Fenerbahce 2-1 AS Monaco AS St. Etienne-0-0 AEK Athens Lille OSC 1-1 Qabala Another crappy year of European football is upon us...
Monaco up 2-0 at half. Falcao came off grabbing his leg. Either he's made of glass or they are just being precautionary.
AS Monaco draw against Villarreal for the CL playoff match. Sigh，not a favorable and good draw for us, luck was not on our side I guess. Draw in full: Ludogorets v Viktoria Plzen Celtic v Hapoel Be'er-Sheva FC Copenhagen v APOEL Dundalk v Legia Warsaw Dinamo Zagreb v Salzburg Steaua Bucharest v Manchester City Porto v Roma Ajax v Rostov Young Boys v Borussia Monchengladbach Villarreal v Monaco
Smh, Lille has been eliminated from the Europa League after losing 2-1 on aggregate to Qabala. Even the Qabala manager was surprised by their victory, as it has never been done before in the history of Qabala. Damn the real Europa League matches has not even started yet and Lille is already out !
I dont know much about Villareal but looks like Falcao injured his hamstring and is out. Too bad. St. Etienne got a nice draw.
That's too bad, Falcao has scored 7 goals in 4 games vs Villareal, one of those goals sent Villareal to second division.
From 2018-19, top 4 leagues will have 16 guaranteed spots in CL. UEFA ExCo to approve late August. Rich get richer. #onepercenters— Gabriele Marcotti (@Marcotti) August 15, 2016 Re: Champions League revamp, some big clubs wanted more: wild card for historical merit, weekend games, co-ownership of competition— Gabriele Marcotti (@Marcotti) August 15, 2016
What's this wild card for historical merit thing? As if "historical merit" doesn't get you enough already. Hopefully it's not as ridiculous as it sounds...
Damn, they finally managed to win some games... I think, they're gonna make it through this stage. Looking forward to watch their games when they are in a group stage.
Group A: PARIS SAINT-GERMAIN, Arsenal, FC Basel, Ludogorets Razgrad Group E: CSKA Moscow, Bayer Leverkusen, Tottenham, MONACO Group H: Juventus, Sevilla, Lyon, Dinamo Zagreb
Full CL group draw as below :- Group A: PSG, Arsenal, Basel, Ludogorets Group B: Benfica, Napoli, Dynamo Kyiv, Besiktas Group C: Barcelona, Man City, Gladbach, Celtic Group D: Bayern Munich, Atletico Madrid, PSV, Rostov Group E: CSKA, Leverkusen, Tottenham Hotspur, Monaco Group F: Real Madrid, Dortmund, Sporting CP, Legia Group G: Leicester City, Porto, Club Brugge, Copenhagen Group H: Juventus, Sevilla, Lyon, Dinamo Zagreb Personally I feel great draw for PSG, so so for Lyon & Monaco.
Monaco’s Vadim Vasilyev: Champions League gap between Italy and France cannot be tolerated Monaco’s vice-president, whose club are preparing to face Tottenham, says although ‘the group stage has been diluted’ Uefa’s revamp belittles French clubs As Monaco prepare to take on Tottenham Hotspur at Wembley on Wednesday, they have signalled their intention to lobby against the imminent revamp of the Champions League, which the club views as a “prototype of a Super League” in which “France is the big loser”. Monaco’s vice-president, Vadim Vasilyev, told the Guardian that while he agrees that the Champions League needs to be reformed because the group stages are often “boring”, he is unhappy with the way the changes were devised and with a perceived failure to ensure fair representation for Ligue 1 clubs. Uefa announced the reform of the Champions League in August but the details will not be rubberstamped until December. The plan is that, from 2018 to 2021, the most powerful clubs will receive more money – 49% more – from the tournament and more guaranteed places in the group stage. Each of the four highest-ranked domestic leagues – which are currently those of Spain, England, Germany and Italy – will be guaranteed four automatic places in the group stages, sparing teams who finish fourth in those leagues from having to contest play-offs. That will leave only 16 group spots for representatives of the continent’s other 51 national leagues, although a club from one of the big leagues could take one of those spots, too, by winning the Europa League. Critics in many countries, including France, have complained that the revamp will widen the gap between big clubs and smaller ones, and further distort the competitiveness of domestic leagues. However, Vasilyev said he was in favour of assigning more places to “important clubs” in Europe’s top tournament but was opposed to the reform because it did not improve the standing of French clubs, with only the top two from Ligue 1 to be given automatic entry to the group stage while a third team will have to navigate their way through qualifying rounds. That is the same arrangement as currently exists and Monaco, third in Ligue 1 last season, had to win two-legged ties against Fenerbahce and Villarreal to join Tottenham in the group stage this season. Uefa classes Ligue 1 as the fifth-best domestic league in Europe and Vasilyev says the reform will make it more difficult to overtake the fourth-placed league, Serie A. “We need more big clubs from big countries in this competition to make it more interesting and more passionate,” Vasilyev said. “I think that in recent years the value of the group stage has been diluted. Clearly a reform was needed to bring back the value of the competition in the eyes of all people who love football. That’s where I agree fully with the strategy. But where I don’t agree is that the gap between Italy and France cannot be tolerated. It’s simply too much. France should have three automatic places; that would be correct.” French clubs have complained that they were not consulted about the reform, which was driven primarily by officials from Juventus and Bayern Munich. Vasilyev said the reform amounted to exploitation of the departure of Michel Platini as Uefa president, the Frenchman having been deposed before being banned from football by a Fifa ethics committee last December. “I’m sure that had he been there, this could not have happened,” Vasilyev said. “The vacuum that was left after his departure was not filled and France did not react and did not predict these changes. “The problem was that all the French representatives say they did not learn about these reforms until they were announced on the day of the