Napoli have impressed everyone by their incredible performance so far. Even though they have tough opponents like Liverpool and Ajax in the group they are still playing like they are much stronger than both of them. They defeated Liverpool 4-1 and did the same to Ajax by even a bigger score like 6-1. They are living the dream now and I assume they would finish the group as the leader as well.
However I'm curious about their performance against other big teams. This performance deserves to play in the semi final at least I believe. Because they are one of the most performing teams of the group stage already.
Napoli is really surprising - they are simultaneously leading both in Serie A and in their Champions League group, and after such big victories over competitors, in order to stay in first place, they only need to defeat the Rangers once in a home game and not lose much (this is the worst option but they can even win or draw). The problem is that the play-offs will only start in February and it is unlikely that Napoli will maintain their current form by then.
Yes, I am really very impressed with Napoli's outstanding performance so far. The Partenopei have been perfect in Serie A and the Champions League. I had doubts about Napoli this season, because many of their mainstay players left, but with the squad they have now, Luciano Spalletti is able to dismiss the doubts of many people. Hopefully Napoli can continue to appear consistent until the end of the season.
Consistency is something that is very difficult to achieve, more in football even with the best clubs in the world it is difficult for them to be consistent because it is difficult to always be in the position of excellence, there will always be teams that come out very motivated and can take your place, but when the motivation is always higher, it is very difficult to stop being consistent, otherwise you have to ask Real Madrid, PSG, and many other renowned teams, for me these things are difficult to be, when we refer to Napoli, This is something that fills Italian pride, and above all I really like how they are playing, they do it with their hearts sincerely, and they don't realize when they play sweating the shirt well.
The presence of Erling Haaland has added to the confidence of the Manchester City squad, they have a pure striker who is hungry for goals. It's true they must take advantage of this momentum which is their best momentum to win the Champions League trophy. But this is the Champions League which has a very tight competition, especially if they meet again with real Madrid, it will be their biggest threat. Because last season it was also Real Madrid who failed them in the fight for the title. They even had to be hit by a deadly comeback from the El Real squad.
Erling Haaland doing amazing job for Manchester City and with this they are surely at their best run in Champions League but still this is not guaranteed that they could be winner or having chance of going into final because any bad day can send them to home in knockout stages as soccer is unpredictable game and teams have good and bad days in any game right now they are having quality players but in coming matches when they are going to face big teams which are also filled with same quality players things could be in different way.
Currently, Bayern Munich, Real Madrid and Napoli are on their best which can create tough challenges for them at any stage right now we have best way is just wait and watch about this all things could be clear after World Cup in January who could be at top.
Yes, I am familiar with your analysis, Real Madrid really seems to me to be the strongest team of those you say, on the one hand there is Bayern with Haaland, and he is a great player and has a great future, but I do not see them as firmly as Real Madrid has shown it, because Bayern has had problems in the Bundesliga, and they haven't been so consistent, Pep has done everything possible to win, but they have achieved some draws that are not encouraging here, now well, I know that many teams give more importance to the UCL, but I think that supremacy is shown in both, both in their leagues and in the UCL, on the other hand, Napoli is on another level and it surprises me, and at the same time makes me happy.
If it came down to player quality, PSG would have won it in the last few years because they had better players than other teams. The previous years' winners have taught us that the trophy is won through teamwork, not how many quality players you have on your team. Manchester City, without a doubt, has champions league experience, but they must understand that winning the champions league is not a one-man show; they are relying heavily on Halaand this season, which is not a good idea. Tbh.
I don't seem to agree if you think Manchester City are very dependent on Haaland. It's true Haaland has scored a lot of goals for Manchester City, but I think that's his job as a striker. Other players can also score goals such as Foden, Bernardo Silva, Julian Alvarez or De Bruyne, but Haaland is a target man in the Manchester City squad especially in attack.
For this season, my hero remains at Real Madrid regardless of which team is considered a good candidate to win. Manchester City, PSG, Bayern Munich or any team are good but about the title I want Real Madrid to defend it.
That "should" be like that, but if you watched Liverpool game you will see that since Haaland managed to score that many goals so far, many players end up just passing it to him and expect him to score, aside from Foden who just tries to score himself instead. I have seen silva, ilkay, de bruyne, everyone just pass to Haaland whenever they can, as many times as they can, so that one of them would be at least a goal.
And to be fair to Haaland, it worked out well so far aside from just one game, so I cannot say it doesn't work. But we are not seeing the team as a whole try to score that much anymore, not as much as last year at least, it is more heavily on Haaland now.
