| U'sual Champions League 2021 - Round of 16 20:05 - Feb 10 with 2572 views | wessex_exile |
So here we are, in the week approaching the start of the next 'snouts in the trough' Champion's League. The 12 qualifiers (qualification ranking in brackets), including holder thrillseeker, have been passed through the random group selector meat grinder, and have emerged as follows:
Group A
thrillseeker (1)
unitedwhites (6)
wessex_exile (11)
Group B
sevebalo (4)
mfb_cufc (5)
Sector4 (10)
Group C
ghughes11 (3)
burnsieespana (9)
Daniel (12)
Group D
concordman (2)
durham_exile (7)
TheFatGooner (8)
Fixtures
The fixtures to predict are as follows:
16/02/2021: Barcelona v Paris Saint Germain
16/02/2021: RB Leipzig v Liverpool
17/02/2021: FC Porto v Juventus
17/02/2021: Sevilla v Borussia Dortmund
23/02/2021: Atlético Madrid v Chelsea
23/02/2021: Lazio v Bayern Munich
24/02/2021: Atalanta v Real Madrid
24/02/2021: Borussia Mönchengladbach v Manchester City
09/03/2021: Borussia Dortmund v Sevilla
09/03/2021: Juventus v FC Porto
10/03/2021: Liverpool v RB Leipzig
10/03/2021: Paris Saint Germain v Barcelona
16/03/2021: Manchester City v Borussia Mönchengladbach
16/03/2021: Real Madrid v Atalanta
17/03/2021: Chelsea v Atlético Madrid
17/03/2021: Bayern Munich v Lazio
Rules
Basic stuff
As always, there will be no first-to-post tie-break deciders, only most spot-ons. However, remember you are only allowed one exact match prediction with each one of your group members for this entire round (1st and 2nd legs together), so first to post may be a factor in this regard.
If I spot too many exact matches I will do my best to give advance warning, but please don't rely on me to do this - you must watch this one yourselves too.
3pts for a spot-on result, 1pt for the correct outcome (home win, draw or away win). All predictions are the result at the end of normal time, extra-time and/or penalties will not count.
Round of 16
Top two from each Group will go through. If a tie-break is needed in any Group, and given the usual attendance prediction is likely to be futile, the tie-break prediction will be the total number of goals scored in League 2 on March 20th (the Saturday after the final Champion's League matches).
Only those involved in the tie-break will need to make a prediction, so this can be done any time before the first League 2 match kicks off on the Saturday (Stevenage v Carlisle is currently scheduled to be a 1pm kick-off). The closest to the right amount will win the tie-break in their Group, so obviously you can't predict the same amount as another Group member. First to post will count here if necessary.
Quarter-finals
The Group qualifiers will then form two mini-leagues of 4, and play off against each other predicting all of the Quarter-final matches. Mini-leagues will be comprised as follows: Winner A, Runner-Up B, Winner C, Runner-up D and Runner-up A, Winner B, Runner-up C, Winner D.
Semi-finals
The top two from each mini-league will then be drawn from a hat to play off in head-to-head matches, all predicting the semi-final matches.
Final
The finalists will play-off predicting the Champions League Final, this will include predicting different aspects of the game, not just the score - and will be submitted as concealed bids (via PM to me). Should I be fortunate enough to still be involved in the competition at the semi-final or final stages, a neutral third party will be found to do the draws and/or receive the finalist's predictions.
…and finally
It remains to be seen if FIFA will keep the two-legged approach for the post Round of 16 phase, depending I guess on how Europe is faring in the pandemic. Like last season I may have to tweak the rules for these rounds to provide more scoring opportunities, and indeed any further tie-break questions after the Round of 16 - I'll keep you posted on those.
Good luck everyone!
[Post edited 10 Feb 2021 21:47]
|  |
| |  |
| U'sual Champions League 2021 - Round of 16 on 21:29 - Mar 15 with 373 views | wessex_exile |
| U'sual Champions League 2021 - Round of 16 on 19:52 - Mar 15 by Daniel |
Manchester City v Borussia Mönchengladbach: 3-0
Real Madrid v Atalanta: 1-0
Chelsea v Atlético Madrid: 2-0
Bayern Munich v Lazio: 3-1 |
 | |
| |
| U'sual Champions League 2021 - Round of 16 on 20:56 - Mar 18 with 289 views | wessex_exile |
Apologies for the delay, but should anyone be wondering, no tie-break predictions are required for the total number of goals scored in League 2 on Saturday - of course, if anyone wants to give it a go anyway for a bit of fun, go for it.
Week 4 matches have finished as follows:
Manchester City 2 Borussia Mönchengladbach 0
Real Madrid 3 Atalanta 1
Chelsea 2 Atlético Madrid 0
Bayern Munich 2 Lazio 1
This was a very high-scoring week for the U'sual Champions League, with plenty of points picked up across all four groups.
Group A
I manage to hold on to top spot, with four home win outcomes out of four in Week 4 to finish on 14pts. Mind you, I needed them, with unitedwhites closing fast with not only three of the four as home win outcomes as well, but bolstered by the Chelsea 2-0 victory spot-on, to finish second on 13pts. Commiserations to thrillseeker, who did well with three of the four outcomes, but fell short on 10pts.
Group B
In the performance of the week, in fact the performance of the entire group stage, mfb_cufc smashes it out of the park with spot-ons for both Man City's and Bayern Munich's victories, and outcomes for the other two, to add 8pts this week, and finish top on a massive 17pts. Sector4 comfortably holds on to second place with the Real Madrid 3-1 victory spot-on and two other outcomes, to finish on 13pts. There was too much to do for sevebalo, but respect for an equally impressive 5pts in Week 4 (also getting Man City's 2-0 victory spot-on) to finish on 7pts.
Group C
Another remarkable set of results, with all three scoring six points, three outcomes and all with a different spot-on prediction. ghughes11 stays top on 15pts, getting Man City's victory spot-on, Daniel finishes a very close second on 14pts, he correctly predicting Chelsea's 2-0 victory. Nothing much burnsieespania could do about that, but he gave it a decent effort, with Real Madrid's 3-1 victory his star pick, to finish on 11pts.
Group D
As with Group A, durham_exile finishes with a solid four outcomes, to hold on to top spot with 14pts. Closing fast, concordman notches 5pts including the Man City 2-0 result spot-on, to finish on 13pts. Just two points behind, TheFatGooner also picks up five points, this time (along with mfb_cufc) one of only two to correctly predict Bayern Munich's 2-1 result, but it's not enough and he finishes on 11pts.
So the two groups for next round are:
Group 1
wessex_exile (winner Group A)
Sector4 (runner-up Group B)
ghughes11 (winner Group C)
concordman (runner-up Group D)
Group 2
unitedwhites (runner-up Group A)
mfb_cufc (winner Group B)
Daniel (runner-up Group C)
durham_exile (winner Group D)
I will start a new thread in due course with the matches to predict, once the fixtures and dates are officially announced.
Congratulations to all who have qualified, and commiserations to those who leave the competition at this stage - by my reckoning (and I'll have to check) this has been one of the highest scoring Rounds of 16 since the U'sual Champions League began. | |
| |
| |
By continuing to use the site, you agree to our use of cookies and to abide by our Terms and Conditions.
