Champions League group stages 2013-2014

[Blackcanary]

So, week one:

Tuesday

Group A
Man Utd v Bayer Leverkusen
Real Sociedad v Shakhtar Donetsk
Group B
FC Copenhagen v Juventus
Galatasaray v Real Madrid
Group C
Benfica v Anderlecht
Olympiakos v PSG
Group D
Bayern Munich v CSKA Moscow
Plzen v Man City
Wednesday

Group E
Chelsea v Basle
Schalke 04 v Steaua Bucuresti
Group F
Marseille v Arsena
Napoli v Borussia Dortmund
Group G
Atletico Madrid v Zenit St Petersburg
FK Austria Vienna v FC Porto
Group H
AC Milan v Celtic
Barcelona v Ajax

What's everyone watching? I'm torn between seeing if Man City can surpass their own previous levels of European uselessness, or seeing Gala have a go against Real...

 

[carpediem991]

Want to go to a pub in Germany to watch simulcast. Lots of interesting teams playing today, focus on Bayern Munich, ManUtd v Leverkusen and a bit City and Madrid.

 

[Legend10]

Not very exciting fixtures to be honest, best looking game I can see is Napoli v Dortmund.

 

[Lufti]

Not very exciting fixtures to be honest, best looking game I can see is Napoli v Dortmund.

You're joking? United v Leverkusen, Real Sociedad v Shakhtar, Galatasaray v Real Madrid, Marseille v Arsenal and Napoli v Dortmund will all be good games. To be honest the majority of champions league games are good!

 

[carpediem991]

You're joking? United v Leverkusen, Real Sociedad v Shakhtar, Galatasaray v Real Madrid, Marseille v Arsenal and Napoli v Dortmund will all be good games. To be honest the majority of champions league games are good!

Agree, but would be much better with Spurs in it

 

[fatpiranha]

So, week one:


What's everyone watching? I'm torn between seeing if Man City can surpass their own previous levels of European uselessness, or seeing Gala have a go against Real...

I think you'll be disappointed if you expect Man City to screw up. Not that City have looked particularly good away from home this season but Plzen are very poor. I watched them at Maribor in the last round when they won 0-1 but Maribor totally outplayed them and could have scored seven if their strikers had been able to hit a cow's arse with a banjo.

Gala vs RM should be interesting.

 

[Blackcanary]

I think you'll be disappointed if you expect Man City to screw up. Not that City have looked particularly good away from home this season but Plzen are very poor. I watched them at Maribor in the last round when they won 0-1 but Maribor totally outplayed them and could have scored seven if their strikers had been able to hit a cow's arse with a banjo.

Gala vs RM should be interesting.

Oh, really? I was quite looking forward to it as i'd heard people speak about them rather glowingly. Scraping a win against Maribor doesn't fill me with hope...

 

[tototoner]

not watching anything tonight, will watch Barcelona v Ajax or Napoli v Dortmund tomorrow

Ajax is my wife's team so most likely will watch them

 

[fatpiranha]

Oh, really? I was quite looking forward to it as i'd heard people speak about them rather glowingly. Scraping a win against Maribor doesn't fill me with hope...

Plzen have put a few goals past some really bad teams in the CL qualifying rounds beating Zeljeznicar 6-4 on aggregate and Nomme Kalju 10-2 on aggregate. They also got past Maribor 4-1 on aggregate but Maribor dominated possession in both matches. Their only real test was in the Czech Liga when they drew 0-0 at home to Sparta Prague who they trail 2 points behind in the Czech Liga.

To put that into context, Sparta Prague were knocked out of the Europa League by Swedish team Hacken who currently lie 11th in the Allsvenskan. Viktoria Plzen are currently probably about as good as a mid-table Championship team (and apparently their best defender is doubtful for this game. Man City should win at a canter but Plzen have been giant killers before in Europe and may well raise their game against the big boys. I doubt it will be a surprise result tonight though.

 

[panoma]

Uefa has their own fantasy champions league going this year, so if ur into that stuff you should check it out at their homepage.

3 hours or so until the signup close (atleast for this round)

 

[ShelfSide18]

Not very exciting fixtures to be honest, best looking game I can see is Napoli v Dortmund.

I don't think there is a standout fixture, although there should be some entertaining games, Sociedad Shakhtar could be interesting - sods law dictates that all goals go in when I flick between the games on sky.

 

[ShelfSide18]

not watching anything tonight, will watch Barcelona v Ajax or Napoli v Dortmund tomorrow

Ajax is my wife's team so most likely will watch them

Barca Ajax is a delicious fixture, although I do wish Ajax were the force they were because I love what their club is about.

That said, we keep pinching their best players - not a bad thing.

 

[talkshowhost86]

Tonight doesn't look particularly exciting in terms of fixtures though I'll be interested to see if Leverkusen are any good.

I suspect the best game will be Sociedad v Shakhtar and I think they will both give United a run for their money in that group.

 

[Legend10]

I don't think there is a standout fixture, although there should be some entertaining games, Sociedad Shakhtar could be interesting - sods law dictates that all goals go in when I flick between the games on sky.

yep I will watch this tonight and Napoli tomorrow, but to me its a tame set of fixtures.

If they scrapped the seeding it would make for better games at this stage.

 

[talkshowhost86]

Do Sky have a highlights programme tonight or will they wait until tomorrow?

 

[Legend10]

Tonight doesn't look particularly exciting in terms of fixtures though I'll be interested to see if Leverkusen are any good.

I suspect the best game will be Sociedad v Shakhtar and I think they will both give United a run for their money in that group.

Shakhtar aren't what they were, usually they dominate here but they are 4th and beaten twice already, they have lost a lot of players recentlty.

I don't think they have much chance in coming through the group.

 

[moomin]

Uefa has their own fantasy champions league going this year, so if ur into that stuff you should check it out at their homepage.

3 hours or so until the signup close (atleast for this round)

Do we have an SC league for it?

 

[TheAmerican]

I will have Dortmund v Napoli and Real vs Galatassaray

 

[ShelfSide18]

yep I will watch this tonight and Napoli tomorrow, but to me its a tame set of fixtures.

If they scrapped the seeding it would make for better games at this stage.

There is always a chance of 1 team that captures the imagination, a great story here and there, an outlier that causes a few shock waves (like we did!).

In many ways though, the increasing homogenisation of European football styles means there's not a great deal of mystery anymore, even the Plzens and Sociedads play a similar brand of football we're used too - it's almost got to the stage where we need the big ties to keep our interest. The lesser known teams just play a lesser brand of the same football, although sometimes you get your Bilbao's which burn brightly for a season and become everyone's second team.

Hoping that's Sociedad myself.

(Apologies that was in my iPhone if its barely coherent)

 

[talkshowhost86]

I don't know how Napoli have started in Serie A, but I'd have them as a decent outside bet.

They've got a tough group, but hopefully they'll smash the goons and once they get to the knockout stages it's up for grabs really.