European Leagues Thread 2012/2013

[Winston Biscuit]

Marseille fans attack the Lyon team coach arriving at the ground

Fabio Grosso


French football has always had a bit of an edge, especially the clubs on the south coast, but it seems to have gone to new levels in the last 2 or 3 seasons

Crikey

[Stranded]

Of the 16 teams left in the German cup, 10 of them are from outside the Bundesliga

Every final since Schalke beat then 2.Bundesliga side Duisburg in the 2012 final has contained at least one of

Bayern (6 finals, 4 wins)
Dortmund (6 finals, 3 wins)
Leipzig (3 finals, 2 wins)
Eintracht (3 finals, 1 win)

2 of those sides - Bayern and Leipzig are out. This is the 3rd time in 4 seasons that Bayern have fallen in the 2nd round (Kiel on pens, 5-0 drubbing at Monchengladbach the other two).

Draw on Sunday, but unless paired Dortmund & the frankly excellent Leverkusen side Alonso is building must be favourites for the final - though Eintracht are a very good cup team and starting to improve markedly under their new coach - they also have €90m to spend on improvements (esp a striker) come January.

[Winston Biscuit]

Alonso continuing to shine at Leverkusen and Ancelotti looking to leave RM next summer all feels a bit too 'written in the stars'

[Stranded]

Alonso continuing to shine at Leverkusen and Ancelotti looking to leave RM next summer all feels a bit too 'written in the stars'

I don't know, Alonso to Liverpool when Klopp decides to move on (which I think he will in summer 25) seems a more likely move. If he then succeeds there, I can see him move to RM then but yes, he could skip that step esp if he wins the Bundesliga this year.

[Winston Biscuit]

Alonso continuing to shine at Leverkusen and Ancelotti looking to leave RM next summer all feels a bit too 'written in the stars'

I don't know, Alonso to Liverpool when Klopp decides to move on (which I think he will in summer 25) seems a more likely move. If he then succeeds there, I can see him move to RM then but yes, he could skip that step esp if he wins the Bundesliga this year.

RM have also been very keen on getting Raul in as manager for a while.

[Winston Biscuit]

**Non Europea alert**

Copa Libertadores final coming up at the weekend. Boca Vs Fluminense. heard something last night about the Fluminense (and also interim Brazil) manager, how South America is fascinated by what he is doing as he is somewhat revolutionising football tactics, and its working and is very exciting to watch. From what I can understand, the basics of it are that to a degree you forget usual positions, and you instead have positions based on where the ball is on the pitch, you keep players close together to do lots of one two's and the players also move around and swap positions at times.

https://www.skysports.com/football/news/11096/12997384/fernando-dinizs-innovative-tactics-with-fluminense-can-he-win-the-copa-libertadores-and-change-football-too

It demands a lot of Diniz's players because it is "more about timing than space" as rondos and tabelas, a constant whirl of one-twos, are required to move the team up the pitch. But when it works, as it has so spectacularly with Fluminense, it can be beautiful.

I heard that Malmo have been quite focussed on trying to take on this style of play

[Sanguine]

Alonso continuing to shine at Leverkusen and Ancelotti looking to leave RM next summer all feels a bit too 'written in the stars'

I don't know, Alonso to Liverpool when Klopp decides to move on (which I think he will in summer 25) seems a more likely move. If he then succeeds there, I can see him move to RM then but yes, he could skip that step esp if he wins the Bundesliga this year.

Reports a couple of weeks ago that Fenway have had initial talks with Klopp's guys about him extending his contract to 2027-28.

[Winston Biscuit]

Copa Libertadores final
Saturday 8pm
BBC3

[Winston Biscuit]

French 2nd Div side Paris FC just announced that all home games for the remainder of the season will be free entry

They have a 20,000 capacity stadium but only get 2000-3000 fans per game.

This is an attempt to grow the fan base

[Stranded]

French 2nd Div side Paris FC just announced that all home games for the remainder of the season will be free entry

They have a 20,000 capacity stadium but only get 2000-3000 fans per game.

This is an attempt to grow the fan base

Fair play. Düsseldorf are doing something similar but at the moment just 4 games are free. Plan to move to free entry in full in 2 seasons time. Had over 50k for the first free game.

[Winston Biscuit]

Dortmund against Bayern on Sky right now. Already 2-0 to Bayern with Kane getting one of them

[Winston Biscuit]

3rd hat-trick of the season so far for Harry Kane.

Last seasons Bundesliga top scorer got 16 goals. Kane has 15 already and has played only 10 games (current 2nd top scorer has 14 in just 8 games!)

[Orion1871]

Copa Libertadores final
Saturday 8pm
BBC3

Started watching at half time. Some interesting refereeing going on in this game. Boca are a bunch of dirty bastards.


Sad to see the great Marcelo just aimlessly wandering around like a shadow of his former self. Now he's won the Copa to add to his CL titles perhaps it's time to retire.

[Winston Biscuit]

Fluninense win. Great winning goal in ET. Goalscorer then ran the length of the pitch to throw himself into the fans, and got a 2nd yellow for it.

I like how properly mad South Americans are. Like genuinely unhinged fun types.

[Stranded]

Union Berlin's nightmare of a season continues.

They won their first 3 games (2 league, 1 cup) but since then things have gone south, fast. Their 3-0 home defeat to Eintracht being their 12th straight defeat across League, Cup and Champions League.

They scored 12 goals in the first 3 games, managing just 6 since and failing to trouble the scorers in 8 of those 12 defeats.

Somehow though, those 2 early wins are still enough to keep them out of the bottom 2.

In the 2.Bundesliga, it is currently a Hamburg 1,2 with St Pauli leading the way, 2 points clear of HSV. Schlake finally seem to be waking up the danger of back to back relegations and have won their last 2.

[Sanguine]

Union Berlin's nightmare of a season continues.

They won their first 3 games (2 league, 1 cup) but since then things have gone south, fast. Their 3-0 home defeat to Eintracht being their 12th straight defeat across League, Cup and Champions League.

They scored 12 goals in the first 3 games, managing just 6 since and failing to trouble the scorers in 8 of those 12 defeats.

Somehow though, those 2 early wins are still enough to keep them out of the bottom 2.

In the 2.Bundesliga, it is currently a Hamburg 1,2 with St Pauli leading the way, 2 points clear of HSV. Schlake finally seem to be waking up the danger of back to back relegations and have won their last 2.

Crikey. What on earth has happened?

And they have Leverkusen, Bayern and Napoli in their next four.

[Orion1871]

At 17 years old Endrick, who will join Real Madrid from Palmeiras after his 18th birthday, is the youngest player to be called up for Brazil's senior team since Ronaldo in 1993.

[Winston Biscuit]

Finish Businessman Thomas Zilliacus says his offer is getting closer to reaching an agreed price to buy Inter and says the investors he has backing him mean they can spend enough on transfers to mean being the best club in the world is a realistic

[Orion1871]

Finish Businessman Thomas Zilliacus says his offer is getting closer to reaching an agreed price to buy Inter and says the investors he has backing him mean they can spend enough on transfers to mean being the best club in the world is a realistic

A claim made by clubs everywhere from Paris to Riyadh.

[Sutekh]

At 17 years old Endrick, who will join Real Madrid from Palmeiras after his 18th birthday, is the youngest player to be called up for Brazil's senior team since Ronaldo in 1993.

Hendrick? !