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Posted: Mon Dec 05, 2011 19:23
by apw
I believe that Chelsea will only draw with Valencia tomorrow.
So much so that i have added Europa League dates to my calendar

It may actually be of benefit to Chelsea in their re-building programme, they have no chance of winning CL this year and the lesser stresses of the Europa will help Chelsea qualify for next year's edition

Posted: Mon Dec 05, 2011 20:15
by AlanK
@apw:

While I hope you're right about Chelsea only tying (but 0-0 puts them through to CL octavos), I think you're being a bit pessimistic. That said, Luka and I certainly hope that Valencia can come up big in a big game (for a pleasant change). One guy who's at the top of his game is Roberto Soldado--and unless he's on, we got no chance! :!: Digo :!:

Posted: Tue Dec 06, 2011 18:09
by apw
AlanK wrote:@apw:

While I hope you're right about Chelsea only tying (but 0-0 puts them through to CL octavos), I think you're being a bit pessimistic. That said, Luka and I certainly hope that Valencia can come up big in a big game (for a pleasant change). One guy who's at the top of his game is Roberto Soldado--and unless he's on, we got no chance! :!: Digo :!:
To be honest Chelsea only have themselves to blame, we should have won in Mestella, the Valencia goalkeeper played fantastic only for Kalou to give away a daft penalty.
We should have won in Genk and likewise in Germany.

I accept that we cannot win CL this year and have that sense of foreboding that the Europa League awaits.

It has happened to all the English teams except Arsenal, Man utd even one year finished bottom and didn't even make the Europa League or Uefa cup as it was then known

Posted: Thu Dec 08, 2011 10:18
by maluyaca
So Chelsea did what they we're expected to do, win the group. Job done, well done.

Leverkussen got the better of Valencia.

Valencia can concentrate on EL.

Genk did a great job at home and had 2 nightmares away.

Posted: Thu Dec 08, 2011 18:50
by Dragonite
Dragonite wrote:Prediction
1. Chelsea
2. Bayer Leverkusen
3. Valencia
4. Genk
Everything happened as expected here. :D

Well done Genk, for getting a few points. And well done for not “interfering” with the qualification fight, they took 2 points from each of the other teams. :up:

Bayer Leverkusen deserves to be congratulated for the qualification, I already did it after round 5, but they should be embarrassed for not winning against Genk and so losing the first place. Now they’ll probably get a harder opponent and will be eliminated in the next round.
I would like a Bayer Leverkusen vs. Real Madrid.

Well done Chelsea, for defeating Valencia and winning the group. :thumbs:
Drogba was perfect, in 2 CL games, 3 goals and 1 assist. I heard that Chelsea wants to get rid of a lot of players, perhaps they should keep Drogba.
I’d like a Chelsea vs. AC Milan next.

A final word for Valencia, they are going to the EL, and it would be nice if their opponent was Steaua (if Steaua qualifies).
Valencia vs. Steaua in the 2005 UEFA Cup was the turning point (and Valencia vs. Werder Bremen a few months earlier). Before Valencia was one of Europe’s big teams (2 CL lost finals + 1 UEFA Cup quarters + 1 CL quarters + 1 UEFA Cup win). After these games, Valencia was never the same again. They even played two more quarter finals, but in between the results have been poor.
They already had their revenge with Werder Bremen in the 2009/2010 EL; I think they also need revenge with Steaua. 8)

Posted: Thu Dec 08, 2011 20:36
by Michael S Collins
Sometimes people call for revenge though, and get a double nightmare in return! :lol:

Celtic's problems in the Cup with Inverness come to mind. And Deportivo vs Monaco.

Posted: Fri Dec 09, 2011 15:01
by og2002gr
og2002gr wrote:Again, a strong Pot 3 team, makes this group an interesting one.

Chelsea seems out of form at the moment. Give hopes to their opponents but cant imagine they can lose the 1st place.

Valencia despite selling players keeps being strong. They had a bad draw but still Spanish level is higher than German.

Bayer is rising, Valencia is not a giant so it won't a surprise to catch 2nd place, but still it will a big success.

Genk is the Belgian champion, so they ought to fight hard for 3rd place. Aris did great last year against Atletico and Bayer. Genk shouldn't be in the 0-2-4 teams group.


