European Leagues Thread 2012/2013

[Sanguine]

Who are Girona and why are they beating Barca 3-1 but more importantly why are they top of the league . Can someone flesh this out a bit

Finished 2-4. They're owned by City Group, and this is only their second season in La Liga. That's all I know. No idea why they're so good!

They don’t ‘appear’ to have spent big particularly either
Although I find it harder to work out than I did in the UK

Some ‘known’ players but not those that make you sit up and look
Gazzaniga, Stuani, Daley Blind, Eric Garcia … all ok but on the face of it nothing special

But hey, RFC 2005/07 and the team being significantly more than the sum of the parts

Yeah, this. An element of the Newcastles about them in that they have spent a bit but not a lot. Fair play to them.

Does feel like they are in a bit of a 'bubble' where things are just going right. Seven of their league wins by a single goal, and when their defence has an off day, they find a way to score more (a 5-3 win, a 5-2, and two 4-2s). Top scorer is their 37 year old captain Cristhian Stuani.

But long may it continue, a new name on the La Liga trophy, and in the Champions League, would be great.

[Sanguine]

Portugal's Primeira Division is what it normally is. Braga have only dropped seven points in 13 matches, and are fourth.

PSV have now won all 15 of their league games this season. They won their final game of last season too, so their streak is 16. The Dutch record for consecutive wins however is 26, held by Cruyff's Ajax team of 1971-72, when they won 30 of 34 league games.

[From Despair To Where?]

We need to create ourselves an Unpleasant European Clubs list so we don't accidentally find ourselves cheering on a mob of bad guys!!

Nice
Nantes
Atletico Madrid
Basingstoke

That is disappointing

[Pepe the Horseman]

Ankaragücü president runs onto the pitch after their 1-1 draw with Rizespor, and punches the ref in the face. Rizespor equalized in the 97th min, so guessing that had something to do with it.

https://twitter.com/Turkish_Futbol1/sta ... 27U2Q&s=19

Got kicked while he was on the floor too https://twitter.com/Turkish_Futbol1/sta ... NyGSg&s=19

[Winston Biscuit]

Jonjo Shelvey can be seen wandering around the outside of the melee

[Pepe the Horseman]

All Turkish leagues now postponed indefinitely.

[Winston Biscuit]

Turkish football is always such a drama

Interesting that the football authority has come out and pointed the finger at the toxic culture towards referees by players, managers, commentators and TV pundits.

I totally agree on that and I am glad they have said it. Over here referees were the pantomime villain at times, but mostly ignored, and I certainly didn't know any of their names. now there is such a focus on them being the bad guy that they are all known, and the tv mob always have a focus on what each ref got wrong, as they know its the area that causes the most drama and gets a certain kind of person all worked up.

[paultheroyal]

Disgraceful scenes in Turkey - kind of grateful it has happened over there and not here as its been brewing. This incident will now hopefully make everyone think twice around referee safety, what is important and start at grassroots level. There was already a campaign starting with abuse of referee's, this incident will now strengthen that campaign. Certainly from grassroots level and upwards, suspending games, points deductions is the only way i can see this being resolved. A reset is urgently needed.

[genome]

[Winston Biscuit]

Athletic Bilbao 2-0 Atletico Madrid

La Liga shaping up very nicely this season

[Winston Biscuit]

Sampdoria, relegated from Serie A last season, and managed by Andrea Pirlo, are 2nd bottom of Serie B

Another win today. Top of the 8 game form table. Up to 9th!

[Winston Biscuit]

Segunda is looking weird. As I type this, only 2 teams have won more than 2 of their last 5 games

[Winston Biscuit]

Kane just scored 1 minute into Bayern Vs Stuttgart

[Winston Biscuit]

2 points separate the top 4 in Portugal and tonight it's 4th placed Braga Vs 3rd placed Benfica, and tomorrow its 1st placed Sporting Vs 2nd placed Porto

[Winston Biscuit]

Thomas Muller's contract is up in the summer. I like him and would really love to see him move to the PL.

[Orion1871]

David Alaba becomes the third Real Madrid player this season to suffer an ACL injury.

[Franchise FC]

Thomas Muller's contract is up in the summer. I like him and would really love to see him move to the PL.

He's older than me (in my head anyway)

[Franchise FC]

David Alaba becomes the third Real Madrid player this season to suffer an ACL injury.

Spanish TV keep showing the incident over and over with no bloody warning
It's not nice

[Stranded]

Thomas Muller's contract is up in the summer. I like him and would really love to see him move to the PL.

Widely reported in the press over here this morning that an agreement has been reached on a new deal to run until 2025 - as he will be 36 in September '25, I imagine that he will end his career at Bayern as a one club man (technically 2 as he played 30 odd times for Bayern II, who are run as a separate club in many ways).

[Winston Biscuit]

Sporting win the big game in Portugal, beating Porto 2-0

Braga's Simon Banza topping the goalscorers table with 13 goals in 13 games.