among arsenal, udinese, lione and rubin will be out of the competition.... while 3 teams among wisla, apoel, maccabi, genk, bate and sturm graz will be in the competition.... and that is just wrong, if u're trying to create an entertaining, balanced and competitive league wich really represents the best europe has to offer in terms of football.

edmundo, i know what u mean, and u're right, there are indeed some very interesting groups... but u see, it's the whole format of this competition i really don't like.... regardless the undeniable fact that every season (some) groups turn out to be very competitive and entertaining. ;)
 
I see what you mean Ben, and as a neutral i would think likewise. As a fan of Genk, i think it's only fair that as Champions (of a lesser competition and as minnows) Genk have an easier way in than teams like Lyon, Man City, Arsenal and Udinese...ther are arguments to say that those teams are lucky to be in there since they are not champions.

Now in the group stage Genk face Chelsea, Valencia and Bayer Leverkusen. I have no doubts whatsoever that Genk will finish fourth perhaps without a single point and (hopefully not) after been humiliated...still IMO Genk have more rights to be in the Cl than those 3 other teams since they were champions and those other clubs not.

Of course i'm extremely biased, but ther big problem of European football is double:

1. too much difference between the leagues
2. in every league there is a big gap between the good clubs and the rest (with the possible exceptions of Bundesliga and ligue 1, but what happened there last season is also a one-off...).


PS: i would have liked to see Udinese in the Cl and i agree that it is a shame that Arsenal and Udinese had to play each other...
 
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