Champions League 2015-16

Andalublue said:

And so it begins, again; Pete's transparent attempts to bait the English. Never gets old, does it Pete?

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Fun no?

So, what do you make of Denmark's group, Pete?

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Pretty hard group. France Romania and Switzerland. Just waiting for the match fixing investigation to come back with proof that Albanian bought their last game.

Higgins86 said:

What group are Denmark in? Can't remember.

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Be realistic about your country's chances. The chances of England doing good in that group or at the Euros are as big as Denmark replacing Albania because of Albanian matchfixing. It can happen, but the likely hood is small.

CL round of 16:

Gent(BEL) - Wolfsburg(GER)
Roma(ITA) - Real Madrid(ESP)
PSG(FRA) - Chelsea(ENG)
Arsenal(ENG) - Barcelona(ESP)
Juventus(ITA) - Bayern Munich(GER)
PSV(NED) - Atletico Madrid(ESP)
Benfica(POR) - Zenit(RUS)
Dinamo Kyiv(UKR) - Manchester City(ENG)

One of the two, Gent or Wolfsburg, will be in the quarter-final which is nice.
Real got an easy rival in Roma, although Real itself is quite unstable.
Three big matches already in the round of 16: PSG-Chelsea, Arsenal-Barca, Juve-Bayern.
City won the jackpot.

My predictions:

Gent - Wolfsburg
Roma - Real Madrid
PSG - Chelsea
Arsenal - Barca
Juve - Bayern
PSV - Atletico
Benfica - Zenit
Dinamo Kyiv - City

Apocalypse said:

CL round of 16:

Gent(BEL) - Wolfsburg(GER)
Roma(ITA) - Real Madrid(ESP)
PSG(FRA) - Chelsea(ENG)
Arsenal(ENG) - Barcelona(ESP)
Juventus(ITA) - Bayern Munich(GER)
PSV(NED) - Atletico Madrid(ESP)
Benfica(POR) - Zenit(RUS)
Dinamo Kyiv(UKR) - Manchester City(ENG)

One of the two, Gent or Wolfsburg, will be in the quarter-final which is nice.
Real got an easy rival in Roma, although Real itself is quite unstable.
Three big matches already in the round of 16: PSG-Chelsea, Arsenal-Barca, Juve-Bayern.
City won the jackpot.

My predictions:

Gent - Wolfsburg
Roma - Real Madrid
PSG - Chelsea
Arsenal - Barca
Juve - Bayern
PSV - Atletico
Benfica - Zenit
Dinamo Kyiv - City

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I'll take that. It's about time we got a decent draw. I don't think Kiev will be a pushover, just glad to have avoided PSG and Roma.

Btw, I very much doubt Arse will beat Barça, nor that PSV will beat Atléti.

Andalublue said:

I'll take that. It's about time we got a decent draw. I don't think Kiev will be a pushover, just glad to have avoided PSG and Roma.

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They're also going to host their home game against you with no crowd due to the punishment they received from UEFA.

Btw, I very much doubt Arse will beat Barça, nor that PSV will beat Atléti.

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Me too. But it's too boring to just go with the obvious.

Apocalypse said:

They're also going to host their home game against you with no crowd due to the punishment they received from UEFA.

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Really? I didn't know that. I know that that should work more in our favour, but I'm not sure it makes very much difference. You never know anyway, UEFA might make us play the return tie in an empty stadium because our fans keep booing the stupid UEFA anthem in protest at the corruption at UEFA and FIFA. They keep threatening the club with fines and 'consequences' if they don't control the fans. How the club might stop people booing, I don't know.

Me too. But it's too boring to just go with the obvious.

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That's what all the tipsters do; just go with the obvious. If you're betting money on it you play the percentages games.

Andalublue said:

Really? I didn't know that. I know that that should work more in our favour, but I'm not sure it makes very much difference. You never know anyway, UEFA might make us play the return tie in an empty stadium because our fans keep booing the stupid UEFA anthem in protest at the corruption at UEFA and FIFA. They keep threatening the club with fines and 'consequences' if they don't control the fans. How the club might stop people booing, I don't know.

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Yeah: BBC Sport - Dynamo Kiev punished after fans' racist behaviour in Chelsea game
They got two empty stadium matches after their fans' behavior in the match against Chelsea, so I guess you should thank Chelsea for that. :2razz:
I love it when City fans are booing UEFA and FIFA, and it's outrageous that they've been threatening City with punishment over such criticism, it's ridiculous.

