SA Footy

Either I'm going mental, or we don't have a Champions Leage thread for this season yet.

And what better time to kick one off than on the eve of an absolutely mouth watering fixture between AC Milan and Man Utd. It will be the first time Beckham has played against his former club since leaving in 1999.

The fixture for the last 16 is as follows:

Tuesday 16th February
19:45 AC Milan vs Man Utd 19:45 Lyon vs Real Madrid

Wednesday 17th February
19:45 Bayern Munich vs Fiorentina
19:45 FC Porto vs Arsenal

Tuesday 23rd February
19:45 Olympiacos vs Bordeaux
19:45 VfB Stuttgart vs Barcelona

Wednesday 24th February
17:30 CSKA Moscow vs Sevilla
19:45 Inter Milan vs Chelsea


The games highlighted promise to be absolute crackers IMO. Ac Milan v Utd - Becks v Fergie. Inter v Chelski - The Special One v Roman.

Can't wait!!!

Slightly off-topic, so apologies in advance, but I heard a small snippet on the radio this morning suggesting the EPL are considering having a playoff for 4th place and their final CL position sometime in the future - Anyone heard any more on that?

Wow - who would qualify for the 4th place play off?

Although, it would be just Spurs luck to finally crack the top 4 in the year this is brought in, only for us to lose the qualifier. I can see it happening a mile off!

devilsadvocate wrote:Wow - who would qualify for the 4th place play off?

Although, it would be just Spurs luck to finally crack the top 4 in the year this is brought in, only for us to lose the qualifier. I can see it happening a mile off!

Im not sure if Im remembering correctly, but I got the impression 4 teams (so 4th-7th) would play off for it.

Here you go CP:

http://www.guardian.co.uk/football/2010/feb/14/premier-league-play-off-champions-league

The Premier League is considering introducing a play-off system to determine the fourth club to qualify for the following season's European Champions League.

Currently the club which finishes fourth goes through but the new proposal would mean a play-off between the clubs finishing fourth, fifth, sixth and seventh. The intention is to inject more competition into a league in which qualification has for years remained in the hands of the same four clubs.

Premier League sources have confirmed that the play-off proposal was presented at the most recent meeting of all clubs, on 4 February, and the league's chief executive, Richard Scudamore, was authorised to return with further details in April.

It is understood that the idea was enthusiastically supported by all clubs – except the so-called big four of Chelsea, Manchester United, Arsenal and Liverpool. Scudamore, and the league's secretary, Mike Foster, will examine the practicalities of how a play-off system could work: whether it should take the form of a home-and-away knockout system, similar to that in the Football League, or incorporate seeding. They will also look into when matches could be fitted into a crowded fixture calendar before making recommendations.

The idea was presented as part of the Premier League's strategic review of its format and operations and springs from two particular motivations. The first is to crack the problem of England's top league becoming less open and competitive, with the richest clubs, Manchester United, Chelsea, Arsenal and Liverpool, having strengthened their hold on the top four places over several years. One league source said it was an odd twist that the idea has been raised now, in a season when Liverpool's claim to the fourth place is being seriously challenged.

The response among clubs outside the top four is understood to have been positive, with some believing that a play-off system would create more competitive matches and give more clubs a prize to challenge for. Most clubs now feel they have no chance of attaining fourth place but almost the whole Premier League could be brought into a competition to finish seventh and make it to the play-offs. The medium-sized clubs, which increasingly aspire to break the cartel, are said to have been enthusiastic, seeing play-offs as a great opportunity.

The big four, who have been qualifying on merit at the end of each season and reaping the footballing and financial rewards of Champions League participation are understood to have been less keen. Self-interest is clearly a factor, with those clubs concerned about protecting their own advantages. However, there is also a feeling that the league should be more sophisticated about addressing its major challenges, particularly the financial ones, rather than incorpor-ating an awkward play-off system for a prize as ostensibly moderate as fourth place.

The other motivation for the play-offs is a waning of the proposal for an international round of matches, dubbed "Game 39", which was widely criticised for lacking coherence and being territorially expansionist. The play-offs would mean extra matches, which would be sold to pay-television and so generate more money for all clubs.

The consistent qualification of the same four clubs, widely seen as stifling competition, is not replicated across Europe. The Premier League largely blames the Uefa Champions League money, distributed to participating clubs, for entrenching the big four's financial power. Uefa, however, points out that Champions League income represents a small part, 8–13%, of Manchester United's, Chelsea's, Arsenal's and Liverpool's total turnover. Most of the big clubs' money is made in this country; Premier League television income is relatively evenly distributed but United, Chelsea and Arsenal in particular make much more than their nearest rivals from commercial activities and match-day revenues in the Premier League.

The Dutch league tried a play-off system for the second Champions League qualification place but abandoned it after the 2007-08 season, when FC Twente Enschede beat Ajax 2-1. The issues in Holland were the risk of crowd trouble at such high-stakes matches and a perception that the play-offs were one-sided.

In the Premier League there is some confidence that neither of those would present major problems. As a means of encouraging competition, opportunities and increasing income, the play-off proposal already seems to have enough support to suggest it could gain the necessary 14-6 majority to be implemented.


