2006-2007 UEFA Champions League

The group stages are now over and we are through to the knockout round of 16. Some say this is where the REAL Champions League begins. Here are the teams that are through.


Chelsea FC Group A Winner ENG
FC Barcelona Group A Runner-Up ESP
FC Bayern München Group B Winner GER
FC Internazionale Milano Group B Runner-Up ITA
Liverpool FC Group C Winner ENG
PSV Eindhoven Group C Runner-Up NED
Valencia CF Group D Winner ESP
Associazione Sportiva Roma Group D Runner-Up ITA
Olympique Lyonnais Group E Winner FRA
Real Madrid CF Group E Runner-Up ESP
Manchester United FC Group F Winner ENG
Celtic FC Group F Runner-Up SCO
Arsenal FC Group G Winner ENG
FC Porto Group G Runner-Up POR
Associazione Calcio Milan Group H Winner ITA
Lille Olympique Sporting Club Group H Runner-Up FRA

Since teams that faced each other in the group stages cannot be drawn against each other in the round of 16, we are guaranteed to NOT see Chelsea and Barca match up in this round. What interesting matchups would you like to see? Who would you prefer your favorite team to draw in the next round? It is interesting to note that all 4 English sides won their respective groups and would therefore not be drawn against each other in the round of 16. All 3 Spanish sides also advanced to the next round with Valencia winning their group. So, Valencia could be drawn against Barcelona or Real Madrid in the next round. Bayern Munich was the only German team of the 3 to advance to the next round. All 3 of the Italian sides advanced through the group stages and with AS Roma and Inter finishing as runners up, either could face AC Milan in the next round. 2 of the 3 French sides made it through and could see each other in the next round. Celtic and PSV Eindhoven advanced as runners-up in their respective groups as the only sides from Scotland and Netherlands in the competition. FC Porto was the only Portuguese team out of 3 in the competition to advance to the next round.

Some interesting matchups could include Chelsea vs FC Porto in a match against Mourinho's old side that he won it all in 2004 with. Celtic against any of the other English sides except Man Utd. Any matchup of two teams from the same country. Milan vs Inter in a matchup that wouldn't see either team leave the same stadium.

 

obviously the team i want to avoid is Barcelona. i think we can handle any of the other possibilities comfortably. if one was to pick though you'd want to avoid Real and Inter, too. Lille would do nicely.

at this point i'm still just glad we're through after a good 15 or 20 minutes of real worry last night.

when is the draw?

 

According to an article I read, the draw is December 15th. Also, I found out that no teams from the same domestic league can face each other at this stage of the draw. AC Milan appears to be the most restricted team. They cannot face fellow Serie A teams AS Roma and Inter Milan as well as Lille who finished second in their group. So AC Milan will face either Barcelona, PSV Eindhoven, Real Madrid, Celtic or FC Porto.

Chelsea FC: cannot face Barcelona, could face Inter Milan, PSV, Roma, Real Madrid, Celtic, FC Porto or Lille.
Bayern Munich: cannot face Inter Milan, could face Barcelona, PSV, Roma, Real Madrid, Celtic, FC Porto or Lille.
Liverpool FC: cannot face PSV, could face Barcelona, Inter Milan, Roma, Real Madrid, Celtic, FC Porto or Lille.
Valencia CF: cannot face Roma, cannot face Barcelona, cannot face Real Madrid, could face Inter Milan, PSV, Celtic, FC Porto or Lille.
Lyon: cannot face Real Madrid, cannot face Lille, could face Barcelona, Inter Milan, PSV, Roma, Celtic, or FC Porto.
Manchester United: cannot face Celtic, could face Barcelona, Inter Milan, PSV, Roma, Real Madrid, FC Porto or Lille.
Arsenal: cannot face FC Porto, could face Barcelona, Inter Milan, PSV, Roma, Real Madrid, Celtic or Lille.
AC Milan: cannot face Inter Milan, cannot face Roma, cannot face Lille, could face Barcelona, PSV, Real Madrid, Celtic or Porto.

How would you rank the teams in terms of strength and/or likelihood to win the Champions League? Who would you not want to face in the next round? Rank the runner-up teams in order of best teams to worst.

