After that Feyenord-Ajax game that was so good I just put on a live Eredivise game seeing thr leaders PSV were down 2-0 at HT. Now tied and Utrecht just had the most obvious penalty turned down then reviewed and still turned down. VAR is completely useless with how it's used (still maintain it should be introduced for offside only) but the game is delivering again. Leggo Eredivise!

Schalke-Werder
Bayern-Heidenheim (obv)
HSV-Paderborn
Augsburg-Leipzig

Pretty happy that Frankfurt won the cup last year, otherwise all we'd hear would be how EL football is responsible for VfB being as crap as they are.

today would be a good day for coutinho to play really well tbh

That’s asking a lot. He’s missing his Klopp hugs.

nice comeback from sevilla 2 goals and one man down.

granpa midfield for barca again.
ugh. have a bad feeling about this one.

prolly a good idea to play semedo on the left, tho. williams would have a field day there vs bob.

messi seems to be playing therefore 0-5

vidal drunk?

messi missed that huh?

GOAT missing open goals

the struggle is real, as expected.
aleña in for vidal and dembouz in for cou, pls.

suarez is where all barca attacks go to die.

that was plain awful.
ter goat basically the only reason barca even got 1 point.

not even var could save barca there :-/

I don't know if that save against Inaki Williams was **** luck, world class, or god awful finishing but that should've won the game for Athletic.

Coutinho once again was awful. He'll be back to the bench for any important game now that Dembele is back.

definetely a combination of world class reflexes from mats and poor-ish finishing from iñaki.

anyway, whenever you see the turtle brothers starting in midfield, you just know that barca
a) aren't going to create >1 xg
b) are going to allow the opponent to create multiple quality chances from quick counter attacks

doesn't help that messi is half-fit, suarez dead-tired and cou can't do anything right atm.
ah well, a full week of rest could do wonders.

What's the best game in Europe this weekend? What a load of crap schedule wise. Atalanta vs AC Milan, Brugge vs Genk, or Plzen vs Slavia?

Apologize if this is not the correct place.

My wife and I will be going to our first game ever when Barcelona hosts Rayo Vallencano next month. From the look of it we can wait on tickets until we get to Barcelona.

Any suggestions on where to sit in the stadium? I want a fun atmosphere but maybe not absolutely crazy (not sure if there is an in between).

Also I assume just the ticket box office at the stadium to buy the tickets but wasn't sure if I could find discounted tickets somewhere else (or if scalpers are legal/trustworthy)?

Also, any bars/restaurants we should definitely hit up before or after the game?

Appreciate any info and advice and once again sorry if this is not the correct place.

Thank You!

kutuz - SGE/Gladbach should be alright I guess?

datwizz - there was brief discussion on Barca tickets not long ago. Only been once so can't give too many comparisons, just that the top tier is quite high up, as you'd expect in a 100k stadium I guess

I've been to a few Barcelona games but have never had to personally purchase tickets so I can't help with that. It's a 99,000+ seater stadium and it's rarely ever full so you'll be able to get tickets. Besides the one section behind the goal where (I think you'd call them ultras?) sit there really isn't much difference in the stadium in terms of atmosphere. I think you can plan on a half empty stadium so you'll definitely have your choice of seats and don't expect the atmosphere to be great as they aren't playing a very good team. If Messi does something great the atmosphere will pick up (it's cool when the entire stadium chants his name) but my experience has always been the atmosphere usually isn't great.

Enjoy the game.

datwizz,

your assumption about buying tickets for that game is a correct one.
no point in buying them from anywhere else but the club website really.
you can download them to your phone and show them from there at the gates.

re: seats, check this out:
https://3ddigitalvenue.com/clients/sports/fcbarcelona

for atmosphere, the north end is anyone's best bet imo (north end is where it says 'rakuten' on the venue map).

as liverpool alluded, the 'ultras' ie the blokes w/ the drums and big flags and stuff, reside there, right behind the goal in the 1st tier.

north end is also where barca most often attack in the 2nd half of games and subsequently score most of their goals vs tired defences. **

sooo, if crazy is not what you're after but fun is i'd say get tickets from one of the corners near the north end. that's close enough to the noisiest bunch, but also comes w/ a safe enough distance away from them.

sections 137 - 139 in the 1st tier seem good for example. or 235 - 237 in the 2nd tier.
in the 1st tier you want to avoid the highest rows, tho. they're covered, which is good, if it's rainy out there, but you'll feel caged being there under the 2nd tier.

otoh, if you want the best view possible, nothing beats middle sections in the 2nd tier obv.

eta:
** well, at least they used to, nowadays ernie seems content to just have them sit back w/ the lead most of the time.

löl buyern

this will now finish 5-2 buyern obv

ezpz

Paderborn are really playing the **** out of this season. With the casual 6 points vs Effzeh putting 8 past them. Those 3 late goals yesterday were kinda hilarious.
Also they've got a good shot to beat HSV at home to reach the cup semi.