European Leagues Thread 2012/2013

[Tony Le Mesmer]

Galatasaray 1-0 Fenerbahce

Depending on Roma's result, Inter could win the league next week if they win the Milan derby. A win for Inter could also see Milan slip closer to not even finishing in a UEFA Cup qualifying spot

A win for Inter in the Derby (or Defeat for Roma at Sampdoria) will give them the title as the Head-to-Head rule applies in Serie A.

[wolsey]

Nantes promoted back to the French First Division.

Wonder if they will be interested in any ex players struggling to make an impression in the Premier League?

[soggy biscuit]

Barcelona confirm that Ronaldinho has played his last game for the club.

Also many rumours that Philipp Lahm is about to sign for them.

[Starfish]

Another draw for 1.FCN last night away to Dortmund. Two to the good last weekend against Bielefeld at half-time and it ended up all square. Hmmm. Not looking great but a crunch game at home to Duisburg next week.

German Bundesliga

Team P W D L F A Pts
Bayern Munich 30 19 9 2 59 18 66
Werder Bremen 30 16 6 8 65 44 54
Schalke 04 30 15 9 6 48 31 54
Bayer Lever. 30 14 6 10 52 33 48
Hamburg 30 12 12 6 37 22 48
VfB Stuttgart 30 15 3 12 49 47 48
Wolfsburg 30 12 8 10 47 42 44
Ein. Frankfurt 30 11 10 9 36 40 43
Hannover 96 30 11 9 10 45 49 42
Karlsruhe 30 11 9 10 35 39 42
VfL Bochum 30 9 11 10 44 46 38
Bor. Dortmund 31 9 9 13 43 54 36
Hertha Berlin 30 9 8 13 32 38 35
Cottbus 30 8 8 14 32 49 32
Arm. Bielefeld 30 7 8 15 29 54 29
1. FC Nurnberg 31 6 10 15 33 48 28
Hansa Rostock 30 7 6 17 26 43 27
MSV Duisburg 30 7 5 18 29 44 26

[Arch]

Romania update:

Dramatic moves this weekend. CFR beat Bistrita 1-0 in a dull game that I watched on sopcast for my sins. Desperately needing to win to stay in the title chase, the TRansylvanians played like they were going for the draw. Their goal was a cheeky free-kick; with everyone still wandering around arguing after the referee had whistled for a foul, one of the players standing over the ball calmly toe-poked it in front of goal where it was coolly finished.

Ironic if that's what wins Cluj their first ever championship, since Steaua were outplayed in a characteristically ill-tempered Bucharest derby with Dinamo and lost 2-1.

1. CFR 33 73 (GD +29)
2. Steaua 33 72 (GD +27)

In the final game on Wednesday, CFR play long-relegated city rivals U Cluj while Steaua entertain Buzau, a game they're likely to win.

[soggy biscuit]

Congratulations Real Madrid




Congratulations Bayern Munich

[Arch]

Now that's a beer!

[RoyalChicagoFC]

Things getting awfully interesting in France, now with two games to go...

TOP
Lyon, in pursuit of their seventh straight league championship and atop the table by 4 points headed into last weekend's play, were held to a nil draw on Saturday away to Nice. On Sunday, chasing Bordeaux --already qualified for the group stage of the Champions League, scored twice during the final ten minutes at the Vélodrome to close to within 2 points of the leaders.

In the bargain, hosts Marseille lost their grip on third place and the Champions League third round qualifying spot to Nancy, who in turn had hammered relegation-threatened Strasbourg 3-0 in Saturday's Alsace-Lorraine derby.

St-Étienne and Lille, both still with a claim on the third and fourth spots headed into their Sunday showdown, played to a nil draw, with each inching a point closer to Marseille in fourth but with time to close the gap fast running out.

Lyon...........73/+34 Nancy (H), Auxerre (A)
Bordeaux......71/+24 Sochaux (H), Lens (A)
Nancy..........60/+15 Lyon (A), Rennes (H)
Marseille......58/+12 Le Mans (A), Strasbourgh (H)
St-Étienne....54/+9 PSG (A), Monaco (H)
Lille............53/+12 Lens (H), Lorient (A)

BOTTOM
Monaco and Sochaux missed opportunities to go fully clear of the drop on Saturday, playing out nil draws away to Lens and home to relegated Metz, respectively. Auxerre brought themselves level with those two, winning 2-0 at home to Valenciennes.

Toulouse scored late to earn a 1-1 home draw with PSG and remain on level points with the capital titans, who continue to sit 18th on goal difference. Lens remain on level points with both after their aforementioned home draw with Monaco.

Strasbourg --now well and truly poised for the drop-- lost ground to all three with their loss away to Nancy and must win twice and then hope that catastrophe befalls at least two of the three sides immediately above them if they are to remain in Ligue 1 next season.