My rank for runners-up: Barcelona, Real Madrid, Inter Milan, FC Porto, Roma, PSV, Celtic, Lille.

 

that looks about right. maybe swap Roma and Porto.

 

Fergie recons a British team could make it to the final with 4 teams through to the next stage.


I'll wait till I see the next round draw before I decide to lay any bets.

 

I love those UEFA Champions Legaue highlight shows on Fridays on ESPN2

 

I'd maybe swap Inter and Real, too. Inter has been getting progressivley better the past month or so, Real is still burdened by the same problems as the past few years.

 

LFC!!! Bring it on Europe!

When is the draw getting made?

 

Friday, not sure what time.

 

Draw is today, noon CET, 11 am in England. UEFA Cup an hour later.

TEAMS IN THE UEFA CUP KNOCKOUT STAGES (Group winners play Thrid-place, Runners-up play CL teams)

Group winners: Blackburn, Espanyol, Newcastle, Panathinaikos, Parma, Rangers, Tottenham.

Group runners-up: Ajax, AS Nancy, Celta Vigo, Paris St German, Maccabi Haifa, Dinamo Bucuresti, Sevilla, Osasuna.

Teams from Champions League: AEK Athens, Benfica, Bordeaux, CSKA Moscow, Shakhtar Donetsk, Spartak Moscow, Steaua Bucuresti & Werder Bremen.

Third-placed group teams: Fenerbahce, Feyenoord, Hapoel Tel-Aviv, Zulte-Waregem, Livorno, Bayer Leverkusen, Braga, Lens.

---

Blackburn can meet: Fenerbahce, Feyenoord, Hapoel Tel-Aviv, Zulte-Waregem, Livorno, Bayer Leverkusen, Braga or Lens.

Newcastle can meet: Feyenoord, Hapoel Tel-Aviv, Zulte-Waregem, Livorno, Bayer Leverkusen, Braga or Lens.

Rangers can meet: Fenerbahce, Feyenoord, Hapoel Tel-Aviv, Zulte-Waregem, Bayer Leverkusen, Braga or Lens.

Tottenham can meet: Fenerbahce, Feyenoord, Hapoel Tel-Aviv, Zulte-Waregem, Livorno, Braga or Lens.


[hr]
[b]Lastly, both draws will be for the next 2 ruonds.[/b]

 

Champions league draw

Porto v CHELSEA
CELTIC v AC Milan
PSV Eindhoven v ARSENAL
Lille v MANCHESTER UNITED
Roma v Lyon
Barcelona v LIVERPOOL
Real Madrid v Bayern Munich
Inter Milan v Valencia

Chelsea = Tough game

Celtic = screwed (and not in a good way)

Man Utd should go through

Arsenal have a tough game but should be fine

lol @ Liverpool

 

Liverpool = screwed. Celtic may not be so bad off, AC has played terribly in Italy so far. Though they always seem to turn it on for CL.

Real-Bayern should be a good tie, probably the closest match-up of the bunch.

 

Here are my predictions - obviously I'm backing Arsenal to win.

I think Chelsea will beat Porto - although the Mourinho connection will make it close.

Celtic will scrape past AC - probably by hanging on for a draw in the San Siro

Nice draw for Man U - they'll win the first leg and coast the second

Lyon are the dark horses and will brush past Roma

Liverpool are out

Bayern to beat Real - but this is the tie of the round and one I'm looking forward to

Valencia - but this is the hardest to call

COME ON YOU GUNNERS



Note to UEFA - send the Yidscum to Fenerbache in the UEFA cup


Edited for spelling & the realisation the unfortunately Tottenham can't get sent to Moscow

 

Man, the German clubs got screwed as usual, Bayern gets Real, Bremen gets Ajax. Leverkusen at least got a little luck and drew Blackburn, the weakest of the English clubs.

 

VERY happy with the draw. couldn't have asked for an easier opponent for Man U.

lol @ Liverpool, my house mate's gonna be crushed.

 

I'm not sure what to think about drawing Bayern Munich. Considering Real finished as a Group runner-up we could have faced any of the Premiership teams or Bayern or Milan. I guess it will be a good matchup, and I hope we don't get knocked out in the round of 16 like we did last year.

