Topic: UEFA Champions League 2023/24 Season - page 235. (Read 141898 times)

The draw between the UCL heavyweights gives Man City more advantage especially as they’ll now be playing the return leg in their home and with the way you saw them in the first leg, you’ll know Pep and his boys still have a lot up their sleeves and will be willing to use the home advantage against Ancelotti. I think the return leg will be one thrilling encounter as both teams are on a good note.

 Real Madrid weren’t bad either just that the moments they let the game slip away, City were always present to let those to their own advantages and as a result were able to level the scoreline. This is going to be a big worry fir Ancelotti because he needs to make sure his boys are up and running at the Etihad.

 ⁠Man City won’t relax in their home ground in front of their home fans but you can’t overlook the game between these two as it’s a game of who is who and anything can happen especially as the away goal rule has been scrapped. With the right tactics any of them can be able to make it through to the semis.

 The strategies by both coaches aren’t bad as we’re not expecting anything less in the matches between them as these two are the major contenders for the UCL trophy.  I still have huge hopes on Madrid winning rather than Man City as they’re a better squad as you can see in the match few days ago.

The match I watched yesterday was filled with surprises to be honest, and wasn’t really waiting for a such result, Barcelona winning it possible, but 2-3 and a great come back from them was a proof of the strength of young players. Apparently, PSG is like every year the players were super cold when it comes to holding the good results and that happened many times in previous years, We can’t decide if the issue is with the players, the coach or the whole team management, while they have all resources to win the match, they have got defeated by a humble team of inexperienced players and a new coach for UEFA champions League.

I will predict that the 2nd leg match in Barcelona will be easier for them with less pressure, knowing that they were playing for a draw in 1st leg but ending up winning was a step for more confidence in Xavi’s players. What the player Ousmane Dembélé did after scoring against his old team was a shame, even if he was just intending to show his new team abilities and seriousness, he could apologize maybe, the opposite he also talked again that PSG will easily win the 2nd leg and how small Barcelona is in his eyes, after the respect he received previously with them, it’s not okay for a football player.

A different point of view from most people's judgments, but the referee has his own assessment of his decision. A draw makes Arsenal's chances of qualifying for the next round slightly smaller because they will visit Bayern Munich's headquarters so Arsenal will face much greater pressure. Arsenal are playing well at home but they are still a little weaker in the defensive area and Arteta will have to try to evaluate the defense when they play in Germany.

Bayern Munich is indeed superior, especially since they managed to score two goals in the first leg. If Arteta is unable to change the new strategy then I am sure Bayern Munich will come out victorious in the second leg. Playing at home to Bayern Munich is not easy because Arsenal had disappointing results in the previous season when facing them.

Nevertheless they conceded two goals just after the break, apparently Enrique got his team in the right mood, although it didn't help, Rafinha was the hero of the match and it was beautiful, an away win, now all that remains is to contain PSG at home and they are in the semi-finals. I think they're more than capable of doing that

Xavi Hernandez deserves not to go at all, he is the right man for Barcelona players. All he needed was signings to back him up. But right now they're not enough still but he has brought in two to three players into that squad at most the midfied and the defense to give them balance.
Allowing two goals in the space of minutes got me thinking if they had eventually lost the game to Paris Saint Germans. They have the right mentality, thanks to leadership roles on the pitch from IIkay Gundogan and also Robert Lewandoski last night. Having such figures made them push till the end.

Kylian Mbappe did not play anything, though I will say if he was used as the main number nine hoe many chances did the squad create for him?
Solid defending for Barcelona anyways. The right wing was well utilized.

PSG has a bad record when meeting Barcelona even though the favorite team at home does not guarantee PSG will win and that's right we saw how Barcelona could come back from a goal down to win, PSG has no mentality in Champion League matches.

Just one step away Barcelona will qualify for the semifinals, this team only needs to hold a draw in the second leg at home to be sure to qualify, I know PSG will play more attacking because that is one of their ways to get goals, but Barcelona will not allow it Xavi will use better tactics.

I liked how Barcelona won the first leg, their performance was very impressive in my opinion. Raphinha and Christensen got their names on the scoresheet, even as PSG were favorites to win at home. To be honest, I'm not entirely sure PSG should have conceded 2 additional goals to Barcelona when they were 2-1 up, but Xavi's decision to replace Roberto and Lamine Yamal replaced by Pedri and Felix made Barcelona come back.