Sochaux......44/-6 Bordeaux (A), PSG (H)
Monaco.......44/-7 Auxerre (H), St-Étienne (A)
Auxerre.......44/-14 Monaco (A), Lyon (H)
Toulouse.....39/-6 Rennes (A), Valenciennes (H)
Lens..........39/-8 Lille (A), Bordeaux (H)
PSG...........39/-9 St-Étienne (H), Sochaux (A)
Strasbourg...35/-22 Caen (H), Marseille (A)
Metz...........DOWN

PSG won the Coupe de la Ligue (and subsequently got banned from next year's competition as punishment for a group of their fans unfurling a banner slagging off northerners during the final against Lens), so they at least will play in next season's UEFA Cup.

They also remain alive for the Coupe de France, with a semifinal away to Amiens to be played in midweek. Lyon are also in the hunt and in fact are bidding for their first league and cup double, and they host Sedan in the other semifinal.

As mentioned earlier in this thread, Le Havre and Nantes have been promoted from Ligue 2. With two games left to go, third place is largely down to Grenoble (59/+14) and Troyes (57/+8), with the former having a match in hand.

[Rev Algenon Stickleback H]

Now that's a beer!

Seems to be a tradition in Germany - I saw it in Cologne a few years ago, that rather than celebrate by carrying a trophy round, they carry an absurdly large glass of beer round instead. Even though it was in Cologne, I guess carry round a "stange" full of Kölsch would have looked pretty sad.


Saddest trophy presentation I've seen was when Sampdoria won Seria A in the early 90s. There is no actual trophy, so they ran round the pitch with what looked like a home-made shield with the italian flag on it. About halfway round the shield fell apart.

[Arch]

Romania update:

In the final game on Wednesday, CFR play long-relegated city rivals U Cluj while Steaua entertain Buzau, a game they're likely to win.

U Cluj 0-1 CFR
Steaua 5-0 Buzau

1. CFR 34 76 (GD +30)
2. Steaua 34 75 (GD +32)

CFR Cluj are Romanian champions for the first time ever.

[RoyalChicagoFC]

I hadn't a clue.

A'ight Starferz --about as much of a lifeline as your boys could've asked for has been handed to/earned by 'em...

1.Bundesliga round 32 played in midweek, with four games on Tuesday. At the relegation end of things, Borussia Dortmund hauled themselves irrevocably clear of danger with a 3-2 home win over Stuttgart (and more on them below).

Cottbus couldn't hold a lead and drew 1-1 away to home 'n' dry Karlsruhe, and bottom side Hansa Rostock were hammered 3-0 away to Hannover.

On Wednesday, Nurnberg beat Duisburg 2-0 to move past their visitors into 16th and four points clear of Rostock. They're also within a point of Arminia Bielefeld, who lost 2-0 away to champions Bayern, and two points back of Cottbus. Here's the bottom of the table and remaining fixtures:

Cottbus.....33/-19 Hamburg (H), Hannover (A)
Bielefeld....32/-25 Dortmund (H), Stuttgart (A)
----------------------
Nurnberg....31/-13 Hertha (A), Schalke (H)
Duisburg....29/-16 Bayern (H), Frankfurt (A)
Rostock.....27/-22 Leverkusen (H), Bochum (A)

At the top, Bayern are of course champions and defeated Bielefeld on Wednesday. Schalke beat down Bochum 3-0 away on Tuesday and sat provisional second until Werder Bremen won 1-0 away to Hamburg on Wednesday in a match that they finished with nine men.

The top two in Germany get the automatic Champions League berths, and third go to the third qualifying round. Fourth and fifth are bound for the UEFA Cup, and Stuttgart --who sit fifth-- were dealt a blow when they lost away to Dortmund on Tuesday. They remain in fifth on level points with Hamburg, who as mentioned lost to Werder on Wednesday, and now both Stuttgart and Hamburg cannot qualify for next season's Champions League.

Bayer Leverkusen, sitting sixth, played host to Hertha Berlin on Wednesday and would have drawn level on points with Hamburg and Stuttgart with a win (and into fourth on goal-difference), but they lost 2-1 while playing with ten men for the last half hour. Wolfsburg, 3-2 winners away to Eintracht Frankfurt on Wednesday, are now on level points with Leverkusen (albeit with a big goal-difference deficit) and are legitimate bidders for a UEFA Cup spot with two games remaining.

