UEFA Champions League/Europa League 15/16/17 Feb *** Spoilers ***

[Cosimo]

Champions League - Round of 16

Tuesday 15 ​

AC Milan v Tottenham, L1, 19:45

Sky Sports 2 & HD and Radio 5 Live

Valencia v Schalke 04, L1, 19:45

Sky Sports 4 & HD​

Wednesday 16 ​

Arsenal v Barcelona, L1, 19:45

ITV 1 & HD and Radio 5 Live

Roma v Shakhtar Donetsk, L1, 19:45

Sky Sports 2 & HD

​

Europa League - Round of 32

Tuesday 15 ​

Aris Salonika v Man City, L1, 17:00

ITV 4
​

Thursday 17​

Sparta Prague v Liverpool, L1, 20:05

Five and Radio 5 Live

Rangers v Sporting, L1, 20:05

ESPN

The Rest

Anderlecht v Ajax, L1, 18:00
BATE Borisov v Paris SG, L1, 18:00
Benfica v VfB Stuttgart, L1, 18:00 (ITV 4)
Besiktas v Dynamo Kiev, L1, 18:00
Lech Poznan v Braga, L1, 18:00
Napoli v Villarreal, L1, 18:00 (ESPN)
Rubin Kazan v FC Twente, L1, 18:00
Basle v Spartak Moscow, L1, 20:05
FC Metalist Kharkiv v Bayer Leverkusen, L1, 20:05
Lille v PSV Eindhoven, L1, 20:05
PAOK Salonika v CSKA Moscow, L1, 20:05
Sevilla v FC Porto, L1, 20:05
Young Boys v Zenit St Petersburg, L1, 20:05​

 

[Robert1986]

Barca just put on one of their worst performances of the season against sporting yesterday. Thats a plus for Arsenal I guess... Plus, no Puyol.

Spurs without Bale or VDV? Is that confirmed?

 

[Weebull]

Wenger also revealed that Samir Nasri has not been completely ruled out of the first leg of Wednesday's Champions League last-16 tie at home to Barcelona.

French midfielder Nasri has been out since injuring his hamstring against Huddersfield on 30 January.

"It is a bit soon but we will have a test on Tuesday morning to see if he can be involved in the game," Wenger added.

\o/

I hope he truly is ready to play though, and not just rushed back. I'd rather lose to Barca and have a fully fit Nasri for the rest of the Premiership/domestic cup season, than go through and have out til the summer.

 

[Personality+]

Barca just put on one of their worst performances of the season against sporting yesterday. Thats a plus for Arsenal I guess... Plus, no Puyol.

Spurs without Bale or VDV? Is that confirmed?

They'd just come back from an International break which is when Barca usually perform way below normal. I expect a close 1st leg and Barca annihilation in the 2nd.

 

[Yas786]

Hoping Nasri will be fit to play Barca this week but i cant see it happening as there is the danger that he could re-injure himself and id hope Wenger has the brains not to risk him.

I fully expect us to get battered properly by Barca...but i do hope Arsenal give their all though...would love to see us win and Fabregas get the winning goal.
But Barca drawing with Sporting last night maybe a good sign for us....fingers crossed that if we do get battered that its not something like 6-0

 

[Greenlizard0]

Aye, we have almost all of the rest of our first team squad fit, it's not like last year we were desperate to put out Arshavin, who then injured himself again for example.

Good to see Djourou back yesterday, I thought he'd be out for longer than that.

No Sagna which is annoying (suspended) so that'll mean we have Eboue instead.

Barca looked off last night, but then most of the squad were on international duty and clearly were a bit knackered. Still, they should have won the game though and they'll no doubt step up 3 gears.

 

[[J.D.C]]

Mentioned it before in the thread when the draw was made but I still don't see Barca destroying Arsenal like last year for some reason. Just a feeling I guess.

Still think they'll win the tie overall mind.

