22/23 Champions League--Turkish Delight on a Moonlit Night

Zososoxfan · Aug 25, 2022

Petition to rename the thread:

"It's Istanbul, not Constantinople"

or

"Turkish Delight on a Moonlit Night"

Edit: To add some substance, it's pretty awesome to see how competitive this year's field is. Dorttmund, Inter, Napoli, Benfica, Sporting, and Leverkusen in Pot 3 is batshit. Madrid, Liverpool, Inter, Marseille is a potential group. I doubt this format of the UCL lasts long, but much like the WC it's a real treat when a format reaches the end of its run and it brings together excellent football competition.

teddykgb · Aug 25, 2022

As a City fan really hoping for Juve to avoid the Italian teams in Pot 3 but might have to deal with the circus of Haaland back in Dortmund

Mighty Joe Young · Aug 25, 2022

Long trip for the English teams is they end up in the same group as Maccabi Haifa

candylandriots · Aug 25, 2022

Mighty Joe Young said:
Long trip for the English teams is they end up in the same group as Maccabi Haifa

Union Berlin played Maccabi Haifa in the Conference League last year. I can’t imagine they should complain about that game despite the travel. Their support was good. I don’t know how they could compete with Liverpool or City. Good for them for making it through qualifications, but I expect this is going to be as lopsided a group stage match as I can imagine.

fletcherpost · Aug 25, 2022

I'd love it if one of the Scottish teams did not get a 'group of death' - it's unlikely cos the CL is a fuckin racket, but even so, it's the big show and it's great to be there...but...some hope for post CL group stage Euro Fitba would be nice.

Jimy Hendrix · Aug 25, 2022

DJnVa said:
Is this going to be 45 minutes of crap before any draw?

Absolutely, it's a different governing body but it's exactly the same deep pool of narcissistic delusion that brought us United Passions, and it says "people definitely want a production out of this and not just a draw done fairly quickly".

Jimy Hendrix · Aug 25, 2022

At least its about a manager so far and not 100% just the executives, which makes it less bad than it could be.

teddykgb · Aug 25, 2022

They always extract the maximum amount of pain before doing anything that matters one iota

fletcherpost · Aug 25, 2022

They're trying to sell something that sells itself.

No need to ask anyone, 'what makes the Champions League so special?' - just get the baws oot.

HowBoutDemSox · Aug 25, 2022

Barca and Bayern in the same group, Lewa return game should be fun.

InstaFace · Aug 25, 2022

fletcherpost said:
I'd love it if one of the Scottish teams did not get a 'group of death' - it's unlikely cos the CL is a fuckin racket, but even so, it's the big show and it's great to be there...but...some hope for post CL group stage Euro Fitba would be nice.

Some of the Pot 3 teams are absolutely beatable by Rangers and Celtic, and Europa knockouts from a 3rd place finish would be pretty achieveable. But yeah, falling just one spot in the rankings shy of having Rangers make Pot 3 is some tough luck there.

InstaFace · Aug 25, 2022

If you're in Pot 4 (like Rangers and Celtic) I think you definitely want Group B (Porto / Atleti / Leverkusen) or D (Frankfurt / Spurs / Sporting) right now.

edit: Group C will be absolutely brutal for whoever goes there. Bayern, Barcelona and Inter Milan. Yikes.

HowBoutDemSox · Aug 25, 2022

HowBoutDemSox said:
Barca and Bayern in the same group, Lewa return game should be fun.

Add Inter to this group, that's gonna be a tough one to advance from.

Mighty Joe Young · Aug 25, 2022

Rangers to group A with Ajax, Liverpool, Napoli

Mighty Joe Young · Aug 25, 2022

Group A

Ajax
Liverpool
Napoli
Rangers

Group B

FC Porto
Atletico Madrid
Bayer Leverkusen
Club Brugge

Group C

Bayern Munich
Barcelona
Inter Milan
Viktoria Plzen

Group D

Eintracht Frankfurt
Tottenham Hotspur
Sporting CP
Marseille

Group E

AC Milan
Chelsea
FC Salzburg
Dinamo Zagreb

Group F

Real Madrid
RB Leipzig
Shakhtar Donetsk
Celtic

Group G

Manchester City
Sevilla
Borussia Dortmund
FC Copenhagen

Group H

Paris Saint-Germain
Juventus
Benfica
Maccabi Haifa

rguilmar · Aug 25, 2022

I dig that Group D top to bottom. I know a lot of chatter will go to Group C though.

fletcherpost · Aug 25, 2022

Can someone explain this to me - when Rangers were drawn, there were 4 groups yet to be completed, but Rangers could only go in group A or C. Clearly there wasn't anothe Scottish team in the two groups they could not be drawn into...but i don't know what the other criteria is.

Anyone able to clarify?

Don't mind the draw for either Celtic or Rangers...not the easiest but not the worst groups...all you can hope for really. Group C was shaping up to be a nightmare.

HowBoutDemSox · Aug 25, 2022

fletcherpost said:
Can someone explain this to me - when Rangers were drawn, there were 4 groups yet to be completed, but Rangers could only go in group A or C. Clearly there wasn't anothe Scottish team in the two groups they could not be drawn into...but i don't know what the other criteria is.

Anyone able to clarify?

Don't mind the draw for either Celtic or Rangers...not the easiest but not the worst groups...all you can hope for really. Group C was shaping up to be a nightmare.

