CL 3rd Qualifying Round

Non-champions draw:


FC Arsenal (England)
Olympique Lyon (Frankreich)
AC Mailand (Italien)
FC Schalke 04 (Deutschland)
Zenit St. Petersburg (Russland)

vs


PSV Eindhoven (Niederlande)
Metalist Charkiw (Ukraine)
Fenerbahce (Türkei)
Real Sociedad (Spanien)
Pacos de Ferreira (Portugal)


And the Champions Draw:

FC Basel (Schweiz)
Celtic Glasgow (Schottland)
Steaua Bukarest (Rumänien)
Viktoria Plzen (Tschechien)
Dinamo Zagreb (Kroatien)

vs

Austria Wien (Österreich)
Legia Warschau (Polen)
NK Maribor (Slowenien)
Ludogoretz Rasgrad (Bulgarien)
Schachtjor Karaganda (Kasachstan)

This is a very unfair draw, the 10 non champs are all better teams than the 10 champions. Because of that numpty Platini, we get a load of shit teams in the CL.

PSV look great these days. I can see them giving trouble to any team they meet!!

Murray wrote:This is a very unfair draw, the 10 non champs are all better teams than the 10 champions. Because of that numpty Platini, we get a load of shit teams in the CL.

 

You have to choose if you want to see the best teams or try to be fair, because you can't have both. I rather see 6 teams from the EPL, 4 from Italy etc than most of that shite.

Obviously this isn't the case. Nobody is arguing we need either the best or the most fair. It has always been a balance which is why we allow so many different countries to compete and don't just give a huge amount of places for England. The debate is merely about the direction or which way we are tipping. I wouldn't mind a 4th place for Italy but that is a personal bias. Otherwise I don't particularly mind Cl at the moment and nor have I noticed any change in quality since Platini changed the rules to allow for more non-traditional powers.

I'm a bit torn here. On the one hand, I like to give smaller clubs (and champions nontheless) a CHANCE to get a leg on the money train. I mean, how could you ever compete with the richer clubs and countries otherwise, when you earn more money in CL GS than in the Europa league? On the other hand, introducing this cannon fodder to the CL is hardly exciting for most fans

It's to calm down the eastern europeans and minnows, but Platini should either go all in and remove 4 clubs per country rule (max 1 or 2) or don't fiddle around with CL at all and keep it for the best.

Arsenal could be fucked here if we draw PSV.

Maher is ten times the talent compared to Wilshere for example. And they got rid of their kickers and runners and now have young talented players. Im really impressed with psv. I hope they lose obviously. But if they Arsenal I think it could go either way.

UEFA Champions League play-off draw

League route
Olympique Lyonnais (FRA) v Real Sociedad de Fútbol (ESP)
FC Schalke 04 (GER) v FC Metalist Kharkiv (UKR)
FC Paços de Ferreira (POR) v FC Zenit St Petersburg (RUS)
PSV Eindhoven (NED) v AC Milan (ITA)
Fenerbahçe SK (TUR) v Arsenal FC (ENG)

Champions route
GNK Dinamo Zagreb (CRO) v FK Austria Wien (AUT)
PFC Ludogorets Razgrad (BUL) v FC Basel 1893 (SUI)
FC Viktoria Plzeň (CZE) v NK Maribor (SVN)
FC Shakhter Karagandy (KAZ) v Celtic FC (SCO)
FC Steaua Bucureşti (ROU) v Legia Warszawa (POL)

http://www.uefa.com/uefachampionsleague/news/newsid=1979879.html

Tricky but doable task for Schalke. Interesting ties for Arsenal and Milan.

tough draw for sociedad

messiah wrote:tough draw for sociedad

I was going to say just the opposite - they could have drawn Milan or Arsenal. Zenit would have been tricky too since they are already mid-season.

Schalke or maybe the Portuguese I think would have been the best opponent for them but I think they will make the group stages.