1. Chelsea 70%
2. Valencia 55%
3. Bayer 45%
4. Genk 30%
Chelsea as expected won the group even having many difficulties. Manchesters had the same difficulties but they were eliminated. Chelsea won 3-0.
Bayer Leverkussen: Finally German level is not so worse...it is a success for Bayer, but losing first place this way was a bad sign.
Valencia: they failed as they only managed to win Genk with the most goals.
Genk: expected performance. I knew they were not a 0-0-6 team. Credits for stopping Bayer despite "having no motives" other than playing for their fans, their country, their history.

Posted: Sat Dec 10, 2011 12:15
by Dragonite
Michael S Collins wrote:Sometimes people call for revenge though, and get a double nightmare in return! :lol:

Celtic's problems in the Cup with Inverness come to mind. And Deportivo vs Monaco.
Michael, but Valencia is good with revenges, I think.
There’s the one with Werder Bremen in the 2009/2010 EL (one of the few times recently where they prevailed against a German team).
Then in 2006/2007 they eliminated Inter in the CL last 16 – revenge for the eliminations in the CL quarters 2002/2003 and UEFA Cup quarters 2001/2002.
Then in the 2008/2009 UEFA Cup they defeated Rosenborg 4-0 in Norway – revenge for the elimination in the 2007/2008 CL groups.

Sometimes it fails, though. A 1-1 in London would have been enough to be another revenge, but they lost 3-0. :upset:

Posted: Sat Dec 17, 2011 22:40
by Polak
Dragonite are you talking about the Chelsea match this season? If so I think they needed to get a win to get revenge. A draw would not be enough.

Anyway I predicted Valencia to go through here. I am slightly surprised they didn't although I shouldn't be that surprised since they went out to Schalke last season. I suppose it was the old case of, they are the 3rd best Spanish team and often qualify for the Champions League, they should beat the 2nd best German team who have not been able to qualify recently. The problem for them was away to Genk but I suppose everyone in this group drew there.

Posted: Sun Dec 18, 2011 17:18
by Lusankya
Polak wrote:The problem for them was away to Genk but I suppose everyone in this group drew there.
So actually that was not their problem, because their other two competitors only got 4 points against Genk too.
Valencia's problem was only winning one match against Chelsea and Bayer out of 4, while the other two teams each won two.

Posted: Mon Dec 19, 2011 19:00
by Lyonnais
I might be wrong because I didn't follow very closely that group but I have the feeling that it's more Leverkusen who won their qualification rather than Valencia losing it (do you understand anything? :wink: ).

Typically in the Leverkusen - Valencia game, if I'm not wrong, Valencia totally dominated the game in the first half. Leverkusen was first able to resist to the pressure and then showed enough fighting spirit and I guess some talent to win it.
And they recovered again from 0-1 to 2-1 vs. Chelsea thanks to a late goal.

That's what I mean by Leverkusen having won their qualification. Would you agree with it?

Anyway, defeating both Valencia and Chelsea is a great performance.

Posted: Tue Dec 20, 2011 08:27
by UCL_Lover
Lyonnais wrote:I might be wrong because I didn't follow very closely that group but I have the feeling that it's more Leverkusen who won their qualification rather than Valencia losing it (do you understand anything? :wink: ).

Typically in the Leverkusen - Valencia game, if I'm not wrong, Valencia totally dominated the game in the first half. Leverkusen was first able to resist to the pressure and then showed enough fighting spirit and I guess some talent to win it.
And they recovered again from 0-1 to 2-1 vs. Chelsea thanks to a late goal.

That's what I mean by Leverkusen having won their qualification. Would you agree with it?

Anyway, defeating both Valencia and Chelsea is a great performance.
Their crucial step was the win against Valencia.
Then they really jumped to qualification with that superb come back against Chelsea.

On the other hand, Valencia lost important points in Belgium, they were drawn against Chelsea at home, but that is not considered a bad result for them.
But then, they lost in Germany, a result that brought them back. Their home win, by also covering the gap of their previous loss, has brought them back to life, but after Leverkusen's win over Chelsea, they had to take a result in London.

Definitely, Leverkusen won their qualification, although Valencia somewhere on the path lost it a little bit. ;)