European Leagues Thread 2012/2013

[Winston Biscuit]

Ronaldo didnt play tonight. Sky Italia saying that he told Pirlo he didnt want to play as he was too tired. Juventus saying he wasn't selected 'for technical reasons'

[Sanguine]

Quirky stat highlighted by the Guardian - the Eredivisie golden boot winner, Giorgos Giakoumakis, was relegated. Giakoumakis won the award by some distance too - he scored 26 league goals (of VVV-Venlo's total of 43), seven clear of Feyenoord's Steven Berghuis.

Last time this happened in England was 1973-74, when Mick Channon was the league's top scorer, with 21 for relegated Southampton.

[Franchise FC]

Quirky stat highlighted by the Guardian - the Eredivisie golden boot winner, Giorgos Giakoumakis, was relegated. Giakoumakis won the award by some distance too - he scored 26 league goals (of VVV-Venlo's total of 43), seven clear of Feyenoord's Steven Berghuis.

Last time this happened in England was 1973-74, when Mick Channon was the league's top scorer, with 21 for relegated Southampton.

Obviously not in the top division, but Kerry Dixon was top scorer in the division the season Reading were relegated 82/83.

[Winston Biscuit]

First leg of the Bundesliga play off.

Cologne 0-1 Holstein Kiel

[Winston Biscuit]

2nd leg of the Serie B play off final tomorrow. Venezia 1-0 ahead against Cattadella from the first leg

Venezia finished 5th and beat 4th place Lecce and 8th placed Chievo

Cittadella finished 6th and beat 3rd placed Monza and 7th placed Brescia

We talked about Cittadella a couple of years back when they could have gone up. Its a city inside a medieval wall.

[Sanguine]

Well, obviously then I want Cittadella to go up, even if they have cheated and built their stadium outside of the walls.

[Winston Biscuit]

Cattadella went 1-0 up in the 2nd leg making it 1-1 on agg. Venezia then had a player sent off in the first half, Venezia then had another player sent off on 70 minutes, 2nd half was apparently just wave after wave of Cittadella attacks, Venezia then scored in injury time to make it 2-1 and they were promoted

(they would have been promoted if it stayed 1-1 though as they finished higher in the league)

[Stranded]

First leg of the Bundesliga play off.

Cologne 0-1 Holstein Kiel

Second leg

Holstein Kiel 1 Cologne 5

Ingolstadt beat Osnabruck to get promoted to 2. Bundesliga.

[NathStPaul]

First leg of the Bundesliga play off.

Cologne 0-1 Holstein Kiel

Second leg

Holstein Kiel 1 Cologne 5

Ingolstadt beat Osnabruck to get promoted to 2. Bundesliga.

Ingostadt have a great name.

[Simmops]

Absolutely bizarre story from Stuttgart, where their striker Silas Wamangituka (What a name) is actually not called that, and is not 21 either

He is called Silas Katompa Mvumpa and is actually 22

https://bulinews.com/news/8738/stuttgar ... mpa-mvumpa

[Starfish]

First leg of the Bundesliga play off.

Cologne 0-1 Holstein Kiel

Second leg

Holstein Kiel 1 Cologne 5

Ingolstadt beat Osnabruck to get promoted to 2. Bundesliga.

I really do not agree with the play-off system here in Germany. It worked out for Ingolstadt this year but last year, they failed (extremely narrowly) in the play-off against Nuremberg

The 1. Bundesliga - 2. Bundesliga play-offs generally go in the way of the team from the upper tier - they've been playing higher quality opposition all season and the pressure really seems to get to the (generally) 'smaller' clubs from the 2nd tier. Cologne certainly didn't deserve to stay in the top flight this year (despite a rousing finale) and Kiel have never ever played in the 1. Bundesliga - it would have been nice to see a traditional club (German Champions in 1912, they've been playing on the same site since 1911) going up. I was only once in Kiel for a match and was treated, as an away fan, pretty badly but still ...

Second place in the 2. Bundesliga was taken by the club I go to see most regularly - Fürth. I don't have a season ticket anymore though. Have you a German team Stranded? Eintracht Frankfurt is it? If you are interested (and if I can get tickets), maybe we could organise a meet up when SGE play in Franconia ...

[Stranded]

First leg of the Bundesliga play off.

Cologne 0-1 Holstein Kiel

Second leg

Holstein Kiel 1 Cologne 5

Ingolstadt beat Osnabruck to get promoted to 2. Bundesliga.

