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2023-24 UEFA Champions League and Europa Conference League

A

andyt

Canes Moderator
Staff member
The Champions League draw was held today. Group F looks like the Group of Death, poor Newcastle.

Group A - Bayern Munich, Man U, Copenhagen, Galatasaray
Group B - Sevilla, Arsenal, PSV, Lens
Group C - Napoli, Real Madrid, Braga, Union Berlin
Group D - Benfica, Inter, RB Salzburg, Real Sociedad
Group E - Feyenoord, Atletico Madrid, Lazio, Celtic
Group F - PSG, Dortmund, AC Milan, Newcastle
Group G - Man City, RB Leipzig, Red Star Belgrade, Young Boys
Group H - Barcelona, Porto, Shakhtar Donetsk, Antwerp

Matchday 1 - 9/19-20
Marchday 2 -10/3-4
Matchday 3 -10/24-25
Matchday 4 - 11/7-8
Matchday 5 - 11/28-29
Matchday 6 - 12/12-13
 
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Europa Conference League draw was today ... Aston Villa landed in Group E with AZ, Legia Warsaw and HSK Zrinjski Mostar from Bosnia after brutalizing Hiberian 8-0 over two legs in qualifying.
www.uefa.com

UEFA Europa Conference League group stage draw | UEFA Europa Conference League 2023/24

Follow all the latest UEFA Conference League 2024/2025 news from the official UEFA.com site. Includes latest news stories, videos, match reports and much more.
www.uefa.com www.uefa.com
 
I love the purity of Europa….phenomenal footy, rarely any dirty money teams involved dominating due to their finances…great great trophy to win, rank it over FA Cup or The League Cup personally.
 
Europa League draw was today too.

West Ham drew Olympiacos, Freiburg and TSC Backa Topola from Serbia. It’s their first appearance in European competition.
Brighton drew Ajax, Marseille and AEK Athens
Liverpool drew LASK, Union SG from Belgium and Toulouse
 
Matchday 1 for all 3 competitions this week, Champions League today and tomorrow, Europa and Conference Leagues on Thursday.
 
It was a mixed bag for the English clubs (and Celtic) in Europe last week. Arsenal beat PSV at home, Man City beat Red Star at home. Newcastle drew at the San Siri, there are videos of some of the Toon Army jumping into a canal in Milan. Man U and Celtic both lost on the road, to Bayern and Feyenoord, respectively. In the Europa League, West Ham and Liverpool won, Brighton lost at home to AEK Athens. Villa lost at Legia Warsaw in the Conference League.
 
Listen ... Celtic, with freaking Brendan Rodgers back at the helm, have exactly zero expectations in Champions League this year aside from not getting embarrassed
 
The broadcast team from Paramount is pitch side at St. James’ Park. Everyone has either a black or white flag and the Toon Army is in full voice. They’re having problems hearing each other, just an amazing scene. And Ray Hudson on the call? Football heaven.
 
andyt said:
The broadcast team from Paramount is pitch side at St. James’ Park. Everyone has either a black or white flag and the Toon Army is in full voice. They’re having problems hearing each other, just an amazing scene. And Ray Hudson on the call? Football heaven.
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I was with you until you said Ray Hudson. His name recently came up in a list our Pasadena Reds FB group made up: "Things You Can't Stand About Football". Just no. 😉
 
As for that match, it was quite a display by the Geordies that they fully earned all the praise heaped on them afterwards. However, they learned about the draining aspect of Europe today (Sunday) with a lackluster performance vs West Ham
 
Really nice performance by Villa over AZ mid week. Tielemans looked really good being allowed to play in a more advanced role. I would love for him to get some starts over Zaniolo. Bailey looked good starting as well. Lenglet was the biggest surprise for me looking very solid in defense. Our depth looks a little better than I thought, but I'd sure like to add a little more in January. Kamara has been playing a ton of minutes and we don't really have any replacement for him and his defensive versatility. Dendoncker and Chambers are the only similar players and neither are at a premier league standard at this point. Luiz had been great this year, but we have players like Tielemans or even the swiss army knife that is John McGinn that could play the role of second pivot that's allowed to get more forward to an acceptable standard.
 
