In the 3rd round of the Champions League, all Spanish teams lost points except Barcelona. But despite the losses, none of the Spanish teams lost their chances of leaving the group.
Spartak Moscow – Sevilla 5-1
No one expected such a defeat, not even perhaps the most ardent fans Moscow Spartak. Especially after the home draw with outsider Maribor in the first round. But no matter what you say, Spartak’s team is set on Seville full program, which gave a simply stunning result.
The start of the match did not foretell trouble for the Seville team. Everything went according to plan and even the missed goal in the 18th minute didn’t really mess up the Andalusian team’s cards. Moreover, already in the 30th minute the Spaniards restored the balance in the score by scoring a return goal. By the end of the half, Sevilla simply had to take the lead, but striker Ben Yedder was unable to shoot past the defender into the empty net at a time when the goalkeeper had already won back. With the score 1-1, the teams went to rest, but clouds were already gathering over the cloudless sky of Seville.
The second half simply turned everything upside down. Spartak somehow replaced them and the Brazilian national team came out instead. Each Spartak attack ended with an accurate shot at the opponent’s goal, and these strikes carried a serious danger. On the 58th minute the second goal flew into the visitors' gate and Spartak could no longer be held back. 67 minutes 3-1, 74 - 4-1 and at the very end of the 90th minute the fifth goal fluttered in the net of the discouraged Andalusians.
Even despite such an offensive and serious defeat, Sevilla has a good chance of qualifying from the group; another thing is that it is very difficult to recover psychologically.
Video of the match Spartak Moscow - Seville 5-1:
Goals: Promes, 18, 90, Melgarejo, 58, Glushakov, 67, Luis Adriano, 74 – Chiar, 30.
Spartacus: Selikhov - Eshchenko, Taski, Dzhikia, Kombarov - Fernando, Glushakov - Samedov (Melgarejo, 25), Popov (Pashalic, 57), Promes - Luis Adriano.
Rico - Mercado, Chiar, Lenglet, Escudero - Cron-Daly (Vazquez, 68), Pizarro, Banega - Sarabia, Ben Yedder (Muriel, 82), Nolito (Jesus Navas, 76).
Warnings: Jikia, Fernando – Escudero, Pizarro.
Real Madrid – Tottenham 1-1
We can say that this was a game to get out of the group, because the victory of any of the teams practically ensured it for that same team. But given the game in the parallel match, where Borussia could not defeat the modest APOEL, a draw also practically takes both counterparts into the playoffs.
The match itself turned out to be a success, despite the modest score. There were truly two great teams playing, who were worth each other both in play and in name. The visitors scored the first goal in the 18th minute, after Varane's cut into his own goal. Then Tottenham had more than one excellent opportunity to increase the score, but Madrid goalkeeper Navas played reliably or the English attackers missed the target. In one of the episodes, the referee was supposed to award a penalty against Madrid, but there was no whistle. But the referee whistled for a similar violation in the Spurs penalty area and Cristiano Ronaldo cleared the penalty kick in the 43rd minute. It was the Portuguese's 110th goal in the Champions League. The first half ended with a draw.
In the second half there was a lot of struggle and chances both at one and the other goal, but no more goals were scored. By and large, a draw would be the fairest result of this football action, because none of the teams deserved to lose, demonstrating an excellent and spectacular game.
Goals: Ronaldo, 43 (penalty) - Varane, 28 (own goal)
Real: Navas - Hakimi, Varane, Ramos, Marcelo - Modric, Casemiro, Kroos - Isco (Vazquez 87), Benzema (Asensio 76), Ronaldo
Lloris - Aurier, Alderweireld, Vertonghen, Sanchez - Sissoko (Heung-Min Son 89), Dier, Winks - Eriksen - Kane, F. Llorente (Rose 80)
Warnings: Ronaldo - Aurier
| 1 | 3 | 7 | |||||||
| 2 | 3 | 7 | |||||||
| 3 | 3 | 1 | |||||||
| 4 | 3 | 1 |
Qarabag – Atletico Madrid 0-0
Azerbaijani Karabakh won a point in the Champions League for the first time in its history. And not with anyone, but with the formidable Atletico Madrid itself, which has been to the finals of the tournament twice over the past 3 years.