Something must be emphasized, that Haaland already has someone to stop him, and it is Vigil, I do not know if they captured each encounter between the two of them, because Virgil would not let the ball be taken from him, and Haaland tried not to go to the side that was , I think Virgil is that player who gets the weak point to the stars, on that side I think he was able to show everything that Mo Salah has that really does not lower his level and was shining above the Viking, however I do not rule out that they already have a good strategy for the next game which will actually be very exciting, this UCL thing is getting very good, I hope there will be much more action.
Very interesting:
Champions League winner backed to replace Aston Villa boss Steven Gerrard - EXCLUSIVE
But I'm more inclined to Real Madrid to be able to win the title for the second time without CR7 and Sergio Ramos, even though it's impossible, but it can happen, About PSG and M.City this club only has ambitions to win the Champions title, and secondly this club always falls in the round of 16 or 8 big, FC Bayern München could be a candidate but Real Madrid has a fighter mentality despite having young players, but still has experienced midfielders like Luka Modric, Toni Kroos, Federico Valverde, Lucas Vázquez, etc. that's what makes Real Madrid still favorite to win this year's UEFA Champions League...
There is no word impossible in the race for the Champions League title, especially if it is for a team like Real Madrid. But this season I see every team that has the potential to qualify for the round of 16 have started trying to improve their performances so that they can become stronger in the round of 16 later.
Teams like PSG, Manchester City, Bayern Munich are teams that must always be taken into account by Real Madrid in the Champions League, including this season, because they can take advantage of every mistake made by Real Madrid accidentally to get the Champions League trophy.
Actually I don't see any possibility with PSG. First of all, they will never win the Champions League this season. Their team has many weaknesses which they are failing to fix. I don't see the aggressiveness in their team. Even though PSG have 3 top superstar players, they are still disappointing the fans.
Well, I also see it the same way, I don't see that PSG have that supremacy that they should have, if we put them to play against REAL MADRID right now they would possibly lose, in the French league there are many teams that are emerging, they don't they take the same fear that they have of the iconic players that are more famous, I take it as Marseille could take the throne from them in the league and in the UCL they can hang by a thread if they get the toughest teams that are very hungry to win, I think PSG should change strategist, for me a Zizu would make the difference and could lead to sure victory.
There are many big teams joining the Europa League from the group stage of the Champions League this time. I wonder how many of them will care about that tournament and try to win the title.
Why won't they desire to win the title? That will be added to their achievements for the club. Remember that the Super Cup is played between champions league and Europa league winners, and it is an important trophy that every team would like to win. Instead of qualifying for the Champions League knockout stage and then losing, I believe it is preferable to win the Europa League.
All of the teams that moved from the Champions League to the Europa League will make the competition more exciting to watch. We'll have an interesting competition here with top teams like Barcelona, Juventus, Ajax, Athletico Madrid, Arsenal, and Manchester United. With Arsenal in good form right now, I believe they have a good chance of winning the Europa League this season.
Actually Velvet78 has a point there.
I mean that we saw some examples about this before. In the previous season, Dortmund were one of the teams relegating from the Champions League to the Europa League. Their opponent there was Rangers and they were eliminated by them right away. Normally you would expect Dortmund to just destroy a team like Rangers but they didn't. Barcelona were also one of the strongest candidates for the title but they couldn't reach even the final. I believe these were all because of their not caring about the Europa League as much as the Champions League. But there is no obligation like this will always go on like this of course.
Well, but it's not bad that these teams have fallen to play in the Europa League, there are many teams that are very good and are playing in the eUROPA leaue, now Barcelona, there is Man United, and the level in the UCL has grown a lot, here the team that is careless is not forgiven, it goes straight to the Europa League, there are a lot of memes that have been made because Lewa is in Barcelona and he is in the Europa League, I think these things are very Common in football, there is something that we should not do when we support a team, never deny that you can fall in the Europa League, because the faster you will do it.
Well, right now between the match between Bayern and Inter, what seemed like an obvious hand by Mané was not awarded as a penalty kick against Inter, apparently the player did it to defend himself from the ball that came to him, well these are things that happen in the VAR era, now with all the things and rules that are new, that I don't know the rules very well, that's the first time I've seen it, and it seems quite interesting to me, I hope that according to this and someone wins, no they are going to make that move as one of the most iconic and that causes a lot of debate, although in the Champions League everything lends itself to being able to affirm that a team won by X circumstance.
