Topic: UEFA Champions League 2023/24 Season - page 372. (Read 141787 times)

Barcelona has a higher chance of winning the match, even though several key players are injured. The second leg will be held at Barcelona headquarters, which will certainly benefit Xavi squad. Napoli experienced more ups and downs in performance than Barcelona, their position in the Serie A standings is a reference that they are very inconsistent, and failed to finish in the top four of the standings. Barcelona is still in the top four in La Liga, and has a big chance of appearing in the Champions League next season. Barcelona winning percentage was quite high in the second leg, Xavi had to formulate a strategy so that his team could win easily.

From the latest news regarding the availability of Gabriel Martinelli for the second leg of the UEFA Champions League round of 16 game between Portuguese club Porto vs Arsenal, it seems that the Brazilian will not be available for that game as a result of injury but that doesn't mean that his absence will give Porto and added advantage of you ask me. Arsenal is one team that posseses a good number of quality players that are very capable of beating any European side on their day and even in the absence of one of them, I still expect Arsenal to deliver great performances because other players who are available can help the team win games. Fir example, in the absence of Gabriel Martinelli in the left flank wing of Arsenal's attacking line, there other good players who can perfectly play in that position like Trossard and Gabriel Jesus as well so even without the presence of Martinelli, Arsenal can still beat Porto even when they're playing as the away team

The second leg of the UEFA Champions League round of 16 game between Barcelona vs Napoli will be a very difficult game for the both clubs if you ask me. The two reigning champions of their respective leagues haven't been consistent this season but Napoli have a the worse team as they've already sacked two managers this season and is currently with their third manager while Barcelona is currently sitting in the third position of their own league table and is still with Xavi Hernandez the manager that helped them win the Spanish La Liga title last season. Napoli failed to win the first leg of the tie when they played at home and will now have to travel to Camp Nou for the second leg and that's why I'll be backing Barcelona to progress to the next round at the expense of Napoli

Barcelona will act as hosts in the second leg, this is one of the factors why Barcelona deserves to be favored over Napoli. It's true that Barcelona as a whole posted better statistics, Napoli experienced setbacks and had to change coaches twice this season. Even though Xavi plans to stop at the end of the season, he is determined to take Barcelona further in the Champions League this season. Apart from that, in their last match Napoli drew, while Barcelona managed to win.

The match between Barcelona versus Napoli is difficult to predict, because Barcelona not too dominant over Napoli. However, Barcelona has more complete attributes than Napoli, such as a more even squad depth and a better reputation. It could be that Napoli managed to get rid of Barcelona, but on paper Barcelona is the right favorite. Everything will be proven in the second leg, betting on their victory seems very risky.

The strength of both team are relatively close to equal like you did rightly mentioned a d I'm not in any way doubting that because I've seen that even in squad depth, Napoli has got a good dept aswell which can not be seen any less when compared to that which Barcelona has got. I think I wouldn't be wrong to say in their last encounter Barcelona was lucky to have taken the lead ahead of Napoli.

In this second encounter which will be in Spain it's actually going to be really tough like you have rightly speculated because Barcelona wouldn't want an embarrassment on their home geoud and Napoli also wouldn't want to end their champions league journey at this point so it's really going to be a fierce battle between both teams as they will struggle to move onto the next stage, it's going to be a determinate game hence the battle wouldn't be for the weak but for the best team amongst them both, in your words it's looking like Napoli has got an advantage due to the presence of osimhen but then Napoli hasn't had really good results outside Italy.

I'm not going to allow myself into the pressure of putting so much of my support on any of both teams but I will just watch and enjoy the game as I know I'm expecting to watch an exciting game which will determine whose going to the next stage of the UCL and the action that comes with the UCL causes one to want to stay glued because especially games like this every minute will actually count.

Regarding this match, there is good news for Porto and it's about the player of Arsenal, Gabriel Martinelli.
It seems Martinelli can't help his team in the important game they are going to have against Porto in the Champions League.
While in the first leg, Arsenal lost the match with a 1-0 result and this can damage the team because they will be under more pressure to have an attacking style in this match. However, that's not hard for Arteta and his players to score many goals in this match because Arsenal had good attacks during the games we saw from them in this season but still, this can make the game very hard to predict and very much risky to bet on any of these two teams for this match.




https://www.football.london/arsenal-fc/news/breaking-gabriel-martinelli-hands-arsenal-28787932   

The main problem with predicting this match is that both Barcelona and Napoli have erratic performances. It is impossible to say which team will play better in which match. We have seen several times this season that Barcelona have dropped points even against relatively weak teams.

