Champions League & Europa draws complete

[shizzle787]

Bad day for Italy, but they still lead England for the 2017 coefficient by a hair. Next year is going to be a battle.

 

[DarthGrumpy]

In other news, Tottenham's bid to build a new stadium in North London was just approved by the mayor. Will have 61,000 capacity, and built to accommodate an alternate surface for NFL games.

How is that going to work? American football absolutely destroys a natural grass pitch. I can't see Totteham playing on such a surface each week.

PS - Truly good day for the EPL, Man U rebounded and smacked Midtjylland 5 to 1 to advance.

One day, I will learn why Arsenal has to play Barcelona every bloody year in the round of 16 in the Champions League.

 

[SAMCRO]

Spurs new stadium would have a retractable pitch used for NFL games, and Tottenham would play on natural grass. No clue how that works, just what I read in the article.

HUGE day for English clubs in Europa League. 3 wins and all 3 advanced to round of 16. The draw for next round is tomorrow morning. Some quality teams left.

 

[SAMCRO]

The Europa round of 16 draw happened this morning... tough one for the EPL with two English clubs (United-Liverpool) paired against one another and Spurs get tournament favorite Dortmund.

Spurs v Dortmund
Man U v Liverpool
Sparta Prague v Lazio
Villarreal v Leverkusen
Shakhtar v Anderlecht
Basel v Sevilla
Fenerbahçe v Braga
Ath. Bilbao v Valencia

 

[DarthGrumpy]

The Europa round of 16 draw happened this morning... tough one for the EPL with two English clubs (United-Liverpool) paired against one another and Spurs get tournament favorite Dortmund.

Spurs v Dortmund
Man U v Liverpool
Sparta Prague v Lazio
Villarreal v Leverkusen
Shakhtar v Anderlecht
Basel v Sevilla
Fenerbahçe v Braga
Ath. Bilbao v Valencia

Good news is that at least 1 EPL team will make it to the quarterfinals; but, unfortunately, it pits the two weaker EPL teams against each other as Tottenham is clearly the stronger than Man U and Liverpool this season. The Spurs, of course, get the strongest side in Europa. Gunner fans can relate after drawing Barcelona yet again in the Champions.

 

[UConNick]

Predictions for Europa last 16:

Dortmund over Spurs - sorry about this one, but they've been firing on all cylinders. More Pulisic please! Also, no clue how much longer Kane and Vertonghen will be out.

Liverpool over Man U - always nice when United loses. I've never trusted their back line and defensive midfield (outside of Fellaini) so I think Coutinho and Roberto Firmino can help Liverpool pull off the upset.

Lazio over Sparta - probably the weakest draw. Don't really know much about either team but I'll take the team with a more recognizable name.

Leverkusen over Villarreal - A battle of teams in dogfights to try and get third place and an assured spot in next year's group stage. I like Bayer's midfield and also know Villarreal had been real down for about 7 years, while Bayer has consistently been in Europe over the past decade. Give me the Germans.

Shakhtar over Anderlecht - favorable draw for my favorite club team. Even without Teixiera they should advance rather comfortably. Check out Viktor Kovalenko on YouTube; 20 year old is one of the best young midfielders in Europe. He was linked with Liverpool and Barca last summer but Shakhtar reportedly won't even look at an offer of any value.

Sevilla over Basel - Sevilla and the Europa league. That is all. Hope Konoplyanka gets some good minutes; he's definitely Sevilla's best winger but other players apparently don't like him much.

Fenerbahçe over Braga - another leg where I don't know much about either team, but the Turks have a very talented roster and I've never thought highly of the Primiera Liga.

Valencia over Athletic - This is probably the toughest one for me to call, but I'll go with Valencia over the Basques for no particular reason.

So my final 8, in order of who I think has the best shot of winning the whole thing:

Dortmund
Sevilla
Shakhtar (my darkhorse if they continue to get favorable draws)
Leverkusen
Valencia
Liverpool
Fenerbahçe
Lazio

 

[shizzle787]

Predictions for Europa last 16:

Dortmund over Spurs - sorry about this one, but they've been firing on all cylinders. More Pulisic please! Also, no clue how much longer Kane and Vertonghen will be out.

Liverpool over Man U - always nice when United loses. I've never trusted their back line and defensive midfield (outside of Fellaini) so I think Coutinho and Roberto Firmino can help Liverpool pull off the upset.

Lazio over Sparta - probably the weakest draw. Don't really know much about either team but I'll take the team with a more recognizable name.

Leverkusen over Villarreal - A battle of teams in dogfights to try and get third place and an assured spot in next year's group stage. I like Bayer's midfield and also know Villarreal had been real down for about 7 years, while Bayer has consistently been in Europe over the past decade. Give me the Germans.

Shakhtar over Anderlecht - favorable draw for my favorite club team. Even without Teixiera they should advance rather comfortably. Check out Viktor Kovalenko on YouTube; 20 year old is one of the best young midfielders in Europe. He was linked with Liverpool and Barca last summer but Shakhtar reportedly won't even look at an offer of any value.

Sevilla over Basel - Sevilla and the Europa league. That is all. Hope Konoplyanka gets some good minutes; he's definitely Sevilla's best winger but other players apparently don't like him much.

