UEFA Champions League 2015/16

[Zidane]

Now that the group stages have been announced,time for a thread on the Champions League.
Chelsea seem to have the easiest group and Manchester City the hardest,but all should have a decent chance of progressing.

The UEFA Champions League group stage is set following the draw in Monaco on Thursday.

Chelsea manager José Mourinho will return to Porto, with whom he won the UEFA Champions League in 2004, while Paris Saint-Germain are up against Real Madrid in Group A. In Group D, meanwhile, last season's runners-up Juventus will face Manchester City as well as 2014/15 UEFA Europa League winners Sevilla. The holders, Barcelona, take on Bayer Leverkusen, Roma and BATE Borisov.

FULL FIXTURE LIST

2015/16 UEFA Champions League group stage draw

Group A: Paris Saint-Germain, Real Madrid, Shakhtar Donetsk, Malmö

Group B: PSV Eindhoven, Manchester United, CSKA Moskva, Wolfsburg

Group C: Benfica, Atlético, Galatasaray, Astana

Group D: Juventus, Manchester City, Sevilla, Borussia Mönchengladbach

Group E: Barcelona, Bayer Leverkusen, Roma, BATE Borisov

Group F: Bayern München, Arsenal, Olympiacos, Dinamo Zagreb

Group G: Chelsea, Porto, Dynamo Kyiv, Maccabi Tel-Aviv

Group H: Zenit, Valencia, Lyon, Gent

Group stage dates
Matchday one: 15–16/09/14
Matchday two: 29–30/09/14
Matchday three: 20–21/10/14
Matchday four: 03–04/11/14
Matchday five: 24–25/11/14
Matchday six: 08–09/12/14

[PeteC]

15-16/09/14..does that equal 15th and 16th September, 2014? Did they copy last years schedule with the year....or a typo throughout?

[Zidane]

Well spotted,Pete !
The days are correct,all being a Tuesday or a Wednesday but the year should be 2015,of course !
I did copy and paste from their website....UEFA.com.....but never noticed !

[duan]

Does anyone know which TV providers will be showing this seasons Champions League? I know that Bein have bought the Thailand rights for the Champions League but as far as I'm aware True only carry one Bein sports channel and CTH do not have any Bein Sports channels.
Any information would be greatly appreciated.

[Big Boy]

I don't know, but I'd suggest you look at Expat TV or 365 Sport.

[Zidane]

Manchester City 1 Juventus 2
PSV Eindhoven 2 Manchester United 1

Not a very good start by the English clubs but Uniteds match was overshadowed by a shocking tackle on Uniteds Luke Shaw which resulted in a double fracture of the leg and a spell of at least 6 months on the sidelines.
United dominated for long periods but missed a host of chances and poor defending gave PSV their goals.
City conceded two late goals at home to Juventus and it shows just how much they rely on Aguero upfront.

Good luck to Arsenal and Chelsea tonight.

On the Predictions League I've gone for Dinamo Zagreb 1 Arsenal 2 and Chelsea 3 Maccabi Tel Aviv 2.

Jose will be hoping I'm correct.......

[caller]

Jose will be hoping I'm correct.......

He's not the only one.

[Zidane]

After an emphatic Chelsea win plus an excellent score on IKTS,caller can once again log on to the forum with confidence !
Arsenal.....Giroud sent off....."we were a bit unlucky.....we werent at our best but neither was the referee" - Monsieur Wenger.

[dtaai-maai]

As for Chelsea, I have to say I thought 3-2 would have been a disappointing but very unlikely score - Makkabi were unlikely to get 2 in goals London. Much as I would love Chelsea to have lost, I reckoned they'd win 3-0.

As for the Arsenal, the only bad luck they had was to have an arse like Giroud playing. He'd already tantrumed his way into the book and his 'tackle' was always a 2nd yellow card.

Wenger:

"The first yellow [for Giroud] is a foul for us

Well, it certainly shouldn't have been a foul against Giroud, but that's not the point - the yellow card was for dissent.

and the second is an accident.

Oh please. He obviously didn't intend to commit a foul, but an unintentional foul is still a foul!

We have to take it on the chin.

Precisely - so stop whingeing.

