OFFICIAL EUROPEAN CHAMPIONS LEAGUE GROUP DRAW

[jada2001retro]

Originally Posted by ERASCISM

Originally Posted by Jada2001Retro

If Porto didn't sell Lucho, Lisandro and Cissokho, they would beat Chelsea.

Didn't Chelsea eliminate Porto in the first knockout stage a few years back? Pretty sure they had Lucho and Lisandro then and also Quaresma, Bosingwa, Bruno Alves, etc. And Utd dispatched Porto last year and Chelsea were obviously stronger than Utd, and they're even stronger this year. Porto hasn't been able to hang with the big dogs in recent years. Don't know why would you make such an outrageous comment.

The recent years they haven't been able to do anything but they won the CL 5 years ago? When was the last time Chelsea had won the CL? Last year theybarely lost to Utd when they played much better than them in their leg with them. How are you going to argue about Chelsea when they haven't even won CLand Porto have won it twice. What you're saying is a bit more "outrageous" than my comments. How are you going to go far as to say that Chelseaplayed better than Utd last year? If Chelsea were so strong last year, how come they finished 2nd in their group behind a weak Juventus squad? They lost toBarcelona in the final 4 and Utd made it to the final. And lemme guess, Chelsea played better than Utd last year too? Is that why they finished 2nd?

Sad part is, as "strong" as Chelsea is, they won't win the CL this or next year.

 

[airjordanseattle23]

Originally Posted by Jada2001Retro

Originally Posted by ERASCISM

Originally Posted by Jada2001Retro

If Porto didn't sell Lucho, Lisandro and Cissokho, they would beat Chelsea.

Didn't Chelsea eliminate Porto in the first knockout stage a few years back? Pretty sure they had Lucho and Lisandro then and also Quaresma, Bosingwa, Bruno Alves, etc. And Utd dispatched Porto last year and Chelsea were obviously stronger than Utd, and they're even stronger this year. Porto hasn't been able to hang with the big dogs in recent years. Don't know why would you make such an outrageous comment.

The recent years they haven't been able to do anything but they won the CL 5 years ago? When was the last time Chelsea had won the CL? Last year they barely lost to Utd when they played much better than them in their leg with them. How are you going to argue about Chelsea when they haven't even won CL and Porto have won it twice. What you're saying is a bit more "outrageous" than my comments. How are you going to go far as to say that Chelsea played better than Utd last year? If Chelsea were so strong last year, how come they finished 2nd in their group behind a weak Juventus squad? They lost to Barcelona in the final 4 and Utd made it to the final. And lemme guess, Chelsea played better than Utd last year too? Is that why they finished 2nd?

Sad part is, as "strong" as Chelsea is, they won't win the CL this or next year.

man utd was stronger than chelski last season. we made it to the ucl finale and won the premiership. chelsea finished 3rd in the prem.

 

[airmaxin1]

Ideal draw for Arsenal

 

[erascism]

Originally Posted by Jada2001Retro

Originally Posted by ERASCISM

Originally Posted by Jada2001Retro

If Porto didn't sell Lucho, Lisandro and Cissokho, they would beat Chelsea.

Didn't Chelsea eliminate Porto in the first knockout stage a few years back? Pretty sure they had Lucho and Lisandro then and also Quaresma, Bosingwa, Bruno Alves, etc. And Utd dispatched Porto last year and Chelsea were obviously stronger than Utd, and they're even stronger this year. Porto hasn't been able to hang with the big dogs in recent years. Don't know why would you make such an outrageous comment.

The recent years they haven't been able to do anything but they won the CL 5 years ago? When was the last time Chelsea had won the CL? Last year they barely lost to Utd when they played much better than them in their leg with them. How are you going to argue about Chelsea when they haven't even won CL and Porto have won it twice. What you're saying is a bit more "outrageous" than my comments. How are you going to go far as to say that Chelsea played better than Utd last year? If Chelsea were so strong last year, how come they finished 2nd in their group behind a weak Juventus squad? They lost to Barcelona in the final 4 and Utd made it to the final. And lemme guess, Chelsea played better than Utd last year too? Is that why they finished 2nd?

