2020/21 UEFA Champions League: The Road to Istanbul (Not Constantinople)

JayMags71

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This is concerning:

Germany will not allow Liverpool into the country to play a Champions League game at Leipzig on Feb. 16 because of border restrictions imposed over new variants of the coronavirus.
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Germany is blocking most arrivals of non-residents from Britain to restrict the spread of new variants of the virus. If the travel restrictions — which don't contain any exemptions for sports — are extended beyond the current expiry date of Feb. 17, Manchester City’s first-leg trip to play Borussia Mönchengladbach on Feb. 24 could be affected.
https://www.usatoday.com/story/sports/soccer/2021/02/04/germany-bars-liverpool-from-coming-for-champions-league-game/43373521/
 

Morgan's Magic Snowplow

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Arsenal are having a similar issue with the Europa League tie against Benfica. Portugal is on the UK's no-travel list, so all the players would have a mandatory quarantine after returning, which would be pragmatically impossible. Nobody knows whether the Benfica leg gets moved to a neutral venue, whether both legs will be moved, or whether they'll only play one leg.

The tournaments really shouldn't be happening at all. I think the next best solution would be moving to all one-legged ties in neutral venues but I'm sure money is going to win in the end and we'll have some stupid solution that preserves maximum TV revenues.
 

bosox4283

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Atletico-Chelsea cannot be played in Spain, and it seems that Romania (Bucharest) is the likely destination.
 

Mighty Joe Young

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Quite frankly I really don’t see the point of these two-legged matchups in the era of Covid. It’s not like the second leg home field is a big deal without fans. Why not just play The knockout rounds in a neutral venue ?
 

SocrManiac

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I don't understand this at all. Usually these decisions are made to chase money, but without gate sales are these matches even profitable for the clubs?
 

Zososoxfan

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Quite frankly I really don’t see the point of these two-legged matchups in the era of Covid. It’s not like the second leg home field is a big deal without fans. Why not just play The knockout rounds in a neutral venue ?
Oh man, can you imagine if UCL and UEL were done in a bubble fashion after the season? That would be awesome.
 

pedro1918

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Knockout legs begin today. Four games this week and four games next week. In an effort to make it is as difficult as possible for people to see the games, these are concurrent kickoffs instead of consecutive.

Tuesday, Feb. 16

RB Leipzig vs. Liverpool, 3 p.m. ET
Barcelona vs. PSG, 3 p.m. ET

Wednesday, Feb. 17

Porto vs. Juventus, 3 p.m. ET
Sevilla vs. Borussia Dortmund, 3 p.m. ET
 

Zososoxfan

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Knockout legs begin today. Four games this week and four games next week. In an effort to make it is as difficult as possible for people to see the games, these are concurrent kickoffs instead of consecutive.

Tuesday, Feb. 16

RB Leipzig vs. Liverpool, 3 p.m. ET
Barcelona vs. PSG, 3 p.m. ET

Wednesday, Feb. 17

Porto vs. Juventus, 3 p.m. ET
Sevilla vs. Borussia Dortmund, 3 p.m. ET
Really good and interesting matches all around. Should be a lot of fun. UEFA should be shot into the sun for not having one match at a time.
 

pedro1918

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Liverpool XI: Alisson, Alexander-Arnold, Kabak, Henderson, Robertson, Wijnaldum, Jones, Thiago, Mane, Salah, Firmino.

Subs: Adrian, Kelleher, Oxlade-Chamberlain, Tsimikas, Shaqiri, Origi, Davies, R. Williams, Phillips, Cain, Clarkson, N. Williams.

I had honestly contemplated starting Kelleher.
 

Morgan's Magic Snowplow

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Totally ridiculous penalty just given to Barcelona after De Jong drags his foot, his stud maaaaaybe catches the man behind him, and he goes down in the box while tracking a cross.

It was like the David Luiz red card/penalty but worse because the guy didn't even have the ball, he was just chasing after a speculative cross.

