Champions League 2016-17: Chasing That Sweet Group Stage Cash

OCST · Jun 20, 2016

COYLRI

Zososoxfan · Jun 20, 2016

I would love to put together a CL fantasy pick em game this year. Probably makes sense to start in the Group Stage since it's freaking June. Let me know if there's interest and we can discuss administration.

thehitcat · Jul 6, 2016

Red Imps kick off at home in 26 minutes. What are my options for a live stream?

Dummy Hoy · Jul 7, 2016

And the red imps win 2-0 to advance 3-2 on aggregate. The reward? Celtic.

dirtynine · Jul 8, 2016

Been following the Imps a bit now that big-game soccer is almost over for the summer. Celtic is in for a nice setting when they visit LRI:

So far, live streams have been available at the usual shady sites.

PedroSpecialK · Jul 12, 2016

I can't believe they've begun competition with Efe fucking Ambrose still on the squad.

Schnerres · Jul 21, 2016

I don´t know if anything worsened in Ukraine, but there´s still some Brazilians on their roster (basing it on transfermarkt information) and almost no sales this summer. Considering they sold some guys (Teixeira and Douglas Costa and others) last summer for 90m.+€, it looks calmer there now.
At the Euros there were multiple rumors about some players from Dynamo Kiev (Dragovic to Leverkusen and Yarmolenko to...), so I don´t know if there will be (was?) some action there. More problematic is probably Turkey, who is definitely a Hot Spot now and some guys should be leaving the country this summer. Mario Gomez saw a revival there this year, but has said he´ll leave Besiktas and the country due to the threats and politic instability in Istanbul. I guess there will be some more from Western Europe who will follow.

Conigliaro's Potential · Aug 4, 2016

A lot of big names went out over the last two nights. In addition to Dundalk knocking out BATE Borisov - which has to be a massive upset - last night the following happened:

Hapoel Be'er Sheva (Israel) knocked out Olympiakos 1-0 on aggregate
Young Boys Bern beat Shakhtar Donetsk 2-0 to force a 2-2 aggregate draw, and then won 4-2 on penalties
Anderlecht lost 2-0 at home to go out 4-2 on aggregate to FC Rostov
PAOK Salonika and Fenerbahçe also went out, albeit to more illustrious opposition (Ajax and Monaco, respectively)

Nick Kaufman · Aug 4, 2016

Hapoel Be'er Sheva (Israel) knocked out Olympiakos 1-0 on aggregate

A victory for humanity against the forces of darkness really.

fletcherpost · Aug 4, 2016

Celtic are praying for Dundalk.

thehitcat · Aug 4, 2016

Titans Bastard said:
Red Star Belgrade, who won the last European Cup before the competition was rebranded, were knocked out by Ludogorets Razgrad. Serbian clubs have fallen a long way. Red Star has never made the CL group stage and Partizan has done so only twice. Losing to a Bulgarian club isn't even a surprise.

And a nice, if late, response to Serbian aggression prior to and during World War 1. Good on you Bulgaria!

Conigliaro's Potential · Aug 4, 2016

Titans Bastard said:
Red Star Belgrade, who won the last European Cup before Yugoslavia was rebranded, were knocked out by Ludogorets Razgrad.

FTFY

thehitcat · Aug 5, 2016

Can we just go back to the Austro-Hungarian empire...no probably not. sigh...

Infield Infidel · Aug 24, 2016

Watched the Red Bull Salzburg - Dinamo Zagreb match, Dinamo scored in the 87' to pull even on aggregate and then scored again in extra time. Salzburg has lost in the playoffs 4 years in a row

swiftaw · Aug 24, 2016

Here are the pots for the group stage draw. Spurs being in pot 3 means they could get drawn against Bayern and Atletico.

