Champions League 9/17 and 9/18

DJnVa

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Today:
Barca @ Dortmund
Slavia Prague @ Inter
Zenit St. Petersburg @ Lyon
Lille @ Ajax
RB Leipzig @ Benfica
Valencia @ Chelsea
Genk @ Red Bull Salzburg
Liverpool @ Napoli

Tomorrow:
Tottenham @ Olympiakos
Crvena Zvezda @ Bayern
Galatasary @ Brugge
Juventus @ Atletico Madrid
Lokomotiv Moscow @ Bayer Leverkusen
Atalanta @Dinamo Zagreb
Real Madrid @ PSG
Manchester City @ Shakhtar Donetsk
 

bosox4283

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Barca-Dortmund ought to be an exciting match. Messi is supposedly back today after missing a month with an injury.

A lot of these teams look much different than last year: Benfica without Joao Felix, Ajax without Frenkie De Jong, Valencia with a new coach, Chelsea with a new manager.
 

Zososoxfan

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Barca-Dortmund ought to be an exciting match. Messi is supposedly back today after missing a month with an injury.

A lot of these teams look much different than last year: Benfica without Joao Felix, Ajax without Frenkie De Jong, Valencia with a new coach, Chelsea with a new manager.
Barca starting with a frontline of Griez-Luis-Fati. MF is Busi-Arthur-FDJ. Hard to argue with any of that. I'll continue to beat the Rak > Busi at DMF drum, but until that gets tried in La Liga, I won't beat that drum too hard.
 

PedroSpecialK

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Azmoun subbed off with a knock at halftime. Lyon level on 50'

Slavia Praha are unbelievably still 1-0 on Inter at 85'
 

PedroSpecialK

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Good on Prague to get an away point at the San Siro. Godin and Sanchez didn't make it off the bench for Conte...
 

PedroSpecialK

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Looks like Robertson is fit after all.

Liverpool lineup: Adrián, Alexander-Arnold, Matip, Van Dijk, Robertson, Fabinho, Henderson, Milner, Mané, Salah, Firmino
Subs: Kelleher, Lovren, Gomez, Oxlade-Chamberlain, Lallana, Wijnaldum, Shaqiri

Napoli lineup: Meret, Di Lorenzo, Manolas, Koulibaly, Rui, Allan, Fabian, Callejon, Lozano, Insigne, Mertens
Subs: Ospina, Maksimović, Ghoulam, Zielinski, Elmas, Milik, Llorente
 

tmracht

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No Pulisic for Chelsea as they run a 3/5 man back line again.

Chelsea: Kepa, Azpi, Zouma, Christensen, Tomori, Alonso, Jorginho, Kovacic, Willian, Mount, Abraham
Bench: Caballero, Barkley, Pedro, Giroud, Pulisic, Batshuayi, Guehi

Valencia: Cillessen; Wass, Gabriel, Garay, Gaya; Kondogbia, Coquelin, Parejo; Cheryshev, Gameiro, Rodrigo.
Bench: Domenech, Jaume Costa, Guedes, Diakhaby, Lee, Ferran Torres, Gomez.
 

67YAZ

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Great work by Henderson, lovely ball, Mane just couldn’t coral it.
 

DJnVa

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No Pulisic for Chelsea as they run a 3/5 man back line again.

Chelsea: Kepa, Azpi, Zouma, Christensen, Tomori, Alonso, Jorginho, Kovacic, Willian, Mount, Abraham
Bench: Caballero, Barkley, Pedro, Giroud, Pulisic, Batshuayi, Guehi

Valencia: Cillessen; Wass, Gabriel, Garay, Gaya; Kondogbia, Coquelin, Parejo; Cheryshev, Gameiro, Rodrigo.
Bench: Domenech, Jaume Costa, Guedes, Diakhaby, Lee, Ferran Torres, Gomez.
Mount came off in 14th minute.
 

tmracht

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Back on but limping :( Then subbed off not ideal after that nasty challenge.
 