Bayern.......Champions
Werder......60/+24 Hannover (H), Leverkusen (A)
Schalke......58/+20 Frankfurt (H), Nurnberg (A)
Hamburg....51/+16 Cottbus (A), Karlsruhe (H)
Stuttgart....51/+4 Wolfsburg (A), Bielefeld (H)
L'kusen......48/+17 Rostock (A), Werder (H)
Wolfsburg...48/+6 Stuttgart (H), Dortmund (A)

Here's the top of the 2.Bundesliga table with 2 matches to go; 'Gladbach promoted with their win on Wednesday, and Mainz fall out of the top three:

M'gladbach....63/+33
Koln............57/+19
Hoffenheim...56/+15
Mainz..........55/+24
Freiburg.......52+6

Spain'll be worth looking at tomorrow once their midweek action is done...

[Kitsondinho]

Must have been fun in Barca tonight......forming a guard of honour for Real and then letting them thump you 4-1...and you get a man sent off.......and the game is played in Madrid.....Everytime your team touches the ball,you get booed.....even when Henry scored he just put his hand over his ears, to drown out the boos....and hide the shame of the thrashing!

[Starfish]

Yessir (I can boogie), a good set of results tonight. Sitting in a stadium watching a rare win and cheering a Bayern victory was a strange experience. And I am not one hundred per cent sober. There's life in the old dog yet.

We're still going down though.

[soggy biscuit]

Pep Guardiola is named the new manager at Barcelona

[soggy biscuit]

Lyon are also in the hunt and in fact are bidding for their first league and cup double, and they host Sedan in the other semifinal.

which they win....and how!!!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mX0y1kumtss

Time and time and time again Juninho shows he is the best free kick taker in Europe, but who cares, he doesn't play in England, Spain otr Italy so it doesn't count right?

I wonder if they will ever find out who in the crowd had the remote control for this one?

[RoyalChicagoFC]

Oh dear goodness me...Germany, Round 33:

Hansa Rostock are down after losing 2-1 at home to a pair of Leverkusen penalties. Duisburg join them in the second division after falling behind 3-0 within 20 minutes and losing 3-2 at home to champions Bayern. Nurnberg on the brink after conceding away to Hertha Berlin on 74' and losing 1-0.

Arminia Bielefeld led twice but were drawn 2-2 at home to Borussia Dortmund, whose late leveller was recorded as an own goal by the Bielefeld 'keeper and which went in after Robert Kovac had been sent off for Dortmund.

Had it not done so, Nurnberg would be down as Cottbus scooted irrevocably clear of the drop with a 2-0 home win over Hamburg, who are chasing a UEFA Cup berth. Bielefeld's draw combines with Duisburg's loss to send the latter down, and here's the bottom of the table with one game left:

Cottbus.....36/-17 SAFE
Bielefeld....33/-25 Stuttgart (A)
----------------------
Nurnberg....31/-14 Schalke (H)
Duisburg....29/-17 DOWN
Rostock.....27/-23 DOWN

Up top, champions Bayern maintained their ten-point bulge atop the table with their win at Duisburg. The battle for the second automatic Champions League place will go to the last day as Werder Bremen destroyed Hannover 6-1 at home and Schalke, two points back of Werder, held off Eintracht Frankfurt 1-0 at home. Whichever finish in third will go to Champions League qualifying --and, with a healthy goal-difference bulge working for them, a draw should do just fine for Werder next weekend.

Four sides now on level points with 51 apiece will battle it out next weekend for the two available UEFA Cup places that go to the fourth and fifth place finishers. Bayer Leverkusen lead the pack on goal-difference after their win away to Rostock vaulted them two places into fourth, and Hamburg slip from fourth to fifth after losing away to Cottbus.

Wolfsburg opened the scoring on 16' in their crunch match with Stuttgart, who had a man sent off two minutes later and proceeded to suffer a 4-0 hammering that moved their hosts past them into sixth. Stuttgart, sitting fifth before today's kickoff, are now seventh and will have no chance whatsoever in any meaningful finish on level points now that their net goal-difference has been reduced to zero. Here's the picture at the top:

Bayern.......Champions
Werder......63/+29 Leverkusen (A)
Schalke......61/+21 Nurnberg (A)
L'kusen......51/+18 Werder (H)
Hamburg....51/+14 Karlsruhe (H)
Wolfsburg...51/+10 Dortmund (A)
Stuttgart....51/0 Bielefeld (H)

Quite a final day on the cards, mm hmm. It all kicks off at 1430 BST next Saturday. Fingers X'd for Starferz & the boys.

[Starfish]

Yes indeed. We have to beat Schalke and hope Bielefeld don't beat Stuttgart. In Germany, there is a system of 'Freundschaft' between certain clubs. The fans wear scarfs with both sets of colours and they drink together happily before and after the games. And Nürnberg's alliance is with Schalke - it means nothing to the players of course but being relegated by Nürnbergs' fans 'second favourite club' would be very difficult for some people I know to take. Rather Schalke than Bayern but .... still.

Thanks for the kind wishes RC. I will drink a beer in your honour at 15.30 (local time) next week!

