2017 Champions League Knockout stage

Senator Donut

post-Domer
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Apr 21, 2010
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Congrats on winning the group, Arsenal! Also, I don't know why UEFA insists on calling PSG "Paris."

Group runners-up are listed first, winners second

Man. City (ENG) v Monaco (FRA)
Real Madrid (ESP) v Napoli (ITA)
Benfica (POR) v Dortmund (GER)
Bayern (GER) v Arsenal (ENG)
Porto (POR) v Juventus (ITA)
Leverkusen (GER) v Atlético (ESP)
Paris (FRA) v Barcelona (ESP)
Sevilla (ESP) v Leicester (ENG)

First legs
14 February
Benfica v Borussia Dortmund
Paris v Barcelona

15 February
Real Madrid v Napoli
Bayern v Arsenal

21 February
Manchester City v Monaco
Bayer Leverkusen v Atlético Madrid

22 February
Porto v Juventus
Sevilla v Leicester

Second legs
7 March
Napoli v Real Madrid
Arsenal v Bayern

8 March
Borussia Dortmund v Benfica
Barcelona v Paris

14 March
Juventus v Porto
Leicester v Sevilla

15 March
Monaco v Manchester City
Atlético Madrid v Bayer Leverkusen
 

SocrManiac

Tommy Seebach’s mustache
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Apr 15, 2006
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My heart would go out to Arsenal fans if I had one.

Not looking forward to the brand of play that Porto brings to the table. Looking forward to ridiculous time wasting, nasty fouls, flops, and the like that goes with playing those pricks. I realize that's stereotypically the Italian style and folks will think I'm insane, but if the Italians are known for it, the Portuguese sides have perfected it.
 

Zososoxfan

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Jul 30, 2009
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It's a bit boring that Barca-PSG and Arsenal-Bayern are the matchups, again. UEFA should consider a limit (e.g. no more than X round of 16 matchups in Y years) to keep things interesting. I know that about 10 of the participants haven't changed very much, but I'm just spitballing here.
 

InstaFace

The Ultimate One
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Sep 27, 2016
21,753
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My proposal, which is only for the R16 draw:

1. Rank-order the group winners, by Points -> GD -> GS -> FA Ranking.
2. In their rank order, group winners get to pick their opponent, from among the allowed choices (no same-country, no group-stage opponent), so long as the choice would not leave a downstream team with no remaining allowable options.

You'd get no lollygagging on matchday 6, that's for sure. Every runner-up picked by a top team would get to play with a chip on their shoulder because "they wanted us, they got us!" Better still, Arsenal fans wouldn't get to complain, because your fate is still in your hands. Plus, even in years when they finish a runner-up, they'd probably be one of the last teams chosen anyways. It's not like you'd rather be facing down Ozil and Sanchez than, say, Benfica or Monaco or something.
 

Morgan's Magic Snowplow

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Jul 2, 2006
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My proposal, which is only for the R16 draw:

1. Rank-order the group winners, by Points -> GD -> GS -> FA Ranking.
2. In their rank order, group winners get to pick their opponent, from among the allowed choices (no same-country, no group-stage opponent), so long as the choice would not leave a downstream team with no remaining allowable options.

You'd get no lollygagging on matchday 6, that's for sure. Every runner-up picked by a top team would get to play with a chip on their shoulder because "they wanted us, they got us!" Better still, Arsenal fans wouldn't get to complain, because your fate is still in your hands. Plus, even in years when they finish a runner-up, they'd probably be one of the last teams chosen anyways. It's not like you'd rather be facing down Ozil and Sanchez than, say, Benfica or Monaco or something.
This would be awesome. Of course, it will never happen. But still.
 
My proposal, which is only for the R16 draw:

1. Rank-order the group winners, by Points -> GD -> GS -> FA Ranking.
2. In their rank order, group winners get to pick their opponent, from among the allowed choices (no same-country, no group-stage opponent), so long as the choice would not leave a downstream team with no remaining allowable options.

