Champions league and Europa league thread (General)

Considering we have Van Dijk, De Ligt, De Vrij, Ake, Timber, Botman, Struijk, and several other up and comers you may not know - I'm not too worried. That's one of the best CB lineups in the world. But the last generation... Wow it was bad.

 

Yeah they played above their level that tourney. But the system definitely helped them with Nigel de jong & van bommel as a block in front of them. And 2014 they went to a 5-mans defense.

 

In classic Dutch fashion, Gio finishes 2nd

 

Found this analysis
https://totalfootballanalysis.com/d...benfica-vs-ajax-post-match-data-viz-and-stats

 

Gio, Feyenoord and VVD all finished 2nd. What a bummer! I don't like Real but I have to admit they know how to play CL final (8-0 records). In the first half, they sit back, absorb the pressure, play long ball due to Liverpool pressing. In the 2nd half they can play passing as Liverpool slow down the pressing and capitalize on the chance they have and when needed Courtois comes to the rescue. To get to final, they beat PSG, Chelsea, ManCity and Liverpool (top 3 EPL teams).

 

With most (all?) leagues taking a month or so off for the November-December World Cup (21 Nov - 18 Dec), I figured the Euro leagues would have to start early this summer. I was also surprised when I saw the CL matches today. It reminds me of the old Intertoto Cup competition: July football.

 

Of today's participants, I think the only one I've heard of is Malmo.

What's a bit sad is that these clubs playing now in early, early UCL qualifying rounds have very little chance of actually reaching the UCL group stage. The survivors will almost all be picked off by bigger clubs parachuting into qualifying at later rounds.

 

The UEFA Champions League has really morphed into a Euro Super League by allowing the 2nd place, 3rd place, and even 4th place teams from the big leagues to enter. As you noted, the early qualifying rounds are filled with the champions from the smaller leagues; for example, today I will watch Slovan Bratislava (Slovak champion) play Dinamo Batumi (Georgian champion).

It is what it is, however, as the alternative would be for a true Super League that has the same clubs year in year out, and leaves out the smaller leagues. This way, at least, one can see squads from the smaller leagues.

 

One of the teams in action today - Sherrif Tiraspol (Moldova) - actually reached the group stage of the 2020-21 UCL all the way out of first round qualifying. They had to win four two-leg playoff rounds to get there. (Closest call was 2-1 over Red Star Belgrade in the third round.) Let's see if they can do it again!

 

Slovan and Dinamo drew 0-0 in Bratislava, and the second leg is next week in Batumi. Dinamo went down to 10 men when their captain picked up a second yellow card, but they held on for the draw and even came close to stealing all three points.

It is interesting to see the makeup of these different squads. Slovan had 3 Slovaks start and 2 Georgians, while Dinamo had 8 Georgians in their starting lineup. There is some good football in those smaller leagues and competitive matches.

 

Looks like they drew 0-0 in Bosnia, which means they should have the advantage at home next week in Moldova.

 

That's because you learned to appreciate football the proper way, by becoming a real fan of a club, not supporting a club because of some star appeal. The Conf. League appealed Europe wide to the common fans. I doubt it scores high in Asia or the States, as these are more like star gazers.

 

Once you get away from a country, you rarely find someone who is a fan of a club outside the top one or two. I spent 17 years in Malaysia, and when I first arrived, everyone was running around with ManU kits. There was the occasional Liverpool fan, but ManU was far and away the favorite.

And then Arsenal won the EPL and those ManU kits were exchanged for Arsenal kits. There was one student of mine (uni level) who was from France (Marseille) and wore the Olympic Marseille kit. I considered him a true fan.

 

And guess what, EPL starts in less then 4 weeks

 

AZ beat Tuzla City at home in their first match, 1-0.

 

@Orange14 could you move this to the coeff. thread?

 

Well, PSV can/must be the one to deliver the first uppercut to France in the quest to overtake them.
Is it really the case that 6th spot gives 3 direct group stage spots?

 

Of course I ment the 5th spot, not 6th.