The Official 16/17 UEFA Champion's League and International Club News Thread

[Barnet Flame]

You think that will be enough?

In all seriousness, nights like last night demonstrate clearly why this team needs to break the cycle and finish outside the top 4.

[devo22]

Borussia Dortmund with another steal. After completing a €12m deal for Leverkusen center back Ömer Toprak in the upcoming summer, they've now also agreed a €10m deal for Gladbach midfielder Mahmoud Dahoud, according to Bild and other German media outlets.

Both deals are only possible because of cheap buyout clauses, but still, those are amazing additions for Dortmund ... that makes up for their incredible blunders last summer (those Schürrle and Rode deals were horrible, and everybody knew it). They'll obviously lose Aubameyang for a huge fee this summer, so they'll still need a really good striker (the money should be there to get one) and another midfielder (Lyon midfielder Corentin Tolisso has been linked with them).

Bürki (Weidenfeller); Piszczek (Passlack), Sokratis (Bender), Toprak (Bartra), Guerreiro (Schmelzer); Weigl (Merino), Dahoud (Sahin), Tolisso (Castro); Reus (Pulisic), Dembele (Mor); ??? (Isak)

That's an awesome team if they can sign Tolisso and get a decent striker. They'll also have to offload several roster players though, their squad is way too big. I didn't even include Götze, Rode, Schürrle, Ginter, Kagawa, Durm and Park ... I'd sell all of them, honestly. Either way, Dortmund continues to be a really interesting project

[cam_wmh]

So United is without Herrera and Rooney for upcoming Europa tie vs St Etienne.
My left field idea involves giving the towering Fosu-Mensah an opportunity. I've casually watched him watched him, and feel he can thrive as a physical ball winner. As United away, possession will likely be in St E favour allowing the lad to sit back some and not overly exposed to big wide open counters, that possession football can be vulnerable to.

------------- Zlatan
---- Martial Pogba Mata
--- Carrick Fosu-Mensah
Blind Smalling Bailly Valencia
------------ de Gea

[devo22]

actually with EFL Cup final coming up, I hope there's more rotation.

----------Rashford
Martial---Mata---Lingard
Fosu-Mensah-Schweinsteiger
Shaw-Smalling-Bailly-Young
--------Romero

[d_phaneuf]

Originally Posted by Locke

Poison the food at their hotel and pray for a miracle?

If any club has a history for it

Stay away from the pasta dishes our German friends

[cam_wmh]

Originally Posted by devo22

actually with EFL Cup final coming up, I hope there's more rotation.

----------Rashford
Martial---Mata---Lingard
Fosu-Mensah-Schweinsteiger
Shaw-Smalling-Bailly-Young
--------Romero

Is that for Europa? I don't want to roll the dice on Europa, as winning the whole thing may be our only way to qualify for CL. Thus a stacked roster, other than Fosu-Mensah.

Romero, spilled one vs Blackpool -- I think I start de Gea for all matches here on out.

[devo22]

they won the first leg 3-0. No way the above lineup would do a Liverpool.

[GirlySports]

Wow. That should have been a penalty and a red card on the Monaco keeper for sure. Instead they got Aguero for diving

[devo22]

Originally Posted by GirlySports

Instead they got Aguero for diving

which was 100% the correct call. Hats off to the ref, that was a huge decision. Replay clearly showed it was a dive.

[devo22]

In the summer, Mbappe is going to be more expensive than Martial was. Great talent.

[GirlySports]

Originally Posted by devo22

which was 100% the correct call. Hats off to the ref, that was a huge decision. Replay clearly showed it was a dive.

I thought the keeper caught him even on replay

[devo22]

https://streamable.com/ftf6i

he clearly goes down before contact. Dirty.

[Senator Clay Davis]

Nothing like having to rely on Leicester to keep up England's coefficient .

[devo22]

John Stones = €55m
Nicolas Otamendi = €45m
Citys defending = priceless

[GirlySports]

Originally Posted by devo22

John Stones = €55m
Nicolas Otamendi = €45m
Citys defending = priceless

Fernandinho is useless. To have him at fullback is ridiculous.

[devo22]

Originally Posted by GirlySports

Fernandinho is useless. To have him at fullback is ridiculous.

just your typical "creative" Guardiola BS. He thinks he's smarter than everyone else and he's outsmarting himself. Not for the first time, either.

I dislike PSG, but some of the Ligue 1 teams are really interesting. Monaco and Lyon are doing a great job finding and developing young talent. Of course it helps that the French talent pool in the 17-20 age bracket is absolutely ridiculous, but still.

[devo22]

Otamendi is so bad, it's not even funny. He's a car crash that you can't take your eyes off.

Too bad they missed the penalty.

[Senator Clay Davis]

Obviously that was a vital penalty save. I also fully expect a make up penalty to City somewhere in this game.

[cam_wmh]

Originally Posted by devo22

they won the first leg 3-0. No way the above lineup would do a Liverpool.

Ah, I was in Japan, over the past couple weeks & missed that.

Alright, I'm on board!

Originally Posted by devo22

https://streamable.com/ftf6i

he clearly goes down before contact. Dirty.

What a call by the referee. That is damn impressive.

[Senator Clay Davis]

That was horrifying. Not even a bad bounce or anything, just awful.