I know Barcelona is not as perfect as expected, but they showed how classy their game is in front of the favorite team. Xavi has the right to be proud of his team's achievements so far in the Champions League, with some analysts even predicting that Barcelona will qualify for the final this season. I'm not that optimistic, but this prediction becomes possible if Barcelona manages to qualify for the semifinals.

Arsenal's failure to win in the first leg will certainly provide greater opportunity for Munich to qualify for the next round, even in the first leg we can see how the attack that continues to be launched by Munich makes Arsenal overwhelmed even though in that match Arsenal dominated the game, the haunted Allianz Arena of course began to make Arsenal fans pessimistic if their will be able to qualify for the semi-finals,  Especially so far Arsenal is very difficult to win when playing at home Bayern Munich, I think it will be a tough job for Arteta to win in the second leg.

I think Bayern Munich has a great chance of qualifying now compared to Arsenal, because indeed Bayern Munich' performance in the Champions League cannot be underestimated so far, especially now the Champions League is their only hope to win the trophy, honestly I don't want to underestimate Arsenal in the second leg, but I think in the match Bayern Munich will be able to win over Arsenal with a score of 2-1 and make them qualify for the semi-finals of the League Champions of the season.

Bayern Munich and Arsenal still have the same chance of beating each other, on paper Bayern Munich may have the advantage because in this very decisive match they will play as the host. However, that is not a guarantee that they will be truly successful in winning this match. However, Arsenal will play all out to win and advance to the semi-finals.

A match like this is very difficult to predict, because both of them will try to focus and it is very likely that they will play openly and buy and sell attacks. There is no choice for them to play defensively, because the risk will be greater. However, playing openly will also create gaps, but in my opinion that is still better because they might be able to create space on the front line too. The reason is that if one of them implements a defensive strategy, then if they are always under pressure during the match, a weakness may appear which could become an opening for the opposing team to exploit.

Yes, I also did not expect that the goal could occur in 4 minutes of the match running it was quite fast and certainly made all surprised by this goal, and Atletico Madrid's second goal in the 32nd minute which was the first half, Dortmund id the first half was not good because it was very easy to be penetrated by Atletico Madrid and I think Dortmund in the first half was still adapting to the way Atletico Madrid played and because of that Dortmund was still very difficult to score goals in the first half.

And it seems that in the second half Dortmund can balance themselves and be more aggressive so that in the 81st minute they can score a goal even with a very hard effort and it also seems that Dortmund is doing very well until Atletico Madrid is not given much time to play the ball, and in the 86th minute Dortmund almost equalized to 2-2 but the shot only hit the crossbar which made it bounce and did not make it a goal, quite unfortunately for Dortmund in this match, but what needs to be remembered is that the next match Dortmund should already know how Atletico played in the early minutes which was so impulsive in attacking them, they must be ready for that challenge.

Arsenal vs Munich I saw the debate on social media when Raya passed to Gabriel and held hands. There was an opinion if it should have been a penalty, but it seems that the Referee did not see, because he had his back to the ball. If it was me then it should be a penalty for Munich.
Of course the draw is not so detrimental because they will meet in the 2nd leg in Germany. Munich should be able to do a lot in Germany. They should be able to win and qualify for the semi-finals.  They are lucky because they already have 2 away goals.

I was sure Atletico Madrid would win this match. Because I have seen the performance of this team in the home match of Atletico Madrid this season. Atletico Madrid have dominated most of their home matches. In very few home matches we have seen Atletico Madrid perform poorly.

Moreover, the Dortmund team's performance is still erratic. Especially the defense of this team is not strong enough. Atletico Madrid on the other hand have an experienced squad. Although Atletico Madrid's performances are not regular, this team always performs well in home matches. However, since Atlético Madrid won the home match, expect Atlético Madrid to perform well in the second leg and secure the semi-final.

Dortmund was cold to me all along in the match but towards the end of the match, many things changed and they began to play a more better football than before. The goal scored by Sebastian Haller towards the end of the match was a very crucial one for them and would give them a boost in the second leg of the match with just one goal to level up the aggregate. I hope Dortmund makes the right changes in the second leg of the match to give them a good lead in that match or else they will be eliminated at this stage in the competition.


