Congratulations Barcelona: Champions of Europe

[El Turco]

2. Qualifying rounds are over and 3. qualifying round matchups are set. There are lot of big teams entering the competition at this stage such as Atletico Madrid, Barcelona, Liverpool, Fenerbahce, Arsenal, Juventus, Galatasaray and Fiorentina.

Couple notes...

-Schalke-Atletico Madrid by far the toughest matchup, two up and coming teams with good young talent dueling up. i ve always liked Atletico from the days of Kiko, so i ll go with them.

-Kaunas FKB shocked Glasgow Rangers in 2. qualifying round and will play another mediocre team Aalborg and one of these teams will earn the honor of getting trashed by big boys in the CL. In a similar fashion Levski Sofia will play belarussian BATE Borisov which shocked Anderlecht.

-Fenerbahce will play against Partizan which will showcase two of the most fanatical and intimidating fans in Europe. Security forces will be full force in both games. On a side note Euro 08 hero Semih Senturk scored 4 goals in 2. qualifying round second leg against MTK Budapest.

-Interesting matchup between Dynamo Kyiv and Spartak Moscow that showcases two old Soviet powerhouses.

-Arsenal s opponent FC Twente is coached by British national hero Steve Mclaren. Rumor has it he will be knighted during away leg for his contribution to improving British NT s prestige around the world.

-My Galatasaray will have a tough opponent in Steaua Bucharest but they are one of the best teams we could ve matched up with considering we werent seeded. We never lost in CL qualifying rounds and i am optimistic that we ll be through. If they dont make it through, i dont think i can stand watching watching CL without my two favorite teams.



Full Matchups:

Anorthosis Famagusta FC (CYP) v Olympiacos CFP (GRE)
Vitória SC (POR) v FC Basel 1893 (SUI)
FC Shakhtar Donetsk (UKR) v NK Dinamo Zagreb (CRO)
FC Schalke 04 (GER) v Club Atlético de Madrid (ESP)
Aalborg BK (DEN) v FBK Kaunas (LTU)
FC Barcelona (ESP) v Wisła Kraków (POL)
PFC Levski Sofia (BUL) v FC BATE Borisov (BLR)
R. Standard de Liège (BEL) v Liverpool FC (ENG)
FK Partizan (SRB) v Fenerbahçe SK (TUR)
FC Twente (NED) v Arsenal FC (ENG)
FC Spartak Moskva (RUS) v FC Dynamo Kyiv (UKR)
Juventus (ITA) v FC Artmedia Petržalka (SVK)
SK Brann (NOR) v Olympique de Marseille (FRA)
ACF Fiorentina (ITA) v SK Slavia Praha (CZE)
Galatasaray AS (TUR) v FC Steaua Bucureşti (ROU)
Panathinaikos FC (GRE) v AC Sparta Praha (CZE)

First leg: 12/13 August
Second leg: 26/27 August

[Slava]

Edited title!

We have a soccer forum so we can afford game threads for the big weekends and games!

[Slava]

Arsenal s opponent FC Twente is coached by British national hero Steve Mclaren. Rumor has it he will be knighted during away leg for his contribution to improving British NT s prestige around the world.

Ah! The plight of British soccer!

[Alex_De_Large]

atletico-04 will be interesting to see, the other big's will win for sure, like always happens.

[BlackMamba]

i hope atlético passes, they have made a very strong investment this season for the champions league, not being in it will be a big failure.

[H12BULLS]

Dinamo Zagreb!

eh, I don't think we got any chance against Shakhtar.

[blues_man5]

i hope atlético passes, they have made a very strong investment this season for the champions league, not being in it will be a big failure.

agreed, But it will not be surprising if they don't make it.

[damo[23]]

Steve McClaren isnt a English national hero by any means, he was a pretty useless manager and wasnt very liked.

[treiz]

WTF! McCLaren ain't a national hero, if he gets knighted the queen needs to get shot. I mean this guy only needed 1 point AT HOME to qualify for the Euros and he messed it up....f'in douche!

[El Turco]

well, that flew over few people s head...

[Alex_De_Large]

Some nice goals by Fiorentina today.

Mutu
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hkhfYyenx3M

Gilardino
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hRnlkF0YrLw

[El Turco]

yea, mutu goal was amazing.

it is nice to see teams like fiorentina, atletico and juventus back at the highest stage of euro football-assuming they qualify.

[treiz]

^With the expense of AC

[magik9113]

juve up 3-0 at halftime

[El Turco]

terrible start for turkish teams. both fenerbahce and gala were down 2-0 in first 15 minutes but both pulled back 2-1 and 2-2.

[snitch55]

Juve smashed Artmedia . The sxore could be with easy 7 or 8:0.
Del Piero's goal was magnificent.

[El Turco]

lol, fenerbahce also came back to equalize at 2-2. somebody should do scientific research on why turkish teams dont start playing before they are about to lose.

full results:

Spartak Moscow 1 - 4 Dynamo Kyiv
Levski Sofia 0 - 1 BATE Borisov
Shakhtar Donetsk 2 - 0 Dinamo Zagreb
Anorthosis 3 - 0 Olympiakos Piraeus
AaB Aalborg 2 - 0 Kaunas
Galatasaray 2 - 2 Steaua Bucuresti
Brann Bergen 0 - 1 Marseille
FC Twente Enschede 0 - 2 Arsenal
Juventus 4 - 0 Petrzalka
Schalke 1 - 0 Atletico Madrid
Sparta Prague 1 - 2 Panathinaikos
Partizan Belgrade 2 - 2 Fenerbahce
Standard Liege 0 - 0 Liverpool
Vitoria Guimaraes 0 - 0 Basel
Barcelona 4 - 0 Wisla Krakow

[BlackMamba]

too bad atlético lost, at least it was only 1 goal.

[Slava]

Good start and a confidence booster for Arsneal and Liverpool were lucky not be 2 down but they should show their prowess at Anfield.

[Alex_De_Large]

Atletico seriously miss Aguero.