Thread: Champions League groups:

Right so all the games in the group stages have been played and it's time to give an overview on how it went!

Group A:
My prediction:Porto 2th, Dynamo Kiev 3th, Paris St Germain 1th, Dinamo Zagreb 4th
How it went: Porto 2th, Dynamo Kiev 3th, Paris St Germain 1th, Dinamo Zagreb 4th
Spot it! Not much to say other than Kyiv seemed stronger than Zagreb I did expect them to be closer.

Group B:
My prediction: Arsenal 1th, Schalke 3th, Olympiakos 4th, Montpellier 2th
How it went: Arsenal 2th, Schalke 1th, Olympiakos 3th, Montpellier 4th
Schalke.. I knew they had a good team but I didn't think they'd be able to finnish infront of Arsenal. I didn't know to much about Montpellier so I might have overrated them a bit but I still feel it's a disapointment for them.

Group C:
My prediction: AC Milan 1th, Zenit St Petersburg 2th, Anderlecht 3th, Malaga 4th
How it went: AC Milan 2th, Zenit St Petersburg 3th, Anderlecht 4th, Malaga 1th
There was no way I saw Malaga finnish as number one. I must saw the played well and took me totally by surprice. Milian was a disapointment for sure gotta up their game if they wanna advance further.

Group D:
My prediction: Real Madrid 2th, Manchester City 1th, Ajax 3th, Borussia Dortmund 4th
How it went: Real Madrid 2th, Manchester City 4th, Ajax 3th, Borussia Dortmund 1th
This is the group with by far the most surprices in it. I should have played on that game I wonder how much money I'd have won back. Dortmund did really really bad last year in CHL but they sure as hell have done their homework. But Dortmund doesn't really have the depth to do well in both Bundesliga and CHL. At this given point they are 14 points behind FC Bayern whom leads the league. City? What the flippin' **** Somebody please tell me what happen there. It was a really hard group but I didn't see City as the weakest link..

Group E:
My prediction: Chelsea 1th, Shakhtar Donetsk 3th, Juventus 2th, FC Nordsjaelland 4th
How it went: Chelsea 3th, Shakhtar Donetsk 2th, Juventus 1th, FC Nordsjaelland 4th
Once again it just got proven that Champions League are full of surprices. The defending Champions League winners fail to advance from the group stage, if I'm not mistaken it's the first time that happens.

Group F:
My predection: Bayern Munich 1th, Valencia 2th, Lille 3th, BATE Borisov 4th
How it went: Bayern Munich 1th, Valencia 2th, Lille 4th, BATE Borisov 3th
Everything went almost as expected.

Group G:
My predection: Barcelona 1th, Benfica 3th, Spartak Moscow 2th, Celtic 4th
How it went: Barcelona 1th, Benfica 3th, Spartak Moscow 4th, Celtic 2th
Well I did go horrible wrong in that group. Celtic beating Barcalona, and almost played 1-1 in Barcalona.. Surprice surprice, I don't see them get past the next round tho.

Group H:
My predection: Manchester United 1th, Braga 3th, Galatasaray 2th, CFR Cluj 4th
How it went: Manchester United 1th, Braga 4th, Galatasaray 2th, CFR Cluj 3th
The two games I saw Cluj they played really well specially when they beat Man. United away. Braga underperformed imo, should have gotten more than 3 points in that group.

I'll return when the next rounds matches have been picked which will be on the 20th of December. I think we'll see some very interesting games. I'd like to see: Real Madrid vs Paris SG, or Dortmund vs Milan.

So here we are.
Following team are going to play against eachother in the Champions League 1/8 finales.

Galatasaray - Schalke
This is going to be interesting. Both team are fairly equal and are doing very well in their own league. However I think Schalke are going to beat Galatasaray over two games. Schalke plays in a much stronger league than Galatasaray. I wouldn't be to surpriced if Galatasaray if going to advance to the quarter finales because they're good at home and most team fear them. (Mostly because they have crazy fans).

Celtic - Juventus
Not a easy opponent for Juventus. Celtic have been playing well and beaten Barca at home, and done well in CHL. I feel that Juventus are stronger over two games and Celtic will need luck in order to win, it's not impossible I recon that the chances for Juventus to advance is 65% and Celtic 35%

Arsenal - Bayern München
Waouw.. That is going to be really fun. I as Bayern fan would like to have seen a more easier opponent but condersing they could have gotten Real Madrid I'm okay with Arsenal. But this is a game that Bayern should win. They are doing well in Bundesliga and Arsenal struggle a bit in Premier League. I'm glad they don't have Robin Van Persie anymore he could really be nasty. Perhaps this will be a little bit colored because I root for Bayern but Bayern got a much stronger team imo and the chances for them advancing are probably 70% and Arsenal 30%.

Shakhtar Donetsk - Dortmund
Even tho Shakhtar have done well in the group end beating out the last years Champions League winner Chelsea this will be the end of the road. Dortmund have disapointed in the German league but I have no doubt that they'll beat Shaktar over two games. Should be a streamroll for Dortmund.

Milan - Barcelona
If I'm not mistaken they played against eachother in the group game last year and Barcalona won that. I'm fairly sure that Barcelona will beat Milan. Barcelona are real contenders to winning this years Champions League where Milan is one of the outsiders. 80% chance in the favor of Barcelona.