[RoyalChicagoFC]

Make it a Köstritzer, Starfeaux --schwarz, of course-- or anything Swabian would do, too. That's my blood up in 'em hills, yo (and in Bavaria, too, but I don't really count that).

Oh, and I wouldn't expect any help out of the Gelsenkirchen boys, what with an automatic berth in the Champions League group stage theirs for the taking if Werder should happen to get pancaked by a Leverkusen side that'll be going for it in order to finish in the top five.

Now one game to go in France, next Saturday @ 1945; round 37 recap:

TOP
Leaders Lyon made an own goal from visitors Nancy hold up for a 1-0 win that leaves them needing just a point to claim their seventh consecutive league title next weekend. Bordeaux, who already were ticketed for the Champions League group stage, will have one last shot at reeling in the leaders for the title --but only with a win and a Lyon loss-- after defeating visiting Sochaux today.

Despite losing away to Lyon, the aforementioned Nancy retained their hold on third place and a berth in Champions League qualifying as Marseille were held to a nil draw away to a Le Mans side that played with ten men for the last 40 minutes.

Marseille themselves remain in fourth place, one point back of Nancy and in the lone UEFA Cup berth available via direct qualification from Ligue 1; with goal-difference issues working against them, Marseille would have to win next weekend in order to have any chance of pipping Nancy --who themselves would have to draw or lose on the day-- to a third place finish and the only route into the Champions League (and Marseille could do it with a draw and Nancy losing by two or more, but of course they won't be planning to do it that way).

Lille emerged 2-1 winners of their home match with relegation-threatened Lens and now sit fifth, three points back of Marseille and positioned, via goal-difference, to pip them fourth if they should win and Marseille should lose on the last day. St-Étienne, held 1-all away to PSG, fell from fifth to sixth and out of contention for the UEFA Cup spot.

Lyon...........76/+35 Auxerre (A)
Bordeaux......74/+27 Lens (A)
Nancy..........60/+14 Rennes (H)
Marseille......59/+12 Strasbourg (H)
Lille............56/+13 Lorient (A)
St-Étienne....55/+9 MID-TABLE

BOTTOM
Strasbourg, needing a win to have any hope at all of staying up, were drilled 4-1 at home to Caen and are down.

Identical 2-1 away defeats suffered by Lens (to Lille) and Toulouse (to Rennes) leave both on 39 points, with Lens sitting in the uppermost relegation place on goal-difference.

Either result sufficed to make safe both Sochaux and Auxerre despite away losses today by both (the former 2-0 to Bordeaux, and the latter 3-0 to Monaco). Monaco would have been made safe in identical fashion had they instead lost today, but it happens that their thumping win over Auxerre would have done the same job.

PSG are a point clear of Lens and Toulouse after drawing at home with St-Étienne. With Lens facing title-chasing Bordeaux next weekend and sitting eighteenth, it's looking grim for them as PSG and Toulouse play comfortably mid-table opponents.

Monaco.......47/-4 SAFE
Sochaux......44/-8 SAFE
Auxerre.......44/-17 SAFE
PSG...........40/-9 Sochaux (A)
Toulouse.....39/-7 Valenciennes (H)
Lens..........39/-9 Bordeaux (H)
Strasbourg...35/-25 DOWN
Metz...........DOWN

Down in Ligue 2, any combination of two points won by Grenoble or lost by Clermont over the final two matches will see the former join Le Havre and Nantes in the top division next season. Libourne and Gueugnon are down and will be joined by any one of Guingamp (42); Reims (42); Amiens/Chateauroux/Dijon (41); Boulogne (40) or Niort (38). The final two matches will be played on Monday and Friday of next week.

[soggy biscuit]

Inter Milan are doing their best to live up to their bottling reputation by dropping their lead down to just 1 point with 1 weekend left. Inter now need to better Roma's result next weekend to guarantee the title. Italian football fans are gearing themselves up for yet more belly laughts at Inter.

Fiorentina win away at 15th place Torino next week and AC Milan go into the UEFA Cup.

[RoyalChicagoFC]

2.Bundesliga, round 33:
Koln promoted today with their 2-0 home defeat of Mainz, with the latter missing a chance to reclaim a spot in the top three (second, in fact, with a win) as Hoffenheim were held 1-1 away to Kickers Offenbach. Freiburg won 2-3 away to already promoted 'Gladbach, and they remain in the frame at least to the last day.

M'gladbach....63/+32 UP
Koln............60/+21 UP
Hoffenheim...57/+15 Next: also-rans Furth (H)
Mainz..........55/+22 Next: mid-table St Pauli (H)
Freiburg.......55/+7 Next: mid-table Wehen (H)

Final day's action kicks off next Sunday the 18th @ 1:00 PM BST