Champions League 2024/25

[WallisFrizz]

2 hours ago, maqroll said:

I think we have the same chance of playing an English team as any other club does. That would be deflating if we drew any of them.

Yes, according to the below, one of our 8 games in the league phase can be against an English team.

https://www.espn.co.uk/football/story/_/id/37628341/champions-league-revamp-how-competition-work

[TheAuthority]

5 hours ago, HalfTimePost said:

Im not normally swayed by his support for us. But seeing this from the future king was a nice moment that got me. UTV
 

 

Glory Hunter

[ccfcman]

Man I wish my Grandad could have seen this. He's only gone a couple years but he converted me with the Coca Cola Cup. If only I'd known what lay ahead for the next two decades. A Corkman who moved to Birmingham for a few years, spoke of Villa Park in the 60s as something approaching t he Maracana.

Will enjoy a trip and tiple in his name at the Bernabau or San Siro

[villa4europe]

5 hours ago, ender4 said:

You can’t play the same team home and away.  

Its one home tie from pot 1 and one away tie from pot 1, but both matches with different opponents.

I know, I meant 1 massive tram at home and 1 massive team away

[viivvaa66]

40 minutes ago, WallisFrizz said:

Yes, according to the below, one of our 8 games in the league phase can be against an English team.

https://www.espn.co.uk/football/story/_/id/37628341/champions-league-revamp-how-competition-work

Here are the UEFA rules: https://documents.uefa.com/r/Regulations-of-the-UEFA-Champions-League-2024/25/Article-16-Draw-system-league-phase-Online

Article 16.02 - says that in principle we shouldn’t be drawn against an other English team.

Article 16.03 - says that UEFA can change the draw rules if they decide it is needed.

My take it is that it is very very unlikely we will be drawn against an other English team. I would expect that if a deadlock occurred, it is more likely that we would see two Italian or German team drawn against each other, since they have 5 teams in the competition.

The way I understand the draw will take place, is that a person will pick a ball with the name of a team, then a computer software will take over and select the opponent’s for that team. I’m sure that the software will be built to avoid deadlocks that could result in two teams from the same league are drawn against each other. However, this is the first time they are doing this complex draw, and 16.03 is just there if things get too messed up.

[CroVillan]

1 hour ago, GlobalVillan said:

The Real Madrid that needed penalties to beat the Man City we battered?

We will have players back plus bright, shiny new ones.

Dortmund (5th in Germany) have made the final. Nothing is certain. We can go far and match anyone on our day.

Yep I totally agree. We play in the strongest league in the world and have the beaten the best team in the world. We can 100% beat anyone even more so with a healthy roster and 3/4 additions. No doubt in my mind we’ll be better for our first experience and continue to grow confidence and belief.

[thunderball]

I fully expect next season to test us, it will be difficult keeping both plates spinning but we have had a season where we have done exactly that. But hopefully our injuries can’t be as bad and we expect the squad to be improved and broadened, and we had the European baptism this season.

I don’t expect anything in our inaugural CL season other than gaining experience, being able to retain players and improve the squad, plus our revenue and value goes up considerably. It’s a building block with a some great fixtures to look forward to. We have one of the best ownership and management set ups to exploit this and are sure it will only get better.

[rjw63]

Now comes the tough job- finishing top four again.

[Keyblade]

Hoping we get some special nights like Spurs did against Inter Milan in their first season in the CL. Scenes like Monday night at VP against European giants, this is what it's all about. I honestly cannot wait.

[Don_Simon]

8 hours ago, Pinebro said:

New format. More games.

This will absolutely kill our squad but still excited

The fourth post of the the thread. Absolutely **** wild. 

Let's try it this way:

New format. Less games than we played this year. Better squad with a summer of incomings. Less injuries, (surely). Experienced, and revelled, in playing two games a week. 

This will absolutely inspire our squad, incredibly excited. 

[Stevo985]

I hope we draw the biggest teams in it. Real
Madrid, Bayern, Barcelona, Juventus, whoever. **** bring it on

[Rugeley Villa]

The hard bit next season for me will be trying to stay in the position we currently find ourselves in . The champions league will be great win lose or draw. If we do well great , if we don’t do as well great too. Getting into the top 4 and staying there is the hard bit and you have to respect teams that do it on a regular basis playing in the toughest leagues in the world .  Next season I’d love us to be in the top 6 , have a good time in the CL but winning a cup would be next on my agenda. 

[Rugeley Villa]

2 minutes ago, Stevo985 said:

I hope we draw the biggest teams in it. Real
Madrid, Bayern, Barcelona, Juventus, whoever. **** bring it on

This totally 

[jacketspuds]

I love how some fans of other clubs are saying that we’ll struggle to finish anywhere near the Top 6 next season because we’ve got Champions League football.

If anything it was tougher this season playing on a Thursday / Sunday schedule.

I also believe that the momentum we gained from the European games actually helped us in the league.

Plus we have a manager that knows exactly what he’s doing.

[CVByrne]

5 hours ago, maqroll said:

 

Great having  Ty and Ginny up there

[alreadyexists]

Quote

“The baseline, ballpark sum for an English club is a minimum £50million,” Dr Dan Plumley, a sports finance expert and lecturer at Sheffield Hallam University, told The Athletic.

“That’s the sum we’ve usually attached to Champions League qualification, but there will be scope for more next season. It’s going to be more lucrative because of changes to the distribution and the English clubs will continue to win because of their position in the market pool.”

From the Athletic 

Link

 

 

[KevinRichardsonsMoustache]

5 hours ago, maqroll said:

 

I’m a grown man watching this and I’m about to cry. Unai knows exactly what this means to us: the history, our size, our previous pain. I cannot believe last night happened. 
 

Thank you. 

[NoelVilla]

Bring it on! Going to be so much fun.

[Genie]

Anyone else look at Matty Cash’s happy little face in the pictures last night think “you’ll be watching on TV”. 

[Leeroy]

If Dortmund can get to the final then no reason why we can’t believe we can go far next season. They are experienced in the competition but wouldn’t necessarily say their squad is much better than ours especially if we have better luck with injuries and sign 2-3 quality players this summer in key positions. 
 

We struggled in the latter stages of the Conference which is my only concern, we will be playing teams much better than Olympiakos even early on in the competition, but we should have learned from our experiences this season. If we keep our squad fit then I think we could at the very least get to the knockout stages.

 

The challenge will be maintaining a strong league position and going far in the champions league, I wouldn’t be surprised if Unai again doesn’t take the domestic competitions too seriously so early exits in the FA Cup and League Cup. We have to get into Europe every season and go far in European competition to bridge the gap to the top teams.