Most big clubs have been able to mostly avoid each other so far, but this week provides a few banner games which should provide a clearer picture of exactly who will make it out of this treacherous phase.
The big one today should be Barcelona at Milan, at least from a historical perspective, but no doubt a lot of futbol fans will be tuning in to Arsenal v Dortmund instead to see how the Gunners hold up against the vaunted German midfield. Another one is Real v Juve, although one might wonder how the Old Lady will recover from its brutal loss to Fiorentina over the weekend. Being up 2-0 with 25mins to play, and finally losing 4-2 isn't something the Juve universe is used to. No doubt they would've preferred a trip to somewhere else than the Bernabeu to get over that performance. Although the Madrid powerhouse is dealing with its own semi-issues and potential Balean setbacks.

Tuesday, October 22, 2013
2:45 ET Schalke 04 v Chelsea Group E
2:45 ET Steaua Bucuresti v FC Basel Group E
2:45 ET Arsenal v Borussia Dortmund Group F
2:45 ET Marseille v Napoli Group F
2:45 ET Austria Vienna v Atletico Madrid Group G
2:45 ET FC Porto v Zenit St Petersburg Group G
2:45 ET AC Milan v Barcelona Group H
2:45 ET Celtic v Ajax Amsterdam Group H

Wednesday, October 23, 2013
2:45 ET Bayer Leverkusen v Shakhtar Donetsk Group A
2:45 ET Manchester United v Real Sociedad Group A
2:45 ET Galatasaray v FC Copenhagen Group B
2:45 ET Real Madrid v Juventus Group B
2:45 ET Anderlecht v Paris Saint-Germain Group C
2:45 ET Benfica v Olympiakos Group C
12:00 ET CSKA Moscow v Manchester City Group D
2:45 ET Bayern Munich v Viktoria Plzen

------------------------------
For the record, my teams:
MLB: Mets / Soccer: PSG
NCAA BB: Arizona / NCAA FB: Michigan
NBA: Spurs / NFL: Jets

:(

and i hate the class that interferes with it too. bunch of uninterested lazy kids in it. sigh.

-----------
Y'all stupid...should've tanked for Lebron/Wiggins in 2014 -Rex LongFellow

It's only funny till someone gets mad. Then it's hilarious.

------------------------------
For the record, my teams:
MLB: Mets / Soccer: PSG
NCAA BB: Arizona / NCAA FB: Michigan
NBA: Spurs / NFL: Jets

and apparently, the answer is no. puyol?

-----------
Y'all stupid...should've tanked for Lebron/Wiggins in 2014 -Rex LongFellow

It's only funny till someone gets mad. Then it's hilarious.

His leadership, work-rate, communication, and dedication to the defensive half are integral reasons for our success; the cover he provides the back four will be missed particularly dearly against this Dortmund side. Arteta will do his best but he simply isn't a true DMF with teeth....I'm sure Wenger will tell Ramsey to sit back more than he has been but he always has had a tendency to drift forward. If we get caught out vs the Dortmund attack, they will make it costly.

---------------------------------
<--The drought is over

"have fun reveling in your pettiness tho" (C) Dula summing up 98% of OKS

"I didnt finish a damn thing...matter of fact I jerked off after she left."
-Kobe speaking to investigators

L D E A

<--- Big Baller World Order

we get one live game, and that's it? the fuck?

I see they broadcast a few more at night, but none of them in HD, and no Arsenal/Dortmund. Some bullshit.
*edit* after some research, it turns out the problem is Comcast Chicago does not carry Fox Soccer Plus. oh well.

... is what you need

until then...not subscribing to shit else.

------------------------------
For the record, my teams:
MLB: Mets / Soccer: PSG
NCAA BB: Arizona / NCAA FB: Michigan
NBA: Spurs / NFL: Jets

i watched the entire first half of Celtic-Ajax before realizing i had options lol

local affiliates showing ajax

i actually dont know what Fox Soccer Channel is showing

>i watched the entire first half of Celtic-Ajax before
>realizing i had options lol

------------------------------
For the record, my teams:
MLB: Mets / Soccer: PSG
NCAA BB: Arizona / NCAA FB: Michigan
NBA: Spurs / NFL: Jets

I was so disappointed when the news came out that ESPN had lost this property...

took a bit of an exaggerated spill earlier, but i imagine those 3 years of training w cris and the like will take a while to wear off.

---

But hell, what do I know?

