2024/2025 International Club Football Thread

[Locke]

A Norwegian football fan bartered five kilos of semi-dried fish for a ticket to Thursday's semifinal clash between Bodo/Glimt and Tottenham Hotspur in the Arctic Circle, as the hosts aim to become the first Norwegian club to reach a European final.

Oystein Aanes, who had a spare ticket because his brother couldn't make the game, took the bait. "It was just a fun thing," Aanes told NRK.

Inspired by the deal, Nils Erik Oskal decided to try his luck with five kilos of reindeer meat.

"Someone took the bait. It didn't take long," he said.

https://www.espn.com/soccer/story/_/...nham-semifinal

Go BODO/GLIMT!! This is awesome!

[Locke]

I like that the fish were only 'semi-dried.'

Its a nice detail. Really fleshes out the whole story.

[CroFlames]

I dunno, seems fishy to me.

[Senator Clay Davis]

I'm looking at the Bodo team sheet, and choosing a favorite name is tough, but I've narrowed it down to...

Kasper Waarst Høgh
Ole Didrik Blomberg
Sondre Brunstad Fet
Isak Dybvik Määttä

Feels like I gotta go with Määttä for the triple umlaut score.

[Locke]

Originally Posted by Senator Clay Davis

I'm looking at the Bodo team sheet, and choosing a favorite name is tough, but I've narrowed it down to...

Kasper Waarst Høgh
Ole Didrik Blomberg
Sondre Brunstad Fet
Isak Dybvik Määttä

Feels like I gotta go with Määttä for the triple umlaut score.

I think I gotta go with you there. I mean...that is impressive.

Kaspar was probably a close second.

[devo22]

Ange and Amorim in the final:

https://twitter.com/user/status/1187383568210767876

[Locke]

Its a bit of a joke that one of 15 and 16 in the EPL are going to get gifted a CL spot.

[devo22]

bla bla bla. No one cared about this when winners like Sevilla and Frankfurt finished outside of the top 10 in their league. "Gifted" is pretty funny too, given the final will be their 15th EL game of the season.

[Locke]

Originally Posted by devo22

bla bla bla. No one cared about this when winners like Sevilla and Frankfurt finished outside of the top 10 in their league. "Gifted" is pretty funny too, given the final will be their 15th EL game of the season.

Blah, blah, blah....no one dislikes Frankfurt and Sevilla as much as United and Spurs either. They've been hot garbage all year.

[Senator Clay Davis]

I just hope El Crapico will be fun. Feels like there's not gonna be an in between, it'll either be two bad, evenly matched teams giving us a mistake laden game that is lots of fun, or it'll be one of the worst finals ever.

[Locke]

Originally Posted by Senator Clay Davis

I just hope El Crapico will be fun. Feels like there's not gonna be an in between, it'll either be two bad, evenly matched teams giving us a mistake laden game that is lots of fun, or it'll be one of the worst finals ever.

Ditto.

Thing is, I dont have any faith that Tottenham will invest and be competitive next year in the CL whereas I wouldnt be surprised if Utd opens the chequebook for Amorim over the summer and they improve.

[kobasew19]

Hahahaha love the term El Crapico.

[Slava]

Originally Posted by Locke

Blah, blah, blah....no one dislikes Frankfurt and Sevilla as much as United and Spurs either. They've been hot garbage all year.

The reason they’ve been bad in the league is that teams basically need to focus their efforts in one competition. For Spurs, that decision was made for us when we had a crazy amount of injuries. You might’ve noticed we dropped from 5th to 16th around that same time?

The truth is, competing for 3/4 competitions means players are getting rundown and it’s really difficult. Yes, I know City did it. But we’re talking about clubs that run as legitimate businesses who try to follow the rules.

And, once United and Spurs were safe, they aren’t playing their best players in the league. Can you blame them? The EL is everything now. You’re not risking the health of your best squad just to placate online rivals.

[GirlySports]

Originally Posted by devo22

bla bla bla. No one cared about this when winners like Sevilla and Frankfurt finished outside of the top 10 in their league. "Gifted" is pretty funny too, given the final will be their 15th EL game of the season.

It's totally Brirish whining.

[Winsor_Pilates]

Has there ever been a Europa final with 2 teams so low in their respective leagues?
El Crapico is amazing.

[Senator Clay Davis]

French version would be "Le Craptastique"
German version would be "Der Assiker"
Is there any Italian version of El Classico? Can't honestly remember if there is.

[GirlySports]

Originally Posted by Winsor_Pilates

Has there ever been a Europa final with 2 teams so low in their respective leagues?
El Crapico is amazing.

Sevilla won two years ago while finishing 12th in La Liga. The finalists Roma were 6th.

I think we're going to see this more often since they got rid of Champions League third-placed teams in the group stage dropping down this year.

[SuperMatt18]

Originally Posted by Senator Clay Davis

French version would be "Le Craptastique"
German version would be "Der Assiker"
Is there any Italian version of El Classico? Can't honestly remember if there is.

The Derby della Madonnina (Inter vs AC)
Derby d'Italia (Inter vs Juve)
Derby della Capitale (Roma vs Lazio)

Are the big three...

So it would be "Derby della Merda" most likely.

[GirlySports]

Also Inter Milan in 1994. They nearly were relegated while winning the UEFA Cup

https://www.uefa.com/uefaeuropaleagu...laim-uefa-cup/

[devo22]

^ ah yes, my first childhood trauma, when Inter ruined a magical underdog run by my home team. Still hurts.