Champions League 2019-2020

[Amol]

Starting a new thread for this year's Champions League. We are very close to landing a spot in Pot 2 which would be amazing.

All we need to happen is for Chelsea to beat Arsenal in the EL Final - https://kassiesa.home.xs4all.nl/bert/ue ... l2019.html

[Orange14]

Ajax Showtime list all the teams that have qualified for the early rounds along with their UEFA coefficients: https://www.ajaxshowtime.com/article/ho ... -cl-bekend Ajax will be a seeded team in the qualifiers based on this past season's performance.

[Amol]

Chelsea are currently up 2-0 in the 60th minute. That gets us in Pot 2 assuming that we make it through the qualifiers of course.

[Amol]

3-0!! 65th minute.

I've never cheered for Chelsea ever before in my life - haha

[SPL]

Amol you just beat me ,was about to post 3-0 to Chelsea.As a father of 2 Gooners I am also cheering Chelsea for the first time ever. Pot 2 for Ajax.

[Amol]

Arsenal got one back.

3-1 in the 68th. After a snoozefest of a first half, the second half has been a cracker so far.

[Amol]

4-1 in the 73rd minute! C'mon Chelsea - you can do this.

[Amol]

Pot 2 here we come!!

[Orange14]

From ESPN:

Provisional teams can also be drawn up for the other pots, based on the highest-ranked clubs progressing through qualifying. Teams in bold are guaranteed to be in that pot.

POT 1: Liverpool or Tottenham, Chelsea, Barcelona, Manchester City, Juventus, Bayern Munich, Paris Saint-Germain, Zenit St Petersburg

POT 2 (provisional): Real Madrid, Atletico Madrid, FC Porto*, Liverpool or Tottenham, Borussia Dortmund, Napoli, Shakhtar Donetsk, Ajax*

POT 3 (provisional): Benfica, Dynamo Kiev*, Lyon, Bayer Leverkusen, FC Salzburg, Valencia, Inter Milan, Celtic*

POT 4 (provisional): FC Copenhagen*, Dinamo Zagreb*, Lokomotiv Moscow, Genk, Galatasaray, RB Leipzig, Atalanta, Lille

*denotes must go through qualifying

[souras84]

I guess we have to qualify first...

[Manneken Pis]

I guess we have to qualify first...

Yeah, it struck me as ludicrous that Genk are guaranteed (albeit in a low pot) and Ajax still have to qualify. Then I looked at the national league coefficients and it hits you how low Dutch club (association) football has sunk in Europe.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2019%E2%8 ... ons_League

[Orange14]

I guess we have to qualify first...

Yeah, it struck me as ludicrous that Genk are guaranteed (albeit in a low pot) and Ajax still have to qualify. Then I looked at the national league coefficients and it hits you how low Dutch club (association) football has sunk in Europe.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2019%E2%8 ... ons_League

Other than the Ajax run in the Europa League two years ago, the other Dutch clubs were all one and done. PSV did make it out of the group stage of the CL 2 or 3 years ago but that was it until the Ajax run this season. The leagues all above The Netherlands have accumulated points in the EL. The 2017-18 season was a disaster and since the ratings are based on five year performance that season will continue to be a drag for three more years!!

[SPL]

PSV Feyenoord and AZ also Utrecht needs to actually win some games and get points.

[Orange14]

Ajax had the second most players named by the UEFA technical directors to the Champions League all-star team.
https://www.uefa.com/uefachampionsleagu ... 07890.html
Tadic, Ziyech, Neres, de Ligt, and de Jong all selected; a big tribute to Ajax!!!!

EDIT:
The entire Champions League team from Jose Mourinho:

Alisson Becker (Liverpool); Trent Alexander-Arnold (Liverpool), Virgil van Dijk (Liverpool), Matthijs de Ligt (Ajax), Andy Robertson (Liverpool); Frenkie de Jong (Ajax), Donny van de Beek (Ajax), Christian Eriksen (Tottenham Hotspur); Lionel Messi (Barcelona), Sadio Mané (Liverpool), Mohamed Salah (Liverpool).

[Cruijff]

This topic title should be renamed to Ajax Champions League winner 2019-2010.

So that was reply number 14 in this topic.

[Manneken Pis]

Ajax got PAOK (Greek Champions) in the CL '19-'20 third round draw. The toughest opponent on paper...

[Orange14]

Ajax got PAOK (Greek Champions) in the CL '19-'20 third round draw. The toughest opponent on paper...

Quite right, they went undefeated in the Greek league and I think only conceded 14 goals all season long. Ajax have a couple of weeks to get the engines fired up and ready to go. UEFA need to fix this qualification BS for teams that make it to the semifinals in the preceding season. Ajax as league winner, and semifinalist, should go straight to the group stage.

[souras84]

If we are the strong and serious team of last season, we have nothing to fear. Paok has made a few changes from last years team, especially his full backs and midfielders are all new. The most important change is the new coach. A Portuguese guy. So that means a different style of play maybe! Last year he was a counterattacking team and a very lucky one. They won easily against smaller teams, but had narrow escapes against the bigger ones (Olympiacos, Aek etc) Their European journey was sacrificed for the championship, which they eventually won. If we were talking about last years team, especially the 2019 period, I would say have no fear. But they might be an unknown quantity and have some aces up their sleeve. Oh, and they got Stoch back this summer. Remember him right?

[SPL]

A joke ,we get the strongest non seeded team and they are better that nearly al lthe other seeds. Celtic would be a weaker team !

[Ayman]

I know Ajax will most likely have a hard group. Teams to avoid in Pot 1 Paris Saint-Germain, Manchester City, Liverpool and Juventus. Teams I would like to see in our group, Chelsea, Barcelona, Bayern Munich, or Zenit St Petersburg. Preferably Barcelona.

Pot 3 is a no brainer, teams to avoid Bayer Leverkusen, Valencia, and Inter Milan. Teams that are harmless Dinamo Zagreb . Lyon Salzburg, Olympiakos and Club Brugges. OK maybe harmless isn't the right word, but doable.

Pot 4 Lokomotiv Moscow, Genk, Galatasaray, RB Leipzig, Slavia Prague, Red Star Belgrade, Lille. These are all opponents that I wouldnt mind having, the only danger is Atlanta.

For some reason I believe our group is going to be a tough group. Something like Man City, Valencia and Atlanta.
My preference would be Barcelona (having one hard team would be nice to play), Dinamo Zagreb (For 2011-12 revenge) and Genk (locals!). Most of all, as long as our first game and last game is at home.

[Amol]

Live draw if anyone is interested - https://www.uefa.com/uefachampionsleague/draws/

[Orange14]

Wesley Snjeider is one of the two who will draw the balls from the pots. Let's hope he does a good job for Ajax!!

[Amol]

As we've known for a while, we are in Pot 2 and avoid a bunch of heavyweights -
Madrid
Athletico
Dortmund
Napoli
Shakhtar
Tottenham
Benfica

[Ayman]

Ajax have Chelsea in Group H! YaY! Ajax fans in London!

[Amol]

Drawn with Chelsea in Group H - this is amazing.