UEFA Champions League

[klown]

So for the all the escapist football fans. The first leg of the round of 16 is done with. Here is a quick recap for those of you who don't know all the scores

Spoiler

Galatasaray - Schalke 04 (1 - 1)

Celtic - Juventus (0 - 3)

Arsenal - Bayern Munich (1 - 3)

Shakhtar Donetsk - Borussia Dortmund (2 - 2)

AC Milan - Barcelona (2 - 0)

Real Madrid - Manchester United (1 - 1)

Valencia - Paris Saint-Germain (1 - 2)

Porto - Malaga (1 - 0)

So with that said, what do you guys think so far of the first leg. The AC Milan game was a huge shocker to me. I think Barcelona took AC far to lightly.

As a big Bayern Munich fan, I'm glad of our 3 away goals, we are almost assured to make it through, though the Gunner goal was such a big mistake for Neuer. He should have done better.

 

[Aris Khandr]

Disappointed, obviously. Hoping for a better showing in March. If not, I'll have to throw my support behind PSG. My brother is a supporter of Barcelona, owning to his bandwagon jumping and years spent in Spain. So I'd be happy to see them lose to AC Milan, as well.

 

[smithy_2045]

I hope Barca comes back in the 2nd leg solely because I have a multibet relying on them getting through.

 

[Vegosiux]

Being a Gunner supporter since as long as I can remember myself, I'm obviously not too happy about that game. But, seeing as we're going to get knocked out, I suppose I'll put myself behind Borussia for the rest, I'm pretty sure they can hold the ground in Dortmund.

 

[SckizoBoy]

Well, since I'm a Fulham fan... have only been in Europe twice in our history. Still, we did get to the final of the inaugural Europa league... *shrug*

Anyway... I'll be supporting Bayern this season, like the good Teutonophile that I am... -_-

Failing that, Manchester United... ¬_¬

 

[Andy Shandy]

As a Scot, I was disappointed that Celtic got beat 3-0 by Juve, although they weren't helped by the ref, who could and should've given them a couple of penalties. Although I did enjoy the panto every time there was a corner for Celtic.

Backing Bayern to win the whole thing.

 

[AnarchistFish]

I think Bayern will win the tournament but I'm still disappointed at the 3-1 loss

 

[klown]

You know, while the scoreline was 3-1, The Gunners should be kind of proud with a few of their players. Wilshire completely fucked us in the midfield. Any time he had the ball, we could not keep up with him.

I'm hoping Bayern wins it all, that would be such an amazing send off for Jupp.

 

[The-Fiction]

As a Man Utd fan I'm delighted with our result, especially after hearing a lot of people saying we were going to be embarrassed there. An away goal will serve us in good stead as I can't see us keeping a clean sheet at Old Trafford to be honest, it's going to be emotional having Ronaldo return but I'm quietly confident about our chances of progressing.

I'm gutted for Arsenal as I've always liked them in a begrudging way but after seeing the way Bayern just dismantled them so efficiently I've gotta admit they are my favourites for the tournament, absolutely incredible team and (barring an Arsenal miracle) a team that I'm sure a lot of teams will be hoping to avoid in the next round.

AC Milan did very well, they had a game plan and put it to good use, getting a two goal lead to take to the Nou Camp and as long as they keep up that discipline away from home then I won't be at all surprised to see them progress. Read an interesting stat for Barcelona in the Champions League knock-out rounds they have only won 3 of 14 games away from home, maybe not so invincible in Europe away from home? But still, can't ever write that team off, I reckon the return leg will be a cracking game.

 

[Wadders]

Barca need to figure out how to play against teams who do that to them. Chelsea, Celtic and now Ac Milan. I admire them as no matter what they go for broke and play football, but it really didn't help them.

I'd love to see Real put Man Utd out. I'm an Englishman, but no matter what I cant bring myself to support them.

Other than that I don't really care too much about the CL. At the moment I'm more concerned with whether my team can avoid relegation from League One or not...

 

[doggy go 7]

my opinion on the champions league? grrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrarsenalwhatthefuckareyoudoinggrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr.

It's not that we lost per say, because bayen are right up there in the best teams in europe catagory, it's the fact that for the first half and a lot of the second, we just didn't look like we cared at all. I want us to be at a point where we don't have to say wilshire was great, even though everyone else was crap, but we can say the majority of our players had a good game.

and who the fuck let ramsey onto the pitch (ok rant over no)

 

[Kekkonen1]

My beloved Juventus looks to get an easy ride thanks to a good match-plan over in Scotland and Milan beat Barcelona (I love Italian football) so I am incredibly happy so far =)
Hopefully Juve can get to the semi atleast, I think that on a good day Juve can beat any team, but we still lack something up front and the injury on Chiellini is really being felt, so perhaps next year is the year I want us to REALLY challenge in CL.

 

[Aris Khandr]

So many Gooners about. Have you been directed to our user group?

http://www.escapistmagazine.com/groups/members/Barclays-Premier-League

We'll outnumber the rest of them combined soon.

 

[Jamieson 90]

It's so disappointing to see so many English people not willing to support fellow English clubs if they were to be knocked out. I'm a United fan and I'd support any English club if we got knocked out; showing off how good the PL is more important in Europe than local rivalries.

 

[Aris Khandr]

I have a history of supporting France. You may recall that my avatar swapped to the crest of Les Bleus for the duration of the Euro tournament last year. In fact, it was being a fan of Thierry Henry's performance at the World Cup many years ago that brought me to Arsenal. So when Arsenal isn't an option to support, I'll go to a French team first. No real enmity against ManU, just have to support France. Should PSG go out and ManU is still in, I'll happily support them next. Tottenham would get no such consideration, though.

 

[Soxafloppin]

I'd have put my money on Barca at the same personally, being 2-0 down is bad but it will all come down to what happens at Nou Camp. Just looking at the football so far I think Bayern have a pretty good chance at it, after throwing it away in last years final I'm sure they're hungry for it.

 

[klown]

I'd have put my money on Barca at the same personally, being 2-0 down is bad but it will all come down to what happens at Nou Camp. Just looking at the football so far I think Bayern have a pretty good chance at it, after throwing it away in last years final I'm sure they're hungry for it.

The problem for Barca is that they will have to play differently than they are used too. Milan was almost perfect on defense against them, and if they (and they probably will) stress defense at Nau, they can hold them to 2 goals, and take them to Penalties at least, if not hold them to 1 goal and win.

As for Bayern Munich, this is probably the best they've ever been period. I see them going to the finals again easily. It's a very exciting time for us.

 

[Vegosiux]

I'd have put my money on Barca at the same personally, being 2-0 down is bad but it will all come down to what happens at Nou Camp. Just looking at the football so far I think Bayern have a pretty good chance at it, after throwing it away in last years final I'm sure they're hungry for it.

The problem for Barca is that they will have to play differently than they are used too. Milan was almost perfect on defense against them, and if they (and they probably will) stress defense at Nau, they can hold them to 2 goals, and take them to Penalties at least, if not hold them to 1 goal and win.

As long as Milan scores a goal in Barcelona, they're almost definitely winning this faceoff, since I can't see them conceding 4 goals, and thanks to the "away goals scored" rule, Barca will have to win with 3 goals difference the moment Milan scores if they wish to advance.