EL Round 2 (Last 32) [2017/18]

[bjkman1903]

⦁ Seeded

Villarreal CF
FC Dynamo Kyiv
SC Braga
AC Milan
Atalanta BC
FC Lokomotiv Moskva
FC Viktoria Plzeň
Arsenal FC
FC Salzburg
Athletic Club
SS Lazio
FC Zenit
PFC CSKA Moskva
Club Atlético de Madrid
Sporting Clube de Portugal
RB Leipzig

--------------------------------

⦁ Unseeded

FC Astana
FK Partizan
PFC Ludogorets 1945
AEK Athens FC
Olympique Lyonnais
FC København
FCSB
FK Crvena Zvezda
Olympique Marseille
Östersunds FK
OGC Nice
Real Sociedad de Fútbol
Celtic FC
FC Spartak Moskva
SSC Napoli
Borussia Dortmund

[bjkman1903]

Teams per country -

Italy : 4
Russia : 4
Spain : 4
France : 3
Germany : 2
Portugal : 2
Serbia : 2
Austria : 1
Bulgaria : 1
Czech Republic : 1
Denmark : 1
England : 1
Greece : 1
Kazhakistan : 1
Romania : 1
Scotland : 1
Sweden : 1
Ukraine : 1

[bugylibicska]

Napoli, Lyon and Dortmund to be avoided from the unseeded and wish for Braga or Plzen from the seeded. I`ve made a mock draw: Zenit - AEK, Lokomotiv - Ostersund, Milan - Spartak, CSKA - Napoli, Dynamo Kyiv - Crvena Zvezda. Could be better and could be worse. The rivals Portugal got: Braga - Celtic, Sporting - Real Sociedad.

[Lorric]

Arsenal will be clear favourites against most of the unseeds and the teams to avoid are obvious.

So outside of avoiding these obvious teams, a really good draw for Arsenal would be to have some of these big sharks paired off.

As for Celtic, their options are severely limited. If they get Plzen they'll have a real chance, not sure who the favourite would be. Anyone else, they're varying degrees of underdog.

[bugylibicska]

The odds to win the EL:

Atletico Madrid 5.00
Arsenal 7.00
Dortmund, Napoli 9.00
Milan 11.00
Leipzig 13.00
Lazio 17.00
Lyon, Villarreal 21.00
Atalanta, Athletic Bilbao, Real Sociedad, Zenit 26.00
CSKA, Marseille, Spartak, Sporting 34.00
Celtic, Dynamo Kyiv, Nice 51.00
Braga, Salzburg 67.00
AEK, Lokomotiv, Ludogorets, Steaua 81.00
Kobenhavn, Ostersund, Plzen 101.00
Astana, Partizan, Crvena Zvezda 126.00

Interesting. 4 parachuted teams from the CL already considered hot favourites: Atletico, Dortmund, Napoli and Leipzig. How many times Zenit must beat Real Sociedad to have shorter odds than them?

[THEPOSH]

Don't underestimate Pilzen. They are on a really good run this season.
I would rather pick teams like Salzburg, Atalanta or Bilbao from he seeds.
All in all, I don't fancy Copenhagen's chances to progress from this.

[Vickzq]

Don't underestimate Pilzen. They are on a really good run this season.
I would rather pick teams like Salzburg, Atalanta or Bilbao from he seeds.
All in all, I don't fancy Copenhagen's chances to progress from this.

Well, it seems the times of italian teams taking EL "lightly" are over... and Salzburg - despite having the traditional champions league failure genome still active - certainly showed more in EL than Plzen did - with no disrespect. But it's also due where it's due (and Salzburg deserves it more) - and some teams even clearly show different "faces" in league or european cup.

Salzburg had a 3-3-0 record in a group with a french (Marseille), a portuguese (Guimarães) and a turkish (Konyaspor) team... they placed themselves top, and nobody came close at any time.
Plzen had a 4-0-2 in a group with a swiss (Lugano), a romanian (Steaua) and an israeli (Be'er Sheva) team... they lost once to Lugano and Steaua, and then needed Lugano to beat Steaua to overtake just them.

[bugylibicska]

Don't underestimate Pilzen. They are on a really good run this season.
I would rather pick teams like Salzburg, Atalanta or Bilbao from he seeds.
All in all, I don't fancy Copenhagen's chances to progress from this.

I don`t think I underestimate Plzen, quite the contrary, I rate the Czechs highly. I understand when coaches say there`re no easy teams here, publicly, but privately they surely have their own preferences. Salzburg I don`t rate higher than Plzen, but more dangerous and not very attractive team in my eyes. Atalanta might not be a big name, but had an excellent campaign and hungry for more. Bilbao - no thanks - I consider them a very strong, experienced team and I`d always prefer to avoid the Spanish teams. I know, be careful what you wish for, you might get it - and regret it, but those two would be my preferred choices.

[fillow]

"We've never met before" simulation:

RB Leipzig v Napoli
Atalanta v Borussia Dortmund
Lokomotiv Moscow v Lyon
Milan v Ludogorets
Viktoria Plzen v Celtic
Braga v Copenhagen
Sporting CP v Marseille
Lazio v Steaua
CSKA Moscow v Astana
RB Salzburg v Real Sociedad
Athletic Bilbao v Spartak Moscow
Villarreal v Crvena Zvezda
Dynamo Kyiv v Nice
Zenit v Partizan
Arsenal v Ostersunds
Atletico Madrid v AEK Athens

[Club-Mate]

bugy where did you get these funny odds? from oversea? maybe they are ok for the top teams but for below ones they just want to give an incentive to bet. I rather try oddschecker because they do seem me more realistic.

[EarlofBug]

I can't wait for the draw!
In the past, it was done on Friday, wasn't it? Why did they change it?

[FrancoisD]

Potential rematch of CL QRs:
Steaua Bucuresti - Viktoria Plzen (QR3)
Sporting CP Lisbon - Steaua Bucuresti (QR4)
AEK Athens - CSKA Moscow (QR3)

Rematch possible in R16 but not in R32:
Celtic - FK Astana (QR4)
Napoli - OGC Nice (QR4)

[Forza AZ]

Potential rematch of CL QRs:
Steaua Bucuresti - Viktoria Plzen (QR3)
Sporting CP Lisbon - Steaua Bucuresti (QR4)
AEK Athens - CSKA Moscow (QR3)

Rematch possible in R16 but not in R32:
Celtic - FK Astana (QR4)
Napoli - OGC Nice (QR4)

FCSB and Viktoria Plzen were in the same group, so can not meet in R32 again, but can meet each other for the 3rd time this season from R16 on.

[Malko]

how can it be that leipzig is seeded and Dortmund not? The last years, Dortmund had better results than Lwepzig and they both ended 3rd of their CL group this year.

[FrancoisD]

FCSB and Viktoria Plzen were in the same group, so can not meet in R32 again, but can meet each other for the 3rd time this season from R16 on.

Oh yes, I forgot to check the groups, I only checked the seeding table, sorry.
Correct table :
Potential rematch of CL QRs:
Sporting CP Lisbon - Steaua Bucuresti (QR4)
AEK Athens - CSKA Moscow (QR3)

Rematch possible in R16 but not in R32:
Celtic - FK Astana (QR4) (both unseeded)
Napoli - OGC Nice (QR4) (both unseeded)
Steaua Bucuresti - Viktoria Plzen (QR3) (same EL group)