------------------------------
For the record, my teams:
MLB: Mets / Soccer: PSG
NCAA BB: Arizona / NCAA FB: Michigan
NBA: Spurs / NFL: Jets

trying to pull a rainbow flick for no good reason at all

Happy to see him back where he's comfortable

---------------------------------
<--The drought is over

"have fun reveling in your pettiness tho" (C) Dula summing up 98% of OKS

"I didnt finish a damn thing...matter of fact I jerked off after she left."
-Kobe speaking to investigators

L D E A

Milan's defense looks disheveled. They gave Messi like 20 yards of space on his goal, and now same thing on Neymar, who pissed away the opportunity.
*edit* with that said, nothing as egregious as Mascherano and Pique's combined fuck up

We have to do better while off the ball and that's where Flamini's presence is missed...we are tangibly worse without him cutting down space like he loves to do.

Dortmund's defense can certainly be had for another or two...we just have to make sure not to drift and get caught out because we all know just how vicious these cats can counter.

Hopefully Wilshere is alright...I thought it was an achilles at first the way he was holding his foot. He looked ok once he returned though.

---------------------------------
<--The drought is over

"have fun reveling in your pettiness tho" (C) Dula summing up 98% of OKS

"I didnt finish a damn thing...matter of fact I jerked off after she left."
-Kobe speaking to investigators

L D E A

<--- Big Baller World Order

Get caught on a break and Dortmund finishes for the late cotdamn lead....all this after we had controlled the game for the prior 20 mins and Cazorla clanked one off the bar. Dangit

---------------------------------
<--The drought is over

"have fun reveling in your pettiness tho" (C) Dula summing up 98% of OKS

"I didnt finish a damn thing...matter of fact I jerked off after she left."
-Kobe speaking to investigators

L D E A

Would've been nice to get a point. Lewandoski is good.

the worst result from the Gunners' POV is that Napoli won, now it's fully a 3 team race for the 2 spots

------------------------------
For the record, my teams:
MLB: Mets / Soccer: PSG
NCAA BB: Arizona / NCAA FB: Michigan
NBA: Spurs / NFL: Jets

After last weekend, today's only reinforced just exactly how shambolic our defense without El Capi.

Also, he's 35 or some shit.

Goddamn.

Messigoat looks fit, just missing that killer instinct, which is to be expected after being out for so many weeks. Hopefully the atmosphere at the weekend will speed his return to devastating form up a bit.

Expected a little more from Neymar. Perhaps he was phased by going up against his boyhood idol in Robinho. Nut up, son.

---

But hell, what do I know?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HPRrqOqoYck

---

But hell, what do I know?

granted it's against Anderlecht, but dude's been rolling recently

------------------------------
For the record, my teams:
MLB: Mets / Soccer: PSG
NCAA BB: Arizona / NCAA FB: Michigan
NBA: Spurs / NFL: Jets

I'm reading the second one was a Madjer...not only he's scoring, he's earning style points too

I have the game on Fox Sports, not you?

------------------------------
For the record, my teams:
MLB: Mets / Soccer: PSG
NCAA BB: Arizona / NCAA FB: Michigan
NBA: Spurs / NFL: Jets

FS1 is showing the MU game, the PSG game comes on at 1h30 tonight on some janky non HD channel (SUN sports)

I'm watching on the regional channel (Fox Sports Southwest), do y'all have a midwest version of that? ch637 on Comcast here
Hoping for a FREEMENEZ appearance in the 2H if they keep it up

------------------------------
For the record, my teams:
MLB: Mets / Soccer: PSG
NCAA BB: Arizona / NCAA FB: Michigan
NBA: Spurs / NFL: Jets

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E4MI2ZBtvyY

O_O that nigga is filthy.

<--- Big Baller World Order

------------------------------
For the record, my teams:
MLB: Mets / Soccer: PSG
NCAA BB: Arizona / NCAA FB: Michigan
NBA: Spurs / NFL: Jets

who were cheering him (stay classy, Anderlecht, literally)

Not best, but what that guy can do with his feet. Just at a stand still, at his size. No one like him has ever existed.

Too bad he's been kinda of a fuckup for the early part of his career, cuz his legacy should be much bigger by now

He can do the unbelievable at will seemingly. But he's still not gonna play hard for 90. He's still not gonna track back. He's still a "plays when he wants" type of player.

You can never be sure with Zlatan, when he's gonna revert to not giving a fuck. That's really a shame too, because he could be thought of as an all time great. I don't think he'll get there though.

