• Moderators, please send me a PM if you are unable to access mod permissions. Thanks, Habsy.

2025-26 European Tournaments

jeffbear said:
Given how Palace, Villa and Forest have been playing of late, I would hold out too much hope that they’re going to pick up the side in the lower level tourneys either … although Emery’s teams routinely confound expectations in the Europa League for no known reason.
Click to expand...
Villa went on to win vs Lille 1-0, the only one of the nine English teams to win the first leg of their KO round of 16 match. Midtjylland beat Forest for the second time this European season at the Forest Ground, 1-0. And Palace drew in the Conference League 0-0 with AEK Larnaca.
 
Arsenal was the only Premier League team to advance to the quarterfinals yesterday, beating Leverkusen at The Emirates 2-0 to win the tie 3-1. Chelsea lost 3-0 at the Bridge, losing the tie to PSG, 8-2. Man City lost at home to Real Madrid, 2-1, losing the tie 5-1. City played 70 minutes without Bernardo Silva, who saw straight red for a DOGSO handball in the box.

The clock finally struck 12 for Bodo/Glimt. They took a 3-0 lead from the first leg into Lisbon but Sporting tied it in regular time, then scored in the 92nd and at 120+1 to win the tie 5-3.

Newcastle visits Barca today, tied 1-1. Liverpool hosts Galatasaray looking to overcome a 1-0 deficit. Spurs host Atletico Madrid hoping not to embarrass themselves after losing the first leg 5-2. They need to concentrate on staying up in the league.
 
Barca curb stomped Newcastle 7-2 to win the tie 8-3. Bayern Munich took out Atalanta 4-1 to win the tie by a staggering 10-2. Liverpool beat Galatasaray 4-0 to win 4-1. Spurs made a game of it, winning at home 3-2 but losing the tie 7-5.

The quarterfinal matchups are set, to be played April 7-8/14-15. The remaining premier League team are on opposite sides of the draw and can’t meet until the final.

PSG v. Liverpool
Real Madrid v. Bayern Munich
Barcelona v. Atletico Madrid
Arsenal v. Sporting
 
If you had told me, before yesterday, that of the four English clubs to be knocked out, Spurs would show the most fight for 90 minutes, I'd have laughed at you. But here we are. Newcastle's capitulation in the second half was especially shocking: they showed great heart for the first 45.
 
Btw the story of our match was the horrific injury suffered by Galatasaray's Dutch forward Noa Lang. Fell behind our goal, into the advertising boards, and suffered a traumatic hand injury. Some reports say he lost his right thumb but his Dutch teammate Jeremie Frimprong said he was told it was the tip of his thumb. Either way, just horrible to learn about. 😥
 
Better day for the English teams.
1) Villa dominated Lille 2-0 to win the tie 3-0. They will get Bologna, a 4-3 winner [5-4 on aggregate] over Roma on an 111th minute match winner.
2) Forest win on PKs vs Midtjylland 3-0 as the home side missed all 3 PKs: first two struck the same spot on the goal post to the right of Stefan Ortega; the third penalty taker slipped as he was about to strike the ball and placed his kick about 20 feet over. They get Porto next.
3) Palace win in extra time 2-1, Ismaila Sarr getting a brace with the match winner in the 99th minute. They get Fiorentina next.
 
Last edited:
andyt said:
PSG v. Liverpool
Click to expand...

It was originally reported that Lens (who play what may be the title deciding match vs PSG on the 11th) was not willing to move their match to help PSG in their preparation for the return leg vs Liverpool. But their coach today said they "may be open to it".

sports.yahoo.com

Lens open to postponement to aid PSG’s Liverpool preparations

RC Lens are “not totally closed” to postponing their match against Paris Saint-Germain in April, according to a report from RMC Sport.PSG advanced to the quarter-finals of the UEFA Champions Le...
sports.yahoo.com sports.yahoo.com
 
Happened with Villa last year. Sadly we never get the same consideration when we ask for it. Crazy that Lens would consider it, there has to be some pressure or financial incentive, cause there's no competitive reason to agree to it.
 
That PSG/Bayern match yesterday is one for the ages. 5-4, and so much drama. Both teams giving everything and pursuing everything and playing end to end football. Breathtaking!

Today's match? It happened. Not quite the same drama. And Arsenal comes home after a 1-1 draw vs Atletico.
 
Jeff can only guess my reaction when my "favorite" player on earth decided he was going to stick his hands straight in the air to make sure we lost a match that he had already been trying pretty hard to lose. My new favorite club is whatever club Maatsen ends up on this summer after he gets fed up of being on the bench behind a literal dinosaur and demands a move.
 
Not gonna lie … I thought of you when I was watching. Only charitable thoughts, I assure you.

Still, 1-0 down going home for the second leg isn’t the end of the world.
 
That "hand ball" was a moment of pure madness. I missed it at first, but when they slowed it down the first time I was thinking "what just happened?" Thought of both of you in that moment, NGL. But Jeff's right: 1-0 headed back to Villa Park isn't insurmountable.
 
The other Europa result saw Braga beat Freiburg 2-1, with the return leg headed back to Mooswald-Stadion in Freiburg.

As for the Conference League, Rayo Vallecano beat Strasbourg 1-0 with the return fixture headed to Alsace. And Palace thumped Shakhtar Donetsk 3-1. The return fixture will be played at Selhurst Park. Likely that English teams will be in the final of both competitions (well obviously there will be in Europa. :giggle:)
 
No definitely not insurmountable, and there's more than enough talent on Villa. There is the big issue that so much or our team is based around Rogers and he has been pretty bad this year. He had one incredible stretch that has made his season look better than it is, but even during that, it wasn't like he was great for the whole game, he just was great for ten minutes a match and has the ability to win the game by himself during that time. Then he goes and plays for England and is incredible so it's extra frustrating.

Nothing that has happened this season makes me expect that we will go into the return leg with anything but the exact same lineup (only possibly without Onana. I don't understand how our entire strength and conditioning team hasn't been replaced) and gameplan and it ends 0-0. I would love nothing more than to be wrong as contrary to popular belief, I don't actually enjoy being miserable.

I'm always rooting for Rayo Vallecano due to the fact that they have a leftist fanbase and also a ska band has written two songs about them and who doesn't love that other than the majority of people who don't like ska music... but they're idiots.
 
It’s Arsenal v. PSG for the Champions League on May 30. Can PSG go back to back? Can Arsenal finally break through, 20 years after losing their only Final appearance and win only their 3rd European Trophy?
 
PSG sure looks like a wagon. Maybe Arsenal can find a way to slow them down while still producing a scoring threat of their own or maybe not, but I’m not that optimistic.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top