Champions league & Europa leagues 2025-26

[Durhamfootman]

and indeed they do

a trip to Azerbaijan for my boys

[Durhamfootman]

Either way, when Brugge drew Marseille, the ultras of Marseille pledged to smash up Brugge and all of their supporters in revenge, and the lead up to the game involved police uncovering pre-arranged fights, and it then kicked off pre-match and the police had to shut down the whole centre of Brugge due to the trouble.

what are the Athletico fans like?

[Durhamfootman]

I think the most disappointing aspect about the late miss from Barnes on Wed night was that had he scored, Newcastle would have finished 8th at the expense of Man C. It would have meant that in the last 16 Newcastle would have had a 12.5% chance of drawing an English team who know how to beat them and now (assuming they even beat Qarabag, and I haven't ruled out losing to them) they will end up with a 62.5% chance of drawing an English team who exactly how to beat them

I'm pretty convinced that Newcastle's decent European campaign is in large part down to them playing a load of teams who have never played them before and who perhaps weren't used to the pace at which they play and the atmosphere at SJP. PL teams are very, very used to it and know exactly how to expose Newcastle's many frailties this season.

[sussexpob]

It always annoys me when police chiefs and local authorities talk about 'throwing a ring of steel' around footy grounds....they shouldn't have to. It feels like an acceptance that it has to be this way. I'm not sure it happens in any other sport. There can't be many sports where you have to escort travelling fans, ban alcohol in stadiums and throw rings of steel around. It's a *modded* nonsense

As someone who travels regularly to away games, and been in Europe away 6 times in recent years, I think its clear that most of the local police that "throw up the ring of steel" are basically saying that they don't want away fans at games, and its done very much in a way to stop people from turning up. Idiotic mandatory escorts starting 6 hours before games, being kept back in the stadium 1-2 hours after - all ridiculous even for the most high stakes of derbies. Alcohol bans in stadiums just encourages huge binge drinking before - it solves no problems, and again makes it worse. Rather than enjoy 4 with the game, people enjoy 12 before it to compensate.

In my experience, harsh policing encourages anger, which makes problems more likely. The only time I have seen Union fans react badly in 9 years was in Leverkusen, where we were treated like animals. I was lucky not to get arrested that day personally, I completely lost it with a policeman and had to be dragged away by someone else just as he was reaching for his handcuffs- I would say in my defence that I had spent the 15 minutes previous to this with a genuine fear I would be injured in the crush, while these policeman stood watching the carnage frozen to the spot and not doing anything on the other side of a fence. The whole day was like that. It was hard to understand what the police were trying to achieve with their action/attitude. I consider it a miracle no one was badly injured or killed through the police management. I wrote a letter to UEFA and Leverkusen after.... the latter responded by blaming Union fans for arriving late.... we had arrived 3 hours before, been told to backtrack to a random square outside a shopping centre, and then were prevented from leaving by police - who then escorted us to the ground, and who stopped people leaving that line to go to the toilet. I take great delight everytime I seen Leverkusen have lost a game nowadays.... their club can go to hell.

Worth noting that sometimes the "ring of steel" is comforting, if managed well. I don't complain being escorted into Antwerp's ground by a heavy police presence, the atmosphere there is always toxic for French speaking clubs, the greeting you get is glacial the moment you arrive into town... having 100 coppers 2 meters away feels like a blessing.

[sussexpob]

To be fair to Bayern Munich, their organisation for away days was as close to perfect as I have experienced. The police informed us that we would be left to our own devices with no mandatory escorts, but that police presence from Marienplatz to the ground would be provided with a departure at 18h30 on the U=Bahn for those who wanted to follow. The only thing they put as a red line was no pyro, explaining that they had already received a partial stadium ban for the home end from UEFA for having pyro in a previous game, and so now would police it strictly - the only person arrested was an idiot who ignored this rule by trying to light a flare, and he got what he deserved.

I hate the club, but also have to say that Liverpool's away experience was 10/10. Excellent communication from police/stewards, who forced us on a huge detour round the ground for security reasons but explained the process/reasons/were apologetic and good mannered. Very respectful, not heavy handed. Again, it makes a huge difference just having a culture of some humanity. Treating people well engenders respect in return - forcing someone to mark 4 miles after a few pints in the pub, then threatening to arrest them if they need to go to the toilet after an hour does not....

[Durhamfootman]

it still begs the question of why football fans have to be kept apart. It's pathetic that they have to be. Opposing fans from lots of other sports, big sports, intermingle happily, drink at the grounds etc, etc with almost no trouble

on banning alcohol at grounds, I remember when alcohol was banned in football and lots of Celtic (might have been Rangers, might have been both) fans began taking oranges into the ground. So many that the authorities became suspicious and started to confiscate some to check them out. Turns out fans were injecting vodka into the oranges to get around the alcohol ban. How *modded* desperate do you have to be to go to all that trouble in order to avoid having to go without alcohol for a couple of hours?