I don't remember what the options were at that point, but I think they want to balance the teams from the same country such that there are an even number of teams playing on Tuesdays and Wednesdays; Groups A, B, C, and D all play the same night, and E, F, G, and H all play the other night, though they haven't determined yet which play Tuesdays and which Wednesdays. But that means since there are two Scottish teams, and if Celtic is already in group F, then Rangers has to go in either A, B, C, or D, to the extent there is a spot open in those group, so that the two Scottish teams are playing on different nights.

teddykgb · Aug 25, 2022

It’s TV. The broadcasters want multiple tv nights. They get to separate teams of their choosing. Same reason why only Dortmund could go into City’s group as they were to be separated from Bayern.

67YAZ · Aug 25, 2022

Group D looks like a lot of fun. Should be a lot of attacking football on display.

Groups H and E also look spicy.

And of course, the Barca-Bayern-Inter trio has plotlines galore.

As a Liverpool fan, I couldn't have asked for much better. The travel is very manageable, and both Napoli and Ajax are in a period of transition Plus, two tilts with Rangers should have both stadiums rocking. Take nothing for granted, but I'm optimistic.

teddykgb · Aug 25, 2022

Liverpool will be fine but I think there’s a world where that Napoli team is pretty good

Zososoxfan · Aug 25, 2022

Terrific draw for Spurs! Not so much for Barca or Inter...

Group C and G definitely looking the most gross, but A, B, and H should also be fiercely competitive.

InstaFace · Aug 25, 2022

fletcherpost said:
Don't mind the draw for either Celtic or Rangers...not the easiest but not the worst groups...all you can hope for really. Group C was shaping up to be a nightmare.

Celtic has the most hope, I think. Shakhtar is not all that fearsome, and I can even see Celtic having a prayer of finishing above Leipzig given that they have a lot of "falls apart" potential with their squad turnover. They could also end up awesome, of course, but there's more variance to it.

Rangers need more of a miracle to finish above one of Ajax, Liverpool and Napoli. Maybe they can benefit from a dead rubber against an already-qualified team in matchday 6 or even matchday 5, but if you're already thinking about that, you're in deep shite. You need points from other places first, in order for that to end up mattering.

swiftaw · Aug 25, 2022

fletcherpost said:
Can someone explain this to me - when Rangers were drawn, there were 4 groups yet to be completed, but Rangers could only go in group A or C. Clearly there wasn't anothe Scottish team in the two groups they could not be drawn into...but i don't know what the other criteria is.

Anyone able to clarify?

Don't mind the draw for either Celtic or Rangers...not the easiest but not the worst groups...all you can hope for really. Group C was shaping up to be a nightmare.

For countries with multiple teams, teams were paired up so that each member of the pair would be on each match day (Tuesday/Wednesday). So Celtic and Rangers are paired so one had to be in a Red group and one on a blue group. Some other pairs: Liverpool/City, Chelsea/Spurs, Bayern/Dortmund.

Zososoxfan · Aug 25, 2022

DJnVa said:
So using the numbers at footballdatabase.com here are the average team rankings for each group. The first number is all 4 teams, the second number is just the top 3 teams.

Group A: 12.5/6.0 Group of Death? Per these rankings, a top 10 club isn't advancing

Group B: 35.8/22.3

Group C: 19.3/6.7 Group of Death 2.0

Group D: 37.5/27.7 Lowest average ranking of top 3 teams

Group E: 26.3/17.7

Group F: 26.8/21.7 Battle for second here could be fun.

Group G: 51.0/17.7

Group H: 46.0/15.7

Those rankings are a bit odd. They have Ajax higher than Milan, PSG, and Barca among others. Napoli's ahead of Barca. Palmeiras is ahead of Chelsea, Arsenal, Atleti, Juve, and Dortmund. Flora Tallinn (of Estonia in case you're wondering) is ahead of Leverkusen and Sociedad!

In terms of squad value, Bayern (4), Barca (6), and Inter (12) make up by far the most expensive top 3 squads. Liverpool (3), Napoli (16), and Ajax (40) are off the pace. City (1), Dortmund (15), and Sevilla (32) is very similar. Porto (44) brings Group B down, although Atleti (11) and Leverkusen (20) bring it some Euros. Spurs (9) don't have any elite competition, but are going up against a deeper group than most, with 3 teams all ranked in the 30s or 40s in Marseille (33), Frankfurt (47), and Sporting (49). Compare that to RB Salzburg (60), Brugge (68), Rangers (70), Celtic (90), Zagreb (94), or the 4 teams falling outside the top 100 (Shakhtar, Copenhagen, Plzen, and Haifa).

fletcherpost · Aug 25, 2022

Thanks for the replies guys. That's a pretty dodgy reason but I guess it's all about the money.

OCST · Sep 7, 2022

67YAZ said:
Group D looks like a lot of fun. Should be a lot of attacking football on display.

Groups H and E also look spicy.

And of course, the Barca-Bayern-Inter trio has plotlines galore.

As a Liverpool fan, I couldn't have asked for much better. The travel is very manageable, and both Napoli and Ajax are in a period of transition Plus, two tilts with Rangers should have both stadiums rocking. Take nothing for granted, but I'm optimistic.

Browsing quickly I read “tilts” as “tits.”

22/23 Champions League--Turkish Delight on a Moonlit Night

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