UEFA Champions League Thread [Archive]

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As for expectations of the tie, I am not going to expect anything. To even just be here right now is just amazing. After being told that this year was going to start the dark age as a Celtic supporter it's been the complete opposite. So many memorable moments at the half-way point of the season, maybe we will get none in the next coming months but all I know is, it's been a helluva ride.

As I said before the group stage, the negativity about us progressing; I don't buy it. It's time to stand up and be counted for, it's time for all British teams to do that. We all have difficult ties, let's try and keep the stream going eh? ;)
 
Great,we got Bayern :indiff: ,Terrible terrible draw Not even a wee bit confident we can overcome them
 
Never say never! :D Arsenal could pull it out the bag for all we know...
 
Oh Great. We had to get Real Madrid. Still, should be a great game. Also looking forward to watching the AC Milan v Barcelona game.
 
Arsenal and United both had easy groups yet some of you are unhappy to have a difficult draw in the knockout stage, being a bit greedy isn't it:sly:

This is great for the neutrals can't wait.
 
Out of the three British clubs, I think only United will progress, and to say that's likely would be overly generous. It could end up looking very foolish to write Celtic off, although I think they will have a too hard a time breaking down the Italian team's stubborn defence. As for Arsenal, I very much doubt it, perhaps even less likely than Celtic.

sems4arsenal
Great,we got Bayern :indiff: ,Terrible terrible draw Not even a wee bit confident we can overcome them
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Could be worse, at least Bradford aren't in it.
 
All three British teams have tough games! couldnt have had a worse draw really!!
 
Agree with MUSC, Not even gonna predict any of them.
 
SagarisGTB
Galatasaray-Schalke
Celtic-Juventus.
Arsenal-Bayern.
Shakhtar-BVB.
Milan-Barcelona.
Real Madrid-Manchester United.
Valencia-PSG.
Malaga-Porto.

Great draw, potentially some very good ties.
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Galatasaray v Schalke - 2-1 Schalke
Celtic v Juventus - 2-2 Celtic on away goals. ( 1-0 to Juve in Celtic and 2-1 to Celtic in Juve)
Arsenal v Bayern - 3-1 to Bayern
Shakhtar v BVB - 4-1 to BVB
Milan v Barca - 2-1 Barca
Real v United - 4-5 Real
Valencia v PSG - goes to penalties.
Malaga v Porto - Porto 2-1

That's my prediction. Bad year for English football and a surprisingly good one for Scottish.

Now to look at the Europa league draw and make predictions :)
 
Juve will get destroyed by Celtic just as Fulham did to Juve a couple seasons back.

I think Zenit vs. Porto will be the Europa League Final
 
Galatasaray v Schalke - 2-0 Schalke
Celtic v Juventus - 3-2 Celtic
Arsenal v Bayern - 3-0 Bayern
Shakhtar v BVB - 4-2 BVB
Milan v Barca - 4-2 Barca
Real v United - 5-3 United
Valencia v PSG - 2-0 PSG
Malaga v Porto - 3-1 Malaga
 
I wish Celtic could sneak a way through ... But can't see it happening this time round.

Can't see the Englishs teams getting through either, Arsenal are too weak to face Bayern, who did put 6 past Lille in the group stage, so that should be a formality. I fancy United at home, but at the Bernabeu, no. Madrid just have too much class for them I feel.

Otherwise, I'm saying Schalke narrowly against Galatasaray; Dortmund easily win against Shaktar; Barcelona should sweep Milan aside too. PSG and Malaga through also.
 
I'm happy to see everyone writing us off. :lol:

Everyone expected us to beat Benfica and I knew for a fact it wasn't gonna happen. They are very much our Kryptonite.
 
Inside, I would jump up and down if Celtic won again. But hey, everyone was going to write you off anyway against Juventus, they are champions of Italy :p This round is a good one for the neutrals too actually 👍
 
Chqr
Juve will get destroyed by Celtic just as Fulham did to Juve a couple seasons back.

I think Zenit vs. Porto will be the Europa League Final
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Well I know that's impossible.

Given Porto made the last 16 of the Champions League.
 
SagarisGTB
Galatasaray-Schalke
Celtic-Juventus.
Arsenal-Bayern.
Shakhtar-BVB.
Milan-Barcelona.
Real Madrid-Manchester United.
Valencia-PSG.
Malaga-Porto.

Great draw, potentially some very good ties.
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My picks for the round of 16 ;)

My pick for UEFA CL Champions is Juventus... 👍

Madrid won't get the "Décima" this year, they are playing awful...

I'll support anyone who plays against Farsa... I'm sick of them...
 
I'm honestly not too worried about Real Madrid. I mean, lots are saying we are screwed, and while it is a hard draw, Madrid are in an utterly 🤬 spot right now. At present, Ronaldo is sad, Mourinho is sad, everyone is sad. We have a chance.
 
MoLiEG
My picks for the round of 16 ;)

My pick for UEFA CL Champions is Juventus... 👍

Madrid won't get the "Décima" this year, they are playing awful...

I'll support anyone who plays against Farsa... I'm sick of them...
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Farsa, nice name 👍 Yah wouldn't mind Juve as champions, as long as farsa :sly: and United stay out of it
 
daan
You think? I wouldn't want to go to Celtic Park as an away team as Barcelona found to their cost in the group stages. Celtic are probably the biggest banana skin for a big club. Juventus will be expected to win so the pressure is all on them, but going to Celtic Park and coming away with a win is no easy task.
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When it comes down to it, Celtic are the weakest or second weakest club left in the competition. Celtic didn't play particularly inspiring football in the group stages, fluking a win against Barcelona and winning thanks to a very fortunate penalty against Spartak at home.