It's probably just me, but I simply don't get any of this stuff

[Durhamfootman]

I worked with a guy, donkeys years ago, who was into all this 'Mags are hard' sh1te. Used to go to away games just to cause trouble, yet his missus, who also worked there, ruled him with a rod of iron. She was in the Metrocentre with their little boy and was aghast when he started spitting at people wearing red clothing... anyone wearing red. When she pinned her hubby up against a wall and read him his *modded* horoscope, it turned out he'd been teaching his small boy to spit at people wearing Sunderland tops

who does that?

what kind of moron do you have to be?

why are there so many morons?

and why am I using disgusting language like that, which apparently is a heinous example of extreme ableism and warrants flogging?

[sussexpob]

Vini Jnr scores an absolute pearl of a finish, but something happens after the goal. Benfica don't like Vini celebrating, and as they are coming back to the centre spot Prestianni says something to him, and he then loses his temper and indicates to the referee something has been said. I assume he is saying hes been racially abused? He then goes to sit on the bench and seemingly refuses to play on.... replays do show Prestianni saying something to him, but he puts his shirt over his mouth before he says it so lip readers cant see....

Come on ref, get the players off. Support the player if something has been said that's racist.....

[sussexpob]

But no... after over 10 minutes stoppage, the referee looking lost the whole of it, Vini has been coaxed back onto the field and is ready to play on... at which point a rattled looking Mbappe kicks off... Referee eventually kicks back off. I don't like this at all, if Vini did indeed complain of racism then he has to stop the game. I cant think of what else it was...

[sussexpob]

BBC seemingly confirming its an accusation of racism.... aye aye aye aye aye...

Lets just hope if the player has been found guilty, he is punished as harshly as the rules allow. Thoughts to Vini Jnr, it takes a huge amount of courage to play on in his position.

2026 in a CL game.... this sort of thing should not be happening, and reflects so badly on society in general. Benfica booing the roof off everytime he gets the ball isn't very endearing either.

I hate Real Madrid, but HALA MADRID....

[sussexpob]

And now Mourinho has been sent off.

[Durhamfootman]

Always seems to be Vini Jr

I presume it's because he speaks up about it; doesn't let it lie unchallenged and in the modern unsociable twaddle world that's the same as putting a target on his own back

He should sign for Newcastle.... the fans would love him, I reckon. Mags do love Brazilian players

do you think that would persuade him to join the Eddie Howe project?

[Durhamfootman]

bloody hell!

5-0 at HT

4 goals for Gordon

jeepers

won't help them when they draw Man City again in the round of 16

[mikesiva]

Qarabag 1-6 Newcastle

Mbappe said he heard the Argentina player calling Vinicius a monkey several times. The response of Mourinho is disappointing, and shows that European football still doesn't take racism seriously.

[sussexpob]

Always seems to be Vini Jr.....I presume it's because he speaks up about it; doesn't let it lie unchallenged and in the modern unsociable twaddle world that's the same as putting a target on his own back

He is a very divisive character at times on the field. Some people argue that he is singled out for his behaviour more than he should because he is black, but I disagree with that; he is a wind up merchant, and a bit like Robbie Savage its almost like he searches for a bit of needle in games and loves to get into the heads of opponents and their crowds because it brings out the combative side in him. He does a lot of chat, a lot of celebrating theatrically in front of opposition fans, a lot of time wasting, small things that he knows gets a reaction. In fact I would strongly acknowledge that his team mate Mbappe is unfairly type cast as an arrogant, divisive type of player when I think he is a model professional footballer and a very bright kid when speaking off it, but Vini's conduct on the field can be frustrating to watch at times and his reputation is somewhat justified.

Of course, none of this defends people reacting with racism. Its the job of the referee to card players for this sort of thing, and the referee did in this case book him for celebrating in front of the Benfica fans (which I thought was harsh, I think he buckled because the Benfica players complained about it being bitter theyd just conceded). This should be the end of it. When his conduct oversteps the line, its the referees job to step in.

Its a bit of a minefield conversation though. Acknowledging the above is very close to the Mourinho type of point where you are saying "he deserved, because he rallied up the crowd". This is idiotic. And I do agree that there is nothing exactly special about players acting like this, if we wanted to attack players who time waste, chat, always in the ear of refs etc, then we would have 50 players a week in the PL under fire.

I mean, its not like Benfica played the game in a Victorian era spirit of fair play. They played a horrendously cynical, physical match and were also at the ref every 2 minutes.