PedroSpecialK

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The pissing and moaning for a whistle after every 50/50, both by players and fans

Unlike the Habs though they haven't really been exaggerating contact
 

PedroSpecialK

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Koulibaly is so god damn good

He did get turned by Salah on the contact that would've led to a penalty had Salah gone down

 

Kliq

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RB Salzburg wunderkid Erling Braut Haland with a first half hatrick against Gent. 18 goals in 13 appearances so far in his Salzburg career. Haland famously scored 9 goals against Honduras over the summer in a U-20 game for Norway.
 

Nick Kaufman

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I don't understand why Turner Sports can't show a second match on TBS; I guess people are clamorong for American Dad reruns.
 

PedroSpecialK

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Seems like Felix Brych came out at half time and decided to whistle everything now

edit: except that foul on Salah lol

3-4 Napoli players surrounding Brych at every whistle, this is comical

Can't reiterate this enough

Koulibaly is so god damn good
Another comical exaggeration of contact by Callejón
 
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Kliq

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My boy Llorente! The man gets it done in the Champions League!
 

trotsplits

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Why didn't Klopp just put out a B team? I realize the refs had a bad day, but everyone looked foggy.
 
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67YAZ

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Ugh. Well, Liverpool won the whole shebang last season without winning a group stage match on the road. They can do it again. Right?

Mertens was fantastic tonight. Koulibaly bailed out his side time and again. I’m not sure how Manolas didn’t give the whole thing away, though.
 

PedroSpecialK

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Looked like Callejón expected Robertson to put a leg in and fell towards him to initiate contact, but Robertson had stopped short to avoid contact as he was already on a yellow.

Nonetheless, no look from VAR
 

PedroSpecialK

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And yeah, story of the match for me was Koulibaly. He was getting left in odd-man situations by the lack of a dedicated shield in defensive midfield with Allan / Fabián both pushing up, and by Manolas doing his best Mustafi impression all match. Di Lorenzo didn't do him many favors either, but Rui was strong on the left side.

There were at least 4-5 instances of Koulibaly being the last-ditch defender and making an outstanding play to either thwart a chance or win back possession.
 

Kliq

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From what I can tell, Robertson didn't touch him. Right? Callejon took a dive?
He definitely touches him, but the contact is minimal and Callejon goes to ground easy. Still, and I think Robertson is absolutely fantastic, what really does him in is that it is a clumsy challenge where he doesn't get any of the ball, so when he does contact Callejon (the first angle from that clip is the best) it looks a lot worse to the referee.
 

Titans Bastard

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Congrats to Jesse Marsch — first American manager to win a CL game.
 

OCST

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It looked in real time as if Robertson's foot had clipped his foot, which could very well be a foul, but I don't think it was.
 

67YAZ

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It looked in real time as if Robertson's foot had clipped his foot, which could very well be a foul, but I don't think it was.
I tried to take some time before commenting on this. It was a clumsy challenge in the box. I don’t think it was a penalty, but Robertson knows better than to do that. But the match was squandered by Liverpool making a meal of a bunch of excellent chances over the first 80 minutes.
 

OCST

Sunny von Bulow
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I tried to take some time before commenting on this. It was a clumsy challenge in the box. I don’t think it was a penalty, but Robertson knows better than to do that. But the match was squandered by Liverpool making a meal of a bunch of excellent chances over the first 80 minutes.
I agree. I don't think Napoli would have had much of a complaint if it hadn't been called. But as you say, Robertson shouldn't have given the referee something to think about. Also as you say, Liverpool didn't take their chances and also gave away a second goal, so there you are.
 

bosox4283

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@SocrManiac I believe you're the Juventus fan, right? How do you feel about today?

Atletico, I think, is strong at home but the team has yet to find its best form. Atletico will most likely put Thomas Partey into the starting XI in the true DM role -- I think he really helps to anchor the team in this role. I imagine Joao Felix, the 18-year-old Portuguese record-breaking signing, will start.
 

DJnVa

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Really sloppy start for Spurs, Olympiacos has one of the woodwork.