UEFA Champions League 2013/14 Thread

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RexxGrim

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Pot 1: FC Bayern Munich, Barcelona, Chelsea, Real Madrid, Manchester Utd, Arsenal, Porto, Benfica

Pot 2: Atletico Madrid, Shakhtar Donetsk, AC Milan, Shalke, Marseille, CSKA Moscow, PSG, Juventus

Pot 3: Zenit, Manchester City, Ajax, Borussia Dortmund, Basel, Olympiacos, Galatasaray, Bayer Leverkusen

Pot 4: FC Copenhagen, Napoli, Anderlecht, Celtic, Steaua Bucharest, Pizen, Real Sociedad, Austria Vienna


Here is the pots for the group stage draw.
 
How does Schalke end up in pot 2 with Dortmund in pot 3? Not sure what Benfica done to get into pot 1 either.
 
thestaggy said:
How does Schalke end up in pot 2 with Dortmund in pot 3? Not sure what Benfica done to get into pot 1 either.
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Their performances in Europe over the past five years... Dortmund may have been finalists last season, but prior to that, they didn't even get past the group stage- finishing bottom of their group.
 
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Maverick Jester said:
Their performances in Europe over the past five years... Dortmund may have been finalists last season, but prior to that, they didn't even get past the group stage- finishing bottom of their group.
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Fair enough. Just thought that their run last season would have played a greater impact on their ranking. They're easily, on present performances, better than half of the clubs ranked ahead of them.
 
Bayern
Paris Saint-Germain
Manchester City
Napoli

My pick for group of death.
 
Barca's group will be

Barca
Marseille
Olympiacos
Austria Vienna
 
Group A: Man United, Shakhtar Donetsk, Bayer Leverkusen, Real Sociedad

Group B: Real Madrid, Juventus, Galatasaray, Copenhagen,

Group C: Benfica, PSG, Olympiacos, Anderlecht

Group D: Bayern Munich, CSKA Moscow, Manchester City, Viktoria Plzen

Group E: Chelsea, Schalke, FC Basel, Steaua Bucharest

Group F: Arsenal, Marseille, Dortmund, Napoli

Group G: Porto, Atletico Madrid, Zenit, Austria Vienna

Group H: Barcelona, AC Milan, Ajax, Celtic

Pretty tough groups for Arsenal and United.
 
thestaggy said:
Fair enough. Just thought that their run last season would have played a greater impact on their ranking. They're easily, on present performances, better than half of the clubs ranked ahead of them.
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Agreed. I am not the biggest fan of UEFA's five-year coefficient system, but it does have some merit.
 
RexxGrim said:
How would you seed the teams or do you think it should be an open draw?
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I would tweak the way that they allocate the points totals: giving extra points to clubs who defeat higher-ranked opponents; remove the dependency on the country coefficient (which benefits the 4th placed teams more); not award points for playing in the qualifying stages; and reverse the allocation table. For example, teams earn more points for group stage participation than they do for knockout participation- this is silly, and why clubs like Dortmund and Juventus are seeded lower than Arsenal.
 
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Maverick Jester said:
I would tweak the way that they allocate the points totals: giving extra points to clubs who defeat higher-ranked opponents; remove the dependency on the country coefficient (which benefits the 4th placed teams more); not award points for playing in the qualifying stages; and reverse the allocation table. For example, teams earn more points for group stage participation than they do for knockout participation- this is silly, and why clubs like Dortmund and Juventus are seeded lower than Arsenal.
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A club like Dortmund is rated below Arsenal because, although they made the final last year, the year before that they didn't make it out of the group stages. A Group which consisted of Arsenal. A group were Arsenal beat them at home 2-1 and had an 1-1 away draw.

The year before that Arsenal lost in the Round of 16 on aggregate against Barcelona (4-3), while Dortmund failed to make it out of the group stages of the Europa League.

The year before that Arsenal lost in the Quarters to Barcelona again, while Dortmund didn't qualify for any European competition at all.

I think the system is fine.
 
RexxGrim said:
I think the system is fine.
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Of course you would, because teams that have no hope of winning it, like Arsenal, benefit from it without necessarily performing at a sufficient standard.

You looked at Dortmund's progress- three seasons ago, they didn't even make it out of the group stages of the Europa League. Last season, they were in the final- that is immense. In the same period, Arsenal reaching the second knockout round is their best achievement.

Arsenal are the only team in Pot 1 who have not won the CL, or any major European trophy for that matter.

But this is not to rag on Arsenal- the seeding system needs to be reworked IMO.
 
Performing at a sufficient standard. Hahaha.

In the last four years we were knocked out by

Bayern on away goals after beating them 2-0 away. Bayern went on to win it.
Milan, Agree not our finest hour after going 4-0 away and norrowly missing out by beating them 3-0 at home.
Barcelona, 4-3 on agregate. We beat them 2-1 at home, lost the away tie 3-1. Barca went on the win it.
Barcelona again 6-3.

Dortmund had Shakar and Malaga on there way to the final.

If Dortmund reach the final this year, I'll be happy to concede that they should be seeded higher than us.
 
RexxGrim said:
In the last four years we were knocked out
Click to expand...

This is the point- four years and not a sniff of even a final appearance at the least. I would hardly call that sufficient standard- Arsenal are one of the teams that just make up the numbers.

UEFA should reward teams for making progress, not for stagnating, which is why they should rework their seeding system.
 
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