Sad part is, as "strong" as Chelsea is, they won't win the CL this or next year.

When Porto won the CL, none of those players you mentioned featured for them so that is completely irrelevant as is Chelsea not winning afinal. Chelsea have had the same core for some years now and are tipped to be the favorites in this competition yet again. You said Porto WOULD beatChelsea if they hadn't sold those players and I am calling you out on your rubbish. It really is a rubbish prediction and I was gobsmacked when I readit. If you would've just used COULD instead, I would've bypassed all of this and went on with my tea time. For one, they play twice inthe group stage. Are you saying they would beat them once or both? And second, how the hell can you see into the future? I mean, anything can happenin a soccer match, but we're talking about the damn group stage. If a team wants 1 pt, they're gonna try to get 1 damn pt. So you're yourlittle prophecy is blown out the water. You act like Porto gonna waltz into the Bridge on matchday 1 looking for goals - they will get bodied. They're gonna play conservative like most away teams do vs the big dog of the group, especially on the first damn matchday. And when they meet again,who knows what kind of result they'll need. So again, "Porto would beat Chelsea"??? You're out of bounds, son.

 

[erascism]

Originally Posted by AirJordanSeattle23

Originally Posted by Jada2001Retro

Originally Posted by ERASCISM

Originally Posted by Jada2001Retro

If Porto didn't sell Lucho, Lisandro and Cissokho, they would beat Chelsea.

Didn't Chelsea eliminate Porto in the first knockout stage a few years back? Pretty sure they had Lucho and Lisandro then and also Quaresma, Bosingwa, Bruno Alves, etc. And Utd dispatched Porto last year and Chelsea were obviously stronger than Utd, and they're even stronger this year. Porto hasn't been able to hang with the big dogs in recent years. Don't know why would you make such an outrageous comment.

The recent years they haven't been able to do anything but they won the CL 5 years ago? When was the last time Chelsea had won the CL? Last year they barely lost to Utd when they played much better than them in their leg with them. How are you going to argue about Chelsea when they haven't even won CL and Porto have won it twice. What you're saying is a bit more "outrageous" than my comments. How are you going to go far as to say that Chelsea played better than Utd last year? If Chelsea were so strong last year, how come they finished 2nd in their group behind a weak Juventus squad? They lost to Barcelona in the final 4 and Utd made it to the final. And lemme guess, Chelsea played better than Utd last year too? Is that why they finished 2nd?

Sad part is, as "strong" as Chelsea is, they won't win the CL this or next year.

man utd was stronger than chelski last season. we made it to the ucl finale and won the premiership. chelsea finished 3rd in the prem.

C'mon. Chelsea went through all kinds of turmoil last season. When the smoke cleared, they were clearly the best team in the world ifnot for that moronic referee. Utd couldn't even give Barcelona a game and they almost slipped up in the prem. My point is Chelsea wereclearly better than Porto last season and I don't see any reason why one would say Porto "would" beat Chelsea in this campaign. It's absolute poppycock.

 

[carlos tevez]

You're right that it's ludicrous to say that Porto would beat Chelsea if they didn't sell those players but come on now...Chelsea were not clearlythe best team in the world last season. In fact, they weren't even the best team in England last season, they were probably the 2nd best team in thatcountry and the 3rd best team in Europe. You use Chelsea being in turmoil as an excuse, well, what's your excuse for the 2 previous seasons prior to lastyear where they also failed to win the Premiership or UCL?

