Association Football 2020/21

[NewYorkExpress]

https://www.espn.com/soccer/schalke-04/story/4327848/bundesliga-strugglers-schalke-set-dubious-mark-with-5th-coach-of-season

I probably should feel sorry for Schalke. They're on their fifth coach this season, they've only won one game, have no top-tier talent other than Saed Kolsanic (who's on loan from Arsenal anyways) and Shkrodan Mustafi, and almost certainly will be relegated (and might go bankrupt thanks to the COVID pandemic).

[Lechasseur]

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?

[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.

[Lechasseur]

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?

[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.

[NewYorkExpress]

The Manchester Derby on Sunday might be the biggest mismatch between top-two sides in English Premier League history.

[Santander]

I bet all the value in the Premier League matches today and tomorrow: €200 singles on Fulham, Man Utd, Palace, and Everton to win, ranging from 6.7 to 8.1. The first 2 singles came in for a healthy profit, which is great and all, but what I did not do was bet the 4-way acca, which had like 2300x+ odds, even after considering putting a cheeky €40 on it. (I do have some € on some X2 doubles and triples of the same matches) So now that the first two legs came in (Man Utd exactly as I predicted, with an early penalty then hanging on against Man City's inefficient offense, although I was expecting Maguire/Bailly with McFred screening), I'm sitting here hoping Spurs, who I hate, at least draw against Palace (costing me €1400, but I would rather lose €1400 than suffer what would be the saddest gambling day of my life, missing out on €100k), so I don't have to cheer against Everton tomorrow.

[Lechasseur]

I just looked up the SPL tables, and I see Rangers are officially champions and are leading by 20 points. I can't remember the last time a team dominated the SPL so much as Rangers this season.

Sure, Celtic won the league 9 times in a row, but I don't think they ever did by 20 points (I could be wrong though, it's not the league I follow the most).

[Santander]

Sure, Celtic won the league 9 times in a row, but I don't think they ever did by 20 points (I could be wrong though, it's not the league I follow the most).

They did multiple times. It was a one-team league. They won by 30 points under Brendan Rodgers. Slightly ironic that his former player Stevie G is the one to break Celtic's run.

[Lechasseur]

Sure, Celtic won the league 9 times in a row, but I don't think they ever did by 20 points (I could be wrong though, it's not the league I follow the most).

They did multiple times. It was a one-team league. They won by 30 points under Brendan Rodgers. Slightly ironic that his former player Stevie G is the one to break Celtic's run.

Yeah makes sense.

Tbf, last season was the first season since about 2013 I paid any attention to Scottish football. It just wasn't worth following without Rangers.

[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.

[NewYorkExpress]

So how big an upset is Porto knocking Juventus out of the Champions League?

[Santander]

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!

[Santander]

So how big an upset is Porto knocking Juventus out of the Champions League?

Not huge. Porto is probably no worse than Lazio, who are 7th in Serie A. This isn't APOEL knocking out Lyon.

[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.

[Santander]

Thank you Simon "formerly worst defender in Serie A" Kjaer!

[Santander]

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.

[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.

[Santander]

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.

[JGibson]

So happy Arsenal came back from 1-nil down to win 2-1 over the lilywhite scum of North London. #FOYS #COYG

[NewYorkExpress]

Major upset today, as PSG lost 2-1 to Nantes at the Parc des Princes.

[Lechasseur]

Major upset today, as PSG lost 2-1 to Nantes at the Parc des Princes.

Ugh

[Santander]

So happy Arsenal came back from 1-nil down to win 2-1 over the lilywhite scum of North London. #FOYS #COYG

Strange game. Arsenal deserved to win, but were far from convincing and a bit fortunate to get the penalty. Somehow, Spurs were more in the game with 10 men than they were with 11.

[Lechasseur]

So happy Arsenal came back from 1-nil down to win 2-1 over the lilywhite scum of North London. #FOYS #COYG

Good result, happy to see that

[Alcibiades]

So happy Arsenal came back from 1-nil down to win 2-1 over the lilywhite scum of North London. #FOYS #COYG

Strange game. Arsenal deserved to win, but were far from convincing and a bit fortunate to get the penalty. Somehow, Spurs were more in the game with 10 men than they were with 11.

Yes, I think we were lucky that Spurs only played with 10 men for the last bit of the game! As for the pen, it was fortunate in that Lacazette had already squandered the chance when he was brought down, but I think that he was nonetheless pretty clearly fouled.