Draw for Competition stage was held today. Here are the squads VfB will face. Paris St. Germaine - Home Read Madrid - Away Atalanta - Home Juventus - Away Young Boys - Home Crvena Zvezda - Away Sparta Praha - Home Slovan Bratislava - Away Wow, the top of that order looks tough!
Well, those aren't "groups". UEFA dumped the group phase setup and went to a "competition phase" setup. For example, even though Feyenoord will play two German clubs (Bayern Munich and Bayer Leverkusen), they will not play another Dutch club. Likewise, if you look at Bayern Munich's set of matches, they are not playing another German club. https://www.uefa.com/uefachampionsl...e-league-phase-draw-all-36-teams-learn-their/ I suspect that all of the results will go into one mass table and the top xx clubs will go on to play in a home and away knockout rounds.
Matchday 1: 17–19 September 2024 Matchday 2: 1/2 October 2024 Matchday 3: 22/23 October 2024 Matchday 4: 5/6 November 2024 Matchday 5: 26/27 November 2024 Matchday 6: 10/11 December 2024 Matchday 7: 21/22 January 2025 Matchday 8: 29 January 2025
This season, the new Champions League has 36 clubs instead of 32. All teams are in one ranking after eight matches. The top 8 go directly to the round of 16, while numbers 9 to 24 compete in an intermediate round for the remaining places. From the round of 16, the tournament will proceed as before. This season, 'wintering' is no longer a relevant concept, since VfB is already assured of Champions League matches in 2025.
One of the early season highlights on ESPN FC was Gab Marcotti trying to explain "the Swiss format" to Steve Nichol and Craig Burley. Hilarious.
Stergiou and Ameen Al Dakhil are out vs. Real Madrid today, 17 September. Everyone else is available. Let's go! Furchtlos und Treu!
I will have to watch the highlights of this later. I was recruited to be an assistant soccer (football) coach for my grand daughter's squad. Heading off into the heat now.
I am camping with Mrs. Winoman, and am following the match on ESPN's match tracker.** It's raining otherwise I'd be out hiking now. **Thank heavens for 5G!
We gave them one heck of a fight. I'm proud of our guys. A lot of teams would have crumpled early in the second half, but we got right back in their faces. I won't say more until I'm sure you've seen at least the highlights. Great match. [Side note: Is it me, or does the crowd always seem kind of quiet at the Bernabéu? Our section was much louder than their entire stadium after scoring.]
Just now finished watching the replay. Yeah, up to minute 82, it was still just 1-1. Had VfB not continued attacking, but rather parked the bus like a lot of teams might, they could have gotten a draw out of this match. But they kept fighting up to the end, which bodes well for further matches. In fact, VfB were cheated out of a PK call in stoppage time. El Bilal jumped in the air for a header and Rudiger clearly elbowed him in the chest so that he went over backwards.
Matchday 2: VfB - Sparta Prague, in Stuttgart Sparta Prague's trainer from last season, Brian Priske, is now the trainer at my Dutch club, Feyenoord Rotterdam. Match is 18:45 in Germany, and a comfortable 11:45 here in the Grain Belt. Expected lineup: Nubel Vagnoman, Rouault, Chabot, Mittelstadt Stiller, Karazor Rieder, Millot, Leweling Undav Sparta Prague are currently 2nd in the Czech league table, 3 points behind Slavia. Playing at home, this should be a VfB win, but it is not a sure thing.
And Stenzel at RB instead of Vagnoman. The Sparta striker, #10 Rahmani, had quite a good season in Romania last year.
I won't live update in case @Winoman has to watch on replay, but here we are. Furchtlos und Treu, baby. By the way, I get a big kick out of Sebastian "dressing up" for Champions League. No hat, street clothes rather than athletic wear. Cracks me up.
This is shaping up almost exactly like the Hudson River Derby over the weekend. I like the way that one turned out. Let's see if history repeats itself.
Exactly. I wouldn't mind that kind of result today. We may see an adjustment coming out. A little more pace. The way Sparta Prague is defending, we need to stretch them and pull them out of shape. They've figured out how to surround Deniz when he finds space without leaving the passing lanes open. Will do, then! Hopefully it will be good news once you're able to watch the replay.
Just a weeeee bit of simulation from Preciado. We're starting to get pissed off. Good, as long as we keep our composure. Channel it and get after these guys.