Tough draws for the 2 English side, Man U probably scrap through, the Gunners will fall at this hurdle and mission impossible for Celtic IMO.
Why do you say that? Schalke topped Arsenal's group and Malaga topped their group ahead of the most internationally successful club side in world football.
Galatasaray vs. Schalke - Schalke to win at home, draw away. 2-1 Schalke Celtic vs. Juventus - Celtic to win at home, but get smashed away. 5-2 Juventus Arsenal vs. Bayern Munich - Bayern to win both legs. 3-0 Bayern Shakhtar vs. Dortmund - Dortmund to win at home, draw away. 4-2 Dortmund AC Milan vs. Barcelona - Two draws. Barca on away goals. 3-3 Barca win on away goals Real Madrid vs. Manchester United - Man Utd to win at home, lose away, then lose on penalties. 1-1, Real win on pens Valencia vs. PSG - Two draws. Valencia on away goals. 4-4 Valencia on away goals Porto vs. Malaga - **** knows. To go through: Schalke Juventus Bayern Dortmund Barca Madrid Valencia Porto or Malaga
Galatasaray vs. Schalke : Turkish vs German matches are always very tense because of the large turkish population in germany. I expect Schalke to go through though, Galatasaray and the level of the turkish league are quite poor these days. Celtic vs. Juventus: Sorry for anyone that is scottish or has high hopes on them playing like braveheart at home, Juventus are very very strong this season. 3-0 vs Chelsea in Turin?! I watched the game as I live in Chelsea territory and they outclassed the blues . Celtic are completely out. They might as well not turn up. Arsenal vs. Bayern Munich: This should be a good tie, Arsenal can turn up and score when they want to. I expect Podolski to be a central part of the ties. He'll either show up or won't and it will make all the difference. I think on paper Bayern are far too strong. They have conceded 6 goals in 16 games! and scored 40 something in their league. Arsenal's home game will be crucial as they will lose in Munich Shakhtar vs. Dortmund: Like many, I love Dortmund this season (and last season). They play such nice football. However this won't be easy. ANyone predicting Dortmund to go through easily has probably not watched SHaktar this year. I followed bits of the game vs Chelsea and Nordsjaelland and they are quite impressive. Both teams are attacking minded so should be a good tie but Dortmund will struggle (like every team) in the away game in freezing cold winter Ukraine. That is why for me this is a coin flip. AC Milan vs. Barcelona: Barcelona go through EASY. Don't have much to say really, Barcelona can be undone by a style similar to the one Chelsea used against them, AC milan are garbage this season and have lost games to some very poor teams. I expect them to show up for this game but I think Barcelona will win both ties. Real Madrid vs. Manchester United This is THE one. Lots could be said about this. All the united haters are laughing saying they will get beat easy and man united fans all think they have a good chance. I think it'll come down to how many goals you concede. I followed the man city games vs real madrid and obviously madrid looked quite decent. But Man city have been pretty **** this year. Especially in the champions league so I think Man united will perform a lot better than their blue counterpart and therefore have a decent chance. I do think it would have been better for united if they played the home game first. Coin flip. maybe 51% for madrid but if there's one team that can beat madrid this year it's united. Valencia vs. PSG Everyone predicting PSG to go through. Yes they have had a good champions league and some impressive wins but so have Valencia. I didn't think much of Valencia this year but they are quite good. PSG are favourite purely because they seem to be showing up in the CL, which is a very different story to their LIGUE 1 performances. PSG are kind of my second team as I was born there and grew up there for a while and yes they can really turn up at times but they have been embarrassing at times, they've lost home games to ST etienne and Rennes which aren't exactly world beaters. So Valencia could create the upset. How PSG play in Spain will determine the tie. If Valencia win their home tie, they will go through. Porto vs. Malaga This tie I know very little about as I haven't really followed those teams' performances. I know malaga have been the surprise package but Porto are always strong. They have not achieved the heights they did with Mourinho but they always seem to make it to this stage and both teams will be happy with this draw. I could see this one going to penalties.
Ive watched them 10 times this season and they're seriously hamstrung by a lack of even just one decent striker. If you've only seen the one game this was more about them raising it against a poor Chelsea. A short time after they were absolutely mullered at home by Inter despite the close 1-2 scoreline and then lost at a weak Milan. I honestly fancy a cheeky fiver on Septic to progress. I'd be delighted if I lost my best mind you....
I'm just watching the Europa League draw, and I'm intrigued as to why Inter Milan, Atletico Madrid and Ajax are 'unseeded', whilst Dnipro and Genk are?
Juventus will crush Celtic. Don't be silly. Celtic's only hope would have been to play the home tie second...
Ajax - are any of the CL drop outs seeded for the Europa? Perhaps a rule to reward successful clubs in one competition with a better seeding than ones that have failed in the other?