The game itself certainly didn't look attractive. It all boiled down to the fact that the hosts defended themselves as a team and occasionally made caustic attacks towards the Madrid team. And the Mattresses, in turn, attacked widely and sweepingly without hesitating anyone. Both Griezmann and Saul had opportunities to take 3 points, but their shots either hit the goalkeeper or missed the Karabakh goal. And if we take into account that the Azerbaijanis played half of the second half in the minority, then we can safely write them down as heroes.
Video of the match Qarabag - Atletico Madrid 0-0:
: Sehich - Medvedev (Rzhezhnichak, 71), Huseynov, Sadykov, Agolli - Almeida, Karaev - Enrique (Guerrier, 69), Michel (Elyounoussi, 85), Madatov - Ndlovu.
: Oblak – Vrsaljko, Jimenez, Godin, Filipe Luis – Gaitan (Tomas, 64), Gabi, Saul, Carrasco (Correa, 72) – Gameiro (Torres, 72), Griezmann.
Warnings: Michel, Ndlovu
Removal : Ndlovu (second yellow, 75)
Barcelona – Olympiacos 3-1
Barcelona turned out to be the only Spanish team that confidently beat its opponent, while doing so in the minority.
Torrential rain greeted the small crowd that came to the Camp Nou to support their favorites. But despite the bad weather, the Catalans played excellent and impeccable football as always.
In the first half, the scoring was opened with the help of an Olympiacos defender, who cut the ball into his own goal in the 18th minute. No more goals were scored in the first half, but Barcelona defender Gerard Pique was sent off in the 42nd minute and the Catalans played with ten men throughout the second half.
But even despite the absence of the team's main defender, the blue garnets sat on the Greek goal for the entire second half of the match. In the 61st minute, Lionel Messi takes a dangerous free kick and, of course, scores from his favorite spot. And after 3 minutes, French defender Luca Digne scores the first goal in the Champions League for Barcelona. The game was done and the teams calmly finished the match. At the end, a couple of minutes before the end, visiting defender Nicolau, who scored an own goal in the first half, corrects his mistake and scores a goal of prestige. 3-1 and Barcelona scores 9 points out of 9 possible after 3 rounds.
Video of the match Barcelona - Olympiacos 3-1:
Goals: Nicolau 18 (own goal), Messi 61, Digne 64 - Nicolau 89
Barcelona: ter Stegen - Roberto, Pique, Umtiti, Digne - Paulinho, Busquets (Gomes, 80), Iniesta (Rakitic, 67) - Messi, L. Suarez, Deulofeu (Mascherano, 46)
When will it start?
Everything has already begun! New season kicked off on June 27 with matches in the first of four qualifying stages. The last stage of qualification - the playoff round - will take place at the end of August. The group stage, consisting of six rounds, will begin on September 12 and end on December 6. After a two-month winter break, it will be time for the playoffs. This stage starts on February 13th.
How is qualification done?
Of the 32 participants in the group stage, at the moment 22 are known. The remaining ten tickets will be played in the playoff round. There are two ways to qualify:
- Path of Champions- this path is only for champion title holders in the domestic arena, starting from the first elimination round best teams ten countries with the lowest ratings. The five winners advance to the second elimination round, which starts with representatives from 29 national associations. Three more teams start from third qualifying round, the ten winners of which form the five pairs of the playoff round.
- League Representative Path- it is followed by teams from the countries with the highest ratings, taking places in their championships from second to fourth. There are only two stages on this path. Ten teams start from the third qualifying round, and five clubs start from the play-off round.
Which 22 teams will start the tournament from the group stage?