You were correct - 4th-7th to play off for the CL spot.

Cheers for that mate.

I think any club in the position of the big 4 (as it has been known in recent seasons) would naturally vote against to defend their own interests, but I have to admit it would inject a new level of interest into the EPL/CL

i have never IMO really believed in the championsleague setup in all the europe leagues. Champions league means CHAMPIONS!!. Not runner up , or second runner up champions league. I have always believed the champions of each top divsion in each euro lealgue, + the champions of the following 2 leagues in each euro league should go off to the champions league.

Champions league means champions!!

finishing second, third or fourth or a play off for the final spot should not be classed as champions league!

Bulldog wrote:i have never IMO really believed in the championsleague setup in all the europe leagues. Champions league means CHAMPIONS!!. Not runner up , or second runner up champions league. I have always believed the champions of each top divsion in each euro lealgue, + the champions of the following 2 leagues in each euro league should go off to the champions league.

Champions league means champions!!

finishing second, third or fourth or a play off for the final spot should not be classed as champions league!

That's a fair point.

I guess the format of the competition requires a certain number of teams ... What if it was based on say (using England as an example), the League, League Cup and FA Cup winners?

still may not wwork with the past years results seeing the big 4 winning it all the time except pompey in the FA cup. dunno

West Brom was at top of coke league last week and then they fiinished champions at end of season imagine them in the champions league, or swansea city ( i know marty wont like me mentioning them seen as they are rivals to cardiff) seen as they are up there?. Maybe that would stop WBA being a yo-yo team and have extra money for them when they made it. Or sc.nthorpe when they get relegated to div 2 they make the champions league if they win that div the following year. would make it a bit more interesting to watch then the same old real madrid, man utd, lyon, arsenal, chelsea, bayern munich,ac milan, inter etc year in year out

Surely there's no way you could reward any team in a lower division with a CL appearance .. I would have thought that would defeat the purpose of the tiered system and challenge the integrity of each countries top League if there was any form of incentive for not being there as opposed to lower leagues

Constance_Perm wrote:Surely there's no way you could reward any team in a lower division with a CL appearance .. I would have thought that would defeat the purpose of the tiered system and challenge the integrity of each countries top League if there was any form of incentive for not being there as opposed to lower leagues

maybe but still it would be a change and may have some difference in the EPL year in year out. As we all dont want the EPL to become a SPL with rangers/celtic all the time.

Fantastic result for United this morning, 3-2 at the San Siro. It is a shame we conceded that late Seedorf goal but Rooney was brilliant once again with a second half double.

Real have a bit of work to do after they lost 1-0 away to Lyon.

Rooney to the rescue yet again. United would be pedestrian without their Scouse frontman, that is for certain.

Predictable result at the San Siro although there were more goals than predicted. Milan are a team in decline and the true test for the Mancs will come in the last eight.

Barca, despite their loss in La Liga at the weekend, are still the team to beat and it will take something out of the ordinary to topple the Catalan giants.

didnt see the match but did beckham play?

Bulldog wrote:didnt see the match but did beckham play?

Yes he started and sort of set up the first goal.

Entertaining game.

Beck didn't set the world on fire, but was useful. Seedorf turned out to be an inspired sub by Leonardo.

Milan are up against it, travelling to Old Trafford, needing at least 2 away goals to progress. Still, with Ronaldinho in the side, anything could happen. He is magic when he's on.

Plus, who could forget Milan in 2007 facing a 3-2 deficit against Utd, turned it around with a 3-0 win, but that was at the San Siro.

Real Madrid also went down 1-0 to Lyon in France. The Castilian's would be expected to turn it around back in Madrid though.

Fantastic game to watch between Utd and AC. AC looked the goods in the first 25 mins (especially with the early goal) but slowly Utd managed to get a foot on the ball and when they fortunately went 1-1 before half time They were in with a real show. AC knew they needed to head to Old Trafford with at least a goal advantage so once they started pressing Utd were able to open them up repeatedly in the second half. Once Valencia came on and was able to put some decent balls in then Utd were in business. The late goal will give AC some hope but i cant see them scoring twice at OT.

Great to watch two of the best forwards / strikers in world football. Ronaldinio is close to back to his best....UNBELIEVABLE that at the moment he wont be selected for the World Cup. Rooney is going from strength to strength. He was 1 on 4 for alot of the match but was always looking dangerous. If he can stay fit England will be a real shot at winning the World Cup (provided it doesnt go to penalties)

What about Paul Scholes' goal? what a fluke. reminded me of me trying to kick left foot in aussie rules.

Just realised that I'm a f**k'n idiot and the reason there isn;t a Champions League thread in here, is that this is the ENGLISH FOOTBALL forum. What a douchebag.

Anyhoo, JTC or other mods, please feel free to merge.

devilsadvocate wrote:Just realised that I'm a f**k'n idiot and the reason there isn;t a Champions League thread in here, is that this is the ENGLISH FOOTBALL forum. What a douchebag.

Anyhoo, JTC or other mods, please feel free to merge.

Bloody spurs fans