However, compared to Napoli, everyone is keeping the Barcelona team ahead in this match. Barcelona's overall performance is better than Napoli's. Even Barcelona's squad is stronger than Napoli's. Moreover, Barcelona's overall performance was better than Napoli in the first leg match. This is the reason why Barcelona team is considered as the favorite in the second leg home match of Barcelona.

Yes, I admit that Inter Milan plays very well and consistently in the domestic league, they haven't been beaten in several matches, but this is the big UCL league so don't look at the strength in the domestic league, it's true that Simeone and Atletico Madrid can't keep up with Inter Milan's game. but unfortunately in the first leg match, Inter Milan couldn't score more goals and only had one goal. It seemed that Inzaghi's men were not able to score more goals against Atletico Madrid and it seemed difficult for them to do so.

Simeone might be able to provide a surprise in the second leg match with a different strategy from the previous match, but Inzaghi may also have prepared a better strategy for his team so that they can play optimally in the second leg match. At least Inter Milan can win narrowly which is enough to help. make it able to qualify for the next round, but Inter Milan should not underestimate Atletico Madrid because whatever it is, this is a big UCL match where all teams will play more optimally than playing in the domestic league, I'm sure the second leg will be played with high tension. . Whoever wins will definitely advance to the next round.

I usually think you are right that Simeone often has an ace up his sleeves, but I don't think this time it will play out well for them. Atletico Madrid had some unusual weaknesses for the whole season so far and I doubt that just now they will find the right way to deal with their issues against one of the strongest teams in Europe. Inter Milan is peaking in performance while Atletico Madrid wasn't able to find their peak performance ever this season. They had all these reversals after one good game. They did have some good games, but it when out of nowhere they lost points against a team that was at the bottom of the La Liga table.

It seems though as if Griezmann will be back in time, but whether he can show his best game after an injury is questionable. They will need a top top performance to win that game against Inter. A draw is not enough and that makes it so hard against Inter. They know how to approach that game for sure.

Atletico could not win against some of the weakest teams in the last couple of weeks and Inter is smelling blood here.

I agree with you, Napoli condition can not be compared to that of Barcelona this season anyone can argue about it but the league standings is a typical examples between the form of the teams. The truth is that Barcelona is the bigger team yes but they are also in better for this season judging from their performance and position in the Spanish La Liga table on like Napoli that has been struggling since the beginning of the season to win matches both in the league and champions league, I think the injury of Barcelona won't stop them from progressing ahead of Napoli especially in their hom ground.

I thought Napoli would win with the change of coach and the return to 4-3-3 but Barcelona fought well. Pedri and Lewa's partnership would have brought the round, but Osimhen came out and saved the score. Still, Barcelona will win the round in Spain, Napoli is in serious decline this year. I think Kvara and Osimhen should make a transfer. Napoli's post-championship situation is really pathetic. Barça is also not doing good and I don't see a good future for them in the coming years, but Napoli can't advance against this Barça. I don't expect a Napoli win in this situation.

Don’t underestimate Atlético, Simione is trying to change the team, I see that he has moved away from the usual strategy when the team plays from defense, and perhaps he is right, because if we analyze the strongest teams that dominate now, they are attacking teams. But for Simione this is something new, which he probably still needs to learn. despite this, I believe that nothing is lost for Atletico yet, they have a chance to win against Inter, although I understand that this will definitely not be an easy match.

Dangerous? What do you mean? Dangerous and they couldn't get three points out of the game against Cadiz yesterday? They had chance to prepare well ahead of the clash between Inter Milan. I'm afraid they can't get to qualify for the next round. Inter Milan are by far the best between them.

I'd Atletico Madrid attacks Inter Milan, they will get the better of the game and exploit them massively. I see they also dropped some of them best players during that game so they could be with fresh legs.
Bologna did well, infact Thiago Motta and his players have also worked hard, it'll be great to see them qualifying for the Champions League Competition next season.

I agree. We don't have the same old Atletico Madrid anymore. That Atletico Madrid which obtained bigger achievements could have played much more effectively against Inter in the first leg too. But we just watched a desperate team trying to secure a draw at worst. We are likely to not see Griezmann in the rematch which is another bad news for Simeone.  

