2011-12 UEFA Champions League

citytillidie

Draw takes place tomorrow for 1st and 2nd qualifying rounds.

Shamrock Rovers are seeded. Will they get a draw V Wales or Northern Ireland Champions or face a long haul trip to Kazakhstan or Armenia?

http://www.uefa.com/uefachampionsleague/news/newsid=1644039.html

frantic190

Rovers have a decent chance this season tbh, and they wont have to deal with that bloody hockey pitch in Oswestry (Get the feeling Bohs will be back there in the EL ). Can see them progressing a round anyway, probably wont go farther. They are 18/1 to reach the group stages.

antomorro-sei

Europa League is where its at tbh

Draw tomorrow, can't wait!!

IRISHSPORTSGUY

I'm actually confident Rovers will get through this round. Hopefully they get someone like APOEL or BATE then.

frantic190

antomorro-sei wrote: »

Europa League is where its at tbh

Draw tomorrow, can't wait!!

We'll create our own thread, don't worry Champions League is rubbish anyway.

IRISHSPORTSGUY

Anyone know if an Irish broadcaster are showing the Rovers games?

frantic190

IRISHSPORTSGUY wrote: »

Anyone know if an Irish broadcaster are showing the Rovers games?

We won't know until they do the draw, RTE probably wont bother bidding on it if they don't get a big draw. They should show the next round of games if they get through though. RTE will more than likely not show the away leg either.

Don't hold out any hope of them showing it anyway. You should be able to pick up a stream on the net though depending on what country the team that they get is from.

Ebbs

SRFC.tv will have both legs im sure Hopefully no need for a quick dash between The Maldron and The AbberlyCourt...and back...again.

I have no idea why but Im confident of getting past the 2nd round. After that its a major cash cow.

Draw is at 12pm... the suspence is already killing me.

citytillidie

Draw now done

Shamrock Rovers face a trip to Estonia to play Flora.

Linfield face BATE

dsmythy

citytillidie wrote: »

Draw now done

Shamrock Rovers face a trip to Estonia to play Flora.

Linfield face BATE

Should be the end of Linfield for this year with that draw.

Flora won in Brondby a couple years back so if they are at a similar level should be tough opponents.

fkiely

citytillidie wrote: »

Draw now done

Shamrock Rovers face a trip to Estonia to play Flora.

Linfield face BATE

I can't believe it's not butter!

frantic190

Probably one of the tougher ones for Rovers, its a really nice city with cheap booze though.

BATE have come on so much since being dumped out of the Champions League by Bohs, no chance for Linfield tbh.

_blank_

Could have gotten an easier draw than Estonia imo.

Home or away first?

Ebbs

Home first.

220 for flights

Charisteas

Five Flora Tallin players started for Estonia last night against Chile and although Chile hammered them 4-0, it's gonna be tough for Rovers playing a team with some international experience.

Would love to see Rovers and all the Irish teams go all the way to the play-off round though.


Here's the rest of the draw from today-

First qualifying round draw (28/29 June and 5/6 July)

SP Tre Fiori (SMN) v Valletta FC (MLT)
FC Santa Coloma (AND) v F91 Dudelange (LUX)

Second qualifying round draw (12/13 and 19/20 July)

Maccabi Haifa FC (ISR) v FK Borac Banja Luka (BIH)
FK Mogren (MNE) v PFC Litex Lovech (BUL)
NK Maribor (SVN) v FC Santa Coloma (AND) or F91 Dudelange (LUX)
KS Skënderbeu (ALB) v APOEL FC (CYP)
ŠK Slovan Bratislava (SVK) v FC Tobol Kostanay (KAZ)
SK Sturm Graz (AUT) v Videoton FC (HUN)
FC Zestafoni (GEO) v FC Dacia Chisinau (MDA)
NK Dinamo Zagreb (CRO) v Neftçi PFK (AZE)
FC Pyunik (ARM) v FC Viktoria Plzeň (CZE)
FK Partizan (SRB) v FK Skendija 79 (MKD)
SP Tre Fiori (SMN) or Valletta FC (MLT) v FK Ekranas (LTU)
Malmö FF (SWE) v HB Tórshavn (FRO)
Shamrock Rovers FC (IRL) v FC Flora Tallinn (EST)
Rosenborg BK (NOR) v Breidablik (ISL)
HJK Helsinki (FIN) v Bangor City FC (WAL)
Skonto FC (LVA) v Wisła Kraków (POL)
Linfield FC (NIR) v FC BATE Borisov (BLR)

Pinturicchio

Whenever I see BATE I'm reminded of this.

stovelid

Going to be tough for us. At least it will be a doable trip though. Just booked the time off. Happy days.