 

[guyfawkes5]

Perfect result for Tuesday:

A.C. Milan 5 - 0 Tottenham FT
Pato 1
Pato 3
Pato 5
Pato 47
Pato 49

(Palacios sent off 7)

Redknapp makes £45 million bid for Pato and every striker Milan has during half-time; mugged immediately following the game

I'll be rooting for Arsenal too chaps, at least make it a good game against the Catalan Globetrotters.

 

[Yas786]

Perfect result for Tuesday:


I'll be rooting for Arsenal too chaps, at least make it a good game against the Catalan Globetrotters.

LOL well the Spurs getting utterly spanked would make the loss for Arsenal a lot less painful but i wouldnt be surprised if AC crumble against the Spurs...they arent as strong as they used to be...still a decent team but then look at Inter and how they smashed to pieces by the Spurs.

If we do lose against Barca, i just hope it isnt a massacre...im hoping we do score a few goals against them...but Barca without Puyol is a blessing in disguise.

I really really hope Wenger doesnt play Squillaci as hes utter rubbish....i really was hoping that Vermaelen would have been fit by now...anyone know what the latest with him is so far??

 

[Greenlizard0]

I'm afraid that's fast looking like another Rosicky, with the added disadvantage that achilles of course are notoriously difficult to treat.

I'll be honest, it wouldn't surprise me to not see him return to the first team by half way through March at least.

 

[One More Solo]

Can't wait for the Spurs and Arsenal games. UEFA have finally done something decent in staggering the games.

 

[Tom84]

Massively looking forward to both games, with Spurs' injuries I reckon they'll come unstuck against Milan which will be a shame as with Bale they'd rip them a new bum hole - are VDV and Modric due back for the game?

As for le Arse/Barca thankfully Arsenal have no injuries (apart from Nasri who seems to play better when Fabregas isn't in the team anyway) so it should be a very interesting game - Van Persie could be the difference between Arsenal in the ties last season and the ties this season

I'll go;

Milan 3-1 Spurs
Arsenal 2-2 Barcelona

 

[Yas786]

I'm afraid that's fast looking like another Rosicky, with the added disadvantage that achilles of course are notoriously difficult to treat.

I'll be honest, it wouldn't surprise me to not see him return to the first team by half way through March at least.

Yep thats what im fearing too...achilles injuries are notoriously hard to treat and looking at Vermaelen...it seems like its a pretty major injury as theres no real date as to when he will be back...wouldnt want to rush him back but i wouldnt be surprised at all if we dont see him play again this season :/...i hope thats not the case because dear god seeing Squillaci and Koscielny in defence and showing their ineptness is getting infuriating tbh although Kos has improved somewhat recently.

Im going with a 3-1 Barca win and a 2-2 Spurs draw...

 

[explicit4u]

I'm going to be optimistic this week! If we put in a proper performance I can see us beating barca at Emirates - I'm thinking either 2-1 or 3-2. Spurs will be an entertaining match (as usual) - as they're away I'm going for 2-0 or 3-1 to AC.

 

[cm1179]

bale out

 

[elmuzzy66.]

I wouldn't read to much into the barca game in the weekend. Abidal will be back which should bolster the defence. I also don't think that the gunners will play a back 5 like sporting did. I go for a barca 0-4.

 

[HangTime]

As for le Arse/Barca thankfully Arsenal have no injuries (apart from Nasri who seems to play better when Fabregas isn't in the team anyway)

Vermaelen and Fabianski are both injured as well, although there are question marks as to whether the latter would play anyway. Gotta be coming up to 4 years now since we were able to field our first choice XI in a competitive game.

 

[Weebull]

Gotta be coming up to 4 years now since we were able to field our first choice XI in a competitive game.

Are you classing that as basically some point when all our first-team squad has been fit? Because our "first choice XI" has changed since the start of the season, never mind four years ago.

 

[Purdy]

Tie of the round in both competitions must be Liverpool vs Prague, will be a cracker.

 

[Greenlizard0]

Talking of the Europa League, why does the BBC only put that band around 5th place?

Excluding the bonus of getting one via the fair play route, is it 5th and 6th place get a spot each, and then the winner/runner up of the Carling Cup? Or is it 5th place, League Cup winner/finalist and FA Cup winner/finalist?