2020-2021 UEFA Champions League [R]

Qualifying Round 1 had five games today and will have twelve games tomorrow. https://evanjsoccer.wordpress.com/2...021-uefa-champions-league-qualifying-round-1/ is where I blogged for the first time since July 23, 2019. I guessed the decimal odds for the club that I thought would be favored. Qualifying Rounds 1, 2, and 3 will have one game instead of two legs.

Today's results were:

Qarabag (Azerbaijan) 4-0 Sileks (North Macedonia)
Legia Warsaw (Poland) 1-0 Linfield (Northern Ireland), Linfield got the only red card of the day in the 75th minute, and Legia scored in the 82nd)
Dynamo Brest (Belarus) 6-3 Astana (Kazakhstan)
Celtic (Scotland) 6-0 KR Reykjavik (Iceland)
Crvena Zvezda (Serbia) 5-0 Europa (Gibraltar)

Omonia Nicosia (Cyprus), Molde (Norway), Maccabi Tel Aviv (Israel), Ludogorets Razgrad (Bulgaria), Sheriff Tiraspol (Moldova), and CFR Cluj (Romania) are regulars in UEFA competitions who play tomorrow. Of those clubs, Molde, Maccabi Tel Aviv, and Sheriff Tiraspol are at home. The start times are from 5:00 P.M. CET/11:00 A.M. USA Eastern to 9:00 CET/3:00 P.M. USA Eastern. Times in England are one hour later than CET.

 

This topic is for 2020-2021, and you posted about 2019-2020.

Here are today's results:

Ararat-Armenia (Armenia) 0-1 Omonia Nicosia (Cyprus) in extra time
Molde (Norway) 5-0) KuPS (Finland)
Flora Tallinn (Estonia) 1-1 Suduva Marijampole (Lithuana) after nobody scored in extra time Suduva won penalty kicks 4-2, and Suduva's regulation goal was also a penalty kick
Celje (Slovenia) 3-0 Dundalk (Ireland)
Dinamo Tbilisi (Georgia) 0-2 KF Tirana (Albania)
Ferencvaros (Hungary) 2-0 Djurgardens (Sweden)
Maccabi Tel Aviv (Israel) 2-0 Riga FC (Latvia)
Buducnost Podgorica (Montenegro) 1-3 Ludogorets Razgrad (Bulgaria)
Connah's Quay (Wales) 0-2 FK Sarajevo (Bosnia and Herzegovina)
Sheriff Tiraspol (Moldova) 2-0 Fola Esch (Luxembourg)
Floriana (Malta) 0-2 CFR Cluj (Romania)

Klaksvik (Faroe Islands) vs. Slovan Brastislava (Slovakia) was postponed to Friday. It would be annoying if the winner of that game was at home next week and another club had to wait to find out where to go, but that won't happen. The winner will go to Young Boys of Switzerland.

Dynamo Brest of Belarus (3.775 club coefficient) won 6-3 hosting Astana of Kazakhstan (29.000 coefficient). The Belarusian Premier League uses calendar years, and in 2019, Dynamo Brest finished 5 points above BATE Borisov to end BATE Borisov's streak of 13 titles. Through 21 of 30 games this year, BATE Borisov is 3 points behind Shakhtyor Soligorsk, and third place Neman Grodno is 2 points behind BATE Borisov with a game in hand on the top two. The Belarusian Premier League doesn't have a schedule announced after this weekend.

Qualifying Round 2 will have:

Champions Path: 10 games

CFR Cluj (Romania) vs. Dinamo Zagreb (Croatia)
Young Boys (Switzerland) vs. Klaksvik (Faroe Islands) or Slovan Bratislava (Slovakia)
Celtic (Scotland) vs. Ferencvaros (Hungary)
Suduva Marijampole (Lithuania) vs. Maccabi Tel Aviv (Israel)
Legia Warsaw (Poland) vs. Omonia Nicosia (Cyprus)
Celje (Slovenia) vs. Molde (Norway)
Ludogorets Razgrad (Bulgaria) vs. Midtjylland (Denmark)
Dynamo Brest (Belarus) vs. FK Sarajevo (Bosnia and Herzegovina)
Qarabag (Azerbaijan) vs. Sheriff Tiraspol (Moldova)
KF Tirana (Albania) vs. Crvena Zvezda/Red Star Belgrade (Serbia)

CFR Cluj vs. Dinamo Zagreb, Ludogorets Razgrad vs. Midtjylland, and Qarabag vs. Sheriff Tiraspol are game between clubs with some success in UEFA competitions.