The Volt

Surely our Israeli opponents from last season would have been of a higher standard thin Flora Tallinn. I'll be extremely disappointed if we can't progress past this one.

losthorizon

Voltwad wrote: »

Surely our Israeli opponents from last season would have been of a higher standard thin Flora Tallinn. I'll be extremely disappointed if we can't progress past this one.

Israeli teams are waaay better than teams from Estonia. Realistically Rovers should be looking to progress and progress well from this tie. Considering who you could have got be thankful.

djpbarry

dsmythy wrote: »

Flora won in Brondby a couple years back so if they are at a similar level should be tough opponents.

Flora's record in European competition is poor - Rovers have to be favourites over two legs. Granted, they have some internationals in their squad, but they're Estonian internationals, a team that was recently beaten by the Faroes.

stovelid

Voltwad wrote: »

Surely our Israeli opponents from last season would have been of a higher standard thin Flora Tallinn. I'll be extremely disappointed if we can't progress past this one.

Our league is ranked 29th to their 43rd.

Technically Rovers are favourites but look at last year where Rovers knocked out a team from a league (Israel) ranked above ours. Or indeed, Bohs last year.

Extremely cautious optimism. The cautious bit should be fine with MON anyway.

djpbarry

stovelid wrote: »

Our league is ranked 29th to their 43rd.

Technically Rovers are favourites but look at last year where Rovers knocked out a team from a league (Israel) ranked above ours. Or indeed, Bohs last year.

Granted - I'm not suggesting it's going to be a stroll for Rovers, but you'd have to be disappointed if they don't put an Estonian side away.

homerjay2005

good draw, could have been alot worse...

what way does the 3rd round work then, are the winners of all the above ties put into one open draw or is it seeded/involve other teams that come in at the 3rd round stage?

or inother words, what lies between rovers and getting to the group stages, 2 more rounds after this?

stovelid

homerjay2005 wrote: »

or inother words, what lies between rovers and getting to the group stages, 2 more rounds after this?

As far as i know:

If Rovers get into the third qualifying round and:

Win: go into the play-off round for the CL group stage.

Lose: drop into the play-off round for the EL group stages

I think there are some pretty serious teams already in the third qualifying round such as Rangers, Kiev and Benfica, not to mention some of the relatively easier but still very tough teams that will probably get through from this round like Zagreb, Partizan and Rosenborg.

Even going out in the third qualifying round therefore means four games (as in 2 x 3rd round ties/2 x EL play off ties) with a decent chance of marquee/lucrative opposition in the play offs but obviously that depends on getting past Flora..

citytillidie

homerjay2005 wrote: »

good draw, could have been alot worse...

what way does the 3rd round work then, are the winners of all the above ties put into one open draw or is it seeded/involve other teams that come in at the 3rd round stage?

or inother words, what lies between rovers and getting to the group stages, 2 more rounds after this?

Check here its pretty detailed

The Volt

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/FC_Flora_Tallinn#UEFA_club_competition_results

Flora's European record is deplorable

MagicMarker

Do Rovers get funding from FIA/UEFA to send players and staff over to Estonia?

djpbarry

Voltwad wrote: »

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/FC_Flora_Tallinn#UEFA_club_competition_results

Flora's European record is deplorable

Yeah, they've only ever won one tie. Although to be fair, they seem to have gotten a lot of tough draws.

dreamers75

MagicMarker wrote: »

Do Rovers get funding from FIA/UEFA to send players and staff over to Estonia?

FAI has in the past funded LOI teams trips, Rovers shoudnt need it being richest club in the world

UEFA pay 110k or thereabouts per round.

citytillidie

So a wee trip to Denmark if Rovers can keep a clean sheet in Estonia.

Linfield/Bate V Ekranas Panevezys or Valletta

Rangers V HB Tórshavn or Malmo FF

The Volt

citytillidie wrote: »

So a wee trip to Denmark if Rovers can keep a clean sheet in Estonia.