I really do not agree with the play-off system here in Germany. It worked out for Ingolstadt this year but last year, they failed (extremely narrowly) in the play-off against Nuremberg

The 1. Bundesliga - 2. Bundesliga play-offs generally go in the way of the team from the upper tier - they've been playing higher quality opposition all season and the pressure really seems to get to the (generally) 'smaller' clubs from the 2nd tier. Cologne certainly didn't deserve to stay in the top flight this year (despite a rousing finale) and Kiel have never ever played in the 1. Bundesliga - it would have been nice to see a traditional club (German Champions in 1912, they've been playing on the same site since 1911) going up. I was only once in Kiel for a match and was treated, as an away fan, pretty badly but still ...

Second place in the 2. Bundesliga was taken by the club I go to see most regularly - Fürth. I don't have a season ticket anymore though. Have you a German team Stranded? Eintracht Frankfurt is it? If you are interested (and if I can get tickets), maybe we could organise a meet up when SGE play in Franconia ...

Yeah, tend to agree. Only 3 sides in 13 years have been promoted that way since the play-offs were reintroduced in 2008 - not helped by away goals still being a thing. It's one thing to lose a play-off but to lose because you drew 1-1 at home after a 0-0 away is tough.

Kiel just ran out of steam this year mainly due to a Covid outbreak meaning they were playing every 3 or 4 days towards the back end of the season - they should have taken 2nd place but also fair play to Fürth coming back twice to win against Düsseldorf on the final day despite being down to 10 men for an hour.

Yeah, SGE are my team - lived over the road from FSV when we first moved here and went to a couple of games but love going to the Waldstadion, it's a great experience. A trip down for the Fürth game sounds great, not been there yet, so may make it easier to persuade the Mrs that we need to visit the place and that I can pop out for the game and a few beers.

[Starfish]

Yeah, SGE are my team - lived over the road from FSV when we first moved here and went to a couple of games but love going to the Waldstadion, it's a great experience. A trip down for the Fürth game sounds great, not been there yet, so may make it easier to persuade the Mrs that we need to visit the place and that I can pop out for the game and a few beers.

Very happy you called it the Waldstadion - I have only been there once but the atmosphere was great. It helped that it was a cup game against Leipzig, but even the people near where I was sitting - far away from the Ultras - were showing their passion and hating RB. And Schwarz-Weiß wie Schnee and the whole story around it is great, I think.

Fürth is right next door to Nuremberg, which is certainly worth a visit - and not just for the NS history - the centre of the town has it's picturesque moments. And Fürth is underrated. After games, there is generally a very good atmosphere along the Gustavstraße and the centre of town is also nice. And it shares the U-Bahn with its neighbour so it's very accessible. There is no hatred for SGE in Fürth - in Nürnberg, it's another story.

[Simmops]

Great article about why Marcus Maddison decided to stop playing

https://www.sportbible.com/football/new ... goL35fejOk

[Orion1871]

Big news coming out of the Spanish Capital, Sergio Ramos leaves Real Madrid.

[Sanguine]

Big news coming out of the Spanish Capital, Sergio Ramos leaves Real Madrid.

Inter Miami, maybe.

[NathStPaul]

He is better than that surely? He comes over as quite an arrogant man on the pitch and I don't think he would have liked being let go by Madrid. Can see him going to one of Europes better sides to try and prove he still has it.

[Simmops]

Big news coming out of the Spanish Capital, Sergio Ramos leaves Real Madrid.

Inter Miami, maybe.

Spurs should try do anything they can to get him, but I can see him Man United. Could be like Thiago Silva at Chelsea.

[Winston Biscuit]

been said for a while that RM told all players that because of the economic effects of Covid they would only be offering contracts out to existing players that were 10% less than they were currently receiving, and that older players would have to look at 1 year deals. Apparently all players said they understood this and accepted it. Some signed their new deals, including Modric, yet Ramos demanded a 2 year deal on increased wages of around €400k a week (having said not long ago he loves RM so much he would play for free), when he is 35 years old and featured in less than half their games last year

always get the impression he does as much off the field as he does on it. Reckon you would have 1 or 2 PL clubs interested in bringing in him.

[Franchise FC]

Cattadella went 1-0 up in the 2nd leg making it 1-1 on agg. Venezia then had a player sent off in the first half, Venezia then had another player sent off on 70 minutes, 2nd half was apparently just wave after wave of Cittadella attacks, Venezia then scored in injury time to make it 2-1 and they were promoted

(they would have been promoted if it stayed 1-1 though as they finished higher in the league)

I do like the idea that a draw counts for the team higher up the league