UEFA Champions League/Europa League Knockout Stage Draw - 20 December

Ouch Bayern it is, dont think we will even get close to them...they will destroy us in a nutshell but saying that ill remain optimistic that maybe just maybe we will give them a run for their money.

Utd playing Real, that should be an interesting game...Ronaldo making a return back to OT...i imagine Real should beat Utd but then again Utd on their day can beat them as well.

I imagine Juve will beat Celtic as well.

Dont think any english teams will make it past this round. One good thing is that at least we havent got Barca like we have in the past:p. But then again nothing to get excited about as we have the almighty Bayern and as i said i imagine they will tear us a new one :/
 
CliffyG said:
Could be worse, we have less chance of getting a major beating than some of the other games! Might even nick a draw.
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Bayern are two points off their best ever up to xmas record I believe, likewise they've looked good in Europe. Less chance of getting a thrashing than by Barca, yes, but more chance than against most of the other teams we could have faced. Frankly of the teams we could have gone up against Bayern are probably the second worst we could have faced. Pace on the wings against our crappy full backs, a tap in artist upfront, a solid defence, a strong midfield that can compete with the only strong area we have on the pitch.

IE our weakest area's are fullbacks, dealing with crosses and we aren't good against solid defences, which is basically the perfect team for Bayern to play, solid defence, great wingers, good crossing and someone to put those crosses in the net.

Barca, weak defence gives our attack a chance, and most of their quality is in central midfield and upfront with Messi, but their wingers are far less good than in the past and most of their good football goes through the middle. That means to a degree Barca will focus their attacks through out two strongest points, cb's and central midfield, and with their dodgy defence our hit and miss offence has a better chance of scoring IMHO. I don't think we can win either games, but Wilshire/Arteta have a good chance against their midfield offensively and defensively, while our wingers/fullbacks have zero chance against Bayerns wingers/fullbacks.

Shamikebab said:
ridiculously harsh draw for topping the group :(

Looking forward to having Ronaldo back at OT though :)
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Real are falling apart internally, with a manager who just conceded the league before xmas, and a team that is almost all out of form except for Ronaldo. Apart from the two Ajax games they looked iffy at best, they were better than City but concede goals, points and only just got the win they deserved.

The only downside is Real still fundamentally have quality and can pull off a good performance, by the time you actually play Mourinho could be close to or have been fired, if they lose a couple games, the fans will turn even further on the team, the infighting will continue, the results will likely continue to get worse.

It's not like the other teams are really strong(probably Shakhtar are), but its not ridiculously harsh, Real aren't much better than 3-4 of those other teams on current form.
 
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I just think we have more of a chance against them. At least we have a couple of months to get our form improved and hopefuly a couple of non cup tied big signings ;).
 
I can see ManU beating Real, but a lot depends on which Ronaldo shows up.

I think Veltic could go through.

Arsenal are ******, Arsene best start getting lubed up now :D
 
I cant believe that draw, but they should be great games either way.

Utd have a reasonable chance (given RM's form currently) but even if Utd lose at least we have limited City's advantage in the EPL (by not having any Euro games at all).

Fergie can hopefully also look more favourably on the FA Cup too (if we get past West Ham of course)
 
CliffyG said:
I just think we have more of a chance against them. At least we have a couple of months to get our form improved and hopefuly a couple of non cup tied big signings ;).
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It's Arsenal 2 months just means 2 months to buy another Gervinho, and 2 months of injuries to pick up, Wilshire, Arteta, Verm, Santi to all be out by then :p

Bah, I just can't see Wenger buying anyone quality anymore, I do want to see Santi in a "big" game though, so far he's looked great against weak teams and not really seen him have great games against big teams(but its hard when everyone else plays pap). Wilshire was great in the Barca games, while Nasri would be no where in the big games usually, not a fighter at all. Will be good to see if Santi steps up in a huge game, or is the kind of guy who disappears, didn't see nearly enough of him in La Liga to know.

Hmm, if we did get someone like Ba in, would he be cuptied, does Europa league effect if you can play in the champs league or not, I can't remember.
 
There is a reason for my winky smiley. I have no faith in us bringing in anyone decent.

I think europa does cup tie him. Think if you are in champs league qualifiers you can go to europa but that's it.
 
No1newts said:
I can see ManU beating Real, but a lot depends on which Ronaldo shows up.

I think Veltic could go through.

Arsenal are ******, Arsene best start getting lubed up now :D
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Ronaldo almost always shows up, his record against Barca is great, the only thing is when he doesn't score its mostly because the rest of the team is so poor, Messi without the ball wouldn't score either. Only so much you can do completely on your own. The number of times Ronaldo hasn't shown up for Real can basically be counted on one hand, after an accident with a lawn mower :p

The question is will Modric/Ozil/Benzema/Di Maria show up, because its insanely rare they ALL turn up, but its pretty rare even 2 of them show up for a big game, when its only one or non of them, Ronaldo is boned as he'll get zero service at all.

Ronaldo's record at Real is incredible because his scoring rate is almost on par with messi's but Messi has a team of consistent players who show up for almost every game.

Real continue to as they are inconsistent, give more of the ball to Ronaldo, and they play in an increasingly "let Ronaldo win the game for us" way by giving him more and more of the ball. The rest of the players get worse, Ronaldo has more and more pressure and gets more and more unhappy at his situation.

Thats what you get with inconsistent players and instead of buying consistent better players, you burn 30mil on a really poor left back, loads on another deep lying midfielder, and don't buy many/any quality defenders.
 
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What a tie that is for Man Utd.

Man Utd will go through If I were to put money on it, even though Ronaldo will be well up for it, if Van Persie and Rooney can continue the goalscoring I think it will shade it. 51% Man Utd up front over Madrid.
 
Pretty easy drawn for man u, RM are poor. Not only are they falling apart domestically but historically they aren't that great in europe (not counting the 5 times when they won big ears against non league oppostion).

We all know what happended last time they came up against a team from the NW of england aswell ;)
 
Our game is probably going to come down to who can defend the better, I have no doubt we can defend better than what we have done so far this season, Real on the other hand defend the same way they have done for the past 10 years or so so hopefully whilst our attack might be second best compared to theirs their defence will handle it a lot worse than vica versa (or something like that)
 
As a United fan, VIVA RONALDOOOO

I can't believe most of you think Real wont be on song by then? They have a lot of quality, and knowing our luck they will hit form at the right time.
 
Was just looking at ours fixtures in and around the time of the Real Madrid games....

10/2 - Everton (H)
13/2 - Real Madrid (A)
16/2 - FA Cup 4th round
23/2 - QPR (A)
02/3 - Norwich (H)
05/3 - Real Madrid (H)

Could be a lot worse
 
Yeh I'm not convinced just because their current league form isn't good they won't be up for this game in a couple month.

Even if by then they are definitely out of the league title race, Mourinho will want another Champions League and Ronaldo will want nothing more than to score goals against Man Utd.

That said I will still back Man Utd, I just think who can score more goals. Man Utd do have a very good strike force
 
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