Champions league & Europa leagues 2025-26

[Durhamfootman]

and indeed they do

a trip to Azerbaijan for my boys

[Durhamfootman]

Either way, when Brugge drew Marseille, the ultras of Marseille pledged to smash up Brugge and all of their supporters in revenge, and the lead up to the game involved police uncovering pre-arranged fights, and it then kicked off pre-match and the police had to shut down the whole centre of Brugge due to the trouble.

what are the Athletico fans like?

[Durhamfootman]

I think the most disappointing aspect about the late miss from Barnes on Wed night was that had he scored, Newcastle would have finished 8th at the expense of Man C. It would have meant that in the last 16 Newcastle would have had a 12.5% chance of drawing an English team who know how to beat them and now (assuming they even beat Qarabag, and I haven't ruled out losing to them) they will end up with a 62.5% chance of drawing an English team who exactly how to beat them

I'm pretty convinced that Newcastle's decent European campaign is in large part down to them playing a load of teams who have never played them before and who perhaps weren't used to the pace at which they play and the atmosphere at SJP. PL teams are very, very used to it and know exactly how to expose Newcastle's many frailties this season.

[sussexpob]

It always annoys me when police chiefs and local authorities talk about 'throwing a ring of steel' around footy grounds....they shouldn't have to. It feels like an acceptance that it has to be this way. I'm not sure it happens in any other sport. There can't be many sports where you have to escort travelling fans, ban alcohol in stadiums and throw rings of steel around. It's a *modded* nonsense

As someone who travels regularly to away games, and been in Europe away 6 times in recent years, I think its clear that most of the local police that "throw up the ring of steel" are basically saying that they don't want away fans at games, and its done very much in a way to stop people from turning up. Idiotic mandatory escorts starting 6 hours before games, being kept back in the stadium 1-2 hours after - all ridiculous even for the most high stakes of derbies. Alcohol bans in stadiums just encourages huge binge drinking before - it solves no problems, and again makes it worse. Rather than enjoy 4 with the game, people enjoy 12 before it to compensate.

In my experience, harsh policing encourages anger, which makes problems more likely. The only time I have seen Union fans react badly in 9 years was in Leverkusen, where we were treated like animals. I was lucky not to get arrested that day personally, I completely lost it with a policeman and had to be dragged away by someone else just as he was reaching for his handcuffs- I would say in my defence that I had spent the 15 minutes previous to this with a genuine fear I would be injured in the crush, while these policeman stood watching the carnage frozen to the spot and not doing anything on the other side of a fence. The whole day was like that. It was hard to understand what the police were trying to achieve with their action/attitude. I consider it a miracle no one was badly injured or killed through the police management. I wrote a letter to UEFA and Leverkusen after.... the latter responded by blaming Union fans for arriving late.... we had arrived 3 hours before, been told to backtrack to a random square outside a shopping centre, and then were prevented from leaving by police - who then escorted us to the ground, and who stopped people leaving that line to go to the toilet. I take great delight everytime I seen Leverkusen have lost a game nowadays.... their club can go to hell.

Worth noting that sometimes the "ring of steel" is comforting, if managed well. I don't complain being escorted into Antwerp's ground by a heavy police presence, the atmosphere there is always toxic for French speaking clubs, the greeting you get is glacial the moment you arrive into town... having 100 coppers 2 meters away feels like a blessing.

[sussexpob]

To be fair to Bayern Munich, their organisation for away days was as close to perfect as I have experienced. The police informed us that we would be left to our own devices with no mandatory escorts, but that police presence from Marienplatz to the ground would be provided with a departure at 18h30 on the U=Bahn for those who wanted to follow. The only thing they put as a red line was no pyro, explaining that they had already received a partial stadium ban for the home end from UEFA for having pyro in a previous game, and so now would police it strictly - the only person arrested was an idiot who ignored this rule by trying to light a flare, and he got what he deserved.

I hate the club, but also have to say that Liverpool's away experience was 10/10. Excellent communication from police/stewards, who forced us on a huge detour round the ground for security reasons but explained the process/reasons/were apologetic and good mannered. Very respectful, not heavy handed. Again, it makes a huge difference just having a culture of some humanity. Treating people well engenders respect in return - forcing someone to mark 4 miles after a few pints in the pub, then threatening to arrest them if they need to go to the toilet after an hour does not....

[Durhamfootman]

it still begs the question of why football fans have to be kept apart. It's pathetic that they have to be. Opposing fans from lots of other sports, big sports, intermingle happily, drink at the grounds etc, etc with almost no trouble

on banning alcohol at grounds, I remember when alcohol was banned in football and lots of Celtic (might have been Rangers, might have been both) fans began taking oranges into the ground. So many that the authorities became suspicious and started to confiscate some to check them out. Turns out fans were injecting vodka into the oranges to get around the alcohol ban. How *modded* desperate do you have to be to go to all that trouble in order to avoid having to go without alcohol for a couple of hours?

It's probably just me, but I simply don't get any of this stuff

[Durhamfootman]

I worked with a guy, donkeys years ago, who was into all this 'Mags are hard' sh1te. Used to go to away games just to cause trouble, yet his missus, who also worked there, ruled him with a rod of iron. She was in the Metrocentre with their little boy and was aghast when he started spitting at people wearing red clothing... anyone wearing red. When she pinned her hubby up against a wall and read him his *modded* horoscope, it turned out he'd been teaching his small boy to spit at people wearing Sunderland tops

who does that?

what kind of moron do you have to be?

why are there so many morons?

and why am I using disgusting language like that, which apparently is a heinous example of extreme ableism and warrants flogging?