Topic: UEFA Champions League 2023/24 Season - page 1118. (Read 141749 times)

I don't know about his skills, but it should be not comfortable to play in that position because it is not his ideal position. Julián Álvarez can play as a second striker, but I doubt he will play with his best as an attacking midfielder. Sure, he isn't Messi who can play in many position. It is because Julián Álvarez always played as a striker so far.

Yep. If Guardiola wants to optimize the potential skills of Julián Álvarez, he must put him on the right position. Force Julián Álvarez to play as an attacking midfielder may reduce his potential as a productive striker. We know that Julián Álvarez often makes goals, he must have the desire to score goals as many as possible. He isn't a player who prefers to provide assist for other players.

What I have noticed this season with Real Madrid is that despite the fact that Benzema is no longer with them,they are still fighting to win their matches and the are achieving it. The absence of Benzema has suppress the club's performance. They  have started this season with a winning strategy and I believe this season will be better more off than last season.

In UCL,I know that Real Madrid is after winning the cup and that was why Ancelotti is still in the club to achieve this victory for them. Now that Vinicius is on injury,this might affect the performance of the club only if Ancelotti will make a good replacement for him that wouldn't make them miss him in their matches. Real Madrid has a better chance of winning trophies this season that Barca.

So I was right at the end and all of these teams qualified to the next stage
PSV particularly punished Rangers badly in Netherlands after their draw in Scotland, that was the largest victory in this round with 5 - 1.
Tomorrow will be held the draw for Champions League groups and the first matchday will be played in September 19 and 20.

I hope that the big teams can be brought together in a pot. So we will see more heated competition between them to reach the round of 16. For now, it's likely that other teams don't want them in the same pot as Manchester City or Real Madrid because they could destroy their dreams early.  lol

Yes, the draw will be held on Thursday of course all eyes will be on each pot after the draw is finished. I hope Barcelona can be in the same group as Bayern Munich again because they seem to have a revenge mission if that becomes a reality.

Copenhagen after getting the first goal and increasing the aggregate goal played a bit passive in the match as despite the chances they had, they were more careful not to get a quick counter-attack from Rakow which made their chances wasted.
On the other hand, Lukasz Zwolinski's goal in the crucial minutes was not really predicted and Rakow tried better in the last few chances because they realised that they had to go all out in the remaining matches even though the result was that they still had to be eliminated.
The 2-1 aggregate means Copenhagen join the other clubs for the Champions League draw on Tuesday and Wednesday.

FC Copenhagen couldn't find second goal but they played with the lead for the most part of the game. That early goal broke the resistance of Rakow Czestochowa. Zwolinski's goal was so late, they didn't have time for second goal. Rakow still played better than expected and well deserved the respect.
PSV Eindhoven really made a show tonight against Rangers. Saibari should be seen different this season. He may be the new wonderkid.
Royal Antwerp played just as I expected. Very good defense for whole 90 minutes. They conceded a late goal but that didn't make any difference. Balikwisha pulled the plug in extended time. All three teams deserved to play in Champions League.

Thursday will be the draw day, lets see how the groups are going to shape. Some teams get unlucky draws and some teams do get very lucky draws, that is why sometimes you see teams that are better end up not going to last 16 and some bad teams to go to last 16 anyway. Like last year how Barcelona failed to do it because they had two great teams on the groups and that was normal for them to end up losing, both Bayern and Inter played very well.

I think it will be fun to see because it basically shapes the future of our bets as well and that is an important thing. I believe that it is not going to be simple but it will also not be impossible neither. I know that it will get to a point where it will be profitable if the top two of each group is much better than the last two.

Galatasaray have gained a special achievement by qualifying for the group stage also. Now the number of times they have qualified for this stage is the sum of the number of times each one of the other Turkish teams that did it - 17 times. This must be why Galatasaray are the most known Turkish team in Europe.

But this achievement isn't satisfying enough for Galatasaray of course. They have weaknesses to improve as you have also indicated. Signing a defender or defensive midfielder seems like a must for them now. There are still around 2 more weeks for Turkish teams to finish their deals. It must be more than enough time for Galatasaray to get ready for group matches.

Rakow Czestochowa is fairly new team in this scene. I don't think anybody expect something from them. That should be an easy advance for FC Copenhagen. They won 1-0 in away game so more than half of the job done already. I expect more than 2 goals win from FC Copenhagen today.

Royal Antwerp won the first match but in Greece things will be a lot harder. AEK Athens is better team overall. They will feel the pressure because draw won't be enough for them. An early goal would definitely help them. They have familiar attackers like Ezequiel Ponce and Amrabat. Antwerp has Janssen in forward. This is a tricky game. I don't know if it goes over goals and both teams to score or locked in with more defensive stance. We better stay away making bets for this game.

The match of the night is PSV Eindhoven and Rangers game obviously. Both teams are in the quality of Champions League but only one team will go to that stage. I see PSV Eindhoven one step ahead because of home advantage and squad quality. Luuk de Jong will be the key player in this game. Rangers will play with double forward. Dessers and Matondo have to do more than average, otherwise it's hard for Rangers to win the game.

Indeed, if you look at it now, Real Madrid seems to be superior to Barcelona in Laliga. However, when it comes to the Champions League, Real Madrid is still short of manpower, especially now that many Real Madrid players are injured. However, if you look at the current Real Madrid squad, Ancelotti seems to be missing his golden days with Ac Milan in the early 2000s, which he previously coached. 4-3-1-2 or 4-1-2-1-2 became Ancelotti's mainstay formation at that time. There was Rui Costa who was then replaced in an extraordinary way by Ricardo Kaka who filled the attacking midfielder position behind the two strikers. The Madrid midfielder stock is also very much an option this season. They will be very dangerous, especially if Mbappe manages to come to Real Madrid.

