Goooooooooooooooooooooooooool

[sal]

That Lyon/Rangers game should be a good one as well.

[sal]

Watching Marseille play right now is like pulling out my own teeth. They are playing horribly. Liverpool is playing well, by that meaning they are properly exploiting Marseille's shitiness.

[Van Basten II]

Dissapointing evening of footy for yours truly, both games i saw were one sided affairs. Real against Lazio and the Liverpool easy win over Marseille.

In my book Marseille deserved to lose just for wearing those kits that even color blind people would refuse to do anything with them.

To make it worse, Bremen got also drubbed and will settle for the UEFA Cup.

[Van Basten II]

Uneven Lyon finally pulled out a good performance to win what was a nailbiter for 85 minutes before Benzema put the game away for the only French side remaining.

Here are the qualified teams for the next round

Olympiakos

Fenerbahçe

Celtic

Liverpool

Chelsea

MU

Arsenal

Roma

Inter Milan

AC Milan

Barcelona

Real Madrid

Sevilla

Lyon

Porto

Shalke

The big three has plenty of members with 10 out of 12 going through only Lazio and Valencia have missed the cut.

The next group composed of Germany, France and Portugal have only one respective representative while the rest of Europe occupies the three remaining spots.

If the UK will be absent of the next Euro they sure will be busy this spring with 5 representatives.

Next step december the 21st with the draw of the first knockout round.

[brownie]

Uneven Lyon finally pulled out a good performance to win what was a nailbiter for 85 minutes before Benzema put the game away for the only French side remaining.

Yes, Lyon had a good game last night and deserved to qualify.

Played much better than Marseille. That team is a joke by now!

[sidewinder]

And England get a new manager from Porcy62's homeland ! :rsly:

[Van Basten II]

Good pick by England.

[Van Basten II]

Some interesting games this weekend.

My Werder Bremen will host Bayer Leverkussen, not only those teams are respectively 2nd and fourth in the rankings but they are among the two of the three best offenses in the Bundesliga.

Later we will be able to see Valencia receiving Barcelona. By the way current head coach Frank Rykjaard is rumoured to take the head of the Bayern for the next season.

Sunday should be an all English affair with Liverpool and MU fighting off followed by London rivals Chelsea and Arsenal.

Too bad, can't see the first game thanks to my lame cable provider.

Edited December 15, 2007 by Van Basten II

[Van Basten II]

Fireworks did happen in the Bremen-Leverkussen game, after a false start the home side got back on track ro easily beat Leverkussen 5-2

[Van Basten II]

Poor, poor Valencia.

[porcy62]

And England get a new manager from Porcy62's homeland ! :rsly:

Don Fabio, as they call it in Madrid, is a damn tough guy. I foresee hard times for Beckham's fashion advisers.

Edited December 15, 2007 by porcy62

[sidewinder]

And England get a new manager from Porcy62's homeland ! :rsly:

Don Fabio, as they call it in Madrid, is a damn tough guy. I foresee hard times for Beckham's fashion advisers.

I hope he kicks some underperforming asses.

No wonder he's smiling all the time though. At £6 million per year he ought to. Jeez..

[sidewinder]

I foresee hard times for Beckham's fashion advisers.

Time to retire with the "Posh" one and live off the Japanese royalties..

[sal]

Well, I'm very excited for this weekend. Some potentially exciting Premier League matchups on Saturday morning, including Aston Villa vs. Man City and Liverpool vs. Portsmouth. But Sunday is the real reason to get excited, with a couple potentially epic matches beginning with AC Milan vs. Inter Milan, followed by Barcalona vs. Real Madrid.

Sorry Van Basten II, I know its normally you who gives us all the heads up on the weekend's action ( ), but this weekend is particularly special because I will be visiting my father's place for the holidays, and he has a dish, which means I'm going to actually get to watch these matches!!!

Enjoy the beautiful game this weekend, all!

Edited December 21, 2007 by sal

[Van Basten II]

Have a great weekend, you forgot Arsenal-Tottenham.

[Van Basten II]

Here is the draw for the Champions League round of 16

Tie 1: Celtic versus Barcelona. Barcelona were knocked out by them in the Uefa Cup three seasons ago, one must recall.

Tie 2: Lyon versus Manchester United. The Red Devils will fancy themselves in this one, though a couple of Karim Benzema goals could be a bother.

Tie 3: Schalke versus FC Porto. Both sides will back themselves here.

