Association Football 2020/21

[Mike88]

The Sporting-Porto match, yesterday, was a bit of a disappointment for me as Porto draw with Sporting, 2-2, after being ahead 1-2 until the minute 87 when Sporting scored. But, to be honest, the score was a bit fair as although Porto was superior than Sporting, Porto let their guard down as the game started to end. Porto's defense continues to be a problem, as always. Pepe saves the day almost always but that's not enough.

Benfica will play today with Rio Ave and we'll see how that plays out. Rio Ave is quite strong lately and Benfica could have problems (praying for a Rio Ave victory).

[Mike88]

https://twitter.com/SouthamptonFC/status/1324836694420578304?s=19

The joke can also be applied to Sporting fans in Portugal who are leading the score for the first time in 4 years. xD

And Sporting hasn't a win a Championship since 2002.

[Mike88]

What the hell happened in the PSG-Basaksehir?

[Mike88]

What the hell happened in the PSG-Basaksehir?

The game got suspended after a match official was accused of racism.

Assuming this is true, UEFA should ban the official in question for life.

If you actually followed the incident, you would know that it is more a question of insensitivity and unfortunate translation than intentional racism.

The player in question didn't see it that way.

There was no player in question? And Demba Ba, who was probably the player most involved in the protestation, correctly asked the 4th official why he referred to the Istanbul Basaksehir coach as "the black guy". It is a teachable moment for the official(s) involved, and for UEFA and national FAs to step up their game in terms of sensitivity and anti-racism training.

Yeah, and this is already creating a whole thing, here in Portugal, because Jorge Jesus, Benfica's coach, said this:
https://twitter.com/B24PT/status/1336626476700078081

Jorge Jesus: "Racism is now very fashionable. Today anything that can be said ... Against a black person is always a sign of racism, if it is against a white person it is no longer a sign of racism."

[Mike88]

Draw results for the Champions League and Europa League:

https://www.uefa.com/uefachampionsleague/draws/
https://www.uefa.com/uefaeuropaleague/draws/

Highlights for me are Leipzig-Liverpool in the Champions League, and Real Sociedad-Man Utd, Antwerp-Rangers, and Lille-Ajax in the Europa League. All of the Portuguese teams have a chance at an upset, so their ties could be interesting, too.

I think Porto is screwed, to be honest. And once again with a team where Cristiano Ronaldo is playing. Seems like 2009 all over again. Agh! Benfica against Arsenal... well, I don't think so, but, well, I'm an anti-Benfica person

Braga, yes, could have a shot with Roma.

[Mike88]

Benfica was almost disqualified yesterday in the competition many considered, myself included, to be "created" specifically for Benfica, the Taça da Liga. They tied with Guimarães 1-1 in regular time, but won the penalties by 4-1.

[Mike88]

FCPorto just won the Portuguese Super Cup against Benfica 2-0:

https://twitter.com/FCPorto/status/1341881404125302786

[Mike88]

Portugal Primeira Liga update:

Benfica draws with Santa Clara in the Azores (1-1), and falls to 3rd place. Currently, the score for the top 5 is the following:

1º Sporting 32 points
2º FCPorto 28
3º Benfica 28
4º Braga 24
5º Vitória SC 19

On January 15th, Porto and Benfica will face off in the "Portuguese Clássico" in Dragão Stadium, Porto city.

[Mike88]

All of the Portuguese teams have a chance at an upset, so their ties could be interesting, too.

 

However, it's astonishing how a team that loses with Sporting and ties with Braga and Boavista, wins against Juventus...

Nonetheless, amazing result from Porto. Let's hope the same happens in Turin.

[Mike88]

Well, 2021 will probably be a historic year in the Portuguese Championship. After yesterday's draw between Porto and Sporting (0-0), it basically certain that Sporting will be the champion 19 years after their last win.

Current point score: (top 5)

1. Sporting 55
2. Porto 45
3. Braga 43
4. Benfica 39
5. Paços 38

Braga will play latter today with Nacional of Madeira and Benfica, tomorrow, with Rio Ave. If Braga wins, they will surpass Porto for 2nd place.

[Mike88]

Well, 2021 will probably be a historic year in the Portuguese Championship. After yesterday's draw between Porto and Sporting (0-0), it basically certain that Sporting will be the champion 19 years after their last win.

Current point score: (top 5)

1. Sporting 55
2. Porto 45
3. Braga 43
4. Benfica 39
5. Paços 38

Braga will play latter today with Nacional of Madeira and Benfica, tomorrow, with Rio Ave. If Braga wins, they will surpass Porto for 2nd place.

If I'm not wrong, isn't there some informal "alliance" between Porto and Sporting fans where they'd generally prefer the other winning to seeing Benfica winning?

Yes, but that "alliance" only worked when the championship was between Porto and Benfica, which was the case of the last 20 years. Now, I think I can speak for Porto fans, as I am one of them, the so-called "alliance" is over, but things are much complicated for Benfica fans as their hate towards Sporting is as high as it is towards Porto.

[Mike88]

Well, 2021 will probably be a historic year in the Portuguese Championship. After yesterday's draw between Porto and Sporting (0-0), it basically certain that Sporting will be the champion 19 years after their last win.

Current point score: (top 5)

1. Sporting 55
2. Porto 45
3. Braga 43
4. Benfica 39
5. Paços 38

Braga will play latter today with Nacional of Madeira and Benfica, tomorrow, with Rio Ave. If Braga wins, they will surpass Porto for 2nd place.