 

Bayern are hard to figure this year, have played so-so domestically, but very well in CL. Milan and Liverpool are probably the weakest of the Group winners, though both have done the same as Bayern (weak domestically, strong in CL). LFC had a joke of a group though.

And of course, who knows who'll be playing well come February. Especially given possible transfers.

 

does anyone care about the UEFA cup anymore?

 

The fans of the clubs who are in it do.



A lot of people I know are generally pissed at the European set up anyway.


A lot of people feel that the Teams who are in the Champions league should only be the Champions of their respective League and the winner of their most prestigious cup competition and thats it. that way there are two teams per country who get into the champions league.

If there is another cup in the country then the winners of that cup automatically get entry into the UEFA cup and the remaining UEFA cup places go to the teams next in line in the league.


I know a few people who would like to see the return of the Cup Winners Cup as well.


Either way everyone feels that the Champions league has been devalued due to the fact that a team who has won nothing and ended fourth in the league can make it into a major competition.

 

Basically put things back to the way they were.I'd certainly be all for it.

The Champion's League not only devalues what was the Champion's Cup, but the UEFA Cup as well.

 

Yup.


I personally really dislike the league and seedings aspects of it as well.


With the league it favours the stronger club as it allows them to make at least one mistake against a smaller club as in the long run their likely to do better (doesn't allways happen see Man Utd last year) but it slants things heavily in their favour

And the seedings is done to ensure that no big club is drawn against a big club early and thus prevent one club getting through to the latter stages.


It's purely slanted in favour of the big clubs which thus earn them more money and is mainly done for corporate TV purposes to ensure that we have big names in the final ignoring the fact that seeing someone like Club Bruge play above themselves in the cup and getting to the Final to play Big Club X can be a huge draw as people will watch to see how the little man fairs.

 

On the other hand, db made a good point a while back about how since they elimated the second group phase, you've had more usurprise winners and finalists, like Porto and Liverpool.

There's no question, the entire set up is based on TV revenues, and is very closely controlled and dominated by the big clubs. The way things are set up, they are guaranteed a huge payday year after year, allowing them to further distance themselves from the rest of their domestic rivals.

 

Bingo.


While Liverpool and Porto's wins were unexpected they're still big clubs so having them make it to the final is not too huge a shock.


In the good old days you had smaller clubs make it to the final

65/66 FK Partizan (runners up)
66/67 Celtic (winners)
69/70 Celtic (runners up)
70/71 Panathinaikos (runners up)
75/76 St Ettiene (runners up)
77/78 Club Bruge
78/79 Nottingham Forrest (surprise winners)
78/79 Malmo (runners up)
79/80 Nottingham Forrest (surprise winners)
85/86 Steuea Bucharest (winners)
90/91 Red Star Belgrade (winners)

And then the changes start to come in and the smallest club to win after that was Marseille.


Non of the clubs above have a hope in hell of getting into the latter stages now (with the exception of Celtic who are huge in their league but are still small fry on the European circuit IMO)

 

To be fair, 3 of those teams are from former communst block countries, back when defections rarely happened, and most of the countries best players played on one or two clubs for political reasons.

One key for smaller clubs is to take UEFA Cup seriously. Look at Celtic -- they got seeded well this year because of a few UC runs they made. meanwhile, Bremen had little European success, and got stuck in the group of death. Of course, Bremen were 'penalized' for making it out of the group stage in CL, having to play Juve in the follwoing round. Had they gone to UC they likely would have done very well, and maybe gotten into the better pot in the CL draw this year. So a team like Red Star was always a very feared team.

 

Well, maybe little e's housemate won't be so crushed seeing as how Liverpool ousted Barcelona on the away goals rule. After one day of 2nd leg ties Liverpool, Chelsea, AS Roma and Valencia are through to the quarterfinals.

In tomorrow's 2nd leg ties:

Bayern Munich host Real Madrid(Real Madrid lead 3-2 on aggregate)
AC Milan host Celtic (0-0)
Arsenal host PSV Eindhoven (PSV lead 1-0 on aggregate)
Manchester United host Lille (Man Utd lead 1-0 on aggregate)