group E looks like the most even CL group I've ever seen. first seed might well be the worst team. G is super weak all around (one of the weakest teams from every bracket). C, D and F are real quality.

nojok

France15846 Posts

August 25 2016 19:16 GMT

#222

Meh another useless group stage, make it a tree from the start. I'm sad Platini is a corrupted asshole because he wanted to get rid of group stage, it would have been great.

RvB

Netherlands6322 Posts

August 25 2016 19:18 GMT

#223

On August 26 2016 04:16 nojok wrote:
Meh another useless group stage, make it a tree from the start. I'm sad Platini is a corrupted asshole because he wanted to get rid of group stage, it would have been great.

The champions league feels pretty stale either way. You can already guess most of the bracket with reasonable accuracy.

Liquid`Drone

Norway28908 Posts

August 25 2016 19:31 GMT

#224

group stage had more upsets (imo, 3) than ro16 (0) last year. And atletico beating barcelona and then bayern is the closest thing to an upset later on.

In terms of predictability it's less stale than most national leagues. And for the worse teams without any chance at advancing, group stage is the best thing ever. Even when Rosenborg got trounced 1-4 home field vs milan in 1996, that was awesome- first chance to watch real world class superstars perform live.

Dan HH

Romania9246 Posts

August 25 2016 19:34 GMT

#225

Is West Ham really going to be eliminated by Astra again? They lost pretty much their 6 best players since last year's encounter

ShiaoPi

TAIWAN NUMBAH WAN5956 Posts

August 25 2016 20:28 GMT

#226

rip Gladbach :/

Mafe

Germany5966 Posts

August 25 2016 20:48 GMT

#227

Nothin too exceptional has happened, given the rather uneven drawing pots.

Elentos

55594 Posts

August 25 2016 21:11 GMT

#228

Your reaction when you're in a group with Bayern
[image loading]

{CC}StealthBlue

United States41117 Posts

August 25 2016 21:16 GMT

#229

Yeah... Why would he take a ball out before to stir them?

Liquid`Drone

Norway28908 Posts

August 25 2016 21:29 GMT

#230

why would they be doing any rigging for the 4th placed teams? If any of the 4th teams can be considered good, it'd be monaco, right? And they couldn't be in PSG's group anyway.

In other news, Norway has Europe's best football player!

for girls

Kipsate

Netherlands45349 Posts

August 26 2016 00:22 GMT

#231

Tough draw for Chelsea and United hehe

Tough draw for PSV

-.-

some serious discrepancies in some of these groups

going to be hard to beat Atletico, I don't think we stand a chance against Bayern. Third should be doable if we don't fuck up like Ajax did, Europa League it is.

Greg_J

China4409 Posts

August 26 2016 02:02 GMT

#232

Wow Spurs get a real test in their group. It will be interesting to see if Leicester City can compete at this level. Group C has some good matches too.

city42

1656 Posts

August 26 2016 02:11 GMT

#233

On August 26 2016 01:56 Pr0wler wrote:
Lol, Monaco favorites in group E... From 4th pot.

Umm, based on what? As far as I can tell, this is largely the same squad that lost 4-1 at White Hart Lane last season.

Greg_J

China4409 Posts

August 26 2016 05:07 GMT

#234

Wenger has blown the dust off and got his walet out.

WillyWanker

France1915 Posts

August 26 2016 08:33 GMT

#235

Of course it had to be City. I don't see how Pep can do anything against Barça with this team, at least in such a short time x) In any case, there's going to be a team that will face either Barça or City in RO16 while finishing first... We have only one new exciting matchup with PSG-Arsenal. Bayern-Atletico, Real-Dortmund, Juve-Sevilla, Barça-City, all these have happened in the last 3 seasons.

Best player of the season is such a joke, and I think I'm going to cry even more with the Ballon d'Or. Cristiano won the 2 biggest titles but was invisible for the big games. The only game he performed well was against Wolfsburg, and his goal scoring record is super inflated by the 11 goals scored against the mighty Malmö and Donetsk. Bale ran really fast this year for sure. Well ok, his Euro wasn't bad. And Griezmann was probably deserved, although he wasn't important in the biggest games and even though he scored a lot, he's still far from the likes of Messi/Ronaldo.

Meanwhile Suarez scored 50 goals, Messi won la Liga, Copa del Rey, and reached the finals of the Copa America while being the most important player almost every game.

I mean one day maybe people will judge performances based on the actual games, not just the stats. Yes, Real won the CL, but how did they reach the final? Same for Portugal, Wales or even France (except for the Germany game).

If they gave the award to the best player of the year, purely as an individual title and based on performances (not just goals scored), Messi would win every year. Cristiano is just a bit better than Suarez, Bale is far from these 2, Griezmann has potential to reach Suarez's level, and they're all 3-4 steps under Messi, there shouldn't be any debate.

/rant off - to be continued in December

Salteador Neo

Andorra5591 Posts

August 26 2016 08:37 GMT

#236

EU Competence Commissair Margrethe Vestager "fines" Real Madrid with 18,4mil that need to be returned to the local Madrid government, because of illegal helps that were recieved during some terrain sales to said government. What we usually call a "pelotazo" and most often involves RM lol.

Valencia needs to return 86 millions to the government too for similar reasons. Another city with a PP town hall since forever, of course

Pandemona

Charlie Sheens House51493 Posts

August 26 2016 08:40 GMT

#237

Has Pep beaten barca yet since he has managed other clubs?

WillyWanker

France1915 Posts

August 26 2016 08:47 GMT

#238

He played Barça just two games, the semi-finals of the CL 2 seasons ago. 3-0 loss, 3-2 win.

Pandemona

Charlie Sheens House51493 Posts

August 26 2016 08:57 GMT

#239

Oh just that one time and he managed to win hmm. I remember Nou Camp game where ter Stegen was god mode and Barca just scored their chances. Hmmm, we shall see!

Not sure how i see Barca yet, we soon find out!