Fenerbahçe over Braga - another leg where I don't know much about either team, but the Turks have a very talented roster and I've never thought highly of the Primiera Liga.

Valencia over Athletic - This is probably the toughest one for me to call, but I'll go with Valencia over the Basques for no particular reason.

So my final 8, in order of who I think has the best shot of winning the whole thing:

Dortmund
Sevilla
Shakhtar (my darkhorse if they continue to get favorable draws)
Leverkusen
Valencia
Liverpool
Fenerbahçe
Lazio

Dortmund
Sevilla
Shakhtar
Villarreal
Athletic Bilbao
Man U
Braga
Lazio

 

[shizzle787]

Interesting draw: we will likely be left with one Italian and one English side in the quarterfinals.

 

[SAMCRO]

Kane is back this weekend so he'll (knock on wood) be healthy for Dortmund. Vertongen will be out, he's back late March. So my final 8 is.....

Spurs (of course)
United
Sevilla
Bilbao
Lazio
Shakhtar
Leverkusen
Braga

 

[SAMCRO]

No surprises in UCL yesterday. Real did what they were supposed to do in discarding of Roma (good that Roma got 0 coefficient points thru both matches). Wolfsburg advanced over Gent as expected. One huge match this afternoon with Chelsea hosting PSG, and being down 2-1 on aggregate.Would be great if they could pull the upset and advance, but at the very least a draw gets them some coefficient points. Zenit St. Pete v Benfica in the other match.

 

[SAMCRO]

Chelsea and PSG are 1-1 early 2nd half, PSG up 3-2 on aggregate. Come on Chelsea (threw up a little).
Benfica advance over Zenit St Petersburg 3-1 on aggregate

 

[LIuconn]

And it looks like PSG goes through thanks to Zlatan. Nice build to that goal

 

[DarthGrumpy]

And it looks like PSG goes through thanks to Zlatan. Nice build to that goal

As an Arsenal fan, I do not like Chelsea and as a Lyon fan, I detest PSG. Was hoping for a black hole to open-up and swallow both teams.

 

[UConNick]

PSG looked great at Stamford Bridge. Always great seeing Chelsea go down. Also nice to see the Russian club go down in dramatic fashion, although Benfica are obviously not gonna be a threat in the next round. PSG on the other hand, I think could finally break through to the semis. They look that good to me.

 

[shizzle787]

I'm sort of hoping that Wolfsburg/Benfica quarterfinal so that we get a cinderella semifinalist to spice things up and some better quarterfinal matches: any of RM, Barca, Atleti, Bayern/Juve, PSG playing one another should be interesting. Manchester City probably would make it competitive at home against the others but would get thrashed away.

 

[SAMCRO]

So Real, Wolfsburg, Benfica, and PSG are thru (PSG is playing very well).
Next week we likely see City, Atletico, Barca, and Bayern go through (maybe Juve over Bayern). Should get some tasty matches in the quarters.

 

[DarthGrumpy]

So Real, Wolfsburg, Benfica, and PSG are thru (PSG is playing very well).
Next week we likely see City, Atletico, Barca, and Bayern go through (maybe Juve over Bayern). Should get some tasty matches in the quarters.

Wait a sec, it's not over, Arsenal is not done yet, just look at the numbers, there is a chance against Barca (please picture me with the same look on my face and tone that Karl Rove had on FOX election night 2012).

 

[UConnTrumbull]

SLB! O GLORIOSO! Real proud of my boys from Lisbon but we did get a favorable draw. I do like seeing smaller clubs getting deep into the knockout rounds. I miss the days where the PSVs, Monacos, (and Portos ) of the world had a shot to make it to the semis or even finals. Too much about big brands now. I fear the semis will be Real/Barca/Bayern/PSG or some bigger English club for the foreseeable future.

 

[SAMCRO]

Spurs Curb-stomped in Germany

 

[UCFBfan]

Liverpool shuts out ManU 2-0. Considering an EPL club is exiting this round no matter what between those two, I'm cheering heavily for Liverpool in this match up. As for Spurs.....ouch....

 

[businesslawyer]

Spurs started the game resting 7 starters. They made their priority clear,

 

[johnhuskies95]

I love Pochettino, but I'm not sure I get that one. Is a Sunday game against Villa that grueling that he can't put up a better team against Dortmund? It's not like they're in the FA cup either.

 

[SAMCRO]

I love Pochettino, but I'm not sure I get that one. Is a Sunday game against Villa that grueling that he can't put up a better team against Dortmund? It's not like they're in the FA cup either.

Ya, I was bummed at the result, but get the lineup and resting guys. It's less about Villa, more abou this being something like their 5th game in about 16 days, w/ Villa making it 6 in 19 days. DelleAlli didn't make the trip. Rose didn't dress. Kane sat until late in the game (put in to try and get at least an away goal).

As for USMNT news, CCV dressed for Spurs but didn't play.

 

[DarthGrumpy]

Spurs started the game resting 7 starters. They made their priority clear,

I'm interested to see what team Arsenal fields in their next match with Barcelona, I expect them to concede and focus on the Premiership title race.

 

[businesslawyer]

I'm interested to see what team Arsenal fields in their next match with Barcelona, I expect them to concede and focus on the Premiership title race.

Healthy, of course, Arsenal has depth levels above what Spurs has. Although Spurs is so far from healthy that and $15 will get you across the GW.