Real Madrid - Manchester United
Did someone say firework? Because this will be firework. This could very well have been a finale and I'm really looking forward to watch those matches. 50% for both teams and it all comes down to which team are best on the day. It's impossible to say which team are going to advance so I'll leave that up to you guys. I however will feel bad for the team that are going to lose. Both of these team should have been in the semifinale imo. They'll walk away with a disapointment.

Valencia - Paris SG
This is the real test for Paris SG to see if their investment in big stars have paid off. Valencia is a strong team and could beat them over two games but so could Paris with Zlatan. I don't know much about these two clubs but with Zlatan and Thiago added to the Paris team I feel they should go to the quarter finale.

Porto - Malaga
This one is going to be tricky. Malaga really took me and a bunch of other by surprice when they went ahead and won their group, but much like with Shaktar I feel this is going to be where the train stops. Porto is favorite to win the game and should win.

So that's it for me this time. I hope you could read it despite my horrible English skills. ;)
Date of the games will be: 12. and 20 Febuary and return games at 5. and 12. March.

Nice write up...I am not familiar with all these teams/leagues, but I will just make a few comments...

Real Madrid - ManU - I agree should be a great match-up...go Man U...

Arsenal - Bayern Munchen - I never root for other London teams...go Bayern

Shakhtar Donetsk - Dortmunh - Shakhtar Donetsk can eat dick and die...yes, I am bitter...go Dortmunh...

Originally Posted by Wolfman

Nice write up...I am not familiar with all these teams/leagues, but I will just make a few comments...

Real Madrid - ManU - I agree should be a great match-up...go Man U...

Arsenal - Bayern Munchen - I never root for other London teams...go Bayern

Shakhtar Donetsk - Dortmunh - Shakhtar Donetsk can eat dick and die...yes, I am bitter...go Dortmunh...

Cheers! First of all I think it's pretty neat you follow soccer, just to bad you root for the wrong team. ;) You're the first Amercian I know off that follows European soccer. By the way do the boardcast the Champions League games on Amercian telly?

Even tho I really dislike Dortmund, I kinda hope for them to do well in Champions League this year. You always hear how the English and Spanish league are the strongest but I think that the German league is closing in, I mean Dortmund did finnish infront of Real M, Man. City and Ajax. Bayern have been to the champions league finale two times in the last 3 years and they could very well to it this year again. Got a much better roster now than last year.

I don't know if you guys know this but normally they do a test before the actually draw and here is what it looked like: http://www.101greatgoals.com/gallery...-were-immense/

And no that is not the actually live draw but the test draw pre the live draw.. Kinda spooky, what are the odds? ;)

Originally Posted by ZifanQ

Cheers! First of all I think it's pretty neat you follow soccer, just to bad you root for the wrong team. ;) You're the first Amercian I know off that follows European soccer. By the way do the boardcast the Champions League games on Amercian telly?

Even tho I really dislike Dortmund, I kinda hope for them to do well in Champions League this year. You always hear how the English and Spanish league are the strongest but I think that the German league is closing in, I mean Dortmund did finnish infront of Real M, Man. City and Ajax. Bayern have been to the champions league finale two times in the last 3 years and they could very well to it this year again. Got a much better roster now than last year.

I don't know if you guys know this but normally they do a test before the actually draw and here is what it looked like: http://www.101greatgoals.com/gallery...-were-immense/

And no that is not the actually live draw but the test draw pre the live draw.. Kinda spooky, what are the odds? ;)

Yes, the Fox Soccer Channel shows both Champions League games and English Premier League, which is the league I follow the most...they show the even the Europa League which my beloved Blues have been humiliatingly regulated to...

I've been following Chelsea and English soccer for about two years now... soccer has been slowly growing in the States, but many people think it's finally ready to really take off...NBC just bought the TV rights for the English Premier League from Fox for $250 million for 3 years...the last 3 year deal was only worth $80 million....

What started out as a mild curiosity because my young son started playing soccer, has turned into a real love and appreciation of sport...

Originally Posted by Wolfman

Yes, the Fox Soccer Channel shows both Champions League games and English Premier League, which is the league I follow the most...they show the even the Europa League which my beloved Blues have been humiliatingly regulated to...

I've been following Chelsea and English soccer for about two years now... soccer has been slowly growing in the States, but many people think it's finally ready to really take off...NBC just bought the TV rights for the English Premier League from Fox for $250 million for 3 years...the last 3 year deal was only worth $80 million....

What started out as a mild curiosity because my young son started playing soccer, has turned into a real love and appreciation of sport...

Oh man that's pretty cool. I tend to follow Chicago Fire, the team I root for in Denmark bought one of their players and they sold him back to Fire. (Chris Rolfe)

That is a lot of money, but yea I'm not surpriced that it's the English league that gets all the love, perhaps in a few years the Spanish one will get some love aswell.
250million dollars sounds like a lot. Don't you like the fact that there are no commerical breaks in soccer. That is the only downside with NFL, so many breaks.

Originally Posted by ZifanQ

Oh man that's pretty cool. I tend to follow Chicago Fire, the team I root for in Denmark bought one of their players and they sold him back to Fire. (Chris Rolfe)

That is a lot of money, but yea I'm not surpriced that it's the English league that gets all the love, perhaps in a few years the Spanish one will get some love aswell.
250million dollars sounds like a lot. Don't you like the fact that there are no commerical breaks in soccer. That is the only downside with NFL, so many breaks.

Yeah, never realized how damn slow American Football is until I started watching soccer...start, stop, start, stop, start, stop....3+ hours to play a 60 minute game...only in America...;)