Liverpool finally got their groove back. Barca takes a big tumble at home to PSG to likely go out very early. Juve loses but has chance to come back. I would really hope PSG gets Man City in next round. For Liverpool, anybody but Atletico.
I don’t think anyone wants to see Atletico.
Or Bayern.
Barca looked like crap, but Mbappe looked pretty damn good. He might make something of himself.
CBS Sports Network is showing the UEL matches today, same format as the group stage of the UCL, cutting to goals or close goals as they occur.
Wow, CHE with the win over ATM Giroud with the offside-overturned bicycle-kick.
Not sure where they get their play-by-play guy, but it is NOT a technicality. There are three components of Offside. If you don’t know them and call them a “technicality,” then you shouldn’t be playing-by-play. You are also implying that the law should be changed do that this technicality is resolved.
Offside’s three components:
- Player is in an offside position (wrong place);
- At the moment when the ball is last touched by a teammate (wrong time);
- And, subsequently get involved in play (doing the wrong thing).
Ball was not last touched by a teammate. Not sure how much clearer the law has to be.
So, I see this on ESPN.com headlines:
Messi brace helps Barca jump to third in La Liga
Score in the link is 0-2, deJong and Puig scoring for Barca.
So, what “brace” are they talking about?
Ah: the link to the story is for the January 24 match, not today’s.
More ESPN lack of proofreaders fun:
Thomas Tuchel has admitted that losing to Manchester United with Paris Saint-Germain in October 2019 sent him to a “very dark place” for two days but added that his previous encounters can help Chelsea beat United in Sunday’s crucial Premier League clash.
Um, “October”?? It was in March 2019. They don’t play knockout rounds in October (well, didn’t that year).
Juve out to Porto on away goals. That’s a big elimination. Good chance Barca out today.
Wild game. Tied at regulation, and Porto down a man, both score goals within two minutes of each other at 115’.
Today, CBS is showing “Tiki and Tierney” instead of matches.
Chelsea eliminates Atletico. That is a big step forward. Atletico is one team I would have hated to have Liverpool face next round. Prefer Madrid, Porto, or Chelsea. Next would be Dortmund. Hope 2 in PSG/Munich/City draw each other.
Merlin’s Beard! Not a great day to be a Spurs fan…and who knew that Pogba still plays for ManU. I figured he was in Turkey by now.
So Spursy. Just finished watching.
You got your wish, triply.
Yes, a good day. Like that City got Dortmund and that either Munich or PSG won’t be there. Look forward to Salah slicing Ramos. This is not-your-daddy’s-Madrid.
Madrid is not Fulham, either.
Unbelievably, the Spurs are only three points behind Chelsea for fourth place in the EPL. No more Europa League games to wear them down so maybe they can still manage to qualify for Champions League play next year after all.
EPL has four teams in the tourneys’ semis.
Could be four in the finals.
ECA (European Club Association) trying to expand Champions League to 36 teams, each team plays 10 other teams, but not in groups, but based on “ranking” (?).
Top eight would make knockout, while 9th through 24th would play knockout play-in/play-Europa. So, two more games for them.
So, more games on the schedule, but where to schedule them? One way would be to have leagues drop to 18 teams. Or expand an extra month. Reconfigure domestic cups so that Euro-playing teams are added later (what FA does for the EFL Cup).
Seems perfect the way it is now.
Fan groups are against it:
The elusive quadruple is no more.
Game was so important it was on ESPN+.
Euro Super League is getting more real.
American Sports ownership has influenced soccer in the bad way (imo).
I hope no one watches and someone (foolish TV rights buyer) loses a lot of money. I hope that players can’t play on their national teams, so they decide to move to teams in meritorious leagues instead.
Seems like everyone hates the idea of the Super League except for the super club owners that stand to benefit. The money is big enough that I’m not sure it will be stopped at this point.
I’m guessing that the threats of banning players from world cup play may be toothless. That would probably scuttle this if true.