... Uniteds match was overshadowed by a shocking tackle on Uniteds Luke Shaw which resulted in a double fracture of the leg and a spell of at least 6 months on the sidelines.

My initial reaction, like that of the commentators, was that it wasn't a foul. Watching the replay a few times, I think it probably was and therefore perhaps a booking, but not a sending off. (Unless he was the last man?)

The broken leg was/is awful for Shaw - it happened because he had all his weight on that leg when Moreno's trailing leg caught him. A split second earlier or later and he would have been fine. A footballing accident, pure and simple, though I can understand Man U fans not seeing it that way.

I thought the genuine standing ovation for Shaw from all the home fans was very moving.


EDIT: And if you haven't seen the Roma goal v. Barcelona, make sure you do! It's bound to be on Youtube by now.

[redzonerocker]

As for the Arsenal, the only bad luck they had was to have an arse like Giroud playing. He'd already tantrumed his way into the book and his 'tackle' was always a 2nd yellow card.

I don't know, the inclusion of Arteta was a bigger gaffe, the fact that he's still in the squad is quite baffling.
As for Giroud, he shouldn't have been selected considering his lack of form and his obvious mental state.
If you get booked for dissent you should face a club fine and if you make a ridiculous challenge like he did and get sent off, it should be doubled.

As for Wenger's comments, embarrassing like many of his interviews in defeat
Didn't see the after match interview but it sounds pretty much like what I would expect from him.
Which is precisely why i didn't watch it.

My initial reaction, like that of the commentators, was that it wasn't a foul. Watching the replay a few times, I think it probably was and therefore perhaps a booking, but not a sending off. (Unless he was the last man?)

Have to agree.
Though the more you see the replay the worse it looks, especially in slow motion.
A desperate last ditch tackle and the timing and contact was just unfortunate for Shaw, hope he makes a full recovery.

[Zidane]

Why did Wenger not play Cech for such an important game ? With two matches coming up against Bayern Munich,Arsenal are going to struggle to qualify for the knockout stages now.

Why does Mourinho continue to play Ivanovic ? The guys been a good servant but he's had his day.
I see Eva Carneiro has left Chelsea.....maybe Jose will be following suit soon ?

[redzonerocker]

Why did Wenger not play Cech for such an important game ? With two matches coming up against Bayern Munich,Arsenal are going to struggle to qualify for the knockout stages now.

Baffling
More importantly, why have we kept Ospina as 2nd choice keeper?
Chesney (loaned to Roma) and Martinez (loaned to Wolves) are both far better options.

I think we will struggle to qualify, we may not even end up with thurs night football with the spuds

Why does Mourinho continue to play Ivanovic ? The guys been a good servant but he's had his day.
I see Eva Carneiro has left Chelsea.....maybe Jose will be following suit soon ?

Don't care

[caller]

I care and I don't know the answer. Still confident Jose can turn this around, but we need another way of playing.

It's ironic that with Cech leaving, Ivanovic was made vice captain, a move which has coincided with his loss of form. Think about it Jose as we're rudderless at the back.

[redzonerocker]

I care and I don't know the answer. Still confident Jose can turn this around, but we need another way of playing.

Well you have a far easier task than we do.
You lost to your only real contender in the group, we've lost twice to the 2 weaker teams in our group

It's ironic that with Cech leaving, Ivanovic was made vice captain, a move which has coincided with his loss of form. Think about it Jose as we're rudderless at the back.

Do you really think making a player vice captain should in anyway affect his performances?
To me it's a hardly a role worth any merit at all.

I thought Terry would be a mainstay for this season again at least, but it seems not.
Players of that stature don't come along very often and are hard to replace, if not impossible.
Cahill's a good player, he looked even better alongside Terry.
Zouma looks decent too, but neither are leaders.

[Zidane]

Well,after the fourth round of matches it looks all but impossible for Arsenal to qualify after they were thumped 5-1 by Bayern Munich.The home defeat against Olympiacos seems to have done for them,along with the decision not to play Cech for that game.
Manchester City already qualified after a surprisingly comfortable 3-1 win in Sevilla.
Manchester United and Chelsea should qualify if they win one more game but United are struggling to score and Chelsea still not the side of last season,although they should surely be capable of a win in Tel Aviv even if Ivanovic plays.