At least some luck for Bayern after a concerning Group Stage. City v Real highlights the knockout stage, winner will play either Leverkusen or Atlético.
Yes, Winners of Celtic/Bayern and City/Real will be drawn to either Leverkusen or Atlético. Here's the complete tree.
Europa League draw... FC Twente v Bodo/Glimt Union SG v Ajax Amsterdam AZ Alkmaar v Galatasaray Ferencvaros v Viktoria Plzen Fenerbahce v Anderlecht PAOK v Steaua Bucharest Midtjylland v Real Sociedad Porto v AS Roma *Team mentioned second plays second leg at home DATES Playoff first leg: Feb. 13 Playoff second leg: Feb. 20 Last 16 draw: Feb. 21
@Raz Rumors are that United might get Mathys Tel on loan. I know very little about him. Is he a winger or can he play as a 9?
Tel came in as a striker, but Kompany played him mostly on the left wing this season, which I think is the wrong position for him. Think of Thierry Henry but a bit smaller. Moving to United would be a wrong move for Tel. He stagnated due to lack of playing time, so he should sign with a mid-table team in order to get regular minutes. Back in the day Bayern loaned Lahm to Stuttgart, Alaba to Hoffenheim, Kroos to Leverkusen... this should be the path for Tel. Other than that, United is quite a dumpster fire and Tel rejected Tottenham for a reason. Don't think he would accept a permanent move anyway so it makes no sense for you guys either.
Looks like he changed his mind (about Spurs). Going there on loan. Had he come to United, not only are we firmly a mid-table team, anyone that can be even remotely a threat in front of goal will get plenty of minutes Rasmus Hojlund and Josh Zirkzee are not good.
Weird. Would've preferred a loan deal within the Bundesliga (Tel rejected Frankfurt), but as long as he sees regular minutes on a high level. Have to admit I'd be happy if he came back in summer. Zirkzee was pretty solid in Italy by the way, perhaps the reason lies elsewhere.
So was Hojlund. Zirkzee is a talented player but not up to the speed of the EPL and he's not clinical at all in the box...which is what United is severely lacking. I like him more as a 10 but then he doesn't really defend well...or at all. Hojlund just doesn't seem to have enough experience. He's got the physical traits you want in a 9 but just never seems to be where he's needed and his 1st touch is atrocious.
To be fair, Celtic got lucky on multiple occasions as well. But yeah, another concerning performance.
But they're a team that shouldn't be an issue for the mighty Bayern. I'm just not a Kompany fan. Had y'all not hired him, he'd probably be coaching somewhere either in the English Championship (he was about to get fired by Burnley) or back somewhere in Belgium. Such a strange hire for y'all.
Until Christmas we had all reasons to be happy with Kompany. Some weak performances and odd decisions lately though, including yesterday's lineup. But I'm still willing to give this young coach time, players seem to like him. In total everything's looking way better than under Tuchel.
Good bye and good riddance to City. While I think if they are found guilty of any of the 130 charges against them, the penalty will be extremely minor, it's at least good to see them suffering a "poor" season for the first time in a while. Granted I say that while my United are currently sitting in 15th place, somewhere we haven't been in like 50 years since the last time we were relegated in the 70's.
Three heavyweight matchups with PSG/Liverpool, Real/Atlético and Bayern/Leverkusen. Now that the new format has concluded for this year, what is everybody thinking? I'm still sceptical, everything too casual.
