Europe: Champions League/Europa League 12/13

[DjchunKfunK]

Thought I would start a new topic for this as there isn't one already and the Champions League's first round of matches starts tonight. I'm looking forward to Madrid v City it should be an interesting game.

Also here are the full groups for the Champions League.

Group A
Dinamo Kiev
Dinamo Zagreb
FC Porto
Paris St Germain

Group B
Arsenal
FC Schalke 04
Montpellier
Olympiakos

Group C
AC Milan
Zenit St Petersburg
Anderlecht
Malaga

Group D
Real Madrid
Ajax
Man City
Borussia Dotrmund

Group E
Chelsea
FC Nordsjaelland
Juventus
Shaktar Donetsk

Group F
BATE Borisov
Bayern Munich
Lille
Valencia

Group G
Barcelona
Benfica
Celtic
Spartak Moscow

Group H
Braga
CFR 1907 Cluj-Napoca
Galatasaray
Man United

The latest odds have Barca as favourites with Madrid behind them then United and surprisingly City as fourth favourites.

Europa League wise I'll just list the groups involving British teams.

Group A
Anzhil
Young Boys
Liverpool
Udinese

Group D
Club Brugge
Maritimo
Newcastle
Bordeaux

Group J
Lazio
Maribor
Panathinaikos
Tottenham

Looking through the Europa League groups I have to say that there are some big names who haven't made it into the Champions League. It could be a pretty tough competition this year.

[katarn]

Interesting, ITV have tonight's City game live. Are they switching to Tuesday nights from now on?

[DjchunKfunK]

Haven't they been Tuesday for a few years now?

EDIT: Ignore me they have indeed switched. I think they did Tuesdays a few years ago.

[Wolfy]

I'd be happy with a 2-0 defeat. Got a feeling this will be a right royal bumming.

[katarn]

Wow, great game.

City a bit unlucky.

[Wolfy]

A bit gutting, but not everyone can say they nearly, fucking nearly beat 'em at their gaff.

[DjchunKfunK]

A bit gutting, but not everyone can say they nearly, fucking nearly beat 'em at their gaff.

Yeah it was a great game and a great start to this years competition. Arsenal got off to a good start as well and while the performance dropped in the second half when we started to look tired, all that matters is that we got 3 points on the board.

[Nethlyn]

Whatever Brendan Rogers is doing at Liverpool, it's working out well for the kids who kept up and then went past Young Boys of Berne with key subs especially Shelvey. It was much like the City game in fact, end to end, loose balls played all the way back to the rival end for goals, subs shaking up the game, and sometimes lack of cover for the goalies leading to the catching up to 1-1/2-2/3-3 before there was any split. YB certainly didn't look like the walkover they were at Spurs last year anyway. So the only question is whether these high-performing kids will all get benched again at the weekend.

Spurs meanwhile, end to end, unlucky for Dempsey having his headed goal ruled offside but meh, Liverpool's match was more...European almost, right now Spurs vs Lazio it feels like any other Prem match at the moment, hopefully it'll pick up, but there's always that balance to be struck between good defence and lots of goals.

[Sly Boots]

We've got some great youngsters coming through - Sterling, Kelly, Coates and Shelvey are the first wave, but there are lots more coming up behind them - Yesil, Suso (who did well in patches tonight), Robinson, Flanagan, Wisdom, McLaughlin, Morgan, Ngoo and more besides. It's not insane to say that in five year's time our side could be 75% homegrown players from the academy, with a few brought-in stars to bulk up the squad. Very exciting, and most of the kudos for it goes to Rafa, who overhauled our youth sides.

Interesting game tonight, particularly as it was the supposed senior players who looked weaker than the kids - Carra, Enrique and Downing in particular. Henderson had a good game, though.

[Nethlyn]

Bore draw at Spurs, if there's a return leg in Italy maybe we'll get the atmosphere of the Liverpool match, but it's hard to top an 8-goal thriller anywhere you go. I'll put it down to good defence and bad refereeing if at least one of those goals was on side without any pushing.

[Sly Boots]

Some bad results for the English CL teams this week.

City bottom of their group with one point after three games, looking like they'll go out in the group stage. Wonder what the owners will make of that, for the second season in a row (should it happen)? I get the feeling Mancini's position might be increasingly uncertain...

[Wolfy]

Nah, don't be daft. Mancini is safe as houses. They wouldn't have just given him a 5-year deal otherwise.

Some braindead City fans are calling for his head which I find utterly fucking stupid. Our best manager since Malcolm Allison and Joe Mercer? Yeah, get rid because we can't get out of the groups stage of the champions league where we've been dealt the two hardest groups over two seasons.

I'm not that arsed about the champions league in truth. I can't take it seriously at all. Man City versus Real Madrid? Maybe in a pre-season friendly for the Thomas Cook trophy.

[Sly Boots]

Nah, don't be daft. Mancini is safe as houses. They wouldn't have just given him a 5-year deal otherwise.

Some braindead City fans are calling for his head which I find utterly fucking stupid. Our best manager since Malcolm Allison and Joe Mercer? Yeah, get rid because we can't get out of the groups stage of the champions league where we've been dealt the two hardest groups over two seasons.

I'm not that arsed about the champions league in truth. I can't take it seriously at all. Man City versus Real Madrid? Maybe in a pre-season friendly for the Thomas Cook trophy.

Not suggesting it will happen mid-season, but if they don't win the title and also go out of Europe early, not sure if he'd have a very comfortable summer...

[Wolfy]

I can't see it at all. Mancini was hand-picked by the owners and to sack him a year into his 5-year megabucks contract is insane.

[DjchunKfunK]

I can't see it at all. Mancini was hand-picked by the owners and to sack him a year into his 5-year megabucks contract is insane.

Er have you been following football at all for the last few years? Long term contracts mean nothing in this day and age, success is everything.

Terrible performance from Arsenal again last night, poor old Santos was left all alone on the left wing and often had to deal with three players at once. Shocking that no one gave him any help. The last two performances show that we really do have a weak squad. I know we have a lot of first team players out, but if you want to challenge for trophies you have to have quality depth.