ESP: Real Madrid, Barcelona, Atlético Madrid
GER: Bayern, RB Leipzig, Borussia Dortmund
ENG: Chelsea, Tottenham, Manchester City, Manchester United
ITA: Juventus, Roma
POR: Benfica, Porto
FRA: Monaco, Paris Saint-Germain
RUS: "Spartak"
UKR: Shakhtar
BEL: Anderlecht
NED: Feyenoord
TUR: Besiktas
SUI: Basel
When will the draw take place?
Is the group stage seeding known?*
The first basket includes the current trophy winner and the champions of the top seven countries in the UEFA rankings. The remaining three pots are based on the end of the 2016/17 season.
Cart 1: Real Madrid, Bayern Munich, Chelsea, Juventus, Benfica, Monaco, Spartak, Shakhtar
Cart 2: Barcelona, Atlético Madrid, Paris Saint-Germain, Borussia Dortmund, Manchester City, Porto, Manchester United, 1 BOP
Basket 3: Basel, Anderlecht, 6 BOP
Basket 4: 8 BOP
Depending on the qualifying results, Tottenham will be in the second or third pot, Roma, Besiktas, Feyenoord and RB Leipzig in the third or fourth.
BOP - TBD
Where will the final be held?
The final will take place at the Olympic Stadium in Kiev, which hosted the EURO 2012 final. The match is scheduled for Saturday 28 May, kick-off at 20:45CET.
*Seeding information is not official, these are just calculations by UEFA.com experts
Hello, dear readers! I am starting a review of the 3rd round of the Champions League 2017-2018.
Group A. CSKA Moscow hosted Swiss Basel. In the first minutes there was equal game. Yes, Basel seems to have started more actively. But the army team survived the first
onslaught, and even tried to create several dangerous chances at the Basel goal.
However, in the 29th minute, Taulant Xhaka struck from long range to open the scoring.
0-1. The Army team tried to create chances and attack, but Basel's attacks looked much sharper and more powerful. In the 52nd minute, Basel would have scored the second goal, but the referee canceled the goal due to offside. After that, CSKA had several approaches,
several chances to level the score, but they missed them. And on
In the 90th minute, Basel's striker Oberlin went 1 on 1 with Akinfeev and set the final score - 0-2 - a victory for Basel. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cnoOVit6uqI
As for the other match in this group, where Lisbon Benfica hosted
Manchester United, then in this match there was a total advantage for Manchester United. Mancunians
constantly attacked, constantly created chances. But the Mancunians in this match
There was a lack of completion of attacks. Some kind of pass, some kind of literacy. And the goal turned out to be simply curious: in the 64th minute a free kick was awarded against Benfica. After Marcus Rashford's cross, Benfica goalkeeper Svilar caught the ball and then put the ball into the goal. So the score became 0-1. After that, there were no particularly interesting moments in this game. 0-1 - Manchester United win. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=otRWkZA4FWk
Thus, in Group A, Manchester United has 9 points, Basel - 6, CSKA - 3, Benfica - 0. On October 31, Basel will host CSKA, Manchester United-Benfica.
In group B everything is quite boring. Everything was clear with the group’s favorites, if after
draw, when Baaariya and PSG were included in this group together, having also received Scottish Celtic and Belgian Anderlecht in addition. In this group there is
only 2 questions: which of the Bayern - PSG pair will take first place, and which of the Celtic - Anderlcht pair will go to the Europa League. In the third round, Bayern hosted Celtic. The Munich team went forward from the first minutes and already
in the 17th minute, Bayern opened the scoring: Lewandowski kept the ball close to the touchline, passed to Muller, and he opened the scoring. 1-0. It worked at 29 minutes
Kommann-Kimmich combination: the first reached almost to the end line, then passed the ball into the center, the second made a great header, so the score became 2-0. Bayern's third goal
scored after a corner: Robben delivered the ball straight to Hummels, who
scored the final score - 3-0 - victory for Bayern. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Zfa0F_mxun0
Belgian Anderlecht could not oppose PSG even on their own field.