But every team that has made it here has merit, Juve won't have it easy. Juve have a world class midfield, but lack any sort of prolific front men, so they could have trouble putting goals past the stubborn Celtic defense. But ultimately, Juve should be heavy favourites to advance.
 
SagarisGTB
When it comes down to it, Celtic are the weakest or second weakest club left in the competition. Celtic didn't play particularly inspiring football in the group stages, fluking a win against Barcelona and winning thanks to a very fortunate penalty against Spartak at home.

But every team that has made it here has merit, Juve won't have it easy. Juve have a world class midfield, but lack any sort of prolific front men, so they could have trouble putting goals past the stubborn Celtic defense. But ultimately, Juve should be heavy favourites to advance.
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Fluked a win? We were 2-0 up. and took Barca to the last minute at the Camp Nou. But, yeah fluked it obviously. :indiff:
And well I agree about the fortunate penalty.
 
Classic
Fluked a win? We were 2-0 up. and took Barca to the last minute at the Camp Nou. But, yeah fluked it obviously. :indiff:
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Celtic defended with 10 men, at times with 11 men. They were completely under the kosh for the vast majority of the match. The stats tell a story:
Possession 16%-84%
Shots 5-25
Corners 2-7
Completed Passes 166-955

Ultimately, the only stat that matters is goals, which was 2-1, but most of the time you don't win when you are completely outplayed like that. But there's no shame in being second best to Barcelona. Though I don't like the negative tactics they employed, the effort and defensive organization Celtic showed was commendable. They did what they needed to get the 3 points, and you can't fault that. Whether you call it a fluke or not, the point I was making was that they won despite being severely outplayed.
 
SagarisGTB
Celtic defended with 10 men, at times with 11 men. They were completely under the kosh for the vast majority of the match. The stats tell a story:
Possession 16%-84%
Shots 5-25
Corners 2-7
Completed Passes 166-955

Ultimately, the only stat that matters is goals, which was 2-1, but most of the time you don't win when you are completely outplayed like that. But there's no shame in being second best to Barcelona. Though I don't like the negative tactics they employed, the effort and defensive organization Celtic showed was commendable. They did what they needed to get the 3 points, and you can't fault that. Whether you call it a fluke or not, the point I was making was that they won despite being severely outplayed.
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The only feasible way to beat Barca in the last few years is to be completely outplayed. Let them come forward be composed and counter attack efficiently and effectively. That's what Celtic and Chelsea have done to beat Barca and it seems to work.
 
Matty
The only feasible way to beat Barca in the last few years is to be completely outplayed. Let them come forward be composed and counter attack efficiently and effectively. That's what Celtic and Chelsea have done to beat Barca and it seems to work.
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Sometimes it works. Rubin, Inter, Chelsea and Celtic have had success against Barcelona by playing defensively, but many other teams have not. You need to play great defensively, execute your counterattacks AND ride your luck to beat Barcelona with a defensive style. It can't be easy against the best team in the world.

You need tremendous talent to beat Barcelona straight up, Real have done it, Bayern might be able to do it, limited teams like Celtic and Chelsea simply don't have the technical ability to play an on-form Barca using balanced tactics (not that I condone super-catenaccio). Over recent years, Atletico and Arsenal have learned that the hard way.
 
SagarisGTB
Sometimes it works. Rubin, Inter, Chelsea and Celtic have had success against Barcelona by playing defensively, but many other teams have not. You need to play great defensively, execute your counterattacks AND ride your luck to beat Barcelona with a defensive style. It can't be easy against the best team in the world.

You need tremendous talent to beat Barcelona straight up, Real have done it, Bayern might be able to do it, limited teams like Celtic and Chelsea simply don't have the technical ability to play an on-form Barca using balanced tactics (not that I condone super-catenaccio). Over recent years, Atletico and Arsenal have learned that the hard way.
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I don't think the comparison to Celtic and Chelsea is quite correct. Let's have a look at how much each team costs:

Celtic: 9 Million
Chelsea: 300 Million (No exact figure but seems to be the agreed term)

In my opinion, Chelsea should have went toe-to-toe with Barcelona if possible, Celtic are price-wise the equivalent of Wolves.
 
Celtic should win this edition. Just to stick it to the Rangers.
 
Classic
I don't think the comparison to Celtic and Chelsea is quite correct. Let's have a look at how much each team costs:

Celtic: 9 Million
Chelsea: 300 Million (No exact figure but seems to be the agreed term)

In my opinion, Chelsea should have went toe-to-toe with Barcelona if possible, Celtic are price-wise the equivalent of Wolves.
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With what Chelsea spends, you'd think that, but in reality that team was rather poor (for a CL winning side). Looking back, it's really hard to believe how they came away with the trophy, a miracle on the pitch reminiscent of Greece 2004. Barely making it through the group stages, being down big against Napoli, riding their luck against Benfica, the well-documented miracle against Barcelona, being thoroughly outplayed in the final. I'd say they were the better side over a match only once in the knockout stages (second leg against Napoli), but they won.

Chelsea would have been killed playing attacking football against Barcelona. Defending with ten men and Drogba playing out of his mind to set up counter-attacks was the only chance they had.
 
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