I mean look at this about :45. Ridiculous. Another example (part one million) where VAR seems to be 100% useless if its not going to help get that right.

View: https://streamable.com/265yc4
 

Zososoxfan

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Totally ridiculous penalty just given to Barcelona after De Jong drags his foot, his stud maaaaaybe catches the man behind him, and he goes down in the box while tracking a cross.

It was like the David Luiz red card/penalty but worse because the guy didn't even have the ball, he was just chasing after a speculative cross.

I mean look at this about :45. Ridiculous. Another example (part one million) where VAR seems to be 100% useless if its not going to help get that right.

View: https://streamable.com/265yc4
Is there an actual rule about this? It seems to happen quite often and isn't enforced uniformly.
 

67YAZ

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Totally ridiculous penalty just given to Barcelona after De Jong drags his foot, his stud maaaaaybe catches the man behind him, and he goes down in the box while tracking a cross.

It was like the David Luiz red card/penalty but worse because the guy didn't even have the ball, he was just chasing after a speculative cross.

I mean look at this about :45. Ridiculous. Another example (part one million) where VAR seems to be 100% useless if its not going to help get that right.

View: https://streamable.com/265yc4
my most generous interpretation is that he stumbled while trying to find contact with a defender. Yikes.
 

PedroSpecialK

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A still from the point where Mané made contact - I'm assuming even despite the neutral venue, they have all HawkEye / VAR capabilities?

 

Zososoxfan

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Dest and Pique looking rusty there. Dest was behind his defensive line mates to keep the hockey assist onside, then Pique botched a clearance attempt. MATS also tried to intercept the cross and missed. PSG superior on the day.
 

Brand Name

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Vous adorez le voir !

Pique carelessly unable to clear to lead to that brace is a wonderful parallel to Barça on the whole the past several months.
 

Zososoxfan

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lol now Koeman with the sub for Dest. 20 minutes too late. Also not all Dest's fault. Putting Dembele in front of him was never going to offer any help.
 

Zososoxfan

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It seems like Barca should've tried to get out 3-1 if they really wanted to compete in the 2nd leg. Instead, they threw numbers forward and got hit on a wide open counter for 4-1. Goodnight.
 

coremiller

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Watching Poch win the Champions League with PSG while Spurs flounder in midtable is going to be a weird feeling for Spurs fans.
 

cromulence

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Oh man, Adams with a brilliant through ball that should've led to a last minute goal, but the shot is wide. Brutal day for Leipzig, but Adams had a very strong game.
 

teddykgb

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Barca looked so poor. Ter Stegen shanking clearances and Messi doing his best but always seeming so isolated. Just an awful season for them
 

67YAZ

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A little bit delayed, but big exhale that Liverpool kept it together. Being up 2 goals had me feeling on edge. But they saw it out against an excellent side. Phew.
 

Mighty Joe Young

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A little bit delayed, but big exhale that Liverpool kept it together. Being up 2 goals had me feeling on edge. But they saw it out against an excellent side. Phew.
Yep .. gifted two away goals and really lucky that Leipzig couldn’t hit the ocean if they fell into it. Kabak looked solid , Henderson less so. Looking forward to seeing Davies .. although I don‘t think the Derby would be a wise introduction. .. especially up against DCL.
 
For everyone complaining about these games being played in neutral countries, isn't the idea to avoid fans gathering outside of the stadiums in real time like they did last season? If you're going to have two-legged matches - which of course is very debatable - taking less than 100 people (between the two clubs involved) to a foreign country seems much safer than giving a few thousand people a reason to congregate.
 

coremiller

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For everyone complaining about these games being played in neutral countries, isn't the idea to avoid fans gathering outside of the stadiums in real time like they did last season? If you're going to have two-legged matches - which of course is very debatable - taking less than 100 people (between the two clubs involved) to a foreign country seems much safer than giving a few thousand people a reason to congregate.
I think the issue is to get around countries' foreign travel restrictions. E.g. Leipzig-Liverpool had to move to a third country because Germany isn't admitting anyone from the U.K. right now.