Starting next year the top 4 leagues all send 4 teams to the CL. But it can still be interesting to track where the top leagues will finish from a prestige standpoint. And with England being so close to Germany I figure we need a new thread from the Italy v England one. 2. Germany 63.427 3. England 62.105 4. Italy 60.582
Hoffenheim vs. Liverpool is important. In the Europa League Playoff Round, Everton plays Hajduk Split of Croatia. Hajduk Split is attempting to avoid deja vu. In last season's Playoff Round, they hosted the second leg like they will do this time, led 2-1 after regulation, and were eliminated on penalty kicks. Marko Ćosić scored both of Hajduk Split's goals but had the last missed penalty kick. Freiburg was eliminated by Domzale, so Germany does not have a club in the Europa League Playoff Round.
Germany goes to 5/7 if Liverpool advances. Putting them at a great disadvantage of holding on to 2nd spot.
Liverpool in the driver's seat now. Looks like 5 EPL teams in the CL group-stage, each getting coefficient bonus points. Big match for Napoli tomorrow.
To tell you the truth this season I see Italy and England doing well, but Germany not so much. Bayern Munich will do well, but I am really having doubts on the rest of the german teams. Roma has gotten a tough draw in the UCL, so either round of 16 or europa league, but if they go to Europa League, I think they will have a good run. Juventus and Napoli both to make round of 16. For England, Man Utd, Man City, and Liverpool will all probably make round of 16. Chelsea maybe, and Spurs for Europa League. For Germany, Bayern Munich, RB Leipzig, and Dortmund will make Round of 16. However in the Europa League I am afraid quite a few of the teams might fail miserably. AC Milan, Arsenal, and either Roma/Chelsea (whoever goes down) could all be considered Europa League favorites actually.
Germany - 6/7 ... 63.427 England - 7/7 ... 63.176 Italy - 6/6 ... 61.916 I think the battle for third will be between Italy and Germany. England is looking very formidable this time.
Yeah the problem really is that despite England's best team a step below Juventus and Bayern, they have many good teams, while Italy and Germany have one world class team, and the rest are below. 1. Juventus 2. Bayern Munich 3. Chelsea 4. Manchester City 5. Napoli 6. Dortmund 7. Manchester United 8. Roma 9. Arsenal / AC Milan 10. Spurs 11. Leicester City 12. Everton 13. Inter Milan 14. RB Leipzig 15. Lazio and so on.
I am not sure how good the team really is. We really have to see how they perform this season especially in Europe.
Well Great result for EPL. Liverpool slipped but overall it was good first day of UCL. Serie A was horrible. Well Roma's game was impressive considering the difference in quality between the teams in the past. Juventus was not good but sort of expected as they had a 40% chance of winning at Camp Nou. Napoli was embarrassing though. Unacceptable result to take nothing from Shakhtar in Ukraine. Bundesliga was so so. Expected win by Bayern, Acceptable draw by Leipzig. Dortmund was not acceptable. Losing to Spurs like that is just horrible for the team they have.
Does anybody have a 40% chance at winning at Camp Nou? The Intertops odds gave Juventus a 16.1% chance at winning and a 38.2% at not losing.
Even before this week it looked likely that at least 4 EPL teams would advance to the CL knockout stage, based on the draws they received. The main doubt was Spurs but they got a huge win over Dortmund so now they have to be favored to join Real Madrid in advancing from that group.
I suppose you are right. It wasn't even a 40% chance. More like a 20% chance. I guess Real Madrid might have a 40% chance of winning at Camp Nou though. Well maybe not in UCL.
Yeah. However let's not get ahead of ourselves. It was in England. Dortmund could easily beat Spurs by 2 goals in Germany, and one of them might be able to take at least one point of Real.
If they had VAR the result would have been different. A perfectly good goal by Dortmund was incorrectly called offside. But either way, the BPL is to be feared now.
To a point, yes. But it'll be important for some of them to win their groups, not just advance, if they want to change the pattern of failure that has been prevalent the past few years. If they only finish second, they'll get picked-off one-by-one by the likes of Bayern/PSG, Barca and Madrid in the Round of 16.
To tell you the truth with the new seeding system, I don't think first or second even matters anymore. So many uneven groups that you would probably have a 50% chance of drawing a tough team either way.
Well with that saying, Serie A did amazing in Europa League today. AC Milan and Atalanta picked up some really key and thrashing wins. Lazio we will see in a couple hours, but I believe they will win too. Everton just lost 3-0 to Atalanta. Hoffenheim picked up a horrible loss to Braga at home. So now we are still waiting on: Arsenal vs Kohln (BPL vs Bundesliga) Vietesse vs Lazio Hertha Berlin vs Athletic Bilbao I believe Lazio will win, and Arsenal most likely will win too. Berlin vs Athletic Club is a toss up however.
Well today: good for italian teams: Napoli won. Overall good for EPL teams although Liverpool dropped a point at CSKA. Dreadful for Bundesliga Teams. Real beat Dortmund in Germany, and Besiktas beat Leipzig. Honestly I am beginning to think the Bundesliga is actually falling apart. Where is Monchengladbach, Leverkusen, and Schalke in Europe? Leipzig came in second last season and loses to Besiktas. Probably won't even advance. Dortmund is at the top of the Bundesliga and lost to Spurs and Real? Well I mean Real is a great team, but still though, 3-1 loss at home is not what should be expected. And Bayern does not seem to be nailing it either, in fact I believe PSG might even beat them in France tomorrow, although it is a close call. Regarding EPL teams, usually one team fails to advance. Most of us thought Spurs, but it could be Liverpool instead. Well I won't get ahead of myself, as it is still quite open. Dortmund still has Spurs in Germany, and Liverpool still have a home game vs Spartak which they should win. Juventus and Roma are expected to win tomorrow. Man Utd is probably either gonna win or draw. Chelsea probably won't win at Atletico but might get a draw. Bayern is a toss up to, but PSG are slight favorites from what I have seen from both teams this season.
Best case for Roma tomorrow is if Chelsea wins or draws away at Atletico, obviously they need to win too. Liverpool will make it out of the group, they're better thank Spartak Moskow and a draw away from home is good enough considering they'll probably win at home. Still too early to call who'll make it through between Spurs/Dortmund. Spurs did what they needed to and won at home against Dortmund, but Spurs now face a double header with Madrid, worst case scenario they lose both games and potentially are all square with Dortmund after 4 games. (6pts each). At that case Dortmund hosts Spurs in Germany and then a tough game for Dortmund away at Madrid. I wouldn't be surprised if head to head is the tiebreaker. Spurs need to avoid losing 2-0 or by 3+ goals.