2007/08 UEFA CL - General Discussion

Its too early for this topic I know as we only became champions less than a week ago but there is something I want to ask.

Milan will not play CL qualifying rounds next season and will enter the competition directly - as "Title Holders". I think next season Milan will not represent Italy, this is a big blow for Italy's clubs in Europe. Will Milan's progress next season in Champs League count for Italy? That is my question.

I am also certain of another thing. We may get Inter/Roma in the group stages, there is no rule preventing us from meeting them because we are title holders. But I think we can't meet Inter because they are seed 1 along with us, so we may meet Roma or Lazio.


Another question about next season - how many homegrown players will we need to have in our squad? who will they be?

Milan will represent Italy next year and we canNOT be draw into a group with another Italian team ... last year was an exception because Pool set a precedent when a team wins the CL without qualifying thru the domestic competition, that's why they could and were drawn with another English team in the groups, they still represented England though it's just that an exception was made.

Since then, however, the rules have been changed and Milan this year will be just like any other team in the draws - no exceptions, which means that we cannot play with another Italian team in the groups.

As for the homegrown players, I think there is a good chance that the rules from this season will be changed, so I guess we'll have to wait and see what the new ones will say ...

Zlatanov's right

Btw, Milan will be in pot 1 obviously. Milan is still the leader and top rated European team in UEFA Team ranking in last 5 years.

standings :

Originally Posted by UEFA Team Ranking

1. Milan 133.8 pts
2. Barcelona 119.4
3. Liverpool 112.6
4. Inter 107.8
5. Arsenal 104.6
6. Real Madrid 104.4
7. Chelsea 99.6
8. Manchester 99.6
9. Valencia 99.4
10. Lyon 95.7
etc etc etc

In pot 1 , Milan will be joined by ( if there are no suprises when Liverpool and Arsenal play their CL qualifiers) Inter, Real, Barcelona,Liverpool,Arsenal, Chelsea and Manchester utd.
Milan can not be in the same group with these 7 teams

In pot 2 , Lyon, Porto and PSV are for sure while if Valencia, Sevilla, Roma, Benfica and Ajax pass CLQ then these 8 teams will be placed in this pot.
Milan can play against every team from 2nd pot except Roma

In pot 3 there will be (i repeat, if there are absolutely no suprises in qualifying matches) Werder Bremen, Celtic, Schalke, Stuttgart, Sporting, CSKA Moscow, Lazio and Marselle. Milan can play against all of them except Lazio

The outsiders will be in pot 4. Still, some solid teams may find themselves here (Rangers, Rennes, Shakhtar, Olympiacos, Dinamo Kiyv, Sparta Prague, Steaua, AEK etc)

Only Juve and Bayern are missing for another great show

Looking at those pots, even the weakest possible draw looks very tough. It certainly will be another great competition, even though like you said Juve and Bayern would make it unbelieavably interesting.
It is a little weird though seeing all the German sides in the 3rd pot. They definatly will make a few groups very very tough.

Originally Posted by UEFA Team Ranking
1. Milan 133.8 pts
2. Barcelona 119.4
3. Liverpool 112.6
4. Inter 107.8
5. Arsenal 104.6
6. Real Madrid 104.4
7. Chelsea 99.6
8. Manchester 99.6
9. Valencia 99.4
10. Lyon 95.7
etc etc etc

are you sure about that Tony? if you have the source send the link to me because I think that the right order is
1 Sevilla
2 Bracelona
3 Kuolo Kuolo !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
4 Milan
this is according to Iffhs

If Ronaldo don´t get many injuries, Ancelotti don´t ruin so much the team and Milan hire Shevchenko, CL 2007/2008 will have to change the name to "Milan's Show League"

are you sure about that Tony? if you have the source send the link to me because I think that the right order is
1 Sevilla
2 Bracelona
3 Kuolo Kuolo !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
4 Milan
this is according to Iffhs

UEFA has their own system based on team performance in European competition, obviously Colo Colo aren't eligible Im not sure whatcriteria the IFFHS uses but it seems wrong to me. The ranking up to April 30th has Newcastle in 9th and Barcelona arent even the best side in their own city Alkmaar above Arsenal, Blackburn above Bayern Munich, Al Ahly are miles ahead of Real Madrid too

Originally Posted by Stezagud

UEFA has their own system based on team performance in European competition, obviously Colo Colo aren't eligible Im not sure whatcriteria the IFFHS uses but it seems wrong to me. The ranking up to April 30th has Newcastle in 9th and Barcelona arent even the best side in their own city Alkmaar above Arsenal, Blackburn above Bayern Munich, Al Ahly are miles ahead of Real Madrid too

I guess it would be in everyone's interest if the people at the IFFHS responsible for these rankings just stop wasting server space and think about a career change.

can any one pass me the link to the UEFA ranking?

http://www.xs4all.nl/~kassiesa/bert/...trank2007.html

it's not from uefa.com but should do

Thanks Zaltanov

Originally Posted by nefremo

It is a little weird though seeing all the German sides in the 3rd pot.