UCL Match Day 5 complete and some of the groups are wrapped up

Group A - Bayern Munich won the group. Copenhagen and Galatasaray are tied on 5 points, Man U has 4. Man U needs a win against Bayern to advance, a draw might do it depending on the Copenhagen/Galatasary result. But a Man U loss ends their European season.
Group B - Arsenal won the group. PSV Eindhoven are 2nd and host Arsenal next week. If they get a point, they’ll finish 2nd. Lens needs a home win against Sevilla and help from Arsenal to make up the goal difference on PSV. But a Sevilla win sends them to the Europa League and Lens goes home.
Group C - Real Madrid won the group. Napoli needs a point at home to Braga to finish 2nd. But a Braga win by 2 goals will see them pip Napoli. Union Berlin needs a home win against Real Madrid and a Braga loss to get to the Europa League.
Group D - Real Sociedad and Inter are tied on 11 points and play each other next week. They’ve clinched the knockout stage positions. A draw will give the group to Sociedad on goal differential. Benfica needs a 3 goal win at Salzburg to stay alive, anything less sends them home.
Group E - Atletico and Lazio have clinched the knockout stage positions. Lazio needs a win at Madrid next week to win the group. Feyenoord has clinched the Europa League spot, Celtic is done.
Group F - Dortmund has clinched a knockout round spot and host 2nd place PSG next week. A 2 goal PSG win will give them the group. Newcastle and AC Milan are tied on 5 points. The Magpies could move into the knockout round with a home win against AC Milan and a PSG loss. But a loss to Milan ends their European season.
Group G - Man City won the group, RB Leipzig clinched 2nd. Young Boys need a point at Leipzig to clinch 3rd, Red Star Belgrade need a 3 goal home win against Man City and Young Boys loss to get to the Europa League.
Group H - Barcelona leads the group and need a point at last place Antwerp to win it. Porto and Shakhtar Donetsk are tied on 9 points. Porto hosts Shakhtar and need a draw or better to move to the knockout round, Shakhtar need a win. Antwerp is done; in their first trip to the Champions League they're the only team that hasn’t gotten a point
 
Villa beat Legia Warsaw 2-1. One more goal would have been really nice to guarantee winning the group and allowing us to send the youth team to our last match, but this does put us in a pretty comfortable spot to come out on top. Villa with some of the softest yellow cards I've ever seen (the Tielemans one was mindblowing as in no universe is it even a foul) and Legia making tactical fouls all over the pitch and yet the card stayed in the pocket for them. Great to see Moreno back, he looked a little rusty, but he is so damn fast and we've really missed the added threat he provides. Got the game winner as well, which I didn't even notice at first cause I got distracted by Duran being football tackled from behind on the free kick. Duran played the whole game and looked really good. It's still amazing to me that he doesn't turn 20 for a couple weeks, he's still raw skill and experience wise obviously, but he looks like Lebron James when he came into the league right out of high school and you just went, that's a full grown man. He is so big, fast and strong. In the first half he turned on the jets and burst past the entire Legia defense like they were running in sand and after that happened, every time he got near the ball they fouled him. He also jumps like an elite NBA player as well. There have been grumblings of him not being happy and he hasn't played at all in a while, so it was nice to see him out there playing a full game and seeming to be enjoying himself.
 
If they continue to bring him along, Duran is absolutely going to turn out to be a steal. He flashed those physical gifts in MLS, but was never going to really get there in a league without equally physical defenders. All this football against these rough and tumble smaller Euro league sides has been really, really good for him. He's fun to watch, for sure.

That said, the only thing anybody's going to be talking about after today is the fan violence outside the stadium. Legia's supporters have caused all manner of problems this year, but setting a cop's jacket on fire with a flare might be the coup de grace.
 
Halfway through Match Day 6. The big news…Man U is out of Europe, they finished last in their group.

Group A - Bayern Munich, Copenhagen, Galatasaray, Man U
Group B - Arsenal, PSV Eindhoven, Lens, Sevilla
Group C - Real Madrid, Napoli, Braga, Union Berlin
Group D - Real Sociedad, Inter, Benfica, Salzburg
 
andyt said:
Halfway through Match Day 6. The big news…Man U is out of Europe, they finished last in their group.
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I keep seeing this expressed in tones of surprise. WAS that a surprise? I mean, I guess I'm a little surprised that Copenhagen finished 2nd in that group, but Man U has been lukewarm at best and dysfunctional at worst all season. Not the kind of thing that generally leads to success in Champions League, for sure.
 
jeffbear said:
I keep seeing this expressed in tones of surprise. WAS that a surprise? I mean, I guess I'm a little surprised that Copenhagen finished 2nd in that group, but Man U has been lukewarm at best and dysfunctional at worst all season. Not the kind of thing that generally leads to success in Champions League, for sure.
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Surprise that they’re not advancing in the UCL? No, it shouldn’t be. Surprise that they’re out of Europe? Yes.

The rest of the groups finished today

Group E - Atletico, Lazio, Feyenoord, Celtic
Group F - Dortmund, PSG, AC Milan, Newcastle
Group G - Man City, Leipzig, Young Boys, Red Star Belgrade
Group H - Barcelona, Porto, Shakhtar Donetsk, Antwerp

The Round of16 draw will take place on December 18. The group winners are seeded, the runners up are not. The seeded teams will host the 2nd leg. Teams from the same group or association can’t be drawn against each other.
 
So Newcastle and ManU finishing bottom of their groups probably guarantees that the prem doesn't get a fifth spot next year. As a fan of a team with the potential to finish in the top five, my dislike of both teams has grown.
 
VinatieriDefinesClutch said:
my dislike of both teams has grown.
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Steep hill, right there. Of the old school big clubs, Man United is the one I dislike most and Newcastle could pound sand even before they added obnoxious Saudi ownership to the mix. Never has a fanbase who has won so little acted like they were so freaking special. Eff off, Geordies.
 
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