What is messiah on about they got the best fucking draw they could hope for. This isn't 2003, Lyon are more than average.

draw luck for every german club

7 out of 7

you heard it here first  

I wouldn't say that Schalke were lucky though. Metalist are pretty tough, they knocked out Leverkusen last season. Schalke need to be sharp to advance.

Rosicky wrote:What is messiah on about they got the best fucking draw they could hope for. This isn't 2003, Lyon are more than average.

Against Grasshopper they had a couple of 1-0 wins. When RM played Lyon in preseason they were not that great, it ended in 2-2 tie but there was an impossible goal from Grenier (no way he can repeat it in 100 tries) and their defense was always suspect. I think la Real will pass to the group stages.

So Arsenal play Fenerbahce 20/21st Aug (1st leg) and 27/28th Aug (2nd), and Fenerbahce could get kicked out of the tournament on
28th if their appeal against suspension for match fixing is thrown out. So we get a bye even if we lose 5 - 0 in the first leg?

blutgraetsche wrote:I wouldn't say that Schalke were lucky though.  Metalist are pretty tough,  they knocked out Leverkusen last season.  Schalke need to be sharp to advance.

Are you referring to the group stage game when Leverkusen travelled to Ukraine? Lost 2-0, but played what was basically their C-team as both teams had already guaranteed qualification... Benfica knocked Leverkusen out.

We played Metalist in the europa league. They pass it around well but there's no PENETRATION!!!

Xavier wrote:

blutgraetsche wrote:I wouldn't say that Schalke were lucky though.  Metalist are pretty tough,  they knocked out Leverkusen last season.  Schalke need to be sharp to advance.

Are you referring to the group stage game when Leverkusen travelled to Ukraine? Lost 2-0, but played what was basically their C-team as both teams had already guaranteed qualification... Benfica knocked Leverkusen out.

Correct, I think I mixed it up there. But I do remember them looking pretty good against Leverkusen, even if the match itself didn't have that much of a significance (not totally pointless though, as Leverkusen could have avoided Benfica by winning their group). Plus, they didn't manage to beat Metalist at home either.

The advantage Schalke has is timing - temperatures should be a lot more comfortable there in late August.

I have a HUNCH

a

Bauchgefühl

that

Schalke

are gonna

WIN the CL this season

as always

you heard it here

FIRST

If they do, it would be a profound encouragement to teams with shitty defense all over the world...

I mean, Matip, Uchida, Fuchs, Santana, COME ON...

BVB again in Pot 3

Schalke in Pot 2

Leverkusen Pot 4

Shit... Pot 4?

Leverkusen have been in European competition for a while now, consistently reaching the knock-out stages... one of the best teams in one of the best leagues...

Only that they haven't. The only good season Leverkusen had in Europe was 2011/12

http://kassiesa.home.xs4all.nl/bert/uefa/data/method4/trank2014.html

Haven't what? Everything I said is true.

Haven't advanced THAT far in the competition, but surely better than or equal to overall what teams like Manchester City, Ajax, Olympiacos, and most of the yet-to-be-qualified teams have done recently.

Deserve Pot 3 at least...

The stats don't lie.

What are the other teams in Pot 4?

The CL qualification has to finish first before all the clubs can be ranked properly. It all depends on the UEFA coefficient ranking I posted earlier, the performance of the club in  European competitions over the last 5 years. The higher a club is ranked, the better. First 8 teams are in the first pot (the winner of last season is always in the first pot), the following 8 teams in the second pot and so on.

For Leverkusen to make the second pot, quite a lot of clubs ranked higher than them would have to miss the CL, as they are ranked #28 currently.

Yeah, I get that, was more of a rhetorical question meant to ask whether Leverkusen really belong in such a group...

Kind of a double standard, that PSG & Ajax & Manchester City get to be in greater pots despite doing nothing much in Europe in the last five years, presumably for their strong league play... while Leverkusen get seemingly little credit for finishing 2nd & 3rd in the last three years of the Bundesliga.

anyway, I am PISSED

Man City and Ajax are actually ranked lower than Leverkusen (see the linked table). PSG is ranked slightly higher, but they will likely be in pot 3 also.

Again, stats don't lie.