Already in the 3rd minute, Killian Mpabe opened the scoring. 0-1. True, after that at Anderlecht
there were several very good chances to equalize the score, but they
they were not used. At the 44th minute, the Neymar-Mbapé-Cavani triangle worked, and
Cavani scored the second goal. 0-2. The second half was again dominated by PSG.
In the 58th minute, Cavani was about to score the third goal, but the line judge called it offside. The Parisians did not despair. Continued to go forward: in the 66th minute Neymar
The free kick made the score 0-3. After that, Anderdlecht had several chances to at least score a prestige goal, but in the end they conceded
fourth goal. In the 88th minute, Angel di Maria set the final score of the match -
0-4 - PSG victory. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aKhlIumK3nA
After 3 rounds, PSG has 9 points, Bayern - 6, Celtic - 3, Anderlecht - 0. 31
October Celtic will host Bayern, PSG - Anderlecht.
In Group C, both matches of the 3rd round ended in a draw. No goals were scored in the match between Azerbaijani Karabakh and Ateletico Madrid. 0-0. In short
To describe this match, Atlético had a complete advantage. At 53 minutes Dino
Nduveldu did score a goal against Qarabag, but it was canceled due to offside.
By the way, Griezmann scored a goal, but it was cancelled. After that, Karabakh moved the game a little away from its goal, and had several dangerous moments in order to
score a goal, In the 76th minute, Karabakh striker Dino Ndbovu wanted to ask for a penalty against Atlético, but in the end received a second yellow card and was sent off from the field. After that, Atlético had several more dangerous chances, but in the end the score was never opened. Draw 0-0.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LfBfVFdPc4M
In another match of this group there were a lot of goals. London Chelsea hosted
Italian Roma. This match had it all. Chelsea started very actively, we went straight away
forward. In the 11th minute, David Luiz opened the scoring with a long-range strike. 1-0. In principle, after that it was equal, Roma was in no way inferior to Chelsea in terms of play. I would even
said Chelsea's Romans were outplaying. However, in the 37th minute the Romans made a mistake in defense. Morato made a cool pass and passed to Hazard, so the score became 2-0.
But then the incredible began to happen. At the 40th minute Roma forward Alexander
Kolarov reduced the gap in the score with a cool strike. 2-1. The second half has begun
basically on equal terms. Both teams created chances. And in the 64th minute, Roma striker Edin Dzeko received the ball literally 3 meters from the goal and equalized the score. 2-2.
Another 6 minutes later a free kick was awarded against Chelsea, and the same Dzeko
drawing the Romans forward. 2-3. But literally 5 minutes later, Eden Hazard, having received
A pass from Pedro equalized the score. 3-3. After this, the Roma players had several chances to snatch victory. However, the score did not change again. Draw
3-3. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PIBNPS36VZk
Thus, after 3 rounds in Group C, Chelsea has 7 points, Roma - 5,
Atletico - 2, Qarabag -1. On October 31, Atletico will host Qarabag, Roma-Chelsea.
In Group D, Juventus Turin hosted Sportieg Lisbon. The match has started
quite funny: in the 12th minute, Sporting striker Zhelton Martins came out
1 on 1 with Buffon, Buffon came out of the gate trying to intercept the ball, the ball came after
Martins' kick hit Buffon in the chest, then flew towards Juventus defender Alex
Sandra, and his ricochet hit the goal. 0-1. After this, the Juventus players seemed to remember that they were the favorites of this match and intercepted
initiative, began to create dangerous moments. In the 29th minute against Sporting
A free kick was awarded and Pjanic converted it 1-1. Before the break at Juventus
there were a few more moments to build on my success, but in the end
In the first half the score was 1-1. The second half was already with a complete advantage
Juventus. They created chances both from play and from set pieces. But in the end
took the lead only in the 85th minuteA: Douglas Costa famously dealt with the Sporting defender and passed to Mandzukic, who sent the ball into the goal. In extra time, both teams could have changed the score, but it remained the same. 2-1 - Juventus win. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YMPMY3jYu7g
Barcelona hosted Olympiacos. Everything was simpler in this match. Barcelona from the first
minutes went forward. And they began to create chances. In the 18th minute Deulofeu crossed
into the penalty area, in the direction of Messi, but the ball hit Olympiacos defender Nikolaou and ricocheted into the goal. 1-0. After scored a goal Barcelona continued
go forward, create chances. At 42, Barcelona was about to score a second goal, but instead of being happy, they were upset: the fact is that, according to referee Pique, who touched the ball last, played with his hand, and he had already had a yellow card before.
