UEFA Champions League

The Cruyff Turn
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The show gets on the road tonight as the mighty champions from San Marino, Kosovo, Faroe Islands, and Andorra kicks-off the Preliminary Rounds.

June 22: Preliminary round semi-finals
June 25: Preliminary round final

July 6 & 7 and 13 & 14: First qualifying round

While the likes of CFR Cluj, Sheriff Tiraspol, Ludogorets or Ferencváros aren’t exactly household names; they have played at the group stages in the past.

July 20 & 21 and 27 & 28: Second qualifying round

Entering in this round are some familiar names likes of Celtic, PSV Eindhoven, Galatasaray, Olympiacos and Crvena Zvezda. How the mighty has fallen.

August 3 & 4 and 10: Third qualifying round

Steven Gerrard would be hoping to resume his European adventures once more as Rangers enters this round along with some CL regulars; Slavia Prague, Shakhtar Donetsk, Benfica, and Monaco.

August 17 & 18 and 24 & 25: Play-offs

Salzburg and Brøndby will enter this final round of qualifications to decide the six participants who will join the group stage.

Pot 1

Chelsea
Villarreal
Atlético Madrid
Manchester City
Bayern Munich
Inter Milan
Lille
Sporting CP

Pot 2

Real Madrid
Barcelona
Juventus
Manchester United
Paris Saint-Germain
Liverpool
Sevilla
Borussia Dortmund

Pot 3

Porto
Ajax
RB Leipzig
Atalanta
Zenit Saint Petersburg

Pot 3 or 4

Beşiktaş
Dynamo Kyiv
Club Brugge

Pot 4

Milan
VfL Wolfsburg

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Be nice to have some football post Euros

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The HB Tórshavn right back is called Mads Mikkelsen!

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HB Tórshavn 0 - 1 Inter Escaldes (Armengol 61’)

Folgore 0 - 2 (Krasniqi 51’, Hoti 90’+1)

Pretty disappointing to see both my picks lose :disappointed_relieved:

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Pot 2 is more frightening than pot 1.

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So our ‘top seed’ will be one of:

Villarreal
Atlético Madrid
Bayern Munich
Inter Milan
Lille
Sporting CP

Would prefer not to play Atletico but any of the others would be fine.

Otherwise would be good to avoid the likes of Zenit and Kiev but we shall see.

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Would be better to play Atlético in the group than later.

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I want Milan straight away, it’s been a while.

:heart_eyes:

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Why are you picking on them :thinking:

Did we meet them after 2007 final?

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No. It’s been a good decade since they were last in the CL and we also had our own issues during almost half of that time.

Nobody will ever (at least in our lifetime) catch Real’s 14 titles, but the best we can do is to overtake Milan and be second best in Europe.

:sunglasses:

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Away goals rule to be abolished from all UEFA club competitions from next season.

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Not sure how I feel about the abolition of the away goals rule. Was quite a fan of it. Suppose it should result in more goals, and less jeopardy if we concede at Anfied.

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I think it’s the right decision. It was intended as simply a tie breaker, but it is so powerful that it dictates the way the tie is played. There are ALWAYS unintended consequences, but my hope is this turns ties into more a head on competition, rather than 2 games with 1 team desperate to not concede.

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I am totally against this move and I don’t understand the reasoning behind it. I can remember the reason it was introduced. Prior to this rule, teams would go to the away leg and simply shut up shop. There were a lot of mind numbingly tedious games where the away side made no attempt to even leave their half. It was a good rule and there was no need to change it.

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It was designed as an incentive for the away team because of exactly the scenario you described. In time it turned into a disincentive for the home team, especially in the first leg.

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I haven’t noticed a lot of teams shutting up shop at home. This is a non-problem.

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Yeah it seemed to switch which tie would be dull.

I have no strong feelings to be honest. Be less ties that are dead. But the amount of counter attacking teams around means it will be probably make little difference.

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Was away goal rule that of an important issue? :thinking:

Would hardly make any difference. :roll_eyes:

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Over the years a lot of ties have been decided on the away goals rule.

In 2007, en route to the Athens final, we qualified against Barcelona for the 1/4 finals by virtue of away goals (tie finished 2-2 on aggregate).

We also had wins/loses by virtue of away goals in the UEFA Cup/Europa league over the years. I remember when Hulk scored an away goal for Zenit that knocked us out (tie ended 3-3).

Rafa was a master of the shutting up shop and not conceding goals away from home, let alone scoring away. It will change the complexity of ties, but I would still expect tactics of clubs to remain similar - i.e. Athletico Madrid will continue to try and play a low block and be organised. Ajax will continue to drive forward and score plenty of decent goals, but leak them at the back.

If we can pick up where we left of at the back end of last season, this change will probably suit us as we are dangerous going forward, and conceding at home is less of an issue. Klopp’s always set us up well for scoring away from home in the CL.

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It will only mean play dragging on for another 30 mins and perhaps to tie-breakers. Like the players aren’t already playing enough.

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