UEFA watch 2023-24

A place to discuss the events in UEFA land during the 2023-24 season.
UEFA CL/EL games not involving Spurs, tournament draws, which UEFA
officials have been arrested etc.

Info on club rankings, tournament draw "pots" etc :

https://kassiesa.net/uefa

 

CL group stage draw :

Group A: Bayern Munich, MANCHESTER UNITED, FC Copenhagen, Galatasaray
Group B: Sevilla, ARSENAL, PSV Eindhoven, RC Lens
Group C: Napoli, Real Madrid, Braga, Union Berlin
Group D: Benfica, Inter Milan, Salzburg, Real Sociedad
Group E: Feyenoord, Atletico Madrid, Lazio, CELTIC
Group F: Paris St-Germain, Borussia Dortmund, AC Milan, NEWCASTLE
Group G: MANCHESTER CITY, RB Leipzig, Red Star Belgrade, Young Boys
Group H: Barcelona, Porto, Shakhtar Donetsk, Royal Antwerp


You lot obviously did not join in with my mantra chanting
of Munich/Madrid/Shaktar, for the Toon.

And them lot could actually end up top of their group
(in Lamela we must trust) , sparing them their Wenger ritual
of drawing an apex predator in the last 16.

 

EL group stage draw :

Group A: WEST HAM, Olympiacos, Freiburg, TSC Backa Topola
Group B: Ajax, Marseille, BRIGHTON, AEK Athens
Group E: LIVERPOOL, LASK, Union St-Gilloise, Toulouse


Could be rough for Brighton, while the Poool should cruise by.
The Spanners : well they are what they are.


EL2 group stage draw :

Group E: AZ Alkmaar, Aston Villa, Legia Warsaw, Mostar Zrinjski

Villa should be fine, bar racking up the air miles.

 

I only know who Backa Topola are because they got destroyed by Braga in the qualifier.
Lost 3-0 in Portugal and went 4-0 down in their home leg after 20 minutes before pulling 1 back.

Built a new ground a couple of years ago with a 4,500 capacity.
Good luck to the 12 spammers that make it out to Serbia and however many make it back.

 

Dusan Tadic and Nikola Zigic came through their youth team many moons ago, too

They also had an utterly bonkers 6-6 draw with The Team Formerly Known As Steaua Bucharest a couple of years ago

 

And so the 2023-24 study of Brighton and Villa begins
(will they as a minimum repeat their domestic
performance of last season in the face of UEFA land) .

 

Ser Davos with TWO assists !!??

< Is he taking the p*ss ?? >

 

Out of Man Utd? Yeah, pretty much.

 

CL group C is a bit lively it seems..

 

One being a classic piece of Toby-ball.

Just realised Galatasary have Icardi and Zaha in their squad.
Only way to negate them is if they had an NDombele on the pitch ...

 

Luckily for them they only seem willing to have him on for about five minutes per match

 

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5 of the 8 CL KO slots have already been decided by round 4.
That seems quite a high number to me.

 

A lot of the groups looked extremely predictable from the draw.
It's the seeding system at work.
The Geordies' was something of a group of death, in contrast.

 

It seems like the general quality of pots 3-4
has slipped badly this season (hence my comment) .

 

Oh goody, yet more months of Saltypool fans bitching and pissing about VAR...

 

VAR my lord, VAR ...

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CL KO stage draw for last 16 is on Dec 8. The draw pots are :

- Pot 1

Arsenal
Barcelona
Atlético Madrid
Bayern München
Borussia Dortmund
Manchester City
Real Madrid
Real Sociedad


- Pot 2

Inter Milan
FC København
Lazio
Napoli
Paris Saint-Germain
Porto
PSV Eindhoven
RB Leipzig


Observations :

1. Based on the group stage results, the lesser
lights in pot 1 will probably not want to draw
one of Inter / Napoli / Leipzig.

2. La Liga seems to be getting back to CL strength
(4 teams in the KO stages)

 

Just a reminder that they started with 5 and Sevilla finished with 2 points.
They all had pretty easy groups, too. No groups of death for La Liga sides...

 

La Liga has had a bit of dip in the past couple
of seasons, but that may be temporary if
they are back up to the level of 4 teams in the
last 16.