Hope it's fake, although if we beat ManC we'd surely take the ManU v Spurs winner, so that's the plus there assuming it is listed in a bracket style (vs. winner of game 1 (or 2) plays winner of game 4). If that leak is widespread they'd have to re-draw in a.m., plus they make a big deal of live draw show in Nyon, so hard to believe it is really done in advance. If that leak was believed we'd see bookmakers odds move (ManC and/or Barca would get longer odds, while Juve odds would lower, possibly Liverpool too) and I just checked and don't see that at all.
Not saying its legit, but I don’t think such a draw would move the odds that much. We’re talking about the odds to win it, not the odds on advancing to the semis. That draw is fairly balanced in the sense that each of the big4 favorites would have to beat 1 other from the Big 4 to reach the final.
Why are EPL teams perennially favored over the European teams? Same thing has happened for a few years now. Given that betting on an EPL side winning the CL has been pretty much a losing bet since 2012, I wonder what accounts for this continued bias?
Yes, that's true if the "bracket style" assumption is correct, good point. When it was just the bookie sites that did this (via oddschecker) I had some good responses, like the british and EPL fans worldwide overestimate their clubs success and bet on it, causing the bookies to favor those teams (lower their odds) to draw more money on both sides, as bookies always prefer being neutral so they win no matter the result of the game. But with the computer model it is hard to say, are there biases even there? I don't know, Man C and Liverpool are pretty darn good.
Liverpool and City are certainly one of the favorites so I can understand why the odds this year are as they are. My comment had more to do with this last 10 years where EPL sides have been perennial favored over European teams even when their squad quality wasn't what it is today.
The Premier League is ranked second in the UEFA coefficient country standings so their teams being favored is probably justified for their deep runs into the knockout phases of both the UCL and UEL despite not having much of a trophy haul this decade.
Right now the EPL clearly deserves credit in CL, but I think their coefficient boost came mainly from EL especially with United and Chelsea being recent winners with Liverpool having lost a final. As far as CL, for the most part they have done as well as Serie A and Germany over the last decade while obviously Spanish teams have dominated completely. It's pretty crazy how far ahead the Spanish performance has been in this decade. Since 2010: La Liga - 6 winners 2 finalists Bundasliga - 1 winner 3 finalists Serie A - 1 winner 2 finalists EPL - 1 winner 2 finalists
im fine if we face man city in quarter final, no need to scare anyteam this round. but i would like juventus face liverpool rather than porto
We are facing ManU then the winner of Porto/Liverpool then i guess either Juve or Mancity in the final
I will take that. Second weakest team left IMO. Only thing that went against us is first leg in Camp Nou for both quarters and semis.
United it is. It's all right. The "favorites" all avoid each other. The rest: Ajax vs. Juventus Liverpool vs. Porto Tottenham vs. Man City
anything can happen i guess , but considering the difference in the quality of players between those teams i picked the ones i did
Barca will host second leg of quarterfinal at home. It was pointed out before the draw that Man City And Man Utd cannot host same leg with United being the team to switch if it occurred. So first leg will be at Old Trafford, second leg at Camp Nou. Liverpool was the one team I was hoping to avoid. Don’t like that potential semifinal second leg would be at Anfield but apart from that really no complaints overall considering City and Juve are on the other half of the draw.
One good thing about having to probably get past 2 EPL teams to get to the final is that they all have alot to play for in their league. Liverpool play their 2nd-last league match between the 2 semifinal legs! Meanwhile, Juve will go into each CL match with essentially 7 to 10 days rest.
surely juve after a comeback gains many confidence and seriea is too easy. ajax gains confidence as well, they totally outplayed real madrid in both legs. i would say juve is a better side and ronaldo is lethal in ucl though. still hope ajax go through. de jong has another mission
we will play the first leg at oldtraford, another good thing for messi messi has scored 22 goals against english team in ucl, his favourite side
Man U have a great GK, great midfield, and great forwards. Rashford can beat us with his pace. They are a big team with Pogba, Matic, and Lukaku all a threat from set pieces which is worrying. Lukaku is on fire right now. And they are reinvigorated under a new manager. They had a ton of injuries against PSG but most of these players will be fit before our matches. Add the likes of Martial, Lingard to their roster and yikes! I don't like this draw. On paper I would have preferred Porto, Ajax, or Tottenham. One thing we can exploit is their backline though. And perhaps the fact that they've been erratic as well especially at home. They go up and down in form and if we can capitalize we can advance. I believe. We will win!