The referee canceled this goal and showed Pique a second yellow, which turned into red. Pique was sent off and the goal was disallowed. Barcelona remained in the minority. However, the nature of the game has not changed much. Barcelona continued to hold the initiative, and they played the second half no worse than the first. In the 61st minute, the rules against Messi were violated near the Olympiacos penalty area, and Messi himself converted it.
2-0. And after 3 minutes, Messi attacked the Olympiacos defenders in the penalty area and made
pass to its center. None of the Olympiacos defenders got to the ball. The ball hit
to Luc Digne and he made the score 3-0. Barcelona could have scored more, but in the end they conceded; in the 89th minute after a corner kick, Nicolau scored
Kudos to his team for the own goal in the first half. 3-1 - victory for Barcelona. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kG1n8rdjtKw
Thus, in Group D after 3 rounds the situation is as follows: Barcelona - 9, Juventus - 6, Sporting - 3, Olympiacos - 0. On October 31, Sporting will host Juventus, Olympiacos will host Barcelona.
The first matches of the 2017/18 Champions League season will be played on June 27 and 28. Read more about qualifying for the most prestigious and profitable club tournament in Europe in our material.
1st qualifying round
Participants
“Alashkert” (Armenia) – “Santa Coloma” (Andorra)
"Vikingur" ( Faroe Islands) – “Trepca’89” (Kosovo)
Hibernians (Malta) – Tallinn (Estonia)
New Saints (Wales) – Europe (Gibraltar)
"Linfield" ( Northern Ireland) – “La Fiorita” (San Marino)
https://twitter.com/ChampionsLeague/status/876744796769058816This stage is unlikely to interest anyone, since its private participants with a 99.9 percent probability will not even get to the 3rd qualifying round, not to mention the group stage. So if you're not an amateur club football San Marino or Gibraltar, then there is no point in following the upcoming matches. It can only be noted that the most successful club in Europe among the participants is the Welsh New Saints. In the 2010/11 season, he managed to reach the 3rd qualifying round, where, as expected, he lost to Anderlecht without a chance (1:3, 0:3). It is also worth saying that “Vikingur”, “Trepca’89”, “Tallinn” and “Europe” will play in the Champions League for the first time in their history.
2nd qualifying round
Participants
https://twitter.com/ChampionsLeague/status/876750422857453569This is where much more well-known clubs to the general public will come into play, many of which we will probably see in the fall, and perhaps in the spring. The same APOEL played three times in the group stage of the Champions League, and in the 2011/12 season it sensationally reached the quarterfinals, losing to Real Madrid (0:3, 2:5). The champion of Cyprus remembers that European campaign very well with Zenit, who fell in the group stage (1:2, 0:0). APOEL is capable of qualifying for the main European Cup for the fourth time, although no one expects a repetition of the feat.
You can remember BATE current CSKA coach Viktor Goncharenko, who twice drew with Juventus (2:2, 0:0) in the group stage of the 2008/09 season, and four years later beat Bayern itself in Minsk (3:1) . Or Celtic, who won the European Cup in 1966 and have regularly participated in the autumn stages in recent years. “Salzburg”, “Legia”, “Copenhagen” - we are used to seeing all of them at the group stage of the main European Cup, even if they did not achieve serious success there.
Despite the solid line-up of participants, this round is unlikely to arouse increased interest among Russian fans. None of the above will be caught by CSKA next stage, so for the most part these matches can be ignored. However, if the army team qualify, one of the participants in the 2nd round may still get into their group.
