Topic: UEFA Champions League 2023/24 Season - page 427. (Read 141787 times)

At this point both Barcelona and Napoli has got equal chances and do not look like any is above the other so both teams would just have to make sure either of them get a better performance this time to be able to get ahead of the other so as to be able to get on to the next stage of the competition but then the champions league is one in which I believe Barcelona has a better level of experience and if they capitalize on that they would be able to stay ahead of Napoli to move on to the next stage of the competition.

Withe the present form of Napoli they don't look really promising from.my point of view but I'm hoping that the presence of osimhen would be a boost to their confidence because at some point it did appeared like his absence was a problem to them but he's back now and has played a few games with them of which the difference was made clear actually.

even though currently the two teams seem evenly matched, believe it or not, Barcelona will qualify.
I said about the fact that we have to look more deeply, namely, if these two teams have a balanced performance, Napoli should be far superior in the first leg match when they host because when they host, Napoli players will usually be stronger in terms of performance, but the fact is that Napoli only able to score 1 aggregate score while Barcelona who are playing away can be able to score 1 score while playing away usually a team will experience a mental decline because the Napoli fans will continue to try to put pressure on the Barcelona players but look at Barcelona who are very experienced so they are able to hold a draw the match.

from the explanation I said, this is one of the reasons why Barcelona is superior to qualify for the next round even though Gavi cannot appear in the second leg, but Felix and Lewandowski will be important players who will beat Napoli.
I'm not belittling or judging Napoli as weak, but I'm just saying my opinion, what I see is the difference between the two teams, even though they have Osimhen, but do you believe that the coach here is also very influential, whereas the current Napoli coach doesn't have any experience in the UCL, as you said.

second prediction is that if it ends in a draw and goes into the penalty round, Barcelona will also be superior.

If you look at Bayern Munich's current condition, it seems like it is true as you said that Bayern Munich will have difficulty competing in the end and maybe they will only end up in the semifinals or quarter-finals because we don't know Bayern Munich next opponent in the quarter-finals. If the opponent is tough enough then It is quite doubtful that Bayern Munich will reach the semifinal, but if their opponent has a performance below that of Bayern Munich, then Bayern Munich is still worthy of advancing to the semifinals. I am sure that there the opponent will be even tougher for Bayern Munich, especially with conditions that are a little less stable, this will slightly affect their performance them. Honestly I hope Bayern Munich can reach the final because if they don't get the Bundesliga trophy at least they can fight for the Champions League trophy this seasons.

Yes, it's true that every time he uses in the second leg is an opportunity, if they are a little unfocused they will miss the opportunity because Lazio will definitely put quite a lot of pressure on Bayern Munich so don't let Bayern Munich make any mistakes, in the second leg Bayern Munich must take advantage of the opportunity they are to continue to qualify for the next rounds so as not to embarrass the supporters who support them directly and of course many bookies are betting their money on this big match where they expected Bayern Munich to wins with a fairly large aggregate.

What do you mean, it's not as expected?  I mean both teams have had some lackluster rallies this season and a draw is probably a very fair result for both teams. Apart from that, the second leg will be more interesting because Napoli status as a visiting team means they have to perform better if they want to win. Teams from Serie A often provide obstacles to teams from Laliga representatives so it is not surprising that the second leg match will be full of surprises. Indeed, Napoli is not very strong this season, but if Osimhen is again wild in scoring goals, it is possible that Barcelona will fall in the round of 16.

I still support Barcelona to win the second leg but because their performance is less stable, I doubt they will be able to finish the second leg easily. Lewandowksi is our hope because he is one of the players who is full of experience in the Champions League and I hope he can find his sharpness to score goals and give us victory.

Napoli has again made change which was previously quite surprising regarding the change of coach which is currently held by Francesco Calzona.
But unfortunately all of this is not as easy as expected, Francesco Calzona is not coach who can make changes to Napoli and of course this will only be new problem for all the players.
They must be able to understand and adapt to the playing style and strategies provided by Francesco Calzona, changes will not be visible in just 1 or 2 months but require more time.
I think the decision to use the services of Francesco Calzona as coach was an action taken too quickly and I sure that Napoli will soon be eliminated from the UCL competition.

In fact, both of them didn't play very well, Napoli and Barcelona didn't seem to finish their match as expected.
Napoli in the home match was unable to win and Barcelona, which was clearly team with much better performance than Napoli, could only survive draw.
Last season we could see Barcelona performing very well but now they have to face quite difficult conditions to become strong team.
I agree with you that Barcelona has defense that is not very good and in every match Barcelona always concedes goals from the opposing team.

In the second leg, the game will be even more exciting because the two teams drew in the first leg, which makes both teams target victory to qualify for the next round. Apart from that, I think Napoli are increasingly enthusiastic about turning over a new chapter after Calzona was appointed as their new coach. Even though Calzona still has minimal experience in the Champions League, I admit that he has players who have experience so that will help him to provide a surprise when they visit Barcelona headquarters.

