GOALS GALORE ! THE ROAD TO ISTANBUL & GDANSK

[morganb]

Thursday, 5th September. 12 days to go and nearing double figures ! The pm campaign may be paying off but one or two replying that they are not into footie outside UK. Why not choose 8 locations suitable for either 'stag do's' or honeymoons ! Wolverhampton seems favourite among the early runners. Imagine you were trying to do this in the 40's 50's and 60's. At least there is a promise from murf to join shortly.

Can't wait until you put up the FA Trophy and FA Shield version of this competition!

[theo29]

no chance. The womens/ladies/girls leagues could come first.

[Richt]

Liverpool
Atheltic Madrid
Lyon
RB Leipzig

Liverpool v Juventus

Arsenal
Borussia Monchencgladbach
Espanyol
Wolves

Arseneal v Sevilla

[theo29]

Friday 6th September. Stuck on 9. 'Those far-away places with the strange sounding names , might score a load of goals in the Europa half of this. Give them a whirl.

[wahine]

Thanks for the invite I think here's my best uninformed pin picks.
PSG
Athletico Madrid
Lyon
Atalanta
Barcelona v PSG

Arsenal
Celtic
Espanyol
Wolves
Arsenal V Man Utd

[theo29]

thanks Wahine. Your entry just might release a tidal wave of new players. With a weekend free of selection concerns, Who knows ?

[tenpinterry]

Man City
Athletico Madrid
Inter Milan
Leipzig

Final: R Madrid v Man City

Arsenal
PSV
Espanol
Wolves

Final: Arsenal v Sevilla

[theo29]

Saturday 7th September. tenpinterry brings us up to 11 and the prize fund heads up (a little). Wolverhampton heads the places to go. Turkey has got 3 runners. Have you noticed Tff's Euro game has just launched ?

[theo29]

Sunday, 8th September. Stuck on 11 during the relaxing nil action weekend. So far in Champions pot 1 just 4, Liverpoool, Juventus, Man City and PSG have been chosen. Pot 2 run-down tomorrow.

[theo29]

Monday 9 September. Still on 11. In Champions pot 2 the 2 Madrid teams are most favoured nut no one fancies Tottenham....yet.

[theo29]

6 days to go and not a scrap of activity for 3 days. murf promised to give some attention nearer the time. He and a clutch of his Highlanders would be most welcome... right now. In pot 3 of the Champions LYON are the leading choice. Come on FISO, do your stuff !.

[theo29]

Barefoot. PSG. Benfica. Club Brugge. Olympiakos.

Besiktas. Young Boys. Standard Liege. Cluj. Cup finalists later.

[theo29]

it seems that FISO does not want to play this game ! Prove me wrong in the 3 days before it begins.

[theo29]

I told my colleague in this comp I would give it a final push with £50 on offer if we reach 20. Currently 12 are in. No murf as yet !

[theo29]

It looks like our 12 will travel around Europe in the next 8/9 months but they will do it by train as if this were season 1949-50 ! There were planes of course, but of small capacity and many of the journeys would have been impossible in the time-frame allowed.

Why 49-50 ? Because I remember it well and did see quite a number of the places where Champs/Europa is taking place this season. Still no murf.

[theo29]

this is BT Sports first big week of the season and the results of the Monaco junket late August begin to play out on our screens.
On Tuesday 17th Champions Groups E F G H sees champions LIVERPOOL at NAPOLI , but the state of the dressing rooms seems to be the big issue. Trainwise fans would have needed to leave immediately after the NEWCASTLE match to be there in time.
SLAVIA PRAGUE at INTER MILAN a possibility around 12 hours and maybe CHELSEA at VALENCIA (overnight sleeper)
For AJAX fans going to LILLE barely 5 hours and no need to change anywhere. ZENIT at LYON,don't think about it. (it's 1949 remember)
Going to SALZBURG for a few RED BULLS might be ok for GENK fans after an 8 hour journey, then an overnighter (maybe) after the game with a few more RED BULLS.

[theo29]

Groups A B C and D get started on Wednesday and perhaps BAYERN MUNICH v RED STAR BELGRADE is the only game reasonably reachable by rail. (it is still a long way). MANCHESTER CITY are at SHAKHTAR DONETSK in deepest Ukraine and SPURS in Athens. CLUB BRUGES entertain GALATASARAY from Turkey.
The Orient Express could be useful through the 2 tournaments with 3 Turkish teams involved but only if it could travel at 300km an hour and not have any murder mysteries holding up the train.
A new name in the Champions League is ATALANTA from Bergamo, just along the road from Milan. They are at Croatian DINAMO ZAGREB.
It all starts at 1800hrs today (BT Sport)

[morganb]

Last orders at the bar please!

[murf]

Sorry didn't realise there were early k.o.s (been out climbing hills all day).

Will stick an entry in now (avoiding those that have started) if that is acceptable. Feel free to chuck me out if not.

Istanbul here we come (via Gdansk)

[murf]

Man City
Real Madrid
Olympiacos
Atalanta
Man City v Barcelona

Man Utd
PSV
Getafe
Rangers (comedy pick)
Man Utd v Arsenal

[theo29]

murf theme song 'the hills are alive etc etc etc' but he just made it. The chart will appear shortly so you can all see what is happening each game day. Liverpool failing to score has dented the hopes of several and RED BULL did not get any takers.
On the travel scene there are lots of very long train trips in the Europa although the Gunners going to Frankfurt is a possibility and Celtic fans to Rennes (via London and Paris) might distract them. Feyenoord are in Glasgow v Rangers so they can come on the ferry via Newcastle.
Roma to Istanbul Basaksekir would be better via cruise liner and Man U to Astana is a very long trek . Camels optional.

[morganb]

I think we need Finalist picks from both robot and theo29

[theo29]

Champions finalists. Juventus & Napoli. Europa Roma & Sevilla. Let's hope they all make the ko stages.

[robot]

Psg barcelona
Roma seville

[theo29]

the 32 Champions have had their first outing , now it is the turn of the 48 Europa teams. Many UK eyes will be focused on new boys, WOLVES ( see tomorrow's chart) The new boys in the Champions ATALANTA did not fare well with a 4-0 loss in Zagreb. RED BULL SALZBERG with 6 are the leading scorers. Both LIVERPOOL and CHESLSEA yet to get off the mark also REAL MADRID.

[morganb]

Here are the predictions for the Champions League and Europa League finalists

[morganb]

Scores after Round 1:

[tenpinterry]

The only way is .....

[theo29]

Once again a hard one to sell to FISO but we have a hardy squad of 12 to travel around Europe for the next nine months. Thanks to morganb there are a couple of graphics to show what is happening on each of the match days. The arrival of the Tff Euro Super League (free of charge) has sparked some interest and it has a busy schedule to keep the players on their toes.
From the off tenpinterry gained a slight lead having avoided Liverpool, Real Madrid and Wolves, all scoreless so far.

[theo29]

Liverpool got off zero with 4 v Salzburg and Real M scored as well. Tonight's Europa will hopefully see something from Wolves. morganb will adjust the scores on his sheet and we will see who is leading after 2 of the 6 dates before the ko matches.