Draw is tomorrow Friday February 23rd at 7 am ET | 4 am PT Advanced: AC Milan (ITA), Arsenal (ENG), Athletic Club (ESP), Atlético Madrid* (ESP), CSKA Moskva* (RUS), Dortmund* (GER), Dynamo Kyiv (UKR), Lazio (ITA), Leipzig* (GER), Lokomotiv Moskva (RUS), Lyon (FRA), Marseille (FRA), Plzeň (CZE), Salzburg (AUT), Sporting CP* (POR), Zenit (RUS) There is no seeding or country restrictions with the exception of RUS and UKR teams. All teams will be placed in 1 bowl, so it entirely comes down to the luck of the bounce here. Fixtures are set for March 8th and March 15th with kickoff times TBD. Eliminated: AEK Athens (GRE), Astana (KAZ), Atalanta (ITA), Braga (POR), Celtic* (SCO), Crvena zvezda (SRB), FCSB (ROU), København (DEN), Ludogorets (BUL), Napoli* (ITA), Nice (FRA), Östersund (SWE), Partizan (SRB), Real Sociedad (ESP), Spartak Moskva* (RUS), Villarreal (ESP) *denotes transfer from Champions League
Whatever. With the league out of reach, this is JJs only chance to salvags his job. Not to be a downer but based off his tactical retardation and horrendous squad rotation, I thoroughly expect him to fail
This is where it starts to get sticky. There’s only a couple teams here where I’d feel any sort of confidence against. The rest we’d be underdogs, by far. So you’re expectations of failure may not be too far off. It’s gonna take some luck tomorrow to move on I think.
There’s some tricky fixtures there. I’ll be praying we somehow get Plzen, Salzburg, Milan or Bilbao(avenge that semi final in 2012) The Russian teams are all very beatable, particularly zenit and cska but Lokomotiv are on fire
So looks like we will be home against Plzeň on March 8 as we were drawn first and then off to Czech Republic for the 2nd leg on March 15
Fantastic draw, can't complain about our luck. Plzen is better than Astana but we are still the better team. More important than routing in the first leg is to not concede stupid away goals like we did last game. Some big teams gonna get knocked out too. Milan vs Arsenal CSKA Moscow vs Lyon
wow alot of sportinguistas in this board. I notice benfica and porto boards dont seem to have much posts. anyways, sporting has no chance in the league now. If I were them I would focus on europa league now, you might have a chance there. Jorge Jesus biggest mistake is not keeping Mateus Pereira. He has been outstanding for Chaves this season.
Add to the fact that being good for Braga and all these other teams means absolutely nothing. None of these players showed up against the big boys.
The difference in quality is huge. Thats why I'm always hesitant when we sign players from our own league. Ruben Ribeiro for example
I don't think any of us were suprised that Ruben Ribeiro sucks though. Look at the signing Porto made within the league. They're gonna win the league because of them.
He's played well this season. Ribeiro is a 31 year old forward who's only move is to dribble dribble dribble and cut in. He's a winger with no speed. It was a shit signing. Raphinha is coming next year, you know, when it doesn't matter. This is why we need a entity to handle player personnel, like Rui Costa.
I loved Augusto Inacio but it seems he was pushed out by JJ after the first season. I'd like to see him back, he's a true sportinguista. Not as an international relations manager or whatever that position was.
Well I definitely don’t want him as a coach. Although I do like him. I agree, he’s a true sportingista