Europa League 2020/21 - Round of 16: Dinamo Zagreb (CRO)

[Jordinho]

Important dates:

Draws

09/08/2020: Preliminary round draw
10/08/2020: First qualifying round draw
31/08/2020: Second qualifying round draw
01/09/2020: Third qualifying round draw
18/09/2020: Play-off draw
02/10/2020: Group stage draw

Qualifying

20/08/2020 Preliminary round
27/08/2020 First qualifying round
17/09/2020 Second qualifying round
24/09/2020 Third qualifying round
01/10/2020 Play-offs

Group stage

22/10/2020 Matchday 1
29/10/2020 Matchday 2
05/11/2020 Matchday 3
26/11/2020 Matchday 4
03/12/2020 Matchday 5
10/12/2020 Matchday 6

• All qualifying ties will be single-leg matches. These matches will take place behind closed doors.
• Video Assistant Referee (VAR) will not be introduced for the group phase, as was planned. It will still be used in the knockout stage, with introduction for the group stage in 2021/22.
  
• The final will take place at Poland's Gdańsk Stadium, which had been due to stage the 2020 decider. Seville, the prospective 2021 host, will now host the 2022 event.

 

[Lemonade Money]

Love Gdańsk, that would be a great trip.

 

[Baleforce]

No VAR?

Booooo

 

[K.D.D.D.D.Soc]

Love the optimism people are showing for a weakened team to progress in this competion I suppose their enthusiasm is based on the display against Colchester in Caraboohoo Cup last year.

 

[Baleforce]

The difference is that the coaching staff and players will actually be trying for this.

 

[SteveAWOL]

https://twitter.com/x/status/1289653566722830336

 

[awesome dawson]

I really hope we sign a back up striker. Its no coincidence that Kane gets overplayed and suffers bad injuries every season. This Europa burden is going to amplify the annual Spurs injury crisis.

 

[90291Spur]

I really hope we sign a back up striker. Its no coincidence that Kane gets overplayed and suffers bad injuries every season. This Europa burden is going to amplify the annual Spurs injury crisis.

What's this 'back up striker' of which you speak? Never heard of one.

 

[awesome dawson]

What's this 'back up striker' of which you speak? Never heard of one.

Looks something like this;

 

[mephitis]

https://twitter.com/x/status/1289653566722830336

The only good thing about that list is we will be playing them in September rather than the depths of winter.

 

[Jordinho]

https://twitter.com/x/status/1290673256253526018

Basically, if the away team is not allowed to travel to the country of the home team due to the pandemic, the home team automatically loses.

 

[nelto]

That'll be us then. sexy.

 

[Modric THFC]

https://twitter.com/x/status/1290673256253526018

Basically, if the away team is not allowed to travel to the country of the home team due to the pandemic, the home team automatically loses.

There's way more to it than that and it seems pretty reasonable. In the scenario above the home team has to propose a neutral venue the away team can travel to.

https://editorial.uefa.com/resource...21_ucl-uel_regs_covid19_en_20200804093248.pdf

 

[Kandi1977]

They should change the name of the competition to The Covid-19 League.

https://twitter.com/x/status/1290654479491227650

 

[jaysea67]

Elite sport participants and their support staff are exempt from quarantine rules in England. They have to follow other rules, such as travelling directly from their accommodation to the event venue, but the scenario described above is not likely to occur.

 

[Kandi1977]

Elite sport participants and their support staff are exempt from quarantine rules in England. They have to follow other rules, such as travelling directly from their accommodation to the event venue, but the scenario described above is not likely to occur.

Well there's your problem. Some of the teams we can face can hardly be categorised as elite

 

[Moby]

They should change the name of the competition to The Covid-19 League.

https://twitter.com/x/status/1290654479491227650

Fear not, simple forum folk. As you may have anticipated, I have a straightforward and practical solution to entirely de-risk this situation.

A club of our stature will have no issue in raising a team of vastly inferior ringers and having them on standby for such an occasion. The doppelgänger 11 should be several levels below us, yet still capable of broadly looking the part (for example; a local amateur team, trialists from Leyton Orient, a nearby supporters club, or the Arsenal FC first eleven).

We should kit out our 11 Ilie ‘Dummy’trescus in a suitable yellow Faux-manian kit and allow them to take the field as normal, only to be easily dispatched by a cricket score. Come on you Spurs!

By ensuring the attending media are none the wiser to our switcheroo, they will report on the game as normal, both live and afterwards in the printed and web based media. (Any allegations of the rouse should be quickly shouted down as “fake news”. And said to have emanated “from Chi-nah”).

