2013 UEFA Champions League

[M*A*S*H 4077]

I'd have to think Olympiastadion in Berlin could host it as well.

My bet would be for Wembley

[d_phaneuf]

ya I didn't include France because of that

Cardiff and Lisbon could get games definitely, but not the final

I think the initial plan is to have each groups games be in a similar area to limit travel for fans

so you could have a group in the British Isles

Cardiff/Ibrox/Old Trafford etc.

a Germany/Dutch group etc.

Mediterranean etc.

[Locke]

Originally Posted by M*A*S*H 4077

I'd have to think Olympiastadion in Berlin could host it as well.

My bet would be for Wembley

Mine too, but you never know, Platini might still want to stick it to the plucky Brits for no other reason than he seems to get a good laugh out of it.

[GirlySports]

Originally Posted by diane_phaneuf

ya I didn't include France because of that

Cardiff and Lisbon could get games definitely, but not the final

I think the initial plan is to have each groups games be in a similar area to limit travel for fans

so you could have a group in the British Isles

Cardiff/Ibrox/Old Trafford etc.

a Germany/Dutch group etc.

Mediterranean etc.

That would be awesome! 6 groups all over Europe!

[Bagor]

Croke Park, Dublin.

[polak]

Woo, that means Warsaws stadium will get some real use out of it.

It's too pretty to be used once in a blue moon.

[SuperMatt18]

Manchester United vs Real Madrid

Awesome

[GirlySports]

[d_phaneuf]

Galatasaray v FC Schalke
Celtic v Juventus
Arsenal v Bayern Munich
Shakhtar Donetsk v Borussia Dortmund
AC Milan v Barcelona
Real Madrid v Manchester United
Valencia v Paris St Germain
FC Porto v Malaga

[d_phaneuf]

Love CR7's return to OT

it crossed my mind for a second that Milan give Barca problems, then I remembered that team was gutted

Arsenal/Bayern should be open, and another reason for Arsenal fans to hate Arsene for not trying to finish first

[polak]

Uh oh, I think Dortmund will be fine but Donetsk is one of the teams I was afraid off.

[SuperMatt18]

Originally Posted by diane_phaneuf

Love CR7's return to OT

it crossed my mind for a second that Milan give Barca problems, then I remembered that team was gutted

Arsenal/Bayern should be open, and another reason for Arsenal fans to hate Arsene for not trying to finish first

AC Milan have a counter-punchers chance, they struggled to start the season but have improved since.

If they stick to a strong counter-attacking Italian style game they might be able to sneak by. They have the defensive midfielders to clog the middle against Barcelona, and Stephan El Shaarawy is really arriving as a striker this season with 14 goals and 3 assists in 17 games in Serie A so far.

[d_phaneuf]

Ya I was just going to mention, some might think that's a walk in the park for them

Shakhtar are a very good side

[SuperMatt18]

My Predictions:

Galatasaray v FC Schalke
Celtic v Juventus
Arsenal v Bayern Munich
Shakhtar Donetsk v Borussia Dortmund
AC Milan v Barcelona
Real Madrid v Manchester United
Valencia v Paris St Germain
FC Porto v Malaga

Huge potential for no English team in the final 8.

[d_phaneuf]

my guesses would be right now

Galatasaray v FC Schalke
Celtic v Juventus
Arsenal v Bayern Munich
Shakhtar Donetsk v Borussia Dortmund
AC Milan v Barcelona
Real Madrid v Manchester United
Valencia v Paris St Germain
FC Porto v Malaga

[M*A*S*H 4077]

I second SuperMatt18's predictions.

Should be some decent matches from this draw

[polak]

Originally Posted by diane_phaneuf

Ya I was just going to mention, some might think that's a walk in the park for them

Shakhtar are a very good side

Yeah, I'm not going to lie, after thinking about it for a bit, I would have preferred any other runner up...

Donetsk is a great countering team and BVB is a "risk taking" team. Our attackers are going to have to be deadly and our D will have to be ready to pick up the slack.

Here are my uneducated picks....

Galatasaray v FC Schalke
Celtic v Juventus
Arsenal v Bayern Munich
Shakhtar Donetsk v Borussia Dortmund
AC Milan v Barcelona
Real Madrid v Manchester United
Valencia v Paris St Germain
FC Porto v Malaga

[Locke]

This is where it gets good.

Honestly, these are all 50/50 games, I could see almost any team advancing from this point.

However, if I were an Arsenal fan I'd be choked. Drawing Bayern? Thats about as bad as it gets outside of Barca.

[Pagal4321]

I think all Arsenal fans expected a bad draw. The two teams I wanted no part of were Baca and Dortmund to be honest. Bayern would have been third on that list.

[d_phaneuf]

Man City and Chelsea just got a little worried that UEFA is finally showing some balls ahead of FFP

http://www.uefa.com/uefa/footballfir...d=1908817.html

Banned Malaga from the CL/Europa for the next 3 seasons due to unpaid wages/tax bills