Tie 4: Liverpool versus Inter Milan. That is a big one. Inter have so much to prove in Europe, and looks like they will have to do it against one of the legendary clubs as far as European Cups are concerned. Will it be another early exit, or glory finally?

Tie 5: AS Roma versus Real Madrid. That will most definitely not be easy for Los Merengues. Another trip to Rome after facing Lazio in the group stage.

Tie 6: Arsenal versus AC Milan. That will be the clash of the round, undoubtedly. The young guns against the old guard, so to speak. And of course, Fabregas against Kaka!

Tie 7: Olympiakos versus Chelsea. The Blues will fancy themselves in this one.

Tie 8: Fenerbahce versus Sevilla. It will not be plain sailing for Sevilla, as they must first negociate a tricky first leg in Turkey.

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Nice battle between English and Italian clubs, the only French side didn't get lucky

[Van Basten II]

Early Christmas for Inter, and It was Dida who played Santa Claus

[Van Basten II]

Little happening Futbol wise. Only the Premier League is still in action. The game of the week is probably Manchester City hosting the Reds.

[Van Basten II]

Little happening Futbol wise. Only the Premier League is still in action. The game of the week is probably Manchester City hosting the Reds.

Very good 0-0 game. City was lucky to escape with a draw with the visitors putting on pressure throughout the match.

[sal]

Looks like Tottenham's Dimitar Berbatov wants to leave the club this January. Always liked him.....I hope he stays in England.

[ASNL77]

I was in France for the Christmas period and I managed to get some tickets to see the game Nancy - Lyon. Nancy is my team and I have been supporting them for about 25 years now. Great game that Nancy should have won. Final score was 1-1. I know the French league is weaker than the English, Spanish and Italian leagues but this match played in dreadful weather on a completely frozen pitch was a very good game of football. This is the first time ever that Nancy are doing so well in the league and I was over the moon to see that game against Lyon. For those who know a bit about football, Nancy is the team where Michel Platini started his career before playing for St Etienne and Juventus. We are still second behind Lyon who should win the French league for the seventh time on the trot.

Edited December 31, 2007 by ASNL77

[sal]

Sounds like fun, ANSL77!!

[Van Basten II]

I was in France for the Christmas period and I managed to get some tickets to see the game Nancy - Lyon. Nancy is my team and I have been supporting them for about 25 years now. Great game that Nancy should have won. Final score was 1-1. I know the French league is weaker than the English, Spanish and Italian leagues but this match played in dreadful weather on a completely frozen pitch was a very good game of football. This is the first time ever that Nancy are doing so well in the league and I was over the moon to see that game against Lyon. For those who know a bit about football, Nancy is the team where Michel Platini started his career before playing for St Etienne and Juventus. We are still second behind Lyon who should win the French league for the seventh time on the trot.

Seems you had a great time, my main beef with the league, is that most teams play in a conservative way, French teams used to play with flair, not anymore they remind me of Calcio teams style of playing in the 80s sorry Porcy62

[Van Basten II]

This weekend, look for FA Cup 3rd round action. The marquee game is obviously Aston Villa-MU.

Edited January 4, 2008 by Van Basten II

[ASNL77]

I was in France for the Christmas period and I managed to get some tickets to see the game Nancy - Lyon. Nancy is my team and I have been supporting them for about 25 years now. Great game that Nancy should have won. Final score was 1-1. I know the French league is weaker than the English, Spanish and Italian leagues but this match played in dreadful weather on a completely frozen pitch was a very good game of football. This is the first time ever that Nancy are doing so well in the league and I was over the moon to see that game against Lyon. For those who know a bit about football, Nancy is the team where Michel Platini started his career before playing for St Etienne and Juventus. We are still second behind Lyon who should win the French league for the seventh time on the trot.

Seems you had a great time, my main beef with the league, is that most teams play in a conservative way, French teams used to play with flair, not anymore they remind me of Calcio teams style of playing in the 80s sorry Porcy62

You are right about French teams being very cautious especially when playing away. Your comparison with the Italian league in the 80s is spot on. The problem is that French clubs can't compete with richer English, Italian and Spanish clubs and they find very difficult to attract very good strikers. So many French players leave the country every year for financial reasons ( salary and taxes). It is a shame but I can't see things change in the foreseable future. Yet, the level is better than many people think it is and apart from Lyon, the rest of the clubs are of similar quality. In the English or the Italian leagues, the bottom five or six teams are really poor.