Apart from that, Barcelona, ​​which has succeeded in showing its consistency in Laliga recently, has made them very ready for this second leg. Xavi troops must be able to take advantage of support from supporters in the second leg because to beat Napoli you need efficient tactics because Napoli are so consistent when they play matches in the Champions League. Maybe the second leg match will also end in a draw and the match will continue to the penalty round.

The first leg was supposed to be a momentum for victory, Napoli actually conceded first even though in the end they were able to make the score equal again. In fact, Barcelona was also not at its best, but due to Francesco Calzona lack of experience, Barcelona was able to dominate the match. Barcelona's improving form will make it increasingly difficult for Napoli to play in the second leg. Barcelona is starting to find sharpness and will take advantage of the match held at Camp Nou to reach the next phase.

Of course, the defensive area is one that needs to be improved, Xavi must give direction to his players to build an even more solid defense. Raphinha has also started to be included in the Barcelona squad, in his last match he was able to score one goal and one assist, of course this is good news for Barcelona ahead of the match against Napoli.

So true, this makes the thing becomes much easier than before for barcelona. The fact that if napoli will be on disadvantage and club must think which best strategy to face barcelona away. I see no chance for napoli to win the game when it will be playing openly. I think that the strategy doesn't matter a lot and this is also making the situation becomes better than before.
Napoli needs to go through defensive straetgy against barcelona. This is the only best strategy that can be used to fight against it. Barcelona was in disadvantage if napoli will be using parking bus strategy. it's quite clear that if this match is gonna be one of hottest match in UCL.

Barcelona is still performing so crazily but the club may be able performing even better compared to the last season. Barcelona has a very big chance to qualify even when it will be only winning with narrow score against napoli. Shit must not be going on for barcelona caused by this club needs to get additional fund.
Napoli needs to perform even better than before. The club must have used a parking bus like intermilan which was successflly destroying barcelona. Barcelona's weakness can be identified easily caused by we do remember that xavi used same philo like when he was still a player.

I hope that napoli will not be stupid enough to play against barcelona openly. The players must not be so stubbord and napoli needs to increase its chance to win the game by playing low block.

Napoli are stronger than usual when they play at their home stadium and in a first match, they successfully equalized the match with a goal from Osimhen. The Nigerian striker will play important role for Napoli in Spain and Napoli will rely on Osimhen to achieve two main things. First, goals if possible, second creating proactively defense at Napoli front line in order to prevent Barcelona defenders to lift their defense line to high for support their attacking system.

With Osimhen, Napoli will have a player who can create pressure, fear on Barcelona defenders and can help Napoli to reduce attacking pressure from Barcelona.

Surely Barcelona are stronger than Napoli and they also have their home stadium and fans at Nou Camp. Xavi already announced to leave Barcelona at the season ending and he will try best to help his loved club. La Liga is over for Barcelona as they can not beat Real Madrid so they have only Champions League to fight and hope to win this title. Even they can not win it, going far in Champions League will help them to get more reward money.

The first leg match draw result make Barcelona on advantage position for second leg match will play in the home, the last domestic match winner over Getafe is seems how confidence with Barcelona and never give points for the away team. Personally qualifying from 16 of round is one challenge for Barcelona and Xavi Hernandez since last two years never success qualifying to quarter final.
Napoli had bad performed in last several matches and must take well by Barcelona for winning on second leg match, Napoli failed for winning last three matches in a row on domestic league and their position not better well in Serie A current standings.

Its great moment for Barcelona for winning second leg match, not matter for winning with one goal margin is enough to make Barcelona lead to quarter final since last two season failed in group stage.

I think that the result from the first match was good enough. Barcelona failed to secure the first win against napoli but it's still having another chance in the second leg. Im sure barcelona will able to win the second leg against napoli soon. We have seen that how this club was always doing its job very so well.

Barcelona will be trying so hard to make sure the club can pass this stage. The longer barcelona play in UCL and the more money barcelona will get. So, no reaosn for barcelona to lose against napoli in the second leg. Things are going very well this season.

I think that barcelona must have fully prepared for this caused by the second leg will always become the most important match for both of clubs to determine the fate from these clubs in UCL. We know that how napoli has no chance to get into the UCL next season.

The competition will be even harder for napoli to win against barcelona soon. This is gonna be another golden chance for xavi to prove himself is sitll worthy enough to be a coach for barceloan. Napoli may be playing defensively against it.

We can debate about which team that will be winning the game but im sure barcelona will do it. The club has no choice other then defending its existence in UCL now to get more money.

Barcelona played the first leg of their UEFA Champions League round of 16 tie at the Diego Armando Maradona stadium in Naples which happens to be the home of their opponents Napoli andi think getting a draw in that game isn't a bad result for team that's facing the reigning champions of Italy away from home. Of a truth, Barcelona have all it takes to win the game but you don't expect Napoli to lose a game they were majority pf the football fans including bookmakers were backing them to win.

The result I think puts Barcelona in better position than their opponents to progress to the next round of the competition because the second leg of the encounter will be played at the famous Camp Nou. Barcelona as we all know always gets good results whenever they're playing a home game in the UEFA Champions League and when they face Napoli for the second leg of the tie, I will be banking on Xavi Hernandez's men to win that particular game and progress to the next round of the competition.

