ECL Matchday 1

[bugylibicska]

Not a night with a lot of surprises, I would say the biggest happened in Florence. 1-1 for the Latvian champions, it's something to be proud in their debut game in the group stages.

Vaduz also still unbeaten is something to note for.

Lech despite the loss also deserves a special word, though Spanish teams know how to score in the last minutes... as shown yesterday in the CL.

And Union St.Gilloise won in Berlin against the German Union also a big surprise.

I don't know... is it? Union Berlin could not pass last year ECL group stages, I don't think the expectations should be bigger in the EL. And more importantly Union Giloise almost won the Belgium League last year, and these season almost knocked Rangers out of the CL play-offs.

I see Union Giloise having a good run these season the EL, similar to what Royal Antwerp did a few years ago. An old glory is awakes.

I was influenced by the betting companies. For the win in Berlin they'd pay you 7x, while for the draw in Firenze only 6x. On 2nd thought I might still overestimate the Germans, but these times are not the old times and losing on home soil for them getting almost regular (Koln, Frankfurt, Leipzig, Union). On the other hand for a Latvian team holding their ground against a marquee Italian team - although more in the past than present - is probably unprecedented, so it seems as bigger shock value.

[seso]

MD1 attendances

Vaduz - Apollon 1,188

I read that the capacity of FC Vaduz stadium is about 6,000. Strange that not more fans attended the ECL-GS match!

[SimonB]

So West Ham start with a shock win on MD1 for the second season in a row, how do they manage it

[rpo.castro]

And Union St.Gilloise won in Berlin against the German Union also a big surprise.

I don't know... is it? Union Berlin could not pass last year ECL group stages, I don't think the expectations should be bigger in the EL. And more importantly Union Giloise almost won the Belgium League last year, and these season almost knocked Rangers out of the CL play-offs.

I see Union Giloise having a good run these season the EL, similar to what Royal Antwerp did a few years ago. An old glory is awakes.

I was influenced by the betting companies. For the win in Berlin they'd pay you 7x, while for the draw in Firenze only 6x. On 2nd thought I might still overestimate the Germans, but these times are not the old times and losing on home soil for them getting almost regular (Koln, Frankfurt, Leipzig, Union). On the other hand for a Latvian team holding their ground against a marquee Italian team - although more in the past than present - is probably unprecedented, so it seems as bigger shock value.

Union Berlin has a much better squad and is doing a great season start while Giloise is below what they have done last season.
Comparing last season performances...2021/22 wasn't Union Berlin comeback to European cups after 20 years? And Maccabi Haifa couldn't do anything in ECL too last season...

[Dragonite]

So West Ham start with a shock win on MD1 for the second season in a row, how do they manage it

172.7M€ in reinforcements... perhaps another million or two in the referee's bank account to give them a fishy penalty kick.

[delustef]

[quote=SimonB post_id=524273 time=<a href="tel:1662718760">1662718760</a> user_id=1955]
So West Ham start with a shock win on MD1 for the second season in a row, how do they manage it

172.7M€ in reinforcements... perhaps another million or two in the referee's bank account to give them a fishy penalty kick.
[/quote]

Thank you Dragonite, I didn’t want to say that as I come from Romania, however the same “referee” killed CFR Cluj in a similar way a couple of years ago…This time the striker hit the goalkeeper and he should have received a yellow card.

[nogomet]

Just saw that disgrace of a penalty for West Ham in 69th minute when they were trailing 0-1.

https://twitter.com/RoFtbl/status/1567975175630761984

[Ed]

That's just a yellow for the West Ham player....

[Dragonite]

Thank you Dragonite, I didn’t want to say that as I come from Romania, however the same “referee” killed CFR Cluj in a similar way a couple of years ago…This time the striker hit the goalkeeper and he should have received a yellow card.

That makes this even more suspicious. He harmed CFR Cluj against Young Boys, now he harmed FCSB against West Ham.

And you can say whatever you want.

I've been trying to be more tolerant with refereeing decisions, but some of them are outrageous!

For instance, yesterday in Manchester United vs Real Sociedad, Real Sociedad scored from an inexistent penalty kick (Martínez wanted to intercept a close range shot, he is not even looking at the ball, and after touching in his leg first it unintentionally touches his arm too).

And later there is a clear penalty kick for Real Sociedad when Martínez stamps Cho and even removes his boot, but the referee and the videoclowns just ignored it.


At least in the Conference League there aren't videoclowns polluting it, decisions are bad but they're quick and irreversible.