Of the 16 teams from the top 4 leagues in the Champions League, only 3 are currently not positioned to advance after 4 match days. All 3 of those teams are set to advance to the EL. None will be eliminated from Europe. There's a clear divide between these Leagues and the rest of Europe.
The 16 clubs from the top 4 leagues have 24 wins, 11 draws, and 3 losses against the other 16 clubs. That's 83 points in 38 games, which is how many games most of those clubs play in domestic leagues. Manchester City, Bayern Munich, Juventus, Napoli, and Barcelona were the only clubs in the top 4 leagues to get at least 83 points in 2017-2018. Since the Bundesliga plays 34 games, I was willing to multiply points by 38 and divide by 34 to make the points per game match, but Bayern Munich had 84 without adjusting it.
-----------------18 / 19-----------Total 1) Spain ---- 12.571 -------- 96.569 2) England - 12.071 -------- 74.891 3) Italy ------- 10.071 -------- 72.154 4) Germany - 12.214 ------- 68.927
Most of the time the Gods/luck play a massive role in the Champions League. It's the nature of such a short competition. Four teams tied on points separated by goals scored or away goals.
Absolutely can give credit to teams that advance including Liverpool and less so Tottenham given the fortunate circumstances they were playing under in Barcelona. Liverpool were better yesterday and should have been up 2-0 at least. It was the nature of the game. Once Napoli had to score, they had to take risks. Liverpool's performance was similar to Napoli's in Italy. Both teams were wasteful where their dominance should have lead to more goals. In the end though, Liverpool and Napoli split their meetings by the exact same scoreline and were separated on goals for. Obviously in those circumstances, luck has to play a decisive role. Liverpool deserve credit, yet Napoli were simply unlucky. Why? In the group stage, Napoli hit the post three times on top of the Di Maria 95th minute miracle in Paris. Had just one of those four moments broke their way, they would have been through. Fine margins. After watching all of the group matches for this specific group, PSG probably merited advancing the least. Totally outplayed in England, Italy, and Paris by Napoli. They move forward almost exclusively because they won all six points vs Red Star.
No I agree with you. Liverpool definitely deserved to win that game and 6-2 is probably a fair scoreline on how it all went. However in the earlier game, Napoli should have beaten Liverpool 3-1. Anyway its all over now and Liverpool did what they needed to advance in the end.
Not really, because the teams knew what they had to do entering the night's action. Or rather, entering the final 2 or 3 nights of action. It always felt like that goal Napoli conceded against Red Star was going to hurt them, and in the end it did. However, if Liverpool needed to win by 2 the game would have gone differently, and perhaps they would have won by multiple goals. Napoli were hugely disappointing in the end... As for Inter, had they beaten PSV and were still sent packing for the Europa League because Spurs beat a second-string Barca side, that might have been cruel on them. But as they couldn't beat PSV at home in a must-win match, they too have nobody else to blame but themselves. Inter were already lucky to get as many points as they did if you take an overview of all six matchdays.
Napoli were 10 seconds away from essentially already being close to qualification when Di Maria scored his miracle in Paris in matchday three. Even in the first match vs Red Star, they hit the post twice when totally dominating. In Naples vs Liverpool, they were as dominant as Liverpool were yesterday and again hit the post along with a goalline clearance by Joe Gomez. I believe they also hit the crossbar vs PSG in Italy. As you also mention, they allowed a stupid goal vs Red Star when leading 3-0 while Liverpool got a break with the Di Maria PK on Mane in Paris. It was a tough group and in watching most CL matches, all three have played some of the best football. It was decided on bad luck on Napoli's part which is to be expected in a short tournament. As for Inter, they only have themselves to blame. If you cant win at home vs an already eliminated PSV, then they didnt deserve to go on, period.
what a load of crap spurs had more bad luck then napoli and still qualified lol this guy really is a napoli fanboy
My analysis: Napoli was definitely hard done by luck, no question. Inter though deserve to be out. Seriously they couldn't beat PSV at home??? And the PSV goal was a terrible mistake by Asamoah who should have known better. Inter get what they deserve. Napoli was definitely unlucky as it was a really tough group. That PSG equalizer hurt a lot in Paris, and also that they couldn't beat Red Star in Serbia. Although I still feel they could have done better and not slipped up like that. They really should have beaten Red Star in Serbia.
OK so here is what we have left: England: Premier League UCL: Man City, Man Utd, Liverpool, and Tottenham. EL: Chelsea, and Arsenal Tottenham and Man Utd I expect to be out in the Round of 16 likely depending on the draw. Liverpool and Man City will probably go on to the quarterfinals unless they get an extremely tough draw. Chelsea and Arsenal should have no problems going to Round of 16, and likely further. Although I wouldn't be surprised if Chelsea decides to tank the Europa League. Italy: Serie A UCL: Juventus, and Roma EL: Napoli, Inter Milan, and Lazio Juventus should make the quarters easily. Roma will likely be out in the Round of 16 unless they get an easy draw. Napoli and Inter should go to Round of 16 and even further easily, and neither will likely tank the EL since both are almost out of the Serie A race. Lazio is 50-50, has a good chance of making next round, but if they get too tough of a draw which is definitely possible they could go out. On Another Note: I have no idea what is up with AC Milan, but they really played like crap in many games throughout the Europa League. Shocking performances in quite a few of their games. Germany: Bundesliga UCL: Bayern Munich, Dortmund, Schalke EL: Leverkusen, and Eintracht Frankfurt Bayern Munich should make the quarterfinals. Dortmund should as well unless they get Liverpool, or Tottenham vs Dortmund would be 50-50. Schalke 04 is out in the Round of 16 regardless of the draw they get most likely. Leverkusen should advance to Round of 16 unless they get a tough draw, and so should Eintracht Frankfurt.
Not a Napoli fan boy at all. Just because someone disagrees with you over the internet doesn't make them a fan of a particular group. Literally you do that in most posts you disagree with. Spurs were unlucky in the Milan. Beyond that, they were awful vs a full strength Barca, and struggled twice vs PSV. It was a massive advantage to play Barca without Messi, Suarez, Busquets, their entire back up defensive line and goalkeeper. In truth neither Spurs or Inter were very good. I was actually wrong. Napoli hit the post four times in 6 group stage games. If only one of those go in, they qualify. If Di Maria doesn't score in the 95th minute in Paris, they qualify. That is bad luck. Spurs got themselves in a massive hole not only in the group but in most games. They deserve merit for coming back, but for large parts of the group they were poor. On the other hand, Napoli were the better side in 5 of the 6 matches. Only at Anfield were they 2nd best on the night.
I don't think Napoli were second best against PSG in Naples. PSG were slightly the better side in that game.
I agree, neither of those teams were that great. To be honest both teams were lucky in many games. Both of Spurs and Inter are overrated in my opinion.
In the first half and maybe for 30 minutes. In the 2nd, Buffon made two excellent saves, Merten's hit the crossbar, and Napoli scored. It was pretty even, a very good match.
Napoli had a great spell in the second half but after the great saves by Buffon and the goal, they seemed to lose their gas, and PSG started to slightly dominate again.
Stats show that Napoli had 20 shots to 9, 8 corners to 4. PSG did have more possession yet Napoli was closer to the 2nd than PSG were. Overall it was a solid contest where both teams played a very entertaining match.
I think we're probably the most unlucky team to ever play in the Champions League. 2 wins 3 draws a 1 loss in a group with PSG and Liverpool is hardly a disappointment and in most cases we'd be going through. A few years back we had 12 fcuking points and didn't progress