3rd qualifying round
Notable members
Path of Champions:" " (Greece), "Slavia" (Czech Republic), "Viitorul" (Romania)
League Representative Path:“Dynamo K” (Ukraine), “Ajax” (Netherlands), “Victoria Pilsen” (Czech Republic), CSKA (RUSSIA), "Club Brugge" (Belgium), "Steaua" (Romania), "Young Boys" (Switzerland), " " (France), " " (Turkey), AEK (Greece)
From this moment on, a branch appears in the qualifications, where those who did not become champions of their countries end up, which means that the level of participants increases noticeably. There will no longer be representatives from Albania or Bosnia and Herzegovina - teams representing championships over high level. There are no grandees yet, but the competition is quite high.
Of course, we are most interested in CSKA, whose possible rivals are well known to everyone. A fairly high rating (39.606 points in the UEFA rating) allowed the army team to be among the “seeded”, which gives a certain advantage. Goncharenko's team has five options - Steaua, Young Boys, Nice, Istanbul Basaksehir and AEK. Choosing the best one from them seems to be quite simple.
In matches with the Romanians and Greeks, CSKA has the right to count on the status of the undisputed favorite; the Swiss seem to be a little higher class, but I would not want to meet with the bronze medalist of the French Ligue 1 or the silver medalist of the Turkish Super League. It is not customary to publicly voice the desire to have a weaker team as a rival, but in this case no one would blame the army team for this. The fact is that, according to the preliminary layout of the schedule for the next season, CSKA will go to Khabarovsk exactly between two matches of the 3rd qualifying round as part of the 3rd round of the RFPL. One can only guess how such a schedule even gained the right to life, because it will significantly reduce the chances of the capital club to advance further.
It is also worth mentioning the path of champions, in which Olympiacos, with the highest rating of 64,580, appears to be the clear favorite. According to this indicator, the Greeks are almost twice as high as the same army team, and among all participants they close the top 5. They will compete with teams that have the greatest chance of getting through the 2nd round, but in general we won’t see anything interesting here either, except that the quality of football will improve a little.
Playoff round
Notable members
League Representative Path:" " (Spain), " " (Italy), " " (England), " " (Portugal), (Germany)
A flight of approximately 20 thousand kilometers over the course of a week will be just an appetizer - the main course awaits CSKA in the decisive round. Here representatives of the four presenters take the stage European leagues, as well as the third team of the Portuguese championship. The level of competition is increasing so much that the army team is already turning into outsiders, with a high probability of being among the “unseeded”. For example, Dynamo Kiev and Ajax, which have a higher rating, can deprive them of seeding.
WITH silver medalist of the Ukrainian Championship, CSKA will probably be played out, so the choice of opponents is not that great. “Ajax” or “Victoria Plzen”, as well as “Liverpool”, “Sevilla” and “Napoli” - there will be no other options. I think there is no need to explain why the Czechs look like the best of them, especially since the Muscovites will probably want to get even for the memorable defeat in December 2013 (1:2). There is no need to talk about the British, Spaniards and Italians - the current army team has little chance with them.
But if two of the three clubs ahead of CSKA in the rating do not reach the playoffs, our team will become “seeded” and will be opposed by clubs of slightly different levels. It will be easier here, because only Hoffenheim and Sporting look too dangerous - the army team can play on equal terms with all the others. And yet, the likelihood of a less pleasant outcome is much higher, although the opportunity to bring Liverpool or Napoli to VEB Arena is worth a lot. Moreover, a ticket to group stage The Europa League in this round is already guaranteed.
On the path of champions, the situation remains the same, since the participants are still the same. But it is quite possible that there will be good posters, like “Olympiacos” – “Celtic”, even if these confrontations still do not reach the level of league representatives. But again, it is necessary to start taking a closer look at possible opponents in the group stages of the European Cups, since both the winners and losers will definitely play in the fall.
