Europe Club Soccer -- Champions League, EPL, etc, MLS not allowed

[jay santos]

Tottenham over Christian Pulisic's Dortmund into the final 8. Pulisic just got a big transfer to Chelsea, so he'll play for them after the season ends. Will be interesting to see how he does there. Chelsea's a better team than Dortmund and Pulisic lost his starting job at Dortmund. It will be harder to win and keep a starting job at Chelsea, but they paid starter's money to obtain him, so they must be serious about him.

Real Madrid knocked off by Ajax yesterday. Man United about to go down to PSG.

[fusnik]

Tottenham over Christian Pulisic's Dortmund into the final 8. Pulisic just got a big transfer to Chelsea, so he'll play for them after the season ends. Will be interesting to see how he does there. Chelsea's a better team than Dortmund and Pulisic lost his starting job at Dortmund. It will be harder to win and keep a starting job at Chelsea, but they paid starter's money to obtain him, so they must be serious about him.

Real Madrid knocked off by Ajax yesterday. Man United about to go down to PSG.

Pulisic was bumped by Sancho. Chelsea paid for him to sell jerseys in America. Sarri also didn’t know he was coming. Not great indicators for Pulisic.

Lots of questions for him there. If the transfer ban is upheld and they call in a bunch of players, plus keep Hudson Odoi, it’s not super positive for Pulisic. Also if they sell Hazard to Real Madrid that will create more money to sign another player.

Sarri gets them into the top 4 and Pulisic might never play there. They have one of the best players in the world playing out of position, I doubt the transfer fee means much to Sarri.

MU playing great right now, big second half coming up.

[jay santos]

Pulisic was bumped by Sancho. Chelsea paid for him to sell jerseys in America. Sarri also didn’t know he was coming. Not great indicators for Pulisic.

Lots of questions for him there. If the transfer ban is upheld and they call in a bunch of players, plus keep Hudson Odoi, it’s not super positive for Pulisic. Also if they sell Hazard to Real Madrid that will create more money to sign another player.

Sarri gets them into the top 4 and Pulisic might never play there. They have one of the best players in the world playing out of position, I doubt the transfer fee means much to Sarri.

MU playing great right now, big second half coming up.

Hudson Odoi is fast as crap and a huge up and coming talent. I wouldn't want to compete with him for time, but he might be a year or two out. I hope Pulisic pans out at Chelsea. It would be huge for the USMNT to have a high profile guy like that, but we'll see.

[fusnik]

Hudson Odoi is fast as crap and a huge up and coming talent. I wouldn't want to compete with him for time, but he might be a year or two out. I hope Pulisic pans out at Chelsea. It would be huge for the USMNT to have a high profile guy like that, but we'll see.

Lots of disarray at Chelsea with the coaching staff, ownership and aging players.

Probs the best prospect for the USMNT is Weah. Playing on loan at Celtic is awesome for his development. Has a chance when Neymar leaves to return and play.

VAR blessing for MU!!!!

[fusnik]

MU through.

Tottenham through. (Caught a Hotspur game this season with a prominant poster)

City most certainly will advance.

Liverpool should advance.

4 of 8 in the Champions League QF from the PL.

[jay santos]

MU through.

Tottenham through. (Caught a Hotspur game this season with a prominant poster)

City most certainly will advance.

Liverpool should advance.

4 of 8 in the Champions League QF from the PL.

City are the favorites according to oddsmakers. I just did it. Used plural tense with a team name. The transformation into a wannabe Eurotrash sports fan is complete I guess. I adopted Arsenal as my favorite team a few years ago when I started getting into Premier League (not sure why--I guess the suffering I get for being a BYU fan was not enough for me?). They're going to struggle to even make top 4 for the foreseeable future. City's a powerhouse. Their backup squad would challenge for top 4. Liverpool is stacked. Tottenham is great but might have difficult time financially keeping it all together. Man U and Chelsea have too big of pocketbook to drop for very long.

[Pelado]

You all have just reminded me how little I know about soccer.

[CardiacCoug]

City are the favorites according to oddsmakers. I just did it. Used plural tense with a team name. The transformation into a wannabe Eurotrash sports fan is complete I guess. I adopted Arsenal as my favorite team a few years ago when I started getting into Premier League (not sure why--I guess the suffering I get for being a BYU fan was not enough for me?). They're going to struggle to even make top 4 for the foreseeable future. City's a powerhouse. Their backup squad would challenge for top 4. Liverpool is stacked. Tottenham is great but might have difficult time financially keeping it all together. Man U and Chelsea have too big of pocketbook to drop for very long.

Arsenal’s best chance for Champions League next year is definitely via the Europa League. For some reason I feel like they can win the Europa League although they really aren’t very good right now, especially defensively.

[fusnik]

City are the favorites according to oddsmakers. I just did it. Used plural tense with a team name. The transformation into a wannabe Eurotrash sports fan is complete I guess. I adopted Arsenal as my favorite team a few years ago when I started getting into Premier League (not sure why--I guess the suffering I get for being a BYU fan was not enough for me?). They're going to struggle to even make top 4 for the foreseeable future. City's a powerhouse. Their backup squad would challenge for top 4. Liverpool is stacked. Tottenham is great but might have difficult time financially keeping it all together. Man U and Chelsea have too big of pocketbook to drop for very long.

City and Liverpool have been the 2 best teams in the world this season. City is playing the best right now and Liverpool was at the start of the PL. I’m sure Liverpool wants the PL title more than a CL title as they sacrificed the EFL and FA Cups for points in the PL. A CL title would go a long way as a runner up to the PL for either club. That’d make at least 2 Cups for City, and 1 for Liverpool in a season where they’ve let the strangle hold they had on the PL slip.

As for Arsenal? Is there a worse run major football club in the world than Arsenal? Overpay for Ozil and subsequently sit him for no rational reason. Lack of spending in the winter transfer window. Allowing Ramsey to leave for nothing. In spite of all that they have a chance at top 4 and also are still alive in Europa League. With VAR they are top 4 in the PL right now.

Great next couple months of soccer.

[CardiacCoug]

Arsenal really does suck, losing 3-1 in first leg to a mediocre French team.

I should know not to get my hopes up about them accomplishing anything.

[jay santos]

Arsenal really does suck, losing 3-1 in first leg to a mediocre French team.

I should know not to get my hopes up about them accomplishing anything.

Geez, I guess they can sink lower. Just when it seemed like they're figuring it out.

[jay santos]

Final 8, in order of odds to win according to https://projects.fivethirtyeight.com...mpions-league/

Man City
Liverpool
Barcelona
Juventus
Ajax
Tottenham
Man United
Porto

Big names not making it: Real Madrid (still retooling after losing Ronaldo), Bayern (aging superstars), Atletico (Ronaldo scores hat trick to knock them out after 2-0 win in first leg)

I like how soccer reshuffles the tournament after each round. The format of two games and total goals with away goals being tie breaker--I hated it at first, but it's growing on me.

[Color Me Badd Fan]

I saw this last night on Youtube. I'm sure Corden's inspiration was that hilarious Ronaldo bust from a couple years ago.

[CardiacCoug]

Ridiculous match here between Man City and Tottenham.

[jay santos]

The ending was even crazier than the beginning. I was going for Man City, because I want to see a Premier league team win it all, and I thought they had the best chance.

Semifinals are Tottenham vs Ajax and Barcelona vs Liverpool.