Champions League 2018/19: A Visca Wanda

[Sporting]

Is there anyone in the world who actually enjoys the so-called spectacle of these draws? I mean, the two hours plus which isn't actually taking balls out of a bag or pot?

[ursus arctos]

You mean other than Infantino?

I imagine that if you are the Victoria Plzen delegation, it feels like a small price to pay for a subsidised long weekend on the Côte d'Azur in August.

[Sporting]

Mind you, the number of balls in various pots is doing my head in. It's like one big conjuring trick.

[Incandenza]

Diego Forlan is looking good.

[Third rate Leszno]

Eeeww. Not a great draw. Two tough teams, at least one strong chance of a stabbing and the possibility of a game I can’t go to even if I wanted to.

[ursus arctos]

Stabbing is really much more of a Roman thing, to be honest.

[Jah Womble]

Is there anyone in the world who actually enjoys the so-called spectacle of these draws? I mean, the two hours plus which isn't actually taking balls out of a bag or pot?

The way to approach it is to have something else to do while it's on.

As for our draw, I'll take that. Mostly because I have to.

[Wouter D]

I was expecting the full draw on here, so let me do the honors:

Group A: Atletico Madrid, Borussia Dortmund, Monaco, Club Brugge
Group B: Barcelona, Tottenham Hotspur, PSV Eindhoven, Internazionale
Group C: Paris Saint-Germain, Napoli, Liverpool, Red Star Belgrade
Group D: Lokomotiv Moscow, Porto, Schalke 04, Galatasaray
Group E: Bayern Munich, Benfica, Ajax, AEK Athens
Group F: Manchester City, Shakhtar Donetsk, Lyon, 1899 Hoffenheim
Group G: Real Madrid, Roma, CSKA Moscow, Viktoria Plzen
Group H: Juventus, Manchester United, Valencia, Young Boys

Groups A and B look tasty. Groups D and E are probably the easiest of the lot. Young Boys look like they're going to get pasted.

[Third rate Leszno]

In general I'd agree that Roma fans are more notorious for their stabbings, but Liverpool's last pair of games against Napoli were notably unpleasant off the field and one of the fellas we know through going on away trips got stabbed while he was over there. Needless to say he's skipping this years renewal.

[ursus arctos]

English clubs do have an unfortunate tendency to bring out the psychopaths among “supporters” of virtually all Italian clubs.

I was referring more to the fact that Romans (both Romanisti and Laziali) have a reputation for being particularly stabby even among Italian ultras.

[Sporting]

I've been looking at the times the matches will be played at and as far as I can see there are some clubs who will always kick off at the later time, including Man Utd. I don't know if UEFA uses any particular criteria for deciding this or whether it's down to the TV companies.

[Third rate Leszno]

Amongst all the Uefa guff I waded through yesterday I read something that said the English clubs will get 8pm kick offs for all their home games, but I don't think there was any restriction on their away ties (Liverpool have a 17:55 ko in Belgrade).

[Sporting]

On a very brief perusal I see that Atletico Madrid and Schalke have at least one home match at the earlier hour. Not so convenient for Spanish fans who, if they have regular work at regular hours, tend to clock off later than in other nations. As we have already determined that Gelsenkirchen is a very boring place, then any extra home match at any time is obviously going to perk up the excitement level there.

That said, I think it's true that the so-called inferior clubs from countries with lower coefficents are those who, in the main, are being given the earlier kick-off times. But I haven't analysed this in any depth.

[Felicity, I guess so]

Part of the exoticism of pre-CL European football was the random kick off times. So as well as Archie McPherson crackling and the picture having lines on it, you had to sneak off work/school to see it sometimes.

[Duncan Gardner]

English clubs do have an unfortunate tendency to bring out the psychopaths among “supporters” of virtually all Italian clubs

Are you straying close to victim blaming there UA?

[ursus arctos]

Dunc, I don't think so.

The muppets I'm talking about start getting worked up as soon as the draw comes out, and the Roman tradition of puncicate (buttock stabbing) is rarely in response to any sort of provocation.

[EIM]

Tickets sorted for Young Boys. Flight from Manchester at 6am on the day of the game, then home via Frankfurt the following day. Jesus, I'd forgotten what a marvellous hassle it is sorting all this out.

[ursus arctos]

Charter to Bern?

It isn't a real airport, y'know

[EIM]

We're going to Geneva I think. Via Brussels. Nothing is easy, is it?

[Satchmo Distel]

Is it too early yet to say whether this year's results will change the rankings and therefore allocations for next season (mainly below the top 5 or 6 national leagues)?

[ursus arctos]

Yes

Though you can track the coefficients of clubs as they advance here.

[Ray de Galles]

I've been looking at the times the matches will be played at and as far as I can see there are some clubs who will always kick off at the later time, including Man Utd. I don't know if UEFA uses any particular criteria for deciding this or whether it's down to the TV companies.

The games at Inter & Barca on Tuesday and Ajax & Shakthar on Wednesday kick off at 5:55pm UK time. Is this solely for TV reasons?

[ursus arctos]

Shakthar regularly has early starts for time zone reasons, but this is earlier than usual and the others are strictly television (they don't even have the "two teams from the same league playing at home" ruse to fall back on).

[Satchmo Distel]

They've had 6pm kick-offs in the Europa for a while so in a way it's more surprising that it took this long for the Champions League to trial them.

[ad hoc]

Spurs deserve to lose just for the state of their kit