If I'm not wrong, isn't there some informal "alliance" between Porto and Sporting fans where they'd generally prefer the other winning to seeing Benfica winning?

Yes, but that "alliance" only worked when the championship was between Porto and Benfica, which was the case of the last 20 years. Now, I think I can speak for Porto fans, as I am one of them, the so-called "alliance" is over, but things are much complicated for Benfica fans as their hate towards Sporting is as high as it is towards Porto.

Well if the championship was hypothetically between Sporting and Benfica, I'd assume you'd still prefer Sporting to Benfica no?

Yeah, sure, but it would still be a very hard pill to swallow. But, overall, anything but Benfica.

[Mike88]

Porto passes to the quarter finals after tying with Juve, overall. Amazing game, especially in the extra time with that goal of Sérgio Oliveira.

[Mike88]

Porto passes to the quarter finals after tying with Juve, overall. Amazing game, especially in the extra time with that goal of Sérgio Oliveira.

Told you it could happen!

I  was actually very pessimistic about Porto's chances because their recent performance in the Portuguese league has been a trainwreck. But, yeah, amazing game and I hope this also motivates the team for the Portuguese league. It's difficult to surpass Sporting, but it's still possible.

[Mike88]

Pretty lame day. Espanyol scored in the 95th minute to equalize against Mirandés, and apparently Tondela is so bad they can't even beat 10-man Sporting.

Poor Tondela. For a while it seemed that Sporting was about to slip, but alas, they won again. The game was slow and boring with a lot of ball possession but very few opportunities, in both sides.

[Mike88]

lol, I bet on Vitória de Guimarães to win, and they play with 10 men for 75 minutes. They actually did okay considering they were a man down.

Didn't watch the Vitória game. Still, losing 2-4 to Gil Vicente isn't that flattering, TBH. Porto was able to win, thank God, 2-0 against Paços de Ferreira, even though the game was very boring and 1st Porto goal was scored by Pepe.  

Also, horrible what is happening to Di Maria. His house was robbed and his family was held hostage while he was playing.

[Mike88]

Porto has a real chance to make the Champions League final.

Hmm, maybe, we'll see, it will be difficult as Chelsea is very strong right now, but not impossible. I'm more cautious and actually happy we reached this far. The money is also very important as Porto is in a complicated financial situation.

Also, in the Portuguese League, Porto just won 2-1 against Portimonense, without any of Porto's players actually scoring a goal. The two Porto goals were own goals by Portimonense's players. Sérgio Conceição and Portimonense's coach were also expelled from the game as a fight almost began between them.

[Mike88]

Sporting slipped, yesterday, when they draw (1-1) with Moreirense. The point difference between Sporting and Porto is now down to 8 points. The Portuguese League Title is now open for grabs, but, Sporting still has the edge as Porto still has to face Benfica.

[Mike88]

Well, Porto had a good run, IMO. Porto won, tonight against Chelsea 0-1, but it wasn't enough to reduce the 2-0 Chelsea victory on the 1st leg. If Sérgio Conceição had put Taremi since the beginning, maybe things would have been different, but we'll never now.

Also, Bayern won against PSG but, because of the away goal rule, PSG moves ahead. Tomorrow we'll now who will face Chelsea and PSG in the semi-finals.

[Mike88]

This "NBAzitation" of European football seems to hit the wall of the EU rules that forbides closed competitions. Don't know how could this go ahead. This will go to courts, plus the fact that players will be forbidden to play in national teams could doom even more this thing.

[Mike88]

This "NBAzitation" of European football seems to hit the wall of the EU rules that forbides closed competitions. Don't know how could this go ahead. This will go to courts, plus the fact that players will be forbidden to play in national teams could doom even more this thing.

Technically, it is not closed competitions that are forbidden (there are high-profile European competitions, such as Pro14, which don't have promotion and relegation or annual qualification), but competitions that are anti-competitive.

The competition law on this will be really interesting, and pretty hard to predict. On the one hand, you have the anti-competitive nature of the league. On the other hand, UEFA preventing a competitor competition from being launched is arguably a breach of competition laws. In addition, FIFA/UEFA’s threat to ban Super League players from the World Cup and Euros is unlikely to hold up - there was a similar case where the ice-skating authorities were prevented by the courts from barring skaters who had signed up for a non-sanctioned competition from the Olympics.

The competition aspect seems up in the air, but I still think there are too many factors working against the Super League for it to go ahead in its current form.

Yes, I heard that in the debates about the issue here, about that ice-skating ruling that was given in December last year and that would be the ace card for the 12 Superleague clubs. However, like parochial boy said, the backlash has been overwhelming and from what I know, there's no reaction from none of the 12 clubs. Don't know if Mourinho's firing has something to do with also.

[Mike88]

Florentino Peréz on the reasons to create the Superleague:

Younger people are no longer interested in football, and why? Because there are a lot of poor quality games and they are not interested, they have other platforms to distract themselves."

This is probably the lamest excuse ever.

[Mike88]

Edit 3: All clubs will meet tonight to discuss disbanding the Super League. It’s over.

Like the saying goes: "What is born crooked, late or never straightens."

[Mike88]

Chelsea fans reacting to the club's departure from the Superleague:

https://twitter.com/MiguelDelaney/status/1384564828459749383

[Mike88]

Mundo Desportivo is now saying that UEFA offered a big sum of money to the "big 6" premier league clubs in order to make them quit the Superleague. They also added that no money was offered to the Spanish teams as they see Spain as the enemy.