By the time the authorities cotton on a few days later, we’ll be safely through the 3 qualifiers and mid-way into the group stages. it’ll be too late and too complicated for them to reverse all the decisions.

If questioned on our complicity, all parties will adopt the Darren “Shaggy” Anderton defence.

“It wasn’t me!”.

 

[Glenda's Legs]

Fear not, simple forum folk. As you may have anticipated, I have a straightforward and practical solution to entirely de-risk this situation.

A club of our stature will have no issue in raising a team of vastly inferior ringers and having them on standby for such an occasion. The doppelgänger 11 should be several levels below us, yet still capable of broadly looking the part (for example; a local amateur team, trialists from Leyton Orient, a nearby supporters club, or the Arsenal FC first eleven).

We should kit out our 11 Ilie ‘Dummy’trescus in a suitable yellow Faux-manian kit and allow them to take the field as normal, only to be easily dispatched by a cricket score. Come on you Spurs!

By ensuring the attending media are none the wiser to our switcheroo, they will report on the game as normal, both live and afterwards in the printed and web based media. (Any allegations of the rouse should be quickly shouted down as “fake news”. And said to have emanated “from Chi-nah”).

By the time the authorities cotton on a few days later, we’ll be safely through the 3 qualifiers and mid-way into the group stages. it’ll be too late and too complicated for them to reverse all the decisions.

If questioned on our complicity, all parties will adopt the Darren “Shaggy” Anderton defence.

“It wasn’t me!”.

Extra lockdown measures taking their toll?

 

[jaysea67]

Draw for the 1st qualifying round:

Maribor (SVN) vs Coleraine (NIR)/La Fiorita (SMR)
Riteriai (LTU) vs Derry City (IRL)
Zrinjski (BIH) vs Differdange (LUX)
Rosenborg (NOR) vs Breidablik (ISL)
Hammarby (SWE) vs Puskás Akadémia (HUN)
Ventspils (LVA) vs Dinamo-Auto Tiraspol (MDA)
AGF Aarhus (DEN) vs Honka Espoo (FIN)
The New Saints (WAL) vs Žilina (SVK)
Neftçi (AZE) vs Shkupi (MKD)
Nõmme Kalju (EST) vs Mura (SVN)
Apollon Limassol (CYP) vs Saburtalo (GEO)
Partizan (SRB) vs RFS (LVA)
FCSB (ROU) vs Shirak (ARM)
Olimpija Ljubljana (SVN) vs Víkingur Reykjavík (ISL)
Žalgiris Vilnius (LTU) vs Paide Linnameeskond (EST)
Valletta (MLT) vs Bala Town (WAL)
Aberdeen (SCO) vs NSÍ Runavík (FRO)/Barry Town United (WAL)
Malmö (SWE) vs Cracovia Kraków (POL)
Shakhtyor Soligorsk (BLR) vs Sfintul Gheorghe Suruceni (MDA)
Shamrock Rovers (IRL) vs Ilves Tampere (FIN)
Vaduz (LIE) vs Hibernians (MLT)
Keşla (AZE) vs Laçi (ALB)
Bodø/Glimt (NOR) vs Kauno Žalgiris (LTU)
Maccabi Haifa (ISR) vs Željezničar (BIH)
Lech Poznań (POL) vs Valmiera (LVA)
Progrès Niederkorn (LUX) vs Engordany (AND)/Zeta (MNE)
St Joseph's (GIB)/B36 Tórshavn (FRO) vs Levadia Tallinn (EST)
Budapest Honvéd (HUN) vs Inter Turku (FIN)
Lincoln Red Imps (GIB)/Prishtina (KOS) vs Union Titus Petange (LUX)
Motherwell (SCO) vs Glentoran (NIR)/HB Tórshavn (FRO)
Kukës (ALB) vs Slavia Sofia (BUL)
Dinamo Minsk (BLR) vs Piast Gliwice (POL)
Hafnarfjördur (ISL) vs Dunajská Streda (SVK)
Servette (SUI)vs Ružomberok (SVK)
Hapoel Beer-Sheva (ISR) vs Dinamo Batumi (GEO)
Fehérvár (HUN) vs Bohemian (IRL)
Alashkert (ARM) vs Renova (MKD)
Ordabasy Shymkent (KAZ) vs Botoşani (ROU)
CSKA-Sofia (BUL) vs Sirens (MLT)
Petrocub-Hincesti (MDA) vs Bačka Topola (SRB)
Teuta (ALB) vs Beitar Jerusalem (ISR)
Sumgayit City (AZE) vs Shkëndija (MKD)
Borac Banja Luka (BIH) vs Sutjeska (MNE)
Kairat Almaty (KAZ) vs Noah (ARM)
Santa Coloma (AND)/Iskra Danilovgrad (MNE) vs Lokomotiv Plovdiv (BUL)
Lokomotive Tbilisi (GEO) vs Universitatea Craiova (ROU)
Tre Penne (SMR)/Gjilani (KOS) vs APOEL (CYP)