--

"You can't beat white people. You can only knock them out."

if so, yeah, he's not going to do that. But it's not like it's any different from a bunch of offense players that are indubitably all time greats (Zidane, Maradona, Pele, the real Ronaldo) or that you people (YES I SAID YOU PEOPLE) insist on calling GOATs already (Messi, C. Ronaldo). None of these guys used to defend or defends right today.

if you meant tracking back as in participating in the offense and not just scoring...then you're wrong, he does it a lot if he has to and he's very good at it. For instance with Paris, he's actually the real #10, given how Pastore is prone to disappearing (that makes Zlatan a 9.5 a la Baggio).

as for not playing hard all the time...that's somewhat true, but it's also overstated. He may not fight on every ball, you may see him walking around with his hands on his hips a bunch of times, but there's going to be a point (or 4) in the game where he contributes, which is what matters ultimately. Bottom-line, look at his track record, you will see how much impact he has had over the years with all his teams, except maybe Barcelona due to the conflict with Pep (which is probably why you have that impression of him).

what hurts his legacy as of now is that he has not won the CL for one, but he could definitely fix that, and for two, the current generation of Swedish players besides him is very lackluster. The only guy I can think of is Kallstrom, who played with Lyon for a while, and that's just a guy, nowhere near 'elite' (maybe the EPL buffs will point out others). This means it's going to be very difficult for Zlatan to do anything of significance in a world cup, and unfortunately for him that's where GOAT legacies are built.

it's a large part of why barca fans loved eto'o. dude HUSTLED. zlatan came in and didn't even try and was eto'o's direct replacement.

messi, admittedly, doesn't track back on defense all the time. but he is better than zlatan at doing so and he at least is getting back into proper position for when barca gets the ball back while pressing. that, to me, was a bigger part of the problem with zlatan at barca was that he wouldn't position himself for when barca got the ball back in a position other than that of a traditional striker, more or less.

it was a terrible fit in hindsight between player and play style (some people say it being a terrible fit beforehand, as well). and it's hurt his legacy (as did his bitching and pouting about it). which is a shame, because dude is a crazy talent who will now have that poor mark on his career.


-----------
Y'all stupid...should've tanked for Lebron/Wiggins in 2014 -Rex LongFellow

It's only funny till someone gets mad. Then it's hilarious.

And his "failure" at Barcelona is vastly overblown. It was never a good stylistic fit -- and without Zlatan's contributions (including the only goal in the first Clasico that year) Barca don't win the league that year.

ole boy went from 'next Brazilian hot shot' status to straight up sucking w/Corinthians, likely not making la selecao for '14

funny how these things go

Personally never saw it wth Pato, not that skilled for a mediocre athlete. Need to be excellent on one of the 2 spectrums.

Adriano though, I was a full believer, had many arhgumenrs with my Brazilian friends who dismissed him from the jump. They clearly knew. Same cats that were talking about Kaka since he was 17.

What's crazy is he's only 31, seems like he fell off 10 yrs ago

he was raw whenever he could play though.

<--- Big Baller World Order

>he was raw whenever he could play alongside Ibrahimovic, though.

Y'all Frenchies love your smug assholes though, so no surprise there.

Have fun w Evra (should FFF qualify)!

---

But hell, what do I know?

he only benefited from the Ibra bump for one season (2010-11)
before that, it was Ronnie who made him look good

did you even know ibra existed before psg splashed the cash?

or that pato was supposed to be the reason why it was ok that kaka left? yes, he's a striker now.

this is not looking good for you, as frumpy as you might be.

---

But hell, what do I know?

---

But hell, what do I know?

Bad decisions all around.

---

But hell, what do I know?

>Not best, but what that guy can do with his feet. Just at a
>stand still, at his size. No one like him has ever existed.
>

Yep.

>
>Too bad he's been kinda of a fuckup for the early part of his
>career, cuz his legacy should be much bigger by now

His legacy is already pretty huge. 8 or so straight years with a domestic championship (NED, ITA, ESP aren't leagues to laugh at).

He does seem to be an asshole, though. That's probably hurting (and buttressing) his legacy.

---

But hell, what do I know?

damn put this old nigga out to pasture.

<--- Big Baller World Order

That call ended the game

Cause I'm doing better now, don't mean I never lost shit/ I was married to a state of mind and I divorced it -- Black Thought

http://i.imgur.com/0FRkqtq.gif

<--- Big Baller World Order

-----------
Y'all stupid...should've tanked for Lebron/Wiggins in 2014 -Rex LongFellow

It's only funny till someone gets mad. Then it's hilarious.

Bale's had a few extra days to recover. Granted, he's not as experienced as the one he's determined to make himself into (sorta like The Skin I Live In)

It's interesting to watch him adapt to the blanca training regimen so vigorously that he's throwing himself aground with such ardor that he's unable to suit up for weeks at a time. This bodes well. Surely, his hero approves.

---

But hell, what do I know?