Welcome to the 26th edition of the UEFA Champions League (63nd including the old competitions).

Let's first quickly recap the 2017-18 competition:

Winner: Real Madrid



For 25 years, no club had managed to defend the Champions League title. This time, it was Real Madrid's turn to try and break the curse, starting off in Group B with Dortmund, Legia Warsaw and Sporting. Surprisingly, they only finished second in their group due to dropping two points in a 3-3 in Warsaw, where Dortmund strolled to a 6-0 victory. In the return leg, Dortmund and Legia combined 12 goals for an 8-4 and the highest scoring match in CL history:



So Real had to face a group winner in the Round of 16, but dodged most heavyweights and got drawn with Napoli. Two 3-1 victories meant they were only three opponents away from defending the UCL. Next up was Bayern, and Real won the away leg 2-1, but in the return leg at home Ramos scored - for Bayern, and after 90 minutes it was 2-1 to them, but in extra time Ronaldo turned up and completed his hattrick, the game finishing 4-2 a.e.t.

The semi-final opponent was Atletico, and Ronaldo pretty much crushed them in the first leg, scoring another hattrick in the 3-0. Atletico won the return leg 2-1, but it was not enough to keep Real out of the final where Juventus only managed to keep the match even for the first 45 minutes, and Ronaldo scored his 11th and 12th goal of the campaign, overtaking Messi for the top goalscorer award in the 4-1 victory.

Honourable mentions:

Leicester City:

Their fairytale season of 2015-16 concluded in qualifying for their first ever CL season. As English champion, they were also seeded in Pot 1, avoiding many big clubs for the group draw: Porto, Copenhagen and Brugge were the group opponents, and Leicester picked up right where they left off: They won their first three games, qualified to the Round of 16 after four and locked up the group win after five. The final game was lost 0-5 in Porto, but who cares anyway?

In the round of 16 they met Sevilla, and many thought that this might be the end of the road for Leicester, butnaaah, a crucial away goal in the 1st leg (1-2) and a solid 2-0 win at home meant they were in the quarter-finals in their first ever season. After the 0-1 loss against Atletico in the first leg, Ranieri was inexplicably sacked, after Leicester had fought relegation in the league once again. The return leg ended in 1-1 draw, and the dream was over.

AS Monaco:

Monaco had one of the most competitive groups with Leverkusen, Spurs and CSKA. In the end, 11 points were enough to win the group ahead of unbeaten Leverkusen (2-4-0 tho). In the Round of 16 they met Manchester City, and the first leg at the Etihad was "lit af", as the kids would say. City ended up winning 5-3, but the three away goals proved to be vital as Monaco won their home leg 3-1, with Kylian Mbappé scoring in both matches.

The quarter-final tie against Dortmund was overshadowed by the BVB bus bombing, where Marc Bartra was injured, and the game was postponed - to the next day, drawing criticism from many. Dortmund, still shook from the day before, narrowly lost their home leg 2-3, and Monaco won their home leg 3-1 again. Mbappé continued to rack up goals, scoring two in Dortmund and another one at home, increasing his potential price tag with every touch he made.

Their leaky defense came back to haunt them in the semi-final, where they met Juventus. Poor finishing led to the 0-2 loss in the home leg, and only managed to keep it close in a 1-2 loss in the return leg, with Mbappé scoring their only goal.

Let's quit the recap before we go completely off the rails.

Things to look out for in 2017-18

Last season in this format: UEFA decided to reform the UCL starting next season. The top 4 leagues will receive four group stage places each, with the EL winner getting an extra spot as well. This means that smaller leagues will have even more trouble of getting clubs in the prime European club competition. Many are pissed, and it's not clear how the other places will be distributed, or how the qualifying process will be reformed.

Debutants:
Surprisingly many (I actually haven't got the stats to back that up) clubs will participate in the Champions League for the first time - lets take a look at them:

- RB (RasenBallsport!) Leipzig (GS)/1899 Hoffenheim (PO): Two plastic clubs, finishing 2nd and 4th in Germany. Hoffenheim were so successful that they already sold two players to Bayern.

- Viitorul Constanța (Q3): Romanian club founded in 2009 and owned by Gheorghe Hagi. Got promoted to 2nd division in 2010, to the 1st division in 2012 and now won the league by winning the h2h-tiebreaker against Steaua. Seems to be known for their decent youth program (Gheorghe Hagi Football Academy)
- Nice (Q3): Have previously been in the European Cup, last participation in 1960 though.
- İstanbul Başakşehir (Q3): Were the surprise of the 2016-17 season, being the closest competitor to Besiktas in the title race. Missed the EL group stage in the last two seasons. Founded in 1990, 1st tier since '08.

- Spartaks Jūrmala (Q2): Latvian club - founded and later promoted to 2nd league in 2007, to 1st league in 2011, now first championship.
- FC Samtredia (Q2): First championship in Georgia. Pretty old club, founded in 1936.
- IFK Mariehamn (Q2): Founded in 1919, top division since 2005, won the Finnish league for the first time.
- FK Kukësi (Q2): Celebrated their first championship in Albania in 2016-17. Seems to have pretty insane ultras.

