Champions League 2022/23

[Sideshow Bob]

Group A: Liverpool, Ajax, Napoli, Rangers
Group B: Atletico Madrid, Porto, Bayer Leverkusen, Bruges
Group C: Bayern Munich, Barcelona, Inter Milan, Viktoria Pizen
Group D: Eintracht Frankfurt, Spurs, Sporting Lisbon, Marseille
Group E: AC Milan, Chelsea, Salzburg, Dinamo Zagreb
Group F: Leipzig, Real Madrid, Shakhtar Donetsk, Celtic
Group G: Man City, Sevilla, Borussia Dortmund, Copenhagen
Group H: PSG, Juventus, Benfica, Maccabi Haifa

 

[ROBSON No7]

Group C wow!!

 

[Justin Cider]

A, D and F all look brutal, in fact they all look tough, there's usually a few groups you could definitely pick the top two, but not with that lot, maybe E, and there's gonna be some seriously good teams dropping into the Europa League. Suppose there always is.

Liverpool and Napoli
Atletico Madrid and Porto
Bayern Munchen and Barcelona
Eintracht Frankfurt and Spurs
AC Milan and Chelsea
Leipzig and Real Madrid
City and Sevilla
PSG and Juventus

Bet I get three of them wrong.

 

[Cruella ne Ville]

FWIW…

Can’t see any of the favourites failing to make it out of their group. I’d love to see Barca drop into the EL and get done by us in the knockouts.

 

[jsp]

Must admit when Utd aren't in it I rarely bother with the group stage games but might watch the Barca vs Bayern matches.

English sides will be happy with those groups.

 

[Mr C]

it gets a bit boring boring and predictible.

They should do away with seeding.

At the very least they should do away with teams from the same country not being able to play each other.

They won't because it's not about the spectacle, it's about the money.

You can probably predict the SF teams now.

 

[jsp]

Thing is with the new format coming in soon it'll be even worse as there will be more of these "safe" group games. Not sure if that kicks in from next season or the one after.

Knockout football is the most exciting and the knockout rounds of the CL are incredible but the group stage is poor because it doesn't have the jeopardy.

Reality is less is more is probably better for fans and players as the games are better quality but for the organisers more matches means more revenue.

 

[Sideshow Bob]

 

[ROBSON No7]

I fancy quite a few away wins there

 

[jsp]

For the UK audience those kick off times are 1 hour ahead.

I fancy Celtic to get something tonight Madrid can be a bit sloppy in the group stage they'll go through but they often have a surprise result like last season when they lost to Sheriff.

Might try and catch a bit of PSG vs Juventus.

 

[Cruella ne Ville]

Zagreb 1-1 Chelsea
Dortmund 2-1 Copenhagen
Salzburg 0-2 Milan
Celtic 1-3 Madrid
Leipzig 0-0 Shaktar
Sevilla 0-1 City
PSG 3-2 Juve
Benfica 2-0 M Haifa

 

[Cruella ne Ville]

Zagreb 1-1 Chelsea 1-0 I wasn't terribly far off.
Dortmund 2-1 Copenhagen 3-0 Ok Dortmund. I see you now.
Salzburg 0-2 Milan 1-1 Overestimated Milan.
Celtic 1-3 Madrid 0-3 Madrid got there in the end.
Leipzig 0-0 Shaktar 1-4 LOL
Sevilla 0-1 City 0-4 More LOL
PSG 3-2 Juve 2-1 Close enough.
Benfica 2-0 M Haifa 2-0 BOOM!! I'm a genius

 

[Cruella ne Ville]

Ajax 3-0 Rangers
Frankfurt 1-1 Sporting
Inter 0-2 Bayern
Barca 3-0 Viktoria Plzen
Napoli 1-1 Liverpool
Atletico 1-0 Porto
Spurs 2-1 Marseille
Brugge 1-0 Leverkusen

 

[jsp]

I thought Rangers might sneak through in that group they've been a decent side in Europe over the last few seasons and Napoli and Ajax have had a lot of changes this season. Guess they'd have wanted their opening game at home with the Ibrox crowd going down to Ajax that heavily means it's a long road back for them to even get the 3rd spot in the group.