You'd get no lollygagging on matchday 6, that's for sure. Every runner-up picked by a top team would get to play with a chip on their shoulder because "they wanted us, they got us!" Better still, Arsenal fans wouldn't get to complain, because your fate is still in your hands. Plus, even in years when they finish a runner-up, they'd probably be one of the last teams chosen anyways. It's not like you'd rather be facing down Ozil and Sanchez than, say, Benfica or Monaco or something.
[/Simmons]

(I kid - I like it.)
 

teddykgb

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Jul 16, 2005
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Chelmsford, MA
This would be awesome. Of course, it will never happen. But still.
The competition is already so stacked in favor of the big sides. Especially given that it serves as a huge money disbursement system, I think this would just make it even worse. At least right now a team in a 2nd tier league can hope to find an easier than you'd expect path to the semis or finals then all bets are off. The draft system would render it completely impossible.
 

InstaFace

The Ultimate One
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Sep 27, 2016
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Pittsburgh, PA
Here is how that ranking would end up this year:

(Elo, Points/GD/GS) - ordered by group-stage stats
1. Barcelona (2011, 15/16/20)
2. Atleti (1951, 15/5/7)
3. Dortmund (1886, 14/12/21)
4. Arsenal (1880, 14/12/18)
5. Juventus (1806, 14/9/11)
6. Leicester (1735, 13/1/7 - heavily influenced by punting their 6th match 0-5 at Porto; a win would have knocked Porto to the Europa)
7. Napoli (1787, 11/3/11)
8. Monaco (1781, 11/2/9)

Picking from: (Elo, Points/GD/GS) - ordered by Elo
1. Real Madrid (2047, 12/6/16)
2. Bayern (1999, 12/8/14)
3. PSG (1865, 12/6/13)
4. Man City (1852, 9/2/12)
5. Sevilla (1810, 11/4/7)
6. Benfica (1808, 8/0/10)
7. Leverkusen (1788, 10/4/8 - man, Spurs really blew it)
8. Porto (1754, 11/6/9)

So if all they did was draft by Elo, you'd see:

Barca - Porto
Atleti - Leverkusen
Dortmund - Benfica
Arsenal - Sevilla
Juve - City
Leicester - PSG
Napoli - Bayern
Monaco - RM

Under this system, your 2017 winners and losers:

Better off: Barcelona (has PSG), Arsenal (has Bayern),
Same: Atleti, Dortmund, Napoli (has RM, kinda a push)
Worse off: Monaco (has City), Leicester (has Sevilla), Juventus (has Porto)

oh, and all of us are also better off, too, because we'd hear less whining (whinging?) from Arsenal supporters.
 

Zososoxfan

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Jul 30, 2009
9,208
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PSA - first UCL knockout round matches are tomorrow.

Benfica v Borussia Dortmund
Paris v Barcelona

PSG will be without Silva and Pastore. Silva in particular is a real problem as PSG have a short bench at CB. Matuidi and Verratti can cause Barca's MF problems with their workrate, Draxler is a good addition, and David Luiz was a bad CB matchup against Barca, but hard to see PSG getting a result in either leg IMO.

I hope and expect Barca to come out:

MaTS
Alba-Pique-Umtiti-Sergi Roberto
Sergio
Iniesta-Suarez
SNM

The MF spot next to Iniesta is open to competition from Rak and Gomes, but Gomes has consistently given away 2-3 horrific turnovers per game and Rak seems to be in the dog house a bit. I'm also warming up to Cillessen and I've never been a huge MaTS fan. Although for this matchup and the rest of UCL, I have no doubt we see MaTS in net.
 
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SoxFanInCali

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Jun 3, 2005
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California. Duh.
They had some matches on ESPN Deportes that were available on ESPN3. Fox has exclusive English language rights to the CL in the US.
 

bosox4283

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I'm always excited to see this thread bumped.

Two great games today, and we might get to see an American play in the CL Round of 16. That's pretty amazing.
 

