Man Utd lost in Bern to Young Boys, the winning goal scored by Pefok of the USMNT in the 95th minute off a blooper-reel giveaway by the Man Utd defender.
Bayern thrashed Barca.
Some interesting games tomorrow including Real Madrid-Inter, Liverpool-Milan and Man City-Leipzig.
I love the early stages of UCL. I mean, Salzburg and Sevilla played each other today. I have great memories of both cities. I really miss traveling in Europe, and just seeing all these clubs from all over playing each other brings back those memories.
Tim Weah DNP for Lille (injured)
Pulisic DNP for Chelsea (injured) who won 1-0 vs Zenit
Weston McKennie came on as a sub in the 68th minute for Juve in a 3-0 victory over Malmo.
Sergino Dest was on the bench but DNP for Barca in their 0-3 loss to Bayern.
Chris Richards DNP for Bayern (on loan to Hoffenheim)
Tomorrow:
Owen Otasowie and Club Brugge play PSG
Gio Reyna and Dortmund play Besiktas (Reyna is injured)
Zack Steffen and Man City play Tyler Adams and Jesse Marsch and RB Leipzig
WTF is up with Brooks?
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John Brooks was sent off for two yellow cards for Wolfsburg who tied Lille 0-0
WTF is up with Brooks?
IDK, he looked lost again yesterday. He was in the middle of many of LOSC's scoring chances in the 1H. During his poor play for the Nats, I kept hearing/reading that he is always solid for his club. Well, I guess not. His first yellow was just dumb, pulled a guy down by his neck from behind. It wasn't even in a dangerous spot. Second yellow, he got caught out of position again and reached his hand out to recover.
Definite possibility. The club president said this week that Barca is two years from competing financially with the English sides. They shed some contracts and got everyone to re-negotiate so that helps.
With Messi gone, the Rakuten sponsorship is done, jersey sales are down, CL prize money will be less, and they can only sell tickets for 40% of their stadium capacity.
The club does have an excellent core of young talent though in Pedri, Fati (if he can stay healthy), de Jong, Gavi, Nico, Dest, Balde and Garcia.
It isn't all doom gloom but they are tier 2 Europe side for at least the next two years.
Has there been a thread lately for BBI fans to identify the teams they support? Given the tribalism sweeping the world, perhaps it's not a good idea!
Thanks to Pete, for the USMNT updates.
I didn't see anything yesterday and haven't even looked at the groups yet. For years, I have been in a pool where the guy who runs it creates his own "groups" combining teams of (expected) equal quality. I have never finished in the top third of the 100 or so entrants -- and once finished dead last! I picked Man U to survive his grouping of Barca, Liverpool, and Real Madrid -- so I hope your conjecture above does not pan out.
This pool also factors in number of goals and gives extra points in the two groups with the (expected) worst teams. I also picked Young Boys -- because of PEFOK -- out of his next-to-last group to outlive Bestikas, Shaktar Donetsk and Zenit, so yesterday's result vs. Man U was a mixed blessing for me.
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Is in danger of an AC Milan-like descent to also-ran status.
Definite possibility. The club president said this week that Barca is two years from competing financially with the English sides. They shed some contracts and got everyone to re-negotiate so that helps.
With Messi gone, the Rakuten sponsorship is done, jersey sales are down, CL prize money will be less, and they can only sell tickets for 40% of their stadium capacity.
The club does have an excellent core of young talent though in Pedri, Fati (if he can stay healthy), de Jong, Gavi, Nico, Dest, Balde and Garcia.
It isn't all doom gloom but they are tier 2 Europe side for at least the next two years.
They are going to have to replace some very high performers who are nearing the end of the line (Busquets, Pique, Jordi Alba) and will have to hit on their youth players, which Milan never did (e.g. Pato). Pedri looks to be on his way to being an elite player but the others are still TBDs. They won't be able to tap the high end of the transfer market for some time.
They've also been completely schooled by Madrid on the business side of things.
Absent some kind of bailout, they're at considerable risk of a prolonged decline.
Ended 2-1. Jude Bellingham, 18 year old English player, had one goal and assisted on the other for Dortmund.
Brugges-PSG off to a 1-1 start.
I just realized that Man City vs RBL is the big boy version of the MLS New York derby (NYCFC vs NY Red Bulls.)