 

[SuperRash]

Liverpool being schooled by Napoli. Some brilliant football by the Italians!

 

[Cruella ne Ville]

I think it's been a reality check for Scottish football with both Rangers and Celtic getting beat pretty handily. Love to see the scousers getting whooped. I see it could've been 4 had Osimhen not muffed his spot kick.

 

[Cruella ne Ville]

Ajax 3-0 Rangers 4-0 Close enough.
Frankfurt 1-1 Sporting 0-3 Uh...err...no where close.
Inter 0-2 Bayern 0-2 Nailed it!
Barca 3-0 Viktoria Plzen 5-1 That's annoying.
Napoli 1-1 Liverpool 4-1 I thought they'd struggle, but that was epic.
Atletico 1-0 Porto 2-1 Mad finish.
Spurs 2-1 Marseille 2-0 Was always gonna be tough after the red card.
Brugge 1-0 Leverkusen 1-0 Whoop!

 

[Cruella ne Ville]

Liverpool 3-0 1-3 (screw it) Ajax
Leverkusen 0-2 Atletico
Porto 1-0 Brugge
Viktoria Plzen 0-3 Inter
Bayern 2-1 Barca
Sporting 2-1 Spurs
Marseille 2-0 Frankfurt

 

[jsp]

Wouldn't say Liverpool got lucky but they certainly left it late to get the win.

Blind had a great chance at 1-1 free header at the back post but missed the target and eventually Liverpool snatched it from a corner they are so dangerous on set pieces when they have both Van Dijk and Matip.

Still defensively they look of it you can certainly get at their defence in ways that in previous seasons didn't seem possible.

Watched the second half of the games through BT Goal Show so saw most of the goals the Sane goal in the Bayern vs Barca game was a real beauty.

 

[Cruella ne Ville]

Liverpool 3-0 1-3 (screw it) Ajax 2-1 Well, crap.
Leverkusen 0-2 Atletico 2-0 At least I got the score right LOL
Porto 1-0 Brugge 0-4 Uh...
Viktoria Plzen 0-3 Inter 0-2 Close enough.
Bayern 2-1 Barca 2-0 Xavi didn't take it well.
Sporting 2-1 Spurs 2-0 Can't count on Spurs.
Marseille 2-0 Frankfurt 0-1 Not my best effort.

 

[Cruella ne Ville]

Shakhtar 3-0 Celtic
Milan 2-1 Dinamo Zagreb
Rangers 0-2 Napoli
Chelsea 1-0 Salzburg
Real Madrid 2-1 Leipzig
Copenhagen 1-1 Sevilla
Juventus 2-1 Benfica
Maccabi Haifa 0-4 PSG
City 5-2 Dortmund

 

[Mr C]

That Haaland goal last night, his foot is above head height, why isn't that dangerous play?

 

[jsp]

Because there's no one around him to hurt.

If a defender had been close enough and challenged for the ball then it would likely be dissallowed.

It was some goal like something you'd see on a video game or a nike advert not in real life the ball from Cancelo and the finish.

What was that keeper playing at on the Stones goal pulled his hands out the way I'd be checking his bank account bet he's off for a cheap holiday to Dubai this winter.

 

[Cruella ne Ville]

Shakhtar 3-0 Celtic 1-1 Good point for Celtic.
Milan 2-1 Dinamo Zagreb 3-1 Hope Milan do well.
Rangers 0-2 Napoli 0-3 Rangers are cooked.
Chelsea 1-0 Salzburg 1-1 That's a shame...
Real Madrid 2-1 Leipzig 2-0 Not pretty, but the goals were outstanding.
Copenhagen 1-1 Sevilla 0-0 Meh...
Juventus 2-1 Benfica 1-2 What a result for Benfica.
Maccabi Haifa 0-4 PSG 1-3 Same thing. LOL
City 5-2 Dortmund 2-1 Bloody Haaland.

