Chitchat The Official TCSS Thread

Barcelona to face Man City, Arsenal draw PSG in Champions League draw

Pep Guardiola will return to the Camp Nou after Manchester City and Barcelona were drawn together in the Champions League group stage on Thursday.

Guardiola spent the majority of his playing career with Barcelona and led them to two European titles as manager in 2009 and 2011.

And now in his first season as City boss, he will face off against his former club in Group C, along with Borussia Monchengladbach and Celtic, when the group stage begins next month.

The Spanish champions beat City in the round of 16 in both 2014 and 2015, and the teams completed a transfer of goalkeeper Claudio Bravo to City just hours before the draw.

The draw featured some other blockbuster matchups, as defending champions Real Madrid play Borussia Dortmund in Group F, Paris Saint-Germain face Arsenal in Group A, and Bayern Munich will meet last year's runners-up Atletico Madrid in Group D.

There were more favourable draws for the other two English clubs.

Debutants Leicester City were drawn with Porto, Club Brugge and FC Copenhagen in Group G, while Tottenham must play CSKA Moscow, Bayer Leverkusen and Monaco in Group E.

Full group-by-group previews and predictions from ESPN FC's John Brewin and Nick Miller can be found here.

Group A
Paris Saint-Germain
Arsenal
FC Basel
Ludogorets Razgrad

Group B
Benfica
Napoli
Dynamo Kiev
Besiktas

Group C
Barcelona
Manchester City
Borussia Monchengladbach
Celtic

Group D
Bayern Munich
Atletico Madrid
PSV Eindhoven
Rostov

Group E
CSKA Moscow
Bayer Leverkusen
Tottenham Hotspur
Monaco

Group F
Real Madrid
Borussia Dortmund
Sporting
Legia Warsaw

Group G
Leicester City
Porto
Club Brugge
FC Copenhagen

Group H
Juventus
Sevilla
Lyon
Dinamo Zagreb

Guardiola goes back to Barcelona

Guardiola goes back to Barcelona

The Champions League group stage draw produced one dominant headline. Pep Guardiola faces the club with which he won two trebles. Plus, Bayern were matched with Atletico and Leicester got a favourable draw.

Man City fans please take note.

Pep Guardiola 'was in his own world' at Bayern Munich - Thomas Muller

Bayern Munich forward Thomas Muller has said coach Carlo Ancelotti is closer to the players than his predecessor Pep Guardiola, telling Bild: "Pep was thinking about perfect solutions all day long."

Muller, 26, begins his eighth Bundesliga season with Bayern when the German champions host Werder Bremen on Friday.

Ancelotti is his fourth manager at the club after Louis van Gaal, Jupp Heynckes and Guardiola.

"Ancelotti is a bit closer to the players. Pep was somewhat in his own world," Muller said.

"All day long he'd think about how he could move players by two, three meters in a certain situation on the pitch to find a perfect solution. That was crazy in a positive sense."

He said training under Ancelotti was "fun," adding: "He has a good way of handling players, and I hope that we'll be successful."

Guardiola won three consecutive league titles with Bayern but was criticised by winger Franck Ribery, who said he "lacks experience" and "sometimes talks too much."

Robin Van Persie heading back to OT in the Europa League.

Grudge match?

http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/37196269

THE_CHANSTER said:

Robin Van Persie heading back to OT in the Europa League.

Grudge match?

http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/37196269

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Yes, especially since Zlatan is older than Robin but succeeded him.

Wenger is usually honest.

Arsenal's interest in Lucas Perez not out of panic, insists Arsene Wenger

Arsene Wenger has admitted that this summer's transfer window didn't work out the way he had planned, but denied that his late deal for striker Lucas Perez was a panic buy.

Arsenal are on the verge of completing a double signing for Perez, the Deportivo La Coruna forward, and Valencia centre-back Shkodran Mustafi after seeing a breakthrough in negotiations in recent days.

Those deals would fulfil Wenger's pledge to bring in three new first-team players this summer, including a striker and centre-back, after also buying holding midfielder Granit Xhaka in May.