League Path: 3 games

AZ Alkmaar (Netherlands) vs. Viktoria Plzen (Czech Republic)
PAOK (Greece) vs. Besiktas (Turkey)
Lokomotiva (Croatia) vs. Rapid Wien (Austria)

 

I'm not interested in Fantasy Football.

Qualifying Round 2 had some surprises:

Champions (10 games):
CFR Cluj (Romania) 2-2 (after extra time) Dinamo Zagreb (Croatia), penalty kicks 5-6 to have Dinamo Zagreb advance
Young Boys (Switzerland) 3-1 Klaksvik (Faroe Islands)*
Celtic (Scotland) 1-2 Ferencvaros (Hungary)
Suduva Marijampole (Lithuania) 0-3 Maccabi Tel Aviv (Israel)
Legia Warsaw (Poland) 0-2 (after extra time) Omonia Nicosia (Cyprus)
Celje (Slovenia) 1-2 Molde (Norway)
Ludogorets Razgrad (Bulgaria) 0-1 Midtjylland (Denmark)
Dynamo Brest (Belarus) 2-1 Sarajevo (Bosnia and Herzegovina)
Qarabag (Azerbaijan) 2-1 Sheriff Tiraspol (Moldova)
Tirana (Albania) 0-1 Red Star Belgrade/Crvena Zvezda (Serbia)

League (Non-Champions): 3 games
AZ Alkmaar (Netherlands) 3-1 (after extra time) Viktoria Plzen (Czech Republic)
PAOK (Greece) 3-1 Besiktas (Turkey)
Lokomotiva (Croatia) 0-1 Rapid Wien/Rapid Vienna (Austria)

* Klaksvik advanced through Qualifying Round 1 because Slovan Bratislava (Slovakia) forfeited because of coronavirus.

The three Qualifying Round 3 games from the League (Non-Champions) Path were today:

Dynamo Kyiv (Ukraine) 2-0 AZ Alkmaar (Netherlands)
PAOK (Greece) 2-1 Benfica (Portugal)
Gent (Belgium) 2-1 Rapid Wien/Rapid Vienna (Austria)

All three home clubs won. The favored club by betting odds that lost is Benfica. The League (Non-Champions) Path will have two pairings in the Playoff Round:

Krasnodar (Russia) vs. PAOK (Greece) on September 22 in Russia and September 30 in Greece
Gent (Belgium) vs. Dynamo Kyiv (Ukraine) on September 23 in Belgium and September 29 in Ukraine

Krasnodar was third in Russia, which was the sixth best league, which let them start in the Playoff Round.

The five Qualifying Round 3 games for champions will be tomorrow. I will give the start times in CET and USA Eastern. The seeded clubs are in bold.

Ferencvaros (Hungary) vs. Dinamo Zagreb (Croatia) at 5:00 P.M./11:00 A.M.
Qarabag (Azerbaijan) vs. Molde (Norway) at 7:00 P.M./1:00 P.M.
Omonia Nicosia (Cyprus) vs. Red Star Belgrade/Crvena Zvezda (Serbia) at 7:00 P.M/1:00 P.M.
Maccabi Tel Aviv (Israel) vs. Dynamo Brest (Belarus) at 7:00 P.M./1:00 P.M.^
Midtjylland (Denmark) vs. Young Boys (Switzerland) at 8:30 P.M./2:30 P.M.

^ I root for Israeli clubs, which are rarely on TV in the USA. I'm happy that Maccabi Tel Aviv vs. Dynamo Brest will be on Eleven Sports USA.

The betting odds disagree with the coefficients enough that Molde is slightly more likely to win than to lose according to odds while being unseeded and away. Odds are made for each club winning and for a draw even if one club must advance.

I guessed the odds at https://evanjsoccer.wordpress.com/2...021-uefa-champions-league-qualifying-round-3/ which is where I occasionally blog. I did great at guessing the odds for Qualifying Round 2.

 

Here are results:

Qualifying Round 3 for Champions:

Ferencvaros (Hungary) 2-1 Dinamo Zagreb (Croatia)
Qarabag (Azerbaijan) 0-0 Molde (Norway), Molde won penalty kicks 6-5
Omonia Nicosia (Cyprus) 1-1 Red Star Belgrade/Crvena Zvezda (Serbia), Omonia Nicosia won penalty kicks 4-2
Midtjylland (Denmark) 3-0 Young Boys (Switzerland)
Maccabi Tel Aviv (Israel) 3-0 Dynamo Brest (Belarus)

Playoff Round First Legs, with the first four games for Champions:

