Stan 15,557 Posted December 11, 2017 Share Posted December 11, 2017 12pm (GMT) today. Group winners: Villarreal Dynamo Kiev Sporting Braga AC Milan Atalanta Lokomotiv Moscow Viktoria Plzen Arsenal RB Salzburg Athletic Bilbao Lazio Zenit Runners up Astana Partizan Belgrade Ludogorets AEK Athens Lyon Copenhagen Steaua Bucharest Red Star Belgrade Marseille Ostersunds Nice Real Sociedad CL dropouts: CSKA Moscow Celtic Atletico Madrid Sporting Lisbon Spartak Moscow Napoli RB Leipzig Borussia Dortmund Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Stan 15,557 Posted December 11, 2017 Author Share Posted December 11, 2017 Some interesting ties could come out of the draw. But along with that, there's some absolute dross who have made it through this season and you'd expect if they came up against a massive club, they'd get disposed of quite easily. One thing I have only found out today is that if you won your Europa League group, you could face one of the 4 worst 3rd placed CL teams. And if you finished second, you could face one of the 4 best 3rd placed CL teams. Which means Arsenal could face someone like Dortmund or Napoli or get a Europa League 2nd-placed finisher and get someone easier like Ostersunds or AEK or Astana. Comparatively, Celtic could find themselves getting someone like AC Milan, Atalanta, Atletico, Sporting Lisbon or someone relatively easier like Viktoria Plzen. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Inverted 1,709 Posted December 11, 2017 Share Posted December 11, 2017 (edited) Braga, Plzen, Salzburg and Atalanta would be pretty even contests. Anyone bigger and we're banking on the opponent not taking the competition as seriously. Edit:a bit gutted at some of the opponents that are ruled out. Ludogorets, Copenhagen, Steaua, Ostersunds and Red Star would obviously all be reasonable opportunities. Plus even if it meant getting knocked out instantly, drawing Dortmund would be a pretty cool experience. The Paul Lambert Derby. Edited December 11, 2017 by Inverted Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Honey Honey 3,557 Posted December 11, 2017 Share Posted December 11, 2017 Imagine having won your Europa League group you then get drawn against Napoli what a joke Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Stan 15,557 Posted December 11, 2017 Author Share Posted December 11, 2017 Borussia Dortmund vs Atalanta OGC Nice vs Lokomotiv Moscow FC Copenhagen vs Atletico Madrid Spartak Moscow vs Athletic Bilbao AEK Athens vs Dynamo Kiev Celtic vs Zenit St Petersburg Napoli vs RB Leipzig Red Star Belgrade vs CSKA Moscow Lyon vs Villarreal Real Sociedad vs RB Salzburg Partizan Belgrade vs Viktoria Plzen Steaua Bucharest vs Lazio Ludogorets vs AC Milan Astana vs Sporting Lisbon Ostersunds vs Arsenal Marseille vs Braga Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Stan 15,557 Posted December 11, 2017 Author Share Posted December 11, 2017 Dortmund vs Atalanta, Napoli vs Leipzig and Lyon vs Villarreal probably the ties of the round. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chaaay AFC 357 Posted December 11, 2017 Share Posted December 11, 2017 Wow nice tie for us against Ostersunds. Their story has and run has been incredible so an amazing tie for them. They have had some seriously good results against good teams, so we shouldn't take them lightly. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Honey Honey 3,557 Posted December 11, 2017 Share Posted December 11, 2017 The BBC live feed trying their hand at being like PaddyPower Quote That was fun eh? So it's Celtic v Zenit and Arsenal v Ostersunds (get on Wikipedia) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Inverted 1,709 Posted December 11, 2017 Share Posted December 11, 2017 (edited) Honestly no idea what level Zenit are on these days but it will be tough to get anything regardless. Not as bad as getting Arsenal or Napoli etc but still not got much expectation. Maybe if we play Dembele, Edouard, Boyata, Ntcham, Sinclair and Kouassi in Russia we can get them to riot and get disqualified. Edited December 11, 2017 by Inverted Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted December 11, 2017 Share Posted December 11, 2017 Napoli should win and I'll even say comfortably too. I just don't rate the Germans unless it's Bayern. Although I also think that they could bin it off to focus on Serie A. It's going to be a pick of battles for them. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted December 11, 2017 Share Posted December 11, 2017 50 minutes ago, Inverted said: Honestly no idea what level Zenit are on these days but it will be tough to get anything regardless. Not as bad as getting Arsenal or Napoli etc but still not got much expectation. Maybe if we play Dembele, Edouard, Boyata, Ntcham, Sinclair and Kouassi in Russia we can get them to riot and get disqualified. Zenit are good and more balanced of a team than Lokomotiv. Lokomotiv really just play through Miranchuk and Farfán where as Zenit have all the best players from the Argentinian league in the last 4 years. Dark horse for me. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Inverted 1,709 Posted December 11, 2017 Share Posted December 11, 2017 2 hours ago, Blue said: Zenit are good and more balanced of a team than Lokomotiv. Lokomotiv really just play through Miranchuk and Farfán where as Zenit have all the best players from the Argentinian league in the last 4 years. Dark horse for me. The only encouragement I can find is 1: they lost away against Rosenberg and we drew 2: I'm not sure but I don't think their league starts until after the R32, so maybe there might be an edge in preparedness. Also maybe not. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted December 11, 2017 Share Posted December 11, 2017 1 minute ago, Inverted said: The only encouragement I can find is 1: they lost away against Rosenberg and we drew 2: I'm not sure but I don't think their league starts until after the R32, so maybe there might be an edge in preparedness. Also maybe not. I've not actually seen them this season I'll admit but they have players which I have well seen and it certainly wouldn't surprise me if they at least went far. This competition can be a bit of a joke sometimes. If Rangers with Kirk Broadfoot and Steve Naismith in the starting lineups can make the final, Zenit most definitely can. Very good point on number 2 though. That could well hurt them. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Eco 2,833 Posted December 28, 2017 Share Posted December 28, 2017 Russians got pretty screwed IMO on this. I didn't want a Spanish side, and sure enough, we get Athletic Bilbao. Out of the 4 Russian sides, only CSKA and Zenit have a chance to progress me thinks. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Eco 2,833 Posted February 12, 2018 Share Posted February 12, 2018 Tomorrow's Match Crvena Zvezda vs CSKA Moscow Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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