draw. It was not done at Uefa level – French clubs weren’t involved. It is really a pity for such a big football country not to be part of important discussions that define the future of Europe’s most important competition. It’s sad.” Karl-Heinz Rummenigge, the ceo of Bayern Munich and chairman of the European Club Association, has claimed that the Champions League reform is a compromise that reduces the risk of elite clubs breaking away from Uefa to form a lucrative super league, a claim endorsed by at least one French club president, Jean-Michel Aulas of Lyon. However, Vasilyev believes that a Super League is still a likely development. He is open to that possibility but says any new tournament must not be completely exclusive. “The new format is already a prototype of a Super League,” he said. “I think long term it will go in the direction of creating a Super League, although I think that is quite difficult logistically. And for the spirit of competition there should always be kept places for teams that make it [through domestic leagues], so that we don’t have stagnation if one day a closed league is created. Stagnation is never good. But more important clubs? Yes, for sure, that’s what we should aim at. But right now we are focusing on the fact that we are not even well represented in the Champions League! We will try to fight to save what can be saved.” Uefa will elect its new president on Wednesday from a choice of two candidates, Slovenia’s Aleksander Ceferin and the Dutchman Michael van Praag. The French Football Federation has pledged its support for the former. “We need to see the new president and tell him that we feel this reform is not fair,” Vasilyev said. “There are some points that have been voted on and some that still have to be decided. We just have to get the maximum that we can. We need to preserve the future of French football.” Vasilyev is more satisfied, meanwhile, with events on the pitch at the moment. Saturday’s 4-1 victory over Lille sent Monaco to the top of Ligue 1 and extended a bright start to the campaign that has also yielded an impressive victory over Paris Saint-Germain on top of progress in the Champions League. Vasilyev admits that reaching the group stage helped Monaco to hold on to key players, despite interest from other clubs, notably Manchester United, who hoped to lure the defender Fabinho. Vasilyev also said he was expecting a big season from Radamel Falcao, the striker who has returned to Monaco after unsuccessful loan spells at Manchester United and Chelsea but sustained a thigh injury last month. “I don’t know if he will be ready for Tottenham – that’s for the coach to make the final decision – but what I would like to say is that whereas English clubs failed to relaunch Falcao, whether because they didn’t have the patience or willingness to do so, at Monaco this will be his season,” he said, before suggesting that Falcao’s move to Old Trafford in the summer of 2014 came too soon after he tore knee ligaments. “When you take a player after a big injury you cannot count on a miracle to happen and he starts performing from the first game,” Vasilyev said. “This is where there was probably a misjudgment from our side and the player’s side. The big clubs need results immediately, they don’t have the patience to relaunch the player. You need time, you need to put up a special plan and strategy, increase playing time gradually and know in advance that the player will not be performing at his top level immediately. I’m confident he will get back to his best this season with Monaco.” https://www.theguardian.com/footbal...league-gap-italy-france-tottenham-uefa-reform
^ Yup I agree this change and revamp is so unnecessary and unwisely, if the top four domestic leagues of England, Spain, Germany and Italy are given four guaranteed automatic places in the CL group stages, then we as Ligue 1, which widely be consider by most as the fifth best domestic league in Europe after the top four, should get three guaranteed automatic places in the group stages as well, this is fair right? Just a horrible idea and decision by the Uefa.
It was a very good win for Monaco. They were out played in terms of possession but got their goals on the counter attack. They were solid defensively. One thing I noticed is that Falcao might be done. Doesnt have the speed anymore to get separation from the defenders. He was pretty much invisible. Dont remember him having any shots on Lloris. He might be more effective playing with Germain but the manager started Germain on the bench. Didnt see the OL match but it was a perfect win and scoreline.
A very late 94' minutes equalizer goal for AS Monaco, thanks to the fabulous and unstoppable drive from Kamil Glik. Also this :-
I thought Lyon played really well in the first half, taking the game to Sevilla and were unlucky to not score from one of Fekir's chances. Then in the second half when Sevilla went up they seemed to lose confidence.
I think you messed up by taking Nkoulou and Mammana. I dont think Monaco got 'lucky' with Glick. He was captain for Torino and highly regarded playing for Poland. They got lucky that a team like Arsenal didnt sign him and I was reading months ago some of their fans wanted him. Also Glik messed up on the 1st Leverkusen goal so nobody's perfect. Looking at comparable players to Glik they have Abdennour(ex L1)and Kjaer (ex L1) listed and valued at 10 m and 10m for one of them would have been worth it IMO. Once Fener got knocked out of the Champions League why not make a move for Kjaer ? Again worth the 10-11m price IMO. Abdennour is unhappy at Valencia and not even in the Champions League.
Nice and Saint-Etienne performance in Europa League thus far has been so sad and brutal. Especially Nice, already 6 points away from the first two places in the group, extremely pathetic displayed so far, almost become the laughing stock in the entire Europa League competition.
Yeah and you cant say "they are young and getting experience, wait till next year" because French teams are always selling and changing their teams every year so it wouldnt be the same team next year. Remember this Nice team lost 4 starters off last years team. You gotta make use of Balotelli before hes gone as well.