Linfield/Bate V Ekranas Panevezys or Valletta

Rangers V HB Tórshavn or Malmo FF

Couldnt have been much harder, Copenhagen is a cracking city though, hopefully we can keep the tie alive over there

citytillidie

Better to have gotten the one possible team so they can arrange one set of travel plans.

But yea it will be a tough next round for Rovers.

If Linfield can score away they could reach the play off round.

stovelid

If we can reach the third round, the chance of progress must be slim now but the additional money on offer for the third round plus the guarantee of another two games (possibly against a pretty big team) in the EL Play-Off round makes getting past Flora still a very attractive proposition money-wise.

batistuta9

Voltwad wrote: »

Couldnt have been much harder, Copenhagen is a cracking city though, hopefully we can keep the tie alive over there

that's as hard as it could of been TBH their the best team in the third qual. round champions route and by far the hardest that rovers could have been drew against from pot 1 see this link http://www.uefa.com/uefachampionsleague/season=2012/draws/index.html
hope rovers get through and its on tv, the other games should have been shown as well

batistuta9

citytillidie wrote: »

If Linfield can score away they could reach the play off round.

can see linfield being hammered

dfx-

As did the Juventus draw last year, it feels like "this is what you could've won"

citytillidie

So with no Irish or Scottish teams left, focus now turns to Arsenal.

Tough little draw with Udinese, and with the 2nd leg away there could be an upset

T-b0n3

citytillidie wrote: »

So with no Irish or Scottish teams left, focus now turns to Arsenal.

Tough little draw with Udinese, and with the 2nd leg away there could be an upset

They've lost both Sanchez and Inler. So not as strong as they were. Arsenal should get in handy enough.

citytillidie

Pots for tomorrows draw

Pot 1
Barcelona
Man Utd
Chelsea
Bayern Munich
Arsenal
Real Madrid
Porto
Inter

Pot 2
Ac Milan
Lyon
Shakhtar
Valencia
Benfica
Villarreal
CSKA
Marseille

Pot 3
Zenit
Ajax
Bayer Leverkusen
Olympiacos
Man City
Lille
Basel
BATE

Pot 4
Dortmund
Napoli
Dinamo Zagreb
APOEL
Trabzonspor
Genk
Victoria Plzen
Otelul Galati

eugeneious

IMO

Weakest possible group:

Arsenal/Porto
CSKA
BATE
Victoria Plzen

Toughest possible group:

Barcelona
Milan
Man City
Dortmund/Napoli

City in pot 3 will make one of the groups interesting

ondeball

This is in serious need of a bump as we get under way this week.

Sky Blue Mancs take on Sky Blue Italians, Utd V Benfica, Chelsea v Leverkusen and Gunners v Borussia.

Love this time of year, Normally see coy performances for the early part of the games by Utd and then they plunder three goals in the last 20 minutes without being completely convincing.

Chelsea will pound there way to success, prob use Torres from the start in a bid to get his confidence flowing. City will rip Napoli a new one as long as Mancini isn't too cautious. That said it won't surprise me if he goes with Barry and Milner in midfield and try not to concede and hit them on the break.

In no real order my fav Utd games from the group stages in tha last ten years were

Rooney's debut v Fenerbache
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LtwiGBn1BQw

Game v Kiev in 2007 when they won 4-0

Berbatov putting Celtic to the sword in the 3-0 win in 2008
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ntHrdTEM3iA

stovelid

ondeball wrote: »

Sky Blue Mancs

Manchester City, you mean?

ondeball

stovelid wrote: »

Manchester City, you mean?

Well ascertained.

That_Guy

Laughed at RTE's promo for the game they're showing on Wednesday.

"Champions League runners up Manchester United take on the MIGHT of Benfica this Wednesday on RTE 2"

Pfft. Not the biggest fan of the group stages. Usually pretty poor but I am looking forward to seeing Dortmund V Arsenal and will be interested to see how Man City get on in their opener against Napoli.

TheMilkyPirate

stovelid wrote: »

Manchester City, you mean?

Well who else was it going to mean.

That_Guy

baraca wrote: »

Well who else was it going to mean.

A team of Smurfs from Manchester perhaps.