Braga (Por) v Shakhtar Donetsk (Ukr) Villarreal (Spa) v Sparta Prague (Cze) Athletic Bilbao (Spa) v Sevilla (Spa) Borussia Dortmund (Ger) v Liverpool (Eng) Another La Liga team for Athletic!! My feeling is that Sevilla will win as they are just that little bit classier than my beloved Athletic, thus setting up the tie of the competition with, on form, Borussia. Hope Braga can topple Shakhtar (CL dropouts so Braga have my support there) while Villareal should get through against Sparta. Villareal to win the EL against Sevilla in the final.!!
Looks like it on the BBC webpage! Looking at it again, I could be mistaken. I am seeing invisible "v's so I have erred. Still think Villareal will win it as they know hope to cope with three teams that are better than themselves in La Liga so they will not be intimidated by anyone.
Barca for me simply because you are not going to a collective group of geniuses in the same team for a long, long time. And they are a joy to watch taking other teams apart. I would like them to dismantle Bayern again
I generally always support the English sides in Europe - though this year is more about Pellegrini for my reasoning.
I used to support all GB teams....inc. Rangers/Celtic, but have too many axes to grind now. I suppose if an English team was in the final I might be roused to support them.
Only English team I support in Europe are Southampton. The rest can lose. When the likes of Chelsea, United, Liverpool and Arsenal are rivals and detestable for taking away local support. I don't see that with City so good luck to them. Maybe they'll meet Barca in the final!!
Yes, you've made me realise that I'm the same. I even managed to get into the '68 Final when United won it. I realised that I wouldn't have been gutted to lose, unlike the United fans I went with, but I was pretty vocal in my support. Even Liverpool (wash my mouth out) gained my support the first 4 times they won it, albeit only the muted armchair variety. 1999 was the turning point for me as there seemed to be so many English winners who shouldn't have won (Istanbul, FFS!). Now I really hope Dortmund turn Liverpool over as easily as they did Spurs. I think we need a psychoanalyst's view, Fran.
In the PL yes, but in the EL I have been backing La Liga teams. I would like Atheltic Bilbao to win it, but in reality think Villareal have the best chance of the 3 survivors from Spain.
Would be an excellent parting shot.....'oh and good luck rebuilding a team without Chamions League to attract new players!'
EUFA are discussing playing the matches behind closed doors. Hope it doesn't happen, but right to discuss all eventualities. Always comes down to risk and EUFA have to decide how big a risk they can take with other people's lives.