But even though Bellingham is there, let alone his good performance, Madrid still has to find a star striker to replace Benzema. Because it's impossible to just rely on Bellingham continuously, let alone the Laliga schedule and Champions League schedule if by chance he can't play due to injury or card accumulation or whatever. Real Madrid will lose power.

Galatasaray was very lucky against Molde. The penalty that Icard won was a good turning point for Galatasaray, maybe the match would have been very difficult if it hadn't been for this penalty. Even if Galatasaray won in the first match, the victory would not have been so easy if Galatasaray had not scored early in the match played yesterday. Galatasaray has a good vibe for now. Icardi smashes in almost every match. Galatasaray can bring itself to a higher level in Europe with the transfer of a solid defender. Them need a some luck in the group stages.

Yep, Madrid has more experience in this competition than Barcelona. however, Madrid's situation is different now, IMO. The problem is, they don't have players who can be goal getters like when Benzema was still with Madrid. The chemistry between young and senior players becomes a very deadly combination in the opposing team's defense area. as well as the roles of Luca Modric and Kroos, these two players have always had a big hand in Los Blancos' wins.
Now Madrid is more dominated by young players, as well as for the front line. I don't doubt Vini Jr, Rodry and Bellingham, but Ancelotti can't always rely on them. moreover, when Madrid against strong teams in this competition. that's why, in my opinion, Ancelotti needs a well-established centre-forward. so that this team, can use several different systems. Unfortunately, Real Madrid did not sign a striker who could replace Benzema's successor.

While Barcelona, ​​Xavi has strengthened his squad by bringing in several newcomers and several young players. he just needs to create an ideal system to make his team look impressive in every game. for now, we can't see how consistent they are. After all, the league has just been held for a few weeks. There are still many other challenges, which might make things difficult for these two teams. there is no other way, other than we enjoy every game these two teams.

Yes, Galatasaray have not shown the best football in these qualifying matches. Yesterday's game against Molde showed it well, when they should have won at home without any problems, but they had problems. If they face serious opponents in the group stage, Galatasaray will probably not be able to continue this season in the Champions League.

That's right, the European Champions League demands something very basic, namely a winning mentality. Every club that wants to go further must have him, even if the squad is star-studded, that is not necessarily enough. I'm very impressed with this, just look at Pep Guardiola building the Man City squad to have the mentality of being a European champion for seven years. Finally they were able to win it last season, it was amazing I thought.

In line with you, sometimes even big clubs find it difficult to secure points in the Frup phase and qualify for the round of 16. Despite the fact that they are champions in the Domestic League who qualify automatically, by the way congratulations to Galatasaray.

The group stage will not be the same as the qualifiers, and it does require a very good mentality to be here. There is still time for them to improve their game, and you're right they won't be able to talk much when they can't improve.
In this group stage it's possible that they'll meet clubs that don't have any luck, I mean usually they (even the big clubs) always struggle in the group stage. and I think they should make good use of that. But that's not enough, because they also have to be able to play a good game to make that happen. But let's see.

I think the progress in the group phase will be determined by the distribution of the pot, if Galatasaray joins pot 1 or 2 then it will make it difficult for them to qualify for the round of 16. If Galatasaray joins in pot 3 or 4 then it will be a little easier. However, I am quite optimistic for these Turkish representatives, because they managed to borrow Hakim Ziyech from Chelsea. The addition of Ziyech can certainly make a contribution to Galatasaray.

I think Galatasaray's journey in the play-off round is quite impressive, this success indicates that they are quite worthy of being in the UCL this season.

I agree that they have a good attacking line right now. That’s why they are able to score in almost every match so far. If I am not wrong, the only match in which the dropped point was neither team scoring (not UCL). Otherwise, in any match that they have scored, they were able to win. They’re attacking line is definitely the strongest for them right now.



That is also true. As we have said that the attacking line is the true strength for them, the defence is also the biggest weakness as well. They will need to reinforce their defensive lineup pretty quickly. Otherwise, I believe they are not going to have consistent results in this season.

I'm not underestimating Galatasaray in the group stage this season after they made sure of qualifying for the playoffs, but I admit that their quality is simply not ready to beat Europe's top teams if they are drawn in a tough group.

Galatasaray can be expected to win games and get some points in the Champions League group stages this season, but I believe they are not a team that is highly expected to progress to the round of 16. But everything still depends on which group they are drawn. I'm looking forward to it now.

Galatasaray has a lot to improve after securing qualification for the group stage, they must not be satisfied with the success they have just achieved, there are still new challenges to be faced with a stronger club. It is difficult for Galatasaray to qualify for the round of 16 if their performance is still monotonous and they are unable to read the direction of the opponent's game, their defense also still needs to be improved. On paper, Galatasaray managed to beat Molde, but when they meet a club that is stronger than Molde, Galatasaray will experience difficulties due to their poor play.

That's right I agree with you, even I can say in this match Galatasaray was lucky penalty in the first half and a free kick in the last minute, overall Galatasaray game was bad i'm not sure they go to the next stage I guess they'll be eliminated early. In another match, Sporting Braga also managed to qualify after going through a tight match with an aggregate 3-1 they secured a place in the next stage But Braga must be more careful because the opponent must be tougher.