UEFA Champions League (Official Thread)

[Bucklion]

Bayern have really hit their stride recently in the Bundesliga while Fiorentina have been dreadful in Serie A. I suppose a lot of the time you need to forget about domestic results, but I just can't see Bayern not winning in Munich.

As for my beloved Gunners, we'll be using a stone-soup lineup tonight. Almunia is hurt, he'll be replaced by Fabianski (which should be an improvement.) Gallas is hurt, Sol Campbell will take his place. Denilson will replace the injured Song at CDM, and Arshavin and Eduardo are unavailable, so it'll be Nasri-Bendtner-Rosicky up top.

I honestly have no idea how good Porto are these days, but Arsenal have serious injury problems and are on the road. I'd look for them to lose 2-1 or draw 1-1, then win the series at the Emirates.

Oh yeah, Go Gunners!

Porto is 12-4-3 thus far (3rd), well behind Befica but ahead of Sporting Lisbon by a wide margin.

 

[jazzman]

As for my beloved Gunners, we'll be using a stone-soup lineup tonight. Almunia is hurt, he'll be replaced by Fabianski (which should be an improvement.) Gallas is hurt, Sol Campbell will take his place. Denilson will replace the injured Song at CDM, and Arshavin and Eduardo are unavailable, so it'll be Nasri-Bendtner-Rosicky up top.



Oh yeah, Go Gunners!

Those five injured starters are the reason Porto are favored in this game. No other reason. Arsene Wenger is a wily old coach....I think as you say, he finds a way to keep it close and sneak an away goal. Then clinch it back home at the Emirates stadium, hopefully with most of the starters back. The key for Porto today is their defense not allowing the makeshift front of Arsenal any room.

 

[Bucklion]

Fiorentina even through 10, I called it before it started...I like their chances of advancing. We'll see if I'm an idiot

 

[jazzman]

Bayern Munich 2-1 Fiorentina

Huge controversy in this game, as the second goal by Klose looked to have been scored from an off-side position in the dying minutes.


FC Porto 2-1 Arsenal

Arsenal has goalkeeping issues aplenty. Just when you thought Almunia was bad, two Fabianski howlers gifted Porto two goals. However, like Fiorentina, Arsenal have a crucial away goal for the return leg.

 

[Buckeye513]

FC Porto 2-1 Arsenal

One of those games where I'm glad I was only able to catch the last 15 minutes. What a clusterfuck of a team that was.

Fortunately the return leg isn't until the 7th.

 

[jazzman]

One of those games where I'm glad I was only able to catch the last 15 minutes. What a cluster[censored] of a team that was.

Fortunately the return leg isn't until the 7th.

Yep....unfortunately it looks like Arsenal may have to persist with Fabianski for a while. That will be a big worry for them.

 

[jazzman]

Goals from the Porto v Arsenal game....not sure which language it is in, but you can check out the awful goalkeeping by Fabianski. Arsenal fans may wanna give this one a miss....

[ame=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MZsgiRd2HLA]YouTube - FC Porto vs Arsenal (2-1)Goals- Highlight- 17.02.2010[/ame]

 

[tmporter]

I think a lot of people are underestimating the Italian sides...Milan outplayed ManU for most of that game, and in general the Italians can be good in these types of competitions...I think the other 2 have a good chance.

I am also keeping an eye on the Europa league...some good international matchups there as well (and I'm a Fulham fan).

Fulham is a second fav of mine. Always liked that they have been a good side despite being a very small club. Very well run and Roy Hodgson is a great manager.

Agreed. Fiorentina topped their group which included the likes of Lyon (that leads Real Madrid in the first round of 16) and Liverpool. Also, Bayern haven't been the dominant force in Europe that they were a few years ago....a surprise isn't out of the question. The bookmakers favor Bayern & Porto at home to win today.

However, Inter have been drawn with Chelsea....which is gonna be tough for the Italian team, and even though AC Milan outplayed Man Utd., they have a mountain to climb at Old Trafford.

Fiorentina without Adrian Mutu just isn't the same. He is an outstanding player and their main threat up front. AC played so much better than United and still lost. Inter is going to play a spotty Chelsea and probably lose at home just as AC did. Chelsea always seem to play very well in the Champions League.

Chelsea has been very hit or miss with these things, so we'll see. I agree it will be tough, but much stranger things have happened. I agree that the away goal factor kills AC.

Chelsea is still a better team the Inter.

Bayern have really hit their stride recently in the Bundesliga while Fiorentina have been dreadful in Serie A. I suppose a lot of the time you need to forget about domestic results, but I just can't see Bayern not winning in Munich.

As for my beloved Gunners, we'll be using a stone-soup lineup tonight. Almunia is hurt, he'll be replaced by Fabianski (which should be an improvement.) Gallas is hurt, Sol Campbell will take his place. Denilson will replace the injured Song at CDM, and Arshavin and Eduardo are unavailable, so it'll be Nasri-Bendtner-Rosicky up top.

I honestly have no idea how good Porto are these days, but Arsenal have serious injury problems and are on the road. I'd look for them to lose 2-1 or draw 1-1, then win the series at the Emirates.

Oh yeah, Go Gunners!

Man the Gunners looked like a complete disaster today. That was worse than I thought it would be for them. They created all of their own problems. Man it is going to be a big hill for the Gunners to climb even though it will be at home for them.

