awooga83
So if teams can qualify via a playoff, it means that qualifying out right is somehow less than if there weren't any possibility of playoffs?
Finishing high in the league stage is equivalent to finishing high in the previous group stages. Has anyone ever claimed it to be more than that? Everyone know it's a just a route to qualifying to the knockouts, but that doesn't make it meaningless - if you lose most games - you don't qualify - so you obviously have to accumulate enough points to go through and even if there is a play off - you still have to win the playoff to go through. So the games by definition are meaningful.
There are fewer things that piss me off more than this current day phenomenon of people picking and choosing which goals count. If it's not a PL goal, it doesn't count. If it's not from open play, it doesn't count. If it's not a winner or game levelling goal, it doesn't count. It grinds my gears, LOL.