Inter are an amazing team this season. They are scoring so many goals and conceding really few number of goals on one hand. While they are in a much better condition it isn't easy for Simeone to keep up with Inzaghi's team easily. Inter should be able to move on in the Champions League.  

I don't know, I believe Barcelona is far superior than Napoli these days, sure Barcelona had some tough period this season but looking at how they are looking right now, I can say that it looks like they are doing fine in the end and not really dealing with that much trouble.

I believe that we are going to see them do fine as well eventually. I get that it looks like Napoli is close, but they had a horrible season so far and their initial manager was so bad that they fired him and yet the one that got there didn't improve the team at all and still end up making a big loss. I think it's quite obvious that we are going to end up with a lot more trouble on the long run, and that should not be all that easy to handle at all.

competing as hosts, Barcelona will take a lot of advantage, I agree with what you said. Because after all, clubs that play at their home base will benefit because they will get full support from their supporters and that will make their enthusiasm even greater because they want to present a victory for their supporters. But of course that doesn't mean they have a guarantee that they will win, they still have to put in the effort and hard work.

Napoli who will come as the visiting team will also want to get the best, so they will probably forget everything and focus more on their game at that time. Both clubs have to be very careful because once they make a mistake, they will be punished by being excluded from this season's Champions League.

Opportunities for both clubs are still open, it's just that Barcelona has a bigger opportunity than Napoli. And maybe they will achieve the same result again in normal time and have to continue the match in the penalty shootout round. And if that really happens then their chances will change to 50/50.

Domestically, Barcelona is more pre-ready to knockout Napoli in these League than Napoli is ready to trash Barcelona. The fact that Napoli is sitting in number 7 in the Seria A makes me have less confidence in them than Barcelona who is now in form coming for Real Madrid in the Laliga table and since Xavi want to take his leave after the season, conquering this league to the end might be one of the dearest things for him to achieve before offset into another club.

So far from the beginning of this season, they didn't started well, they have win 12 matches, draw 8 and loss 8, that's average performance in my dictionary But Barcelona has gotten only 3 loss which is fair. However, Napoli looks solid in their last 5 games but Barcelona are solid as well, there is no way that Napoli is going to win Barcelona this week except if Barcelona decided to shame LaPorta as usual.

In the first match, it was Barcelona who got the advantage in Italy. The rematch will be in Spain, so I think Barcelona will be the team that will take the advantage. Napoli will have a difficult away game. The strengths of the two teams are very close to each other. That's why I can say that it will be a difficult match to predict. It will be such a match that both teams can win. Maybe it will go to penalties and the penalties will decide the team that will advance to the next round.

Atletico who think their look strong at home actually have to make mistakes in the first leg by playing defense, honestly I think Atletico Madrid can even have a chance to be able to equalize the score or even beat Intermilan in that game if they do not defend completely, like you said, Atletico now is not Atletico a few seasons ago who did have a balance between their forwards and also the backline,  For now I also don't think if Atletico will be able to overcome the attack carried out by Intermilan later, let alone they are burdened with 1 goal on aggregate.

If we compare Atletico then and now it is very different, Atletico who used to often park the bus when indeed they were superior both home and away, while Atletico now precisely every time they play with a team that is at the same level as them at the opponent's home, they will choose to defend and just counterattack to keep the ball away from their defense and we can see this happening in some important matches Atletico.
In the second leg match maybe Atletico will try to attack although it is also possible that they will still defend fully, but when I see Intermilan who are still playing impressively in the league when they are close enough to the Scudetto and without caring they continue to play attacking when facing their opponents, and that's why 1 goal aggregate may not make Intermilan defend and will instead continue to attack Atletico to add to the aggregate victory in second leg match.

MMm im not so sure about that, for me Napoli is in worst condition than Barcelona, the fact is we can see Barcelona more low because Barcelona itself is a much bigger team than Napoli and this season doesnt go with the normal Barcelona Behavior, but for me Napoli is pure trash right now.

I agree with you friend and i think you are missing out on a detail, yes  Barcelona and Napoli are struggling, but Barcelona are worse off because they have more injuries and cannot score many goals, while Napoli has Osimhen back, fit and also amongst the goals!!

I think Napoli edges this, 2 goals to 1.