 

[TDG]

Jesus, what a disaster that was. True to the stereotype of Arsenal fans, I generally believe that we're the better team even in the games we lose, but we were not the better team yesterday. Our attack was just abysmal, every pass was telegraphed and nobody except Rosicky was willing to shoot from outside 5 yards from the goal. Fabregas must be trying to get Barcelona disinterested, because he's been awful these past few games.

Our defense was about as scary as it usually is. In regards to goalkeeping, I saw someone remark on another site that this was Manuel Almunia's best game, and I have to agree. Against all odds, I'm going to be grateful to see him back in the lineup. Absolutely awful from Fabianski. I have no idea why Wenger prefers him to Vito Mannone.

I've seen a lot of talk about the second goal, what with it not being a deliberate back-pass and with the referee controversially letting them take it quickly. I have to agree, but I just can't manage to get too worked up about it. We truly deserved to lose this game, and that play was a fine symbol of our incompetence that day.

Happily, I'm absolutely confident that this will all be water under the bridge in two weeks, because we're sure to go through. We only need a 1-0 win at the Emirates, even if Porto park the bus I'm sure we'll manage to scrape by.

 

[IronBuckI]

OK, I'm new to soccer. I frequently watch FSC, so I've gotten to know some of the English leagues, and some of Serie A. This week was the first time that I've ever seen any form of international club competition, and it was pretty fucking sweet. The atmosphere at Porto, Lyon, and Milan were just crazy. What has me lost is how goals are weighted. What is the significance of an away goal? I thought that any two-legged playoff was based on aggregate, and then went to penalty kicks. At least that was my understanding of what would have happened if the Crew were able to even out the aggregate against Real Salt Lake this season, but all I kept hearing about during the UEFA broadcasts was about the "all important away goal". What am I missing?

 

[Merih]

OK, I'm new to soccer. I frequently watch FSC, so I've gotten to know some of the English leagues, and some of Serie A. This week was the first time that I've ever seen any form of international club competition, and it was pretty [censored]ing sweet. The atmosphere at Porto, Lyon, and Milan were just crazy. What has me lost is how goals are weighted. What is the significance of an away goal? I thought that any two-legged playoff was based on aggregate, and then went to penalty kicks. At least that was my understanding of what would have happened if the Crew were able to even out the aggregate against Real Salt Lake this season, but all I kept hearing about during the UEFA broadcasts was about the "all important away goal". What am I missing?

Based on aggregate, then first tiebreaker is away goals. So if aggregates is 3-3, but one team scored 2 of their 3 goals away from home but the other one scored only 1 away goal, the first team advances.

 

[Buckeye513]

OK, I'm new to soccer. I frequently watch FSC, so I've gotten to know some of the English leagues, and some of Serie A. This week was the first time that I've ever seen any form of international club competition, and it was pretty fucking sweet. The atmosphere at Porto, Lyon, and Milan were just crazy. What has me lost is how goals are weighted. What is the significance of an away goal? I thought that any two-legged playoff was based on aggregate, and then went to penalty kicks. At least that was my understanding of what would have happened if the Crew were able to even out the aggregate against Real Salt Lake this season, but all I kept hearing about during the UEFA broadcasts was about the "all important away goal". What am I missing?

If the aggregate score is even then it goes to away goals.

Arsenal lost 2-1 at Porto. If Arsenal wins 1-0 in London, they'll go through, because of their goal in Portugal. If they win 3-2, Porto will go through because they would've scored more away goals. If they win 2-1, it will go to extra time and then PKs.

 

[IronBuckI]

Based on aggregate, then first tiebreaker is away goals. So if aggregates is 3-3, but one team scored 2 of their 3 goals away from home but the other one scored only 1 away goal, the first team advances.

Wild. I guess that's a reasonable tiebreaker. Probably better than extra time or penalty kicks, because those would give an advantage to the team that hosts the second match.

 

[tmporter]

Wild. I guess that's a reasonable tiebreaker. Probably better than extra time or penalty kicks, because those would give an advantage to the team that hosts the second match.

There is a huge advantage for the team who plays at home in the second leg only if they score an away goal. Every away goal is worth more than a home goal. As I said before, Real Madrid losing 1-0 at Lyon, have effectively taken away the ability to draw the game or win any 1 goal game. They lose on away goals in every scenario. So you have to score on the away leg to really have an advantage.

 

[TDG]

OK, I'm new to soccer. I frequently watch FSC, so I've gotten to know some of the English leagues, and some of Serie A. This week was the first time that I've ever seen any form of international club competition, and it was pretty fucking sweet. The atmosphere at Porto, Lyon, and Milan were just crazy. What has me lost is how goals are weighted. What is the significance of an away goal? I thought that any two-legged playoff was based on aggregate, and then went to penalty kicks. At least that was my understanding of what would have happened if the Crew were able to even out the aggregate against Real Salt Lake this season, but all I kept hearing about during the UEFA broadcasts was about the "all important away goal". What am I missing?

In the Champions League, and most foreign tournaments, the first tie-breaker for a tie on aggregate is number of away goals. That didn't matter with the Crew because MLS doesn't use the away goals tiebreaker.

EDIT: Well, I'm only 2 hours late. :P