- FCI Tallinn (Q1): FC Infonet was founded in 2001, and got promoted to the top division Meistriiliga in 2013, winning it last year. According to Wikipedia, their ground has a whopping capacity of 400.
- Víkingur Gøta (Q1): Founded in 2008 by a merger of two smaller clubs. Won the Faroese league for the first time.
- FC Europa (Q1): After participating in the Europa League the last three seasons, they won the Gibraltar league in 2016-17.
- KF Trepça'89 (Q1): First club from new UEFA member Kosovo to participate in the Champions League.


Notable absentee Arsenal: For the first time since 1998, Arsenal have missed out on the CL qualification. They will have to fight their way through the Europa League to achieve international success, or just tank it and try to focus on the Top 4 trophy at home.

First qualifying round


Second qualifying round


Third qualifying round


Play-off round


Group Stage


Finally, the LÖL-Salzburg-corner. They still haven't reached the Group Stage. Will they do it this year? Here is their updated history of failure:

2006-07: lost 1-3 to Valencia in Q3
2007-08: lost 2-3 to Shakthar in Q3
2009-10: lost 1-5 to Maccabi Haifa in the play-off round
2010-11: lost 3-4 to Hapoel Tel Aviv in the play-off round
2011-12: lost 4-4 (away goals) to Dudelange (Luxembourg) in Q2.
2013-14: lost 2-4 to Fenerbahce in Q3.
2014-15: lost 2-4 to Malmö in the play-off round.
2015-16: lost 2-3 to Malmö in Q3.
2016-17: lost 2-3 to Dinamo Zagreb in the play-off round.
2017-18: Seeded in Q3, potential match-up with Malmö

It's about time we wrap this up. Nobody reads these long-ass OPs anyway.

- Can Real go three-in-a-row? If so, with or without Ronaldo?
- Who will be the surprising semi-finalist this season?

Oh, and a quote from last year, after RITS made fun of me putting Arsenal in the poll:
DER MARKT:



Go Go Go!

OP

HOW DARE YOU PUT LIVERPOOL GREATEST CLUB IN THE UNIVERSE IN THE OTHERS SECTION

FIVE TIMES MATE FIVE ****ING TIMES YOU ****

SPECIAL EUROPEAN NIGHTS AT ANFIELD GREATEST EUROPEAN STADIUM IN EUROPE MATE

Poll disclaimer: The 10 voting options are the nine most favourited clubs according to bookie average + others. Liverpool came in 11th, tied with Spurs (average odds 32).

In all honesty: **** the 10 option poll limit.

Bayern finally gonna ship this ****ing thing after their magical treble run.

Some ballsport gonna happen on the rasen

Sent from my HTC6535LVW using Tapatalk

Works out better for them; as being placed in 'other' gives them a better chance of claiming victory in the poll. For those that don't know winning internet polls is a major thing for ploppers and a respectable forum like this is a tough nut to crack.

Got a feeling that Bayern are going to win it.

Felt they were the best team last year, just got unlucky in both legs against Real.

subd. feel like bayern have a few changes to get used to this time

We got ref-raped.

No need to sugar-coat it.

This season's is ours, though.

We could be the 3rd Celtic team after Belfast Celtic then Donegal Celtic to play at Windsor park.

They have a special hatred for the Celtic name after chasing Belfast Celtic out of the league (Google Jimmy Jones) and their fans attacked both players and supporters of Donegal Celtic during an Irish cup tie (worst game I ever attended). Can't wait to see what they have in store for us, providing they win v San Marino mob.

Supposed to play first leg on 11th/12th July lol.

True.

You got on CR7's highlight reel again, that's what they got.

What is the reform for next year?

England, Spain, Germany and Italy all get 4 teams in the group stage because they bring in more money.

Needs reformed now if we can't take tickets for a tie in belfast due to something something safety of fans.

ya marty, have been reading about that and something do with marching season and the safety of celtic fans? Give me a quick summery on why you guys cant get tickets

Didn't this happen last year or a couple of years back too? I can't recall if it was a friendly or a qualifier.

Hoffenheim and Leipzig to top it off. I find it difficult to get excited

In an hour or two I will.

Not had coffee yet and I'm already a bit pissed off.

I suppose I will also be poasting in this fine thread

Lol.

Game (if it happens) is never going to be played on 11th or 12th here, should be made to switch ties around and that's it. Wasn't considered as it suits both clubs not to do this - Linfield to cash in on 1st leg and Celtic want the advantage of 2nd leg at home.

No tickets is a joke from Celtic.

I'll probably have a lot more to say if they win their qualifier.

No tickets is a joke however it quite rightly a safety thing, sadly football fans and just people in general will treat it as an excuse to have a riot. Unfortunately we still live in a time where something like this can't happen. I know for Celtic fans it prob sucks but when you look at the bigger picture it's probably not worth the hassle. Celtic fans may well be goaded into bad things happening which could have bigger repercussions further down the line with UEFA. If it is Linfield then go in and get the job done and move on to the next round.