Seeding pot 1

Real Madrid CC: 176.142
Bayern Munich CC: 163.035
Barcelona CC: 159.142
Benfica CC: 116.616
Paris Saint-Germain CC: 112.549
Juventus CC: 107.087
CSKA Moscow CC: 48.716
Leicester City CC: 15.256

Seeding pot 2

Atlético Madrid CC: 144.142
Borussia Dortmund CC: 110.035
Arsenal CC: 105.256
Manchester City CC: 99.256
Sevilla CC: 95.642
Porto CC: 92.616
Napoli CC: 90.087
Bayer Leverkusen CC: 89.035

Seeding pot 3

Basel CC: 87.755
Tottenham Hotspur CC: 74.256
Dynamo Kyiv CC: 65.976
Lyon CC: 63.049
PSV Eindhoven CC: 57.112
Sporting CP CC: 51.616
Club Brugge CC: 43.000
Borussia Mönchengladbach CC: 42.035

Seeding pot 4

Celtic CC: 40.460
Monaco CC: 36.549
Beşiktaş CC: 34.920
Legia Warsaw CC: 28.000
Dinamo Zagreb CC: 25.775
Ludogorets Razgrad CC: 25.625
Copenhagen CC: 24.720
Rostov CC: 11.716

Zososoxfan · Aug 25, 2016

Pretty jarring to only see 2 Italian clubs (Juve and Napoli) in the group stages. I started following the sport in the 90s and not having any Milan, Inter, Roma, Lazio, Fiorentina, Parma, et al. causes some significant dissonance.

wonderland · Aug 25, 2016

Zososoxfan said:
Pretty jarring to only see 2 Italian clubs (Juve and Napoli) in the group stages. I started following the sport in the 90s and not having any Milan, Inter, Roma, Lazio, Fiorentina, Parma, et al. causes some significant dissonance.

This is the third straight year of only two Italian teams in the group stage. Roma lost this year in the playoff. Lazio last year. Napoli the year before.

Expanding to four teams will really help Serie A.

teddykgb · Aug 25, 2016

No matter how many times I watch this it never gets any easier to understand or feel any less rigged.

Conigliaro's Potential · Aug 25, 2016

It all makes perfect sense - no more than one team per country in a group, and a country's clubs have to be divided evenly as possible across A-B-C-D and E-F-G-H for television purposes (e.g., you don't want three English teams playing on Tuesday and only one on Wednesday). So after they draw a club, they then pick the balls for each group that fit before drawing the group. And note that the computer looks at all possible permutations based on which clubs are left in determining which groups fit a given club.

Zososoxfan · Aug 25, 2016

Just had a lengthy post swallowed, fml.

Zososoxfan · Aug 25, 2016

Why was Leverkusen forced into group E when Group C was still available? I get why D was off the board.

Conigliaro's Potential · Aug 25, 2016

Perhaps because they were paired before the draw with Bayern Munich as the top two teams in Germany, and therefore they had to be on opposite sides of the draw (ABCD vs. EFGH)? There was a graphic that explained that at the start of the draw, although as I'm watching on Austrian TV at the moment I didn't pick up the full German explanation.

swiftaw · Aug 25, 2016

I'm guessing because Man City and Leicester are paired so they have to be on opposite sides of the draw (they are paired, because I assume it makes sense to pair Spurs and Arsenal)

Zososoxfan · Aug 25, 2016

The draw:

A - PSG, Arsenal, Basel, Ludogrets

B - Benfica, Napoli, Kiev, Besiktas

C - Barca, MANC, Monchengladbach, Celtic

D - Bayern, Atleti, PSV, Rostov

E - CSKA, Leverkusen, Spurs, Monaco

F - Real, Dortmund, Sporting, Legia

G - Leicester, Porto, Brugge, Copenhagen

H - Juve, Sevilla, Lyon, Zagreb

Quick hits:

PSG and Arse are likely happy to have each other.
Groups B, E, and G are Charmin soft.
Barca and MANC get to do the Pep reunion tour, should be fun.
Bayern Atleti will be battles!
Real Dortmund will be a fierce matchup too.
E and G are wide open, and H could get interesting.

swiftaw · Aug 25, 2016

Zososoxfan said:
Why was Leverkusen forced into group E when Group C was still available? I get why D was off the board.

I just watched on tv again. When Leverkusen was drawn there were 2 other teams left in the pot, Man City and A Madrid, both had to be on the A thru D side, leaving E as the only option.

teddykgb · Aug 25, 2016

the TV pairings are the dumb part. It makes no sense to put teams into pots and then limit the potential draws due to TV stuff. I understand it is a lucrative competition because of TV but it makes the whole thing feel shitty and forced. It's fun to wonder who is coming out and where the draw may go. too many restrictions.

Conigliaro's Potential · Aug 25, 2016

Just wait until the European Super League starts - you'll be pining for actually group-stage draws and stuff, whether or not they made any sense.