Schnerres

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Apr 28, 2009
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You know, back in 1991/92, when it was the European Champions Cup, Thomas Dooley (the most german american you can find, I guess) played for my home team FC Kaiserslautern and even captained in the 1st round vs. Etar Tarnovo (round of last 32) and in 1st leg in the 2nd round @barca (round of last 16).
Barca won that match 2-0. Kaiserslautern led the 2nd leg 3-0 until the last seconds, until 150cm tall captain Bakero won a header against 195cm small Reinhard Stumpf and headed to the 3-1. It was 3-3 on aggregate and Barca had the away goal. They went on into the group stage and even won the Final vs. Sampdoria that year - man those were glory days for my club...
And they had Tom Dooley, who played in the pre-CL days... :)
 

Senator Donut

post-Domer
SoSH Member
Apr 21, 2010
5,500
They had some matches on ESPN Deportes that were available on ESPN3. Fox has exclusive English language rights to the CL in the US.
Fox sold one playoff and group stage match per matchday to ESPN2, but I don't remember any knockout games airing on ESPN channels since Fox took over. ESPN2 got the 4th pick of games after Fox, so they didn't have many big name teams.
 

Zomp

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Aug 28, 2006
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Wife: "So what are we doing for Valentines day?"

Me: "How do you feel about Paris and Barcelona?"

Her: "WHAT!?"

Me: "I know!! I recorded the game!"
 

Titans Bastard

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I'm not 100% sure this is fully complete, but at one point in time I put together a list of Americans who have played in the CL group stage or later. Dooley didn't technically make it in 1991-92, but Kaiserslautern were in the last 16 (group stage only had two groups of four), so let's count him. I have 22 players on this list, accounting for 37 total player-seasons.

4 times
DaMarcus Beasley (PSV, 04-05, 05-06 and Rangers, 07-08, 09-10)
Jermaine Jones (Schalke, 07-08, 10-11, 12-13, 13-14)

3 times

Sacha Kljestan (Anderlecht, 12-13, 13-14, 14-15)

2 times
Julian Green (Bayern, 13-14, 15-16)
Frankie Hejduk (Leverkusen, 99-00, 00-01)
Tim Howard (Man U, 03-04, 04-05)
Fabian Johnson (Gladbach, 15-16, 16-17)
Jovan Kirovski (Dortmund, 96-97, 97-98)
Oguchi Onyewu (Milan, 09-10 and Málaga, 12-13)
Claudio Reyna (Rangers, 99-00, 00-01)

1 time
Freddy Adu (Benfica, 07-08)
Landon Donovan (Leverkusen, 04-05)
Thomas Dooley (Kaiserslautern, 91-92)
Maurice Edu (Rangers, 10-11)
Benny Feilhaber (Hamburg, 06-07)
John O'Brien (Ajax, 02-03)
Michael Parkhurst (Nordsjælland, 12-13)
Christian Pulisic (Dortmund, 16-17)
Robbie Russell (Rosenborg, 04-05)
Tony Sanneh (Hertha, 99-00)
Jonathan Spector (Man U, 04-05)
Gedion Zelalem (Arsenal, 14-15)

Fun facts:

  • As @wonderland noted, DMB reached the SF with PSV and was a prominent member of the squad, starting both legs of the SF. I'd consider him to have gone deeper in the competition than any other American player. PSV missed out on the final on away goals, too.
  • I feel comfortable ignoring Kirovski in 96-97 whose club won it all, but he played a very minimal role and wasn't in the 18 for important games at the end.
  • Onyewu's CL appearance for Milan was a 30 minute substitute appearance in a home loss to Zürich. It was his only appearance for Milan in any competition.
 

Zososoxfan

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Wife: "So what are we doing for Valentines day?"

Me: "How do you feel about Paris and Barcelona?"

Her: "WHAT!?"

Me: "I know!! I recorded the game!"
[insert clap emoji]

Barca PSG off to a breakneck pace. Barca lucky not to be down. MaTS with a couple of outstanding plays already. Cavani is not a world class striker. Matuidi blew a couple of chances too.
 

