It’s a straight one-legged knockout after this ?
No don’t be silly… 
Assume he means we play the second leg at home.
Lol … I still haven’t a clue how this competition works.
2 Likes
Do you mean second leg? I haven’t seen that stated anywhere. They were saying on TAW that there’s no difference at all between 1st and 2nd.
Agree about keeping a rhythm but I think it’s pretty much a dead rubber and hope Grav, Mo, Konate, Mac all rested. Hopefully Bradley gets a start also!
1 Like
Home advantage to the final - aka second leg at home? Very nice! Are there seeding advantages for trmhe round of 16 too (ie 1v16, 2v15 etc)?
Prestige? Nah don’t think it will and also feel the current format will be changed within a few years.
If they are in opposite sides of the draw, both can get home legs 2nd all the way to the final
1 Like
The seedings look to be 1/2 vs 15/16, 3/4 vs 13/14 ect. So there is no real benefit between 1st and 2nd, but there is potential benefit between 2nd and 3rd.
I’m curious though - I expect ‘16’ is just the lowest qualifier from the 9-24 round. Aka you (leave aside nation for a moment) could end up with a team like Madrid or Cheaty as plausible winners from the lower half.
I think Arne’s point stands that as the placings are so uncertain given the draw and just 8 matches, there isn’t really an advantage (in advance) of finishing 1st rather than 2nd
1 Like
There’s no advantage of 1st over 2nd. The rest is up for debate
1 Like
No, but if the Rnd of 16 were to be based on the current standings, the draw would look as follows:
Liverpool 1/Barcelona 2 vs Benfica 15/Monocco 16
Arsenal 3/Bayer Leverkusen 4 vs Atalanta 13/Juventus 14
Villa 5/Inter 6 vs Atletico Madrid 11/Ac Milan 12
So the benefit between 1st and 2nd is not that big, but the benefit between 2nd and 3rd is fairly noticable.
Assuming that 9-16 all win their playoff games… Otherwise that example may change quite a bit
True, but that was purely used as an example of how the following rounds get drawn based on the league position.
The benefits are based on finishing in the higher pairing for the pots. The lower pairing you end up in, the higher the risk of having to face a stronger team.
Of course! My (poorly made) point is what matters is the specific side that finishes there and that won’t be known until after the playoff round. It’s likely therefore not much of an advantage (save for 2nd leg at home) finishing higher
2 Likes
Little throwback to our last meeting in 2010.
1 Like
Making my way to Liverpool…just at the services getting coffee and there are 2-3 coaches worth of Lille fans. The younger ones are dancing around in the car park playing awful dance music on a tinny wee speaker and getting bevvied up. See how theyre holding up at 10pm with the prospect of a 7-8 hr coach journey back to dover/the tunnel 
8 Likes
Big day out for them.
Let’s hope they have a sad return journey.
3 Likes
I hope they enjoy it regardless.
3 Likes
They deserve it if they are making others listen to shitty music.
Lille are 21 games unbeaten.