It's very hard all German teams to find themselves in 3rd pot, but if no suprise happens in qualifiers then Milan, Inter, Real, Barcelona,Liverpool,Arsenal, Chelsea ,Manchester utd, Lyon, Porto, PSV, Valencia, Sevilla, Roma, Benfica and Ajax will be in first 2 pots, because all of them have more points than the Germans.
But if only 1 of these 16 teams won't make it to CL groups stages, then Werder Bremen will be in 2nd pot. If 4 teams from the above mentioned 16 teams won't make it to CL, then all 3 german teams will be in 2nd pot.

I have a question about the calculations of the points thing.
Why do we get fewer points in 06-07 than Liverpool?
We won the Trophy for freak sake!

Actually, same goes for 04-05 where we get more points than Liverpool....
How in the world do they count the thing?

Originally Posted by Ryo

I have a question about the calculations of the points thing.
Why do we get fewer points in 06-07 than Liverpool?
We won the Trophy for freak sake!

Actually, same goes for 04-05 where we get more points than Liverpool....
How in the world do they count the thing?

I think they have that on the uefa.com site ...
I am not completel sure but believe that these coefficients/points reflect the overall performane of the teams - how many games were played, how many points did the team win in those games - 3pts for a win, 1 for a draw - and probbaly also goals scored and meybe even YC and RC that the team players got, not sure about the last one ...
so, one team can win the competition but if in the previous stages that team had more draws and losses that the other finalist, the winner may end up having fewer pts than the loser in the final

Originally Posted by zlatanov

I think they have that on the uefa.com site ...
I am not completel sure but believe that these coefficients/points reflect the overall performane of the teams - how many games were played, how many points did the team win in those games - 3pts for a win, 1 for a draw - and probbaly also goals scored and meybe even YC and RC that the team players got, not sure about the last one ...
so, one team can win the competition but if in the previous stages that team had more draws and losses that the other finalist, the winner may end up having fewer pts than the loser in the final

Correct, as always, Zlat
Even more, Espanol is the leader of this year, while Sevilla, Liverpool and Chelsea all have more points than Milan.


1.Milan won 2 matches against Red Star in CLQ. Win in CLQ brings only 1 point. (2 wins against Red Star bring 2 points . But these 2 points taken in Q stages don't count for team coefficient but count only when counting Country coefficient, so forget these 2 points )
2.Qualifiying for CLgroups brings 3 more points
3.Milan won 3 matches in CLgroups, drew 1 and lost 2, and in the groups a win brings 2 points while a draw 1 point ( 3 wins and a draw bring 7 points)
4.Passing the groups and passing every other knock-out round brings 1 point ( so Milan got 1 point from passing the group, 1 point for passing Celtic, 1 for Bayern and 1 for Manchester. Winning the final brings no extra points.
These makes it 4 more bonus points)
5. In knock outs every win brings 2 points and every draw brings 1 point. Milan won against Celtic, Bayern, ManU and Liverpool and drew against Celtic and Bayern.
4 wins and 2 draws bring 10 points)
6. Italy as a country brings 3.936 to every Italian team, even to those who don't play in Europe ( Juve for example, didn't play in Europe but has 3.936 points for this season).

So....count all the bolded points from above ( except for the 2 points Milan took in CLQ against Red Star) and you'll get how many points Milan has this season ( 27.936)

Milan made 7 wins (x2 points) 3 draws (x1 point) and 7 bonus points = 24 points ( + the country coefficient points)

Liverpool made exactly the same results.
8 wins, 1 draw and 7 bonus points = 24 points
But English teams have bigger starting coefficient that Italians (5.486) and that's the only treason why Liverpool has more points than Milan.


Did someone understand this ? Because if someone explained this to me the way i explained it to you, i doubt i would understand anything