Ties take place on 27 August, single-leg matches with extra time and penalties if necessary.
The draw for the 2nd qualifying round is on 31 August and for the 3rd qualifying round on 1 September.

 

[90291Spur]

Draw for the 1st qualifying round:

Maribor (SVN) vs Coleraine (NIR)/La Fiorita (SMR)
Riteriai (LTU) vs Derry City (IRL)
Zrinjski (BIH) vs Differdange (LUX)
Rosenborg (NOR) vs Breidablik (ISL)
Hammarby (SWE) vs Puskás Akadémia (HUN)
Ventspils (LVA) vs Dinamo-Auto Tiraspol (MDA)
AGF Aarhus (DEN) vs Honka Espoo (FIN)
The New Saints (WAL) vs Žilina (SVK)
Neftçi (AZE) vs Shkupi (MKD)
Nõmme Kalju (EST) vs Mura (SVN)
Apollon Limassol (CYP) vs Saburtalo (GEO)
Partizan (SRB) vs RFS (LVA)
FCSB (ROU) vs Shirak (ARM)
Olimpija Ljubljana (SVN) vs Víkingur Reykjavík (ISL)
Žalgiris Vilnius (LTU) vs Paide Linnameeskond (EST)
Valletta (MLT) vs Bala Town (WAL)
Aberdeen (SCO) vs NSÍ Runavík (FRO)/Barry Town United (WAL)
Malmö (SWE) vs Cracovia Kraków (POL)
Shakhtyor Soligorsk (BLR) vs Sfintul Gheorghe Suruceni (MDA)
Shamrock Rovers (IRL) vs Ilves Tampere (FIN)
Vaduz (LIE) vs Hibernians (MLT)
Keşla (AZE) vs Laçi (ALB)
Bodø/Glimt (NOR) vs Kauno Žalgiris (LTU)
Maccabi Haifa (ISR) vs Željezničar (BIH)
Lech Poznań (POL) vs Valmiera (LVA)
Progrès Niederkorn (LUX) vs Engordany (AND)/Zeta (MNE)
St Joseph's (GIB)/B36 Tórshavn (FRO) vs Levadia Tallinn (EST)
Budapest Honvéd (HUN) vs Inter Turku (FIN)
Lincoln Red Imps (GIB)/Prishtina (KOS) vs Union Titus Petange (LUX)
Motherwell (SCO) vs Glentoran (NIR)/HB Tórshavn (FRO)
Kukës (ALB) vs Slavia Sofia (BUL)
Dinamo Minsk (BLR) vs Piast Gliwice (POL)
Hafnarfjördur (ISL) vs Dunajská Streda (SVK)
Servette (SUI)vs Ružomberok (SVK)
Hapoel Beer-Sheva (ISR) vs Dinamo Batumi (GEO)
Fehérvár (HUN) vs Bohemian (IRL)
Alashkert (ARM) vs Renova (MKD)
Ordabasy Shymkent (KAZ) vs Botoşani (ROU)
CSKA-Sofia (BUL) vs Sirens (MLT)
Petrocub-Hincesti (MDA) vs Bačka Topola (SRB)
Teuta (ALB) vs Beitar Jerusalem (ISR)
Sumgayit City (AZE) vs Shkëndija (MKD)
Borac Banja Luka (BIH) vs Sutjeska (MNE)
Kairat Almaty (KAZ) vs Noah (ARM)
Santa Coloma (AND)/Iskra Danilovgrad (MNE) vs Lokomotiv Plovdiv (BUL)
Lokomotive Tbilisi (GEO) vs Universitatea Craiova (ROU)
Tre Penne (SMR)/Gjilani (KOS) vs APOEL (CYP)

Ties take place on 27 August, single-leg matches with extra time and penalties if necessary.
The draw for the 2nd qualifying round is on 31 August and for the 3rd qualifying round on 1 September.

There’s some cracking looking match ups in this draw. Can’t wait!