That's what all the tipsters do; just go with the obvious. If you're betting money on it you play the percentages games.

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The higher the risk the bigger the prize. You just need to know in what matches are the odds overblown, it's a bit more likely that Arsenal will manage to make it past Barca(although still very unlikely) than say Gent make it past Wolfsburg.

Apocalypse said:

it's a bit more likely that Arsenal will manage to make it past Barca(although still very unlikely) than say Gent make it past Wolfsburg.

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Not sure about that. Gent are topping their domestic league and won their last 3 CL games against Valencia, Zenit and Lyon. Wolfsburg's qualification wasn't so much better. I think that will be the tightest Last-16 tie.

Apocalypse said:

Gent - Wolfsburg

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Agree. Wolfsburg on a bad day should be too good for Gent.

Roma - Real Madrid

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Tricky one. Real Madrid at the moment is not playing well and neither is Ronaldo. Also Real Madrid has not been an Italian team in the second round for a decade or so. Roma kicked them out last year. Only thing that is for Real, is that they have a couple of months to get over their slump.

PSG - Chelsea

Will depend fully on how Chealski react from now to the first game...both on field and in the transfer market. Atm PSG would blow them out of the water.

Arsenal - Barca

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Disagree. Barca has historically a very good hand on Arsenal. Last 4 games, Messi alone has scored 6+. But will come down to the state of the team on the day.

Juve - Bayern

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Should not be a problem for Bayern.

PSV - Atletico

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Disagree fully. PSV is not strong enough to take out A. Madrid.

Benfica - Zenit

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Disagree. Benfica has a lot of talent. Only issue is the travel to St. Petersburg.

Dinamo Kyiv - City

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City should on paper totally obliterate this team... but traveling to Ukraine aint easy. By far the best team City could have drawn.

Andalublue said:

Not sure about that. Gent are topping their domestic league and won their last 3 CL games against Valencia, Zenit and Lyon. Wolfsburg's qualification wasn't so much better. I think that will be the tightest Last-16 tie.

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I've actually seen both Wolfsburg and Gent in their best. Wolfsburg is a signifcantly better team you must agree. My point was that while in Arsenal-Barcelona Barca will be seen as a ridiculous favorite in Gent-Wolfsburg the match will be seen as very tight even though the differences between Wolfsburg and Gent and between Barca and Arsenal are IMO very similar. Gent can make it past Wolfsburg just as Arsenal can past Barca.

PeteEU said:

Tricky one. Real Madrid at the moment is not playing well and neither is Ronaldo. Also Real Madrid has not been an Italian team in the second round for a decade or so. Roma kicked them out last year. Only thing that is for Real, is that they have a couple of months to get over their slump.

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I agree, the current situation of the club is terrible. I'm seriously counting on the fact that Benitez will be out by then. :lol:

Disagree. Barca has historically a very good hand on Arsenal. Last 4 games, Messi alone has scored 6+. But will come down to the state of the team on the day.

Disagree fully. PSV is not strong enough to take out A. Madrid.

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Yeah as I told Andy I was going for a surprise there.

Will depend fully on how Chealski react from now to the first game...both on field and in the transfer market. Atm PSG would blow them out of the water.

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The way I see it, Chelsea of last season would kick the crap out of Chelsea of the current season. PSG of the current season is a better team than PSG of last season. Unless Chelsea will suddenly change, and it doesn't usually happen after such a terrible beginning to the season, I don't see them as even a fitting rival for PSG honestly.

City should on paper totally obliterate this team... but traveling to Ukraine aint easy. By far the best team City could have drawn.

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Yeah but in Ukraine they're going to play in front of an empty stadium which takes away the advantage the Ukrainians have at home and should really make the two legs a piece of cake for City.

Apocalypse said:

I've actually seen both Wolfsburg and Gent in their best. Wolfsburg is a signifcantly better team you must agree.

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TBH I haven't watched either team, apart from short clips on CL round-up shows, so I can't really comment definitively.

My point was that while in Arsenal-Barcelona Barca will be seen as a ridiculous favorite in Gent-Wolfsburg the match will be seen as very tight even though the differences between Wolfsburg and Gent and between Barca and Arsenal are IMO very similar. Gent can make it past Wolfsburg just as Arsenal can past Barca.

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A fair point, and an accurate one. I think Arsenal are playing extremely well at the moment. If they are playing as well come February, they'll give Barca a real run for their money. Barca are the better side and stronger squad, of course, but they are far from invincible, just ask Celta and Sevilla.