Conigliaro's Potential · Aug 25, 2016

Chelsea and Manchester United again with the easy draws, by the way - no difficult teams for them to play at all!

Zososoxfan · Aug 25, 2016

Does anyone want to do a UCL March Madness-like bracket competition? Basically picking winners and have larger point values as the tourney advances. Maybe bonus points for getting the order right in the group stage and aggregate scores in the knockouts?

Morgan's Magic Snowplow · Aug 25, 2016

That is a great draw for Leicester. Club Brugge/Copenhagen is as weak as you can hope for as the pot 3-4 teams.

I'd say its an above average draw for Arsenal. PSG is about the median team in Pot 1, Basel is on the lower end of the possible Pot 3 teams, and with Ludogorets we avoid any of the most tricky Pot 4 clubs (probably Monaco, Besiktas, Rostov).

Spurs lucked out with CSKA but have two of the harder Pot 2 and 4 teams to contend with. Anything could happen in that group.

Conigliaro's Potential · Aug 25, 2016

Morgan's Magic Snowplow said:
That is a great draw for Leicester. Club Brugge/Copenhagen is as weak as you can hope for as the pot 3-4 teams.

I'd say its an above average draw for Arsenal. PSG is about the median team in Pot 1, Basel is on the lower end of the possible Pot 3 teams, and with Ludogorets we avoid any of the most tricky Pot 4 clubs (probably Monaco, Besiktas, Rostov).

Spurs lucked out with CSKA but have two of the harder Pot 2 and 4 teams to contend with. Anything could happen in that group.

I agree with this analysis. As soon as Arsenal drew PSG, I was happy not only because it could have been Barcelona or Bayern Munich, but because that meant neither Lyon in Pot 3 or Monaco in Pot 4 could be paired with them. Of course, Arsenal being Arsenal, I'm certain they'll find a way to finish second again...

This is about the only group composition that could see Leicester advance to the knockout stage. And yeah, Spurs could finish bottom or top of their group.

Senator Donut · Aug 26, 2016

Champions League changes are official, but do not take effect until 2018

crystalline · Aug 27, 2016

ConigliarosPotential said:
I agree with this analysis. As soon as Arsenal drew PSG, I was happy not only because it could have been Barcelona or Bayern Munich, but because that meant neither Lyon in Pot 3 or Monaco in Pot 4 could be paired with them. Of course, Arsenal being Arsenal, I'm certain they'll find a way to finish second again...

Well, the goal for Arsenal is to win a knockout game and to avoid crashing out in the first knockout round again, right? And if so then they need to finish first to shoot for the cupcake matchup and avoid being the cupcake to a hungry Bayern or Barcelona. And if they have aspirations of finishing first they should take three points from any pot 4 team. So Arsenal's draw pretty much turns on the pot 1 team. Given that, it seems like Arsenal's draw was pretty middling. They avoided Barcelona, Real, Munich. They could have gotten CSKA (but not Leicester), yes? Would Benfica have been a better matchup than PSG?

swiftaw · Aug 27, 2016

crystalline said:
Well, the goal for Arsenal is to win a knockout game and to avoid crashing out in the quarters again, right? And if so then they need to finish first to shoot for the cupcake quarterfinal matchup and avoid being the cupcake to a hungry Bayern or Barcelona. And if they have aspirations of finishing first they should take three points from any pot 4 team and probably any pot three team. So I think Arsenal should be rooting for the weakest pot 1 team. Given that seems like the draw was pretty middling. Could have gotten CSKA (but not Leicester), yes? Would Benfica have been a better matchup than PSG?

I assume you mean the round of 16 rather than the QF.

crystalline · Aug 27, 2016

swiftaw said:
I assume you mean the round of 16 rather than the QF.

Yup edited

Further edit- I suppose moenchengladbach would have been a bad pot 3 draw too. Mostly though I feel that if Arsenal want to take the next step up -- making a run in the knockout rounds -- they are going to have to beat middling teams on the regular. Drawing a Colossus from pot 1 would have been bad luck, but otherwise they should take care of business. If they really aspire to be a top team.

Conigliaro's Potential · Aug 27, 2016

crystalline said:
If they really aspire to be a top team.

Well, that's the question with Arsenal, isn't it?

Champions League 2016-17: Chasing That Sweet Group Stage Cash

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