However, that early deal for Xhaka was followed by a frustrating summer as Arsenal failed with a bid to bring in Jamie Vardy from Leicester and saw their interest in several other forwards come to naught.

"This season I thought we had the easiest transfer market ever because we knew what we wanted to [buy], we knew who we wanted, and it didn't come off," Wenger said. "So you have to restart, and when you restart, when you [deal] with some leagues they're on holiday. And after you get the European Championship."

While Wenger didn't disclose which deals "didn't come off," he was reportedly hoping to strike an agreement with Real Madrid over forward Alvaro Morata and also made a bid for Lyon striker Alexandre Lacazette.

Wenger also disclosed that he tried to find club executives at Euro 2016 games to discuss transfers, when he was working as a pundit for French TV at the tournament.



"Nothing happened during the whole European Championship, you couldn't find anybody. Here and there I met some people in the VIP rooms before the games, but it's not the best place to deal," he said. "That's why it was very late [before deals were finalised]. It's not ideal for us, but..."

Perez scored 17 league goals last season and added eight assists but was still relatively unknown to many fans in England before Arsenal's interest emerged on Thursday. But Wenger rejected the notion that he had acted out of desperation to snap up a striker who was available because of a £17 million release clause.

"Look at my face. Am I the face of somebody who does a panic buy?" a relaxed Wenger said in a briefing with reporters. "No, I try to make the

jw5 said:

Wenger is usually honest.

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and usually wrong. Who is this Lucas Perez, anyway? Another Andrey Arshavin?

Spurs vs Liverpool K.O. 7.30p.m. Another loss for Liverpool?

Hull vs Man Utd K.O. 12.30a.m.

Both teams are undefeated in both their games. Can't see Hull winning this one though - but you never know with the EPL.

THE_CHANSTER said:

Spurs vs Liverpool K.O. 9.30p.m. Another loss for Liverpool?

Hull vs Man Utd K.O. 12.30a.m.

Both teams are undefeated in both their games. Can't see Hull winning this one though - but you never know with the EPL.

Click to expand...

Spurs vs Liverpool @ 7.30pm
Follow by 10pm games and Hull game at 12.30am
so don't miss it.

THE_CHANSTER said:

Spurs vs Liverpool K.O. 9.30p.m. Another loss for Liverpool?

Hull vs Man Utd K.O. 12.30a.m.

Both teams are undefeated in both their games. Can't see Hull winning this one though - but you never know with the EPL.

Click to expand...

Baimi said:

Spurs vs Liverpool @ 7.30pm
Follow by 10pm games and Hull game at 12.30am
so don't miss it.

Click to expand...

Liverpool lead Spurs 1-0!

Spurs draw level through Danny Rose!

Tottenham battle for point vs. Liverpool

Danny Rose cancelled out James Milner's opener in a 1-1 draw at White Hart Lane. Liverpool took the lead through Milner's penalty but failed to take further chances as Tottenham hit back through Rose's tidy finish on 72 minutes

Arsenal 1 up against Watford with a very dubious penalty decision.

Baimi said:

Spurs vs Liverpool @ 7.30pm
Follow by 10pm games and Hull game at 12.30am
so don't miss it.

Click to expand...

Noted. Cheers.

THE_CHANSTER said:

Arsenal 1 up against Watford with a very dubious penalty decision.

Click to expand...

Easy wins for Arsenal and Chelsea, 3-1 and 3-0 vs Watford and Burnley respectively.

jw5 said:

Easy wins for Arsenal

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Good goal from Ozil. Both he and Sanchez played well.

Just waiting for the Hull vs Man Utd game coming up in 5 mins.

This game is heading for a draw. Man Utd will drop points.

Looks like Marcus Rashford won't be leaving Old Trafford anytime soon. LOL!

THE_CHANSTER said:

This game is heading for a draw. Man Utd will drop points.

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Isn't good for man Yoo to be under tremendous pressure to win every game?