Amongst the team’s you’ve mentioned to be likely going to the final, I will chose Atletico Madrid and Barcelona over Real Madrid even though their performance cannot be compared to them. Atletico Madrid and Barcelona have both won their first leg match which means they’re currently above Real Madrid who drew theirs. It is going to be a great game in the second legs of the quarterfinals matches just like we had in the first leg matches. Till then we can finally tell the team’s that will make it to the next round ahead of the other.

I wasn't really shocked about the Barcelona vs PSG match results because I even anticipated PSG to draw at least or lose to superior Barca.
Barca may be weaker than before but when it comes to holding midfield play and stopping counter attacks or shading a key player out of the game, they sure do very well in that aspect.
Rafinha was agreeably very creative from the flank and am sure Dembele couldn't play much because he played for same Barcelona and was often on the bench more than on the pitch, hence he posed less threat in midfield.

I doubt PSG would do much in the return leg because at Barca's home, the pitch will definitely be midfield locked and defense ready to stop PSG from coming all out on attack and having the ball in possession more.

Haller’s goal is very important to Dortmund because it gives them hope to struggle more in the second leg to see if they can qualify for the quarter finals, but I think it will be a difficult match for them because of how good Atletico Madrid is in defending their goals.
Dortmund will use their home advantage in the second leg because their fans are given them confidence while playing at home, they will want to use their chances well in the match and they will want early goal so as to finish the work early, but I think it will be hard since Atletico Madrid is good in defending game.

The roles of Kounde, Joao Cancelo and Araujo are good enough to mark Dembele and Mbappe's movements. In the end, Mbappe and Dembele had difficulty passing the ball to their teammates in midfield. At least, Dembele was good enough, he was able to take advantage of the momentum to score a goal. however, Mbappe's movements were closely marked by Barcelona's defense players. That's why PSG's pure stickers don't seem to be developing, even Assensio is barely visible.

But actually the PSG players didn't play badly, it was just the Barcelona players who were alert enough to handle every attack launched by Paris Saint-Germain. In fact, the ones whose performance was less than optimal were the PSG defenders and the goalkeeper, so they conceded three goals in last night's match. In the Barcelona camp, they actually had many good opportunities. but unfortunately, Xavi Hernandez's squad was not calm enough to take advantage of the situation. Luckily, in the end Barcelona was able to win this first leg match. Well, there is still a chance in the second leg, but PSG must play all out at Camp Nou, Barcelona's home ground.

Certainly there are quite a few bettors who have lost their money by favoring PSG and it must be understood that PSG is not what it used to be. Even though in terms of squad depth, PSG is very strong and when compared to Barcelona the difference is quite large. But this did not weaken Barcelona and instead it was a good opportunity to win at their opponent's home ground.

Apart from that, it is true that Mbappe must provide another legacy besides the French league title because this season will be his last to wear the capital team's uniform. However, the question arises again, is Mbappe the figure PSG needs most at the moment? and if in big matches he is not visible at all then that does not reflect at all that he is one of the star players at the moment.

I have to admit that Barcelona had an impressive performance against PSG. Of course this is not a surprise to me because I know the character of Barcelona's game, I mean as long as they have a good midfielder then they can be expected to beat any team (although they don't always win).

Barcelona's defense was relatively good at maintaining Kylian Mbappe's space throughout the match, it was proven that Mbappe couldn't do much other than open up space for other players such as Dembele, Vitinha and Lee Kang In. Asensio also couldn't do much in that match, but Barcelona also had weaknesses. They lost concentration and composure when Dembele and Vitinha scored two goals to give PSG the lead, but Xavi made the right decision afterwards by playing Pedri and Joao Felix.

true, you are right, they were very exciting matches full of goals
I have to say that the Real Madrid match entertained me a lot and we saw 6 goals! When this is the case they are a sight to behold with changes of pitch and dominance, a real spectacle for us fans.
That among other things, in my opinion was the real final

Sebastien Haller scored a crucial goal for Borussia Dortmund to give them hope despite losing 2-1 to Atletico Madrid in their Champions League quarter-final first leg. Sebastien Haller scored with nine minutes to finish match. Atletico were quicker and sharper all over the pitch in the first half. Dortmund simply the introduction of Julian Brandt sparked them into life in the second half.