Slavia Prague (Czech Republic) 0-0 Midtjylland (Denmark)
Maccabi Tel Aviv (Israel) 1-2 Red Bull Salzburg (Austria)
Olympiacos (Greece) 2-0 Omonia Nicosia (Cyprus)
Molde (Norway) 3-3 Ferencvaros (Hungary)
Krasnodar (Russia) 2-1 PAOK (Greece)
Gent (Belgium) 1-2 Dynamo Kyiv (Ukraine)

Omonia Nicosia, Ferencvaros, and Dynamo Kyiv will host second legs on Tuesday. Midtjylland, Red Bull Salzburg, and PAOK will host second legs on Wednesday. All the games start at 9:00 P.M./CET/8:00 P.M. England/3:00 P.M. USA Eastern. The Hungarian league ranks 31th of 55, so it would be great for them if Ferencvaros reaches the Group Stage. I'm a fan of Israeli clubs, and Maccabi Tel Aviv led 1-0 before losing 2-1. Maccabi Tel Aviv had six starters out with coronavirus. The six losers will go to the Europa League Playoff Round, so Israel is guaranteed to have a Group Stage club after going consecutive years without any. Israel has Hapoel Be'er Sheva and Maccabi Haifa in the Europa League Playoff Round, and Israel is one of 15 countries with at least three of the 101 remaining clubs. Israel is 21st in the country coefficients. Israel leads so far this season with a 3.500. Clubs that participated and lost their first game got 0.500, so no clubs got 0 points, and the worst league, which is San Marino, got 0.500 after getting 0 last season. Israeli clubs hav 9 wins, 0 draws, and 2 losses. Using the special format for this season because all rounds before the Group Stages are in one game except for the Champions League Playoff Round, wins in qualifying rounds are worth 1.500 instead of the usual 1.000. Israel has (9*1.500 + 0.500 from Beitar Jerusalem who lost in Europa League Qualifying Round 1 = 14.000)/4 clubs = 3.500. The top clubs start in the Champions League Group Stage, so before the group stages is when other leagues can stand out. By "group stages" I mean the Champions League Group Stage and Europa League Group Stage.

 

Dynamo Kyiv (Ukraine) 3-0 Gent (Belgium) (5-1 aggregate)
Ferencvaros (Hungary) 0-0 Molde (Norway) (3-3 aggregate, Ferencvaros advanced on away goals 3-0)
Omonia Nicosia (Cyprus) 0-0 Olympiacos (Greece) (0-2 aggregate)

Dynamo Kyiv (55.000) and Olympiacos (43.000) will be in Pot 3 for the Group Stage draw on Thursday. Ferencvaros (9.000) will have the lowest coefficient by a Group Stage club since five seasons ago when Astana (Kazakhstan) had a 3.825. Astana was rising then, and they are now 59th with a 22.500.

 

Midtjylland (Denmark) 4-1 Slavia Prague (Czech Republic) (4-1 aggregate)
PAOK (Greece) 1-2 Krasnodar (Russia) (2-4 aggregate)
Red Bull Salzburg (Austria) 3-1 Maccabi Tel Aviv (Israel) (5-2 aggregate)

The Group Stage draw is tomorrow.

 

In Group B, Borussia Monchengladbach (hereafter BM) won the head-to-head tiebreaker for second over Shakhtar Donetsk with 6-0 and 4-0 wins. Shakhtar allowed 10 goals to BM, 2 goals to Real Madrid, and none to Inter Milan. Inter Milan (9 goals allowed) and Lokomotiv Moscow (10 goals allowed in Group A) finished last while allowing fewer or as many goals as Shakhtar allowed in two games to BM who got 6 fewer points than Shakhtar in the other four games for each of them.

Four clubs scored at least 15 goals, but Bayern Munich was the only one of them to finish first. BM and Barcelona finished second, and Manchester United (hereafter MU) finished third. MU's +5 was better than four clubs that advanced.

Real Madrid (+2), Sevilla (+1), and Atletico Madrid (-1) all advanced without great goal differentials, and Real finished first. Barcelona had 15 points, but lost the head-to-head to goal differential tiebreaker to Juventus. Barcelona's +11 was the fourth best goal differential behind Bayern Munich (+13), Manchester City (+12), and Chelsea (+12), but it wasn't enough to finish first. Juventus was +10, and it was the first group with two clubs at +10 or better since 2017-2018, when Tottenham had 16 points and +11, and Real Madrid had 13 points and +10.

 

If you want to report match manipulation, got to https://www.bkms-system.net/bkwebanon/report/clientInfo?cin=KfuHpu&c=-1&language=eng