Zososoxfan

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Neymar really playing well in the early going. Only one making PSG for playing hyper-aggressive. Too bad it was Gomes on the end of that run, should've finished.
 

Zososoxfan

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Lightning quick counter there by PSG. Draxler with a nice shot that MaTS made a terrific save on. Not clear how PSG didn't put that corner kick in.
 

Zososoxfan

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Fook me, bad turnover by Messi in the MF and Verratti makes an incisive pass to Draxler who finishes excellently. Lucho needs to have a serious talk with the lads at halftime.
 

Zososoxfan

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Really interesting defensive system from Emery - he has Cavani shadowing Busquets and Matuidi and Verratti doing the pressing, but also helping on Busquets. Draxler and Di Maria are dropping in. Clearly stifling Barca thus far.
 

Schnerres

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No one interested in defending. Di Maria with a snipe.
100% true. They are watching the counter, watching dribbles, passes, could stop the attack with better tackles or even had the chance for clever fouls and let PSG have the 3-0 and di Maria has his birthday-brace.
 

Zososoxfan

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Gross. As soon as PSG's right back broke the press, the break was on. Cavani, CAVANI!, had a finish. Seeya later Barca. Seeya later Lucho (not saying I want him gone, but that he will be).
 

bosox4283

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Gross. As soon as PSG's right back broke the press, the break was on. Cavani, CAVANI!, had a finish. Seeya later Barca. Seeya later Lucho (not saying I want him gone, but that he will be).
Was it simply a matter of Barca playing too many games in a short window? Those two matches in La Copa del Rey against Atletico were brutal, but Atleti got an extra week to rest before their CL match.
 

Zososoxfan

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Was it simply a matter of Barca playing too many games in a short window? Those two matches in La Copa del Rey against Atletico were brutal, but Atleti got an extra week to rest before their CL match.
To some degree yes. But, a more confident manager rest his aging stars better. Messi, Iniesta, and Busquets did not bring the workrate today (especially the first two). Combine that and the puzzling insistence on using Gomes and you have this tire fire.
 

bosox4283

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To some degree yes. But, a more confident manager rest his aging stars better. Messi, Iniesta, and Busquets did not bring the workrate today (especially the first two). Combine that and the puzzling insistence on using Gomes and you have this tire fire.
Thanks. Good insight. I recognize my comment will sound a bit like sour grapes, but Atletico outplayed Barcelona in 3/4 halves (all but the first) and Barcelona won on a few brilliant moments from Messi and Suarez -- this builds on your point, I think.
 

Vinho Tinto

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Dortmund dominated the match. A mediocre match from Aubameyang nets him a brace. Ederson likely man of the match, but Luisao really made his 500th appearance (All starts) special. Turned back the clock for 90 and held the line, plus collected an assist.
 

Morgan's Magic Snowplow

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Penalty gifted to Arsenal by Lewa, Alexis misses, miskicks the rebound, chests down the miskick, and buries it. What a sequence.

A graphic just showed 265 Bayern passes to 43 Arsenal passes. That kind of match. If Arsenal can keep it 1-1 going into the half, they'll be happy though.
 

cromulence

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Aug 25, 2009
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Did you think that was really a penalty for Arsenal? Seemed awfully soft to me but I seem to disagree with the analysts on these things a lot. Put it this way - if you're gonna give that, you should probably have given one for the possible handball at the other end.
 

Vinho Tinto

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Monaco up 2-1 at the Ethiad. Missed out a PK call for Aguero. Was ruled a dive instead. City's midfield and back-line is having a hard time with the speed Monaco has when they counter. Very entertaining match. Feels like it will end with 5 or 6 goals scored.
 
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coremiller

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Jul 14, 2005
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Monaco up 2-1 at the Ethiad. Missed out a PK call for Sterling. Was ruled a dive instead. City's midfield and back-line is having a hard time with the speed Monaco has when they counter. Very entertaining match. Feels like it will end with 5 or 6 goals scored.
cue rant from @teddykgb in 3, 2, 1 ... how many penalties have City, and especially Sterling, wrongly missed out on this year? At least 5?