• APOEL vs Lyon – second leg preview

    APOEL vs Lyon – second leg preview

    UEFA Champions League knockout stage action returns this midweek as surprise package APOEL Nicosia host Olympique Lyonnais at the GSP Stadium on Wednesday night.  The French side take a slender lead to the away leg after the first leg tie at the Stade Gerland ended 1-0. APOEL NICOSIA After a historic group stage qualification to the knockout stages, APOEL Nicosia [...]

  • StatsZone: Round of 16, matchday one

    StatsZone: Round of 16, matchday one

    Barcelona responded very well to criticism of their La Liga form with a fluid passing display vs Leverkusen. Sanchez with two goals and a fantastic performance from World Player of the Year, Lionel Messi. Leverkusen 1-3 Barcelona   APOEL struggled to make an impact in their match vs Lyon. The French side with a narrow 1-0 win despite obvious dominance. [...]

  • Lyon vs APOEL – preview

    Lyon vs APOEL – preview

    The fairy-tale continues, with Cyprus giants APOEL Nicosia well and truly amongst Europe’s best. A never-say-die attitude allowed them a smooth passage into the knock-out stages despite averaging a paltry 39% of possession over the six matches. APOEL became first and only Cypriot club to reach the Champions League knockout stages. It seems rather difficult to predict that Lyon, a side [...]

  • Champions League Round of 16 Draw

    Champions League Round of 16 Draw

    Lyon-APOEL Napoli-Chelsea Milan-Arsenal Basel-Munich Leverkusen-Barcelona CSKA-Madrid Zenit-Benfica Marseille-Inter

  • Champions League Round of 16

    Champions League Round of 16

    Here are the clubs that will be in the round of 16 draw on Friday December 16th.   First Placed sides: Bayern, Inter, Benfica, Real Madrid, Chelsea, Arsenal, APOEL and Barcelona.   Second Placed sides: Napoli, CSKA Moscow, Basel, Lyon, Bayer Leverkusen, Marseille, Zenit and AC Milan. a) Clubs from the same country cannot be drawn against each other. b) The [...]

  • Matchweek six: Wednesday’s Chalkboard previews

    Matchweek six: Wednesday’s Chalkboard previews

    Part two of Nick Govier’s StatsZone analysis of Wednesday’s final Champions League Group Stage matches. Group A Manchester City v Bayern Villarreal v Napoli   Napoli are a point ahead of Manchester City and have a superior head-to-head record, meaning that Manchester City need to beat group winners Bayern and hope that Villarreal register their first Champions League point of [...]

  • Groups A-D: what you need to know

    Groups A-D: what you need to know

    One matchweek left, with plenty left to play for. We analyze what clubs have to do to progress to the knockout stages and the fight for Europa League football.   Group A Arguably the group of death pitted Bayern Munich, Manchester City, Napoli and Villarreal together. Bayern, unsurprisingly, secured their knockout-stage berth while Napoli and Man City are fighting for [...]