Thursday, December 11, 2014

Bulgaria Update

So the group stages of the UEFA Champions' League are finished, and our friends from Bulgaria have been eliminated.  Here's how Ludogorets Razgrad did in six games against three huge clubs (home teams listed first, although it should be noted that Ludogorets had to play its home games at the Bulgarian National Stadium in Sofia:

09/16/14:  Liverpool 2 - 1 Ludogorets Razgrad
(Liverpool won on a penalty kick in extra time)

10/01/14:  Ludogorets Razgrad 1 - 2 Real Madrid
(Real Madrid may literally be the best club in the world, so this was a very good effort.  The game was tied at 1 before Real Madrid scored the game-winner in the 77th minute)

10/22/14:  Ludogorets Razgrad 1 - 0 Basel
(The first ever win for a Bulgarian club in the group stages of the Champions League.  Ludogorets scored the game-winner in extra time.)

11/04/14:  Basel 4 - 0 Ludogorets Razgrad
(Ouch)

11/26/14:  Ludogorets Razgrad 2 - 2 Liverpool
(Ludogorets scored in the 88th minute to seriously damage Liverpool's chances to advance.  An excellent result)

12/09/14:  Real Madrid 4 - 0 Ludogorets Razgrad
(Real Madrid may literally be the best club in the world.)

So the final standings of Group B look like this (the top 2 teams advance to the knockout stage):

1.  Real Madrid:  6-0-0 (18 points)
2.  Basel:  2-3-1 (7)
3.  Liverpool:  1-3-2 (5)
4.  Ludogorets Razgrad:  1-4-1 (4)

A brave performance by Ludogorets Razgrad, which sets a new standard for future Bulgarian clubs. Good for them!

Here are your 16 clubs that reached the knockout round.  For each group, the group winner is listed first:

Group A:  Atletico Madrid (ESP), Juventus (ITA)
Group B:  Real Madrid (ESP), Basel (SUI)
Group C:  Monaco (FRA), Bayer Leverkusen (GER)
Group D:  Borussia Dortmund (GER), Arsenal (ENG)
Group E:  Bayern Munich (GER), Manchester City (ENG)
Group F:  Barcelona (ESP), Paris Saint-German (FRA)
Group G:  Chelsea (ENG), Schalke 04 (GER)
Group H:  Porto (POR), Shaktar Donetsk (UKR)

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