Champions & Europa League Week 2

[SAMCRO]

Just a so-so week for European matches this week.
Top matches today are Barca (sans Messi) v Leverkusen and Lyon v Valencia. The rest are BATE v Roma; Arsenal v. Olympiakos (good match for Sanchez to continue his hot form); Bayern v D. Zagreb; Porto v Chelsea; Tel Aviv v Kyiv; and Zenit SP v Gent.

Wednesday we get Manchester v the Bundesliga with United v Wolfsburg and M'gladbach v City. Other matches are Malmo v Real, Donetsk v PSG, CSKA v Eindhoven, Astana v Galatasaray, Atletico v Benfica, and Juve v Sevilla

For Thursday, the only somewhat compelling Europa pairing is Monaco v Spurs (of course). Liverpool hosts Swiss club Sion

 

[DarthGrumpy]

Sanchez will be the key to Arsenal's future in the Champions and EPL, fingers crossed. Also rooting for my Ligue 1 team - Lyon. Would like to see them get past the 1st round and if lucky, make it further than PSG.

 

[SAMCRO]

BATE Borisov jumped on Roma early, scoring 2 quick goals. BATE up 2-0 after 12 minutes.

 

[SAMCRO]

The EPL teams need to pick it up a notch. Both Chelsea and Arsenal losing 2-1 in the 60th minute.

BATE curb stomping Roma 3-0 now.
Barca losing 1-0 at home to Leverkusen.
Bayern up 5-0 in 2H

 

[DarthGrumpy]

Arsenal 2 Olympiakos 3. On the bright side, don't have to worry about the Champions League game interfering with the Gunner's EPL title chase and I just re-stocked my liquor cabinet. Geez...

 

[SAMCRO]

EPL teams are 0 for 6 so far in UCL. England will be losing the 4th team in UCL in the very near future.

 

[UCHuskies08]

EPL teams are 0 for 6 so far in UCL. England will be losing the 4th team in UCL in the very near future.

Hey now, Chelsea beat Maccabi Tel Aviv!

So that's.... something

 

[SAMCRO]

Hey now, Chelsea beat Maccabi Tel Aviv!

So that's.... something

Forgot about that. I sit corrected.... 1-5.

 

[UCHuskies08]

And Wolfsburg scores on Man U four minutes into the match

 

[DarthGrumpy]

Hard to believe that every single EPL team is stinking in this year's (and last year's) Champions League. Is it just bad form or maybe the EPL teams are bagging it intentionally to get things changed?

 

[UCHuskies08]

Maybe they're just not very good?

 

[DarthGrumpy]

Maybe they're just not very good?

On paper and payroll, the EPL teams should dominate everyone except for Bayren, PSG, Real and Barcelona for the most part just like the Boston Red Sox and Washington Nationals were supposed to dominate MLB in 2015.

 

[meyers7]

Arsenal 2 Olympiakos 3. On the bright side, don't have to worry about the Champions League game interfering with the Gunner's EPL title chase and I just re-stocked my liquor cabinet. Geez...

And we get Bayern back to back next. Just awesome.

 

[DarthGrumpy]

And we get Bayern back to back next. Just awesome.

This game makes me feel like Han Salo approaching the Death Star, 'I've got a bad feeling about this...'

 

[DarthGrumpy]

This game makes me feel like Han Salo approaching the Death Star, 'I've got a bad feeling about this...'

I had a brainstorm. Against Bayren, Arsenal should use a 2-4-4-1 with Cech and Ospina both in net at the same time. I know its not legal; but, scoring 5 goals in 10 minuets should not be legal, either and after a few beers, I don't care if its illegal.

 

[DarthGrumpy]

Arsenal is in a must win game against mighty Bayern today. The big question is which Arsenal team will show-up? The team that look apart Man U or the team that has already lost 2 Champions league games to Dinamo Zagreb away (2-1) and Olympiacos at home (2-3).

 

[SAMCRO]

A couple of big matches for different reasons the next couple days. Arsenl v Bayern today w/ the Gunners playing for the UCL lives, and PSG v Real Madrid tomorrow which could be a preview of the finals or semi-finals.
Of the remaining EPL sides, Chelsea in a tough spot @ Dynamo Kyiv today; tomorrow has Man U @ CSKA Moscow where all 4 teams in the group are even with 3 points, and City v. Sevilla in a huge match for 2nd place behind Juve.

For Europa Thursday we have Spurs travel to Belgium to play Anderlecht, and Liverpool hosts Ruben Kazan (don't sleep on RK).

 

[DarthGrumpy]

Surprised and happy that the competent Gunners team showed-up and managed a 2 to 0 win over Bayern at home even though they had the ball for less than 30% of the time. They made the most of the opportunities given.

That puts them at 3 points halfway trough the round robin in Group F even with Zageb (though ahead on point differential 0 to -5) with Bayern and Olympiacos ahead with 6 points. To advance (1st or 2nd place), best guess is that they need to beat both Zageb (home) and Olympiacos (away) while keeping close to Bayern away. A win or tie tie with Bayern gets them 12 or 10 points and likely they are through. A loss to Bayern leaves them with 9 and likely down to point differential with Olympiacos. A tough; but, no impossible road.

Anyone catch the Roma v Bayer Leverkusen match? Ended as a 4 to 4 draw with both teams giving up 2 goal leads. Must have been a fun game to watch.