 

[Justin Cider]

A, D and F all look brutal, in fact they all look tough, there's usually a few groups you could definitely pick the top two, but not with that lot, maybe E, and there's gonna be some seriously good teams dropping into the Europa League. Suppose there always is.

Liverpool and Napoli 2
Atletico Madrid and Porto 1
Bayern Munchen and Barcelona 1
Eintracht Frankfurt and Spurs 1 maybe 2
AC Milan and Chelsea 1 maybe 2
Leipzig and Real Madrid 1 probably 2
City and Sevilla probably 1
PSG and Juventus 1

Bet I get three of them wrong.

Happy enough with that, pity the rest of you were too cowardly to do the same.

 

[jsp]

Crazy night in Spurs group.

At half time Sporting were top of the group, Marseilles second, Spurs third and Frankfurt 4th.

At full time in the Sporting vs Frankfurt game the group had now changed to Frankfurt 1st, Spurs 2nd, Marseilles 3rd and Sporting 4th.

Spurs then grab a last minute winner as Marseilles push for a second goal which would put them through. Group ends up Spurs 1st, Frankfurt 2nd, Sporting 3rd and Marseilles 4th.

All the other groups were already decided but Atletico lost to Porto meaning they finish 4th and don't even make it into the Europa league this season. That's going to be a big problem for them financially and could mean they'll be selling players in January.

Napoli, Liverpool, Porto, Club Bruges, Bayern, Inter, Spurs and Frankfurt all advance to the last 16.
Ajax, Leverkusen, Barcelona, Sporting are the 4 teams that drop to Europa.

 

[jsp]

Group Winners - Napoli, Porto, Bayern, Spurs, Chelsea, Real Madrid, Man City, Benfica
Runners Up - Liverpool, Club Bruges, Inter, Frankfurt, Milan, RB Leipzig, Dortmund, PSG

Europa League Teams - Ajax, Leverkusen, Barcelona, Sporting, RB Salzburg, Shakthar Donetsk, Sevilla, Juventus

I guess the big shock last night was despite winning their game against Juventus PSG missed out on top spot because Benfica smashed Haifa 6-1 away from home.

Think overall the surprise package this season has to be Napoli having lost quite a few key players in the summer they've suddenly exploded into this incredibly fun attacking side to watch.

In terms of the qualifiers we've got teams from the following nations.

England 4
Germany 4
Italy 3
Portugal 2
Spain 1
France 1
Belgium 1

Maybe a clear indication of how the La Liga sides are starting to struggle in the top competition with Barca/Seville both finishing 3rd in their group and Atletico Madrid finishing 4th. Real Madrid really could be consolidating a position of real dominance in that league over the next few years if they can avoid shooting themselves in the foot.

 

[Justin Cider]

Firmly in the couldn't give two sh*ts who wins it, as long as it's not Liverpool, City or Real Madrid.

Be really nice to see Napoli win it.

 

[jsp]

As long as an English side or PSG don't win it I'm happy.

Think the big issue for Napoli will be can they retain the current momentum after the world cup break as they are absolutely flying at the moment.

Kvaradona has been great fun to watch.

 

[Mr C]

Firmly in the couldn't give two sh*ts who wins it, as long as it's not Liverpool, City or Real Madrid.

the second part contradicts the first

 

[jsp]

Real Madrid v Chelsea
Inter v Benfica
Man City v Bayern Munich
AC Milan v Napoli

Be great to see Napoli and Benfica make it into the semi's before they get savaged.

3 Italian teams in the quarter finals must be a while since that happened.

 

[Cruella ne Ville]

City/Bayern and Chelsea/Madrid are on the same side of the draw so, it’s looking likely that there’s going to be an Italian side in the final. I’d love to see Napoli win it as they’ve been outstanding this season.

 

[RVN]

A Madrid - Napoli final would be very tasty indeed.

 

[jsp]

Napoli winning it would be a great story especially the way there season has gone basically coming from nowhere.