And dont blame the ref for missing out on the finals last season, blame your team's strategy for the unfavourable result. Chelsea went to the Nou Camp andparked the bus in the 1st leg (which is perfectly fine for an away leg against such a potent offensive team). But they get no sympathy from most fans afterusing the exact same pathetic strategy at Stamford Bridge which has been a fortress for so many years now. They got a lucky goal from Michael Essien andthought that sitting back and hanging on for dear life would seal the deal for them. Chelsea have way too much talent to be pulling that kind of crap which isbetter suited for Premiership teams in the relegation zone. Barca were consistent all season and they played better than Chelsea in both legs. Although I donot like cross-season comparisons, Chelsea and Barcelona each had almost the same line-ups last season as when they met in 05-06. How did that turn out? Barcacompletely dominated Chelsea in both legs in 05-06 and it was not as close as the scoreline suggested.

As for this coming season, unfortunately Chelsea appear to be the English squad most capable of winning this tournament. I have little doubt they'll makeit to the semis unless they're paired with Real, Barca or maybe even Inter early on in the knockout stage in which case they wont be as heavily favored asthey usually are against most opponents.

 

[pay jape]

cant wait to see barca and inter...crazy.

 

[elevenairs]

Originally Posted by needsomejays

alright so i love soccer, but im still pretty new to it, so i was just wondering if someone could explain how all this works? like do these games go towards the teams seasons? or is it just a random tournament?

basically its a league made of all the best teams throughout Europe, its completely separate from a team's domestic league...the betterleagues (Premier League, La Liga, Serie A etc) qualify 4 teams towards the Champions League whereas other leagues such as the Eredivisie and Bundesligacontribute 2 or 3..lesser leagues usually only qualify their champion...its all based off how a team finishes in the previous year, for instance ManchesterUtd-Liverpool-Chelsea-Arsenal were the top 4 in the EPL last season so they make the Champions League this year

im interested to see how Lyon does, Lisandro and Gomis is a sick duo up front

 

[carlos tevez]

Anyone catch the UEFA Super Cup today between Barca and Shakter?

I only saw the first half...my first impression of Ibrahimovic is he adds a completely new dimension to Barca's attack. Barca no longer need to bring theball upfield with a series of short passes as they can now just lob it out to Ibhrahimovic who is big and strong in the air and can just chest the ball down toeither Henry or Messi. Barca had a ton of chances but were unable to capitalize...Ibrahimovic did not look like he fit in at all with the rest of his Barcateam mates but it'll be fun to watch them when they all start clicking.

 

[keepie uppie]

Originally Posted by Carlos Tevez

Anyone catch the UEFA Super Cup today between Barca and Shakter?

I only saw the first half...my first impression of Ibrahimovic is he adds a completely new dimension to Barca's attack. Barca no longer need to bring the ball upfield with a series of short passes as they can now just lob it out to Ibhrahimovic who is big and strong in the air and can just chest the ball down to either Henry or Messi. Barca had a ton of chances but were unable to capitalize...Ibrahimovic did not look like he fit in at all with the rest of his Barca team mates but it'll be fun to watch them when they all start clicking.

i didn't watch it but i read the reports on soccernet...
it was said that he didn't play well almost throughout the match...

here's some bits i quoted from the site:

Barcelona's megabucks signing Zlatan Ibrahimovic failed to impress as the Champions League winners claimed a last-gasp victory over Shakhtar Donetsk in the UEFA Super Cup.

Ibrahimovic, who moved from Inter Milan for £40million plus Samuel Eto'o, was completely overshadowed by Lionel Messi, who created the only goal for Pedro Rodriguez in the 115th minute.

The Swedish striker will need to do much more to justify his price tag, especially with the likes of exciting young striker Bojan Krkic pushing for a place.

Ibrahimovic continued to frustrate, failing to pass to Henry when he was clean through and then collapsing in the area theatrically under a fair challenge.
but this one's my favourite:

Daniel Alves produced a hopeless blast into the stands and then Ibrahimovic produced his major contribution to the game, falling like a sniper victim under Olexiy Gai's challenge and bringing a yellow card for the defender.
wow