Bayern Munich won't think for the final round, they must focus on the current round. It won't be easy to qualify for the next round because they are now behind by an aggregate of 1 goal. If they want to qualify for the next round, they must win with 2 goals at least in the Leg 2. They must keep their defense with no conceded goal, Tuchel must select the best defenders for the next match.

In the last match, they didn't play so badly. They still dominated the ball possessions and made more shots. Unfortunately, Bayern players have very bad accuracy in shooting. They have 0 shot on target, it is something very strange. I think Bayern players must play more aggressive and use more offensive tactic in the next match, so they can make more shoot attempts.

Lazio has a good defense. But Bayern must have a bigger motivation to win in the next match because it will be a home match. I still expect Bayern Munich to qualify foe the next round.

Although Barcelona did not win the away match against Napoli, I would not say that their performance was poor. The match was Napoli's home match. Even then we saw the dominance of Barcelona players. Napoli have failed to dominate at home. However, if the performance of Barcelona's attacking players was a little better, they might have been able to win the match. However, Barcelona are still dependent on Lewandowski to score. This is why Barcelona's performance has become erratic.



Barcelona's performance is erratic. Barcelona has no chance of winning the La Liga title. Xavi has already announced that he will not be with Barcelona next season. This was his last season with Barcelona. So Xavi will do his best to do well in the Champions League. Xavi is a good enough coach. On the other hand, opponent Napoli is not in a good rhythm. If Xavi can develop a consistent match strategy, Barcelona will be able to beat Napoli.

Barcelona failed heavily to secure their first winning against Napoli that's shaky in league matches. However there's another chance for Barcelona to step up their game, if they messed up this one, it's all going to be a long boring week for the supporters. Barcelona have returned back to winning streaks and they wouldn't take it easy on their opponents when they meet. Their next game is Napoli and this is the second leg of the round of 16. Xavi Hernandez have to take it personal because it's in his last days of managing Barcelona where he's legend.

Just for your info.
This will be the last champions as you know it.

From the next year we will have a "european" cup.

The new formula is just garbage.

I agree if Napoli is lack of strategy. The hired Francesco Calzona who has no experience in managing a top club, he also has no experience as a player. The most experience of Francesco Calzona is just an assistant manager. I think his level isn't enough for UCL competition, he is more appropriate in domestic competitions. During the match, Napoli only made 1 shot on target from 6 total shots. It clearly indicated that Napoli still can't keep up Barcelona game.

I don't think so. Barcelona defense looks weak, they got 1 conceded goal from 1 shot on target made by Napoli. If the defense is strong enough, they won't be easy to get a conceded goal at the match. Sorry, I think the defenders must improve their performance.

The chance is still very big for Bayern but if you look at the last record in the Champions League and their domestic competition that is currently being followed there is honestly a doubt for me they will win easily in the second leg later.
In terms of probability, they are still one of the clubs that can be used as candidates for champions until now but on the other hand the performance carried out in the current Tuchel era is still very lacking.
In the first leg apart from losing Upamecano we certainly know that Bayern's finishing in this match was not very good. there were around 17 chances that Bayern managed to create but none of the 17 chances created were on target which made us realize that the quality of Bayern's attack this season is very bad.
They can still win, it's just that it clearly won't be easy because Lazio are also not an arbitrary club even though they still lose in terms of probability of comparison with Bayern.

In fact, statistically, the match between Lazio vs Bayern Munich, technically and ball possession was controlled by Thomas Tuchel's squad. Likewise, in terms of opportunities, Bayern had 17 total shots. unfortunately, not a single shot was on target against Lazio. Thomas Tuchel's squad did not play as usual, especially after losing in the previous match against Leverkusen in the Bundesliga. It could be that Bayern Minich has a bit of a problem with mental confidence. remember, several Bayern Munich players did not play optimally. One of them, Kane, is usually the mainstay when it comes to scoring goals. Raphael Guerreiro, who has only been used as the main starter twice so far in the Champions League.
even in the Bundesliga, he tends to play as a cover player. plus, Dayot Upamecamo was given a red card. the point is, Tomas Tuchel's team is not playing as it should, especially Kane as the goal machine that Tuchel hopes for. unfortunately, Bayern were awarded a penalty in the 69th minute. after that, no goals were scored by either team. after that, Bayern had a bad match in the Bundesliga against Bochum, which they lost with a score of 3-2. in the match against Leipzig, Bayern were able to return to their winning ways even though they had to work hard to get it.

Well, in the second leg, I'm sure Bayern will destroy Lazio at the Allianz Arena, home of The Bavarians. especially if we refer to the odds currently available, Bayern with @1.34. while Laizio, with odds @8.80. It is very likely that in the second leg match, Lazio will be more likely to play defensively. so, Thomas Tuchel's team must beat Lazio with an aggregate of more than 2 goals if they want to be safe and qualify for the next phase of the match. in fact, I still have confidence that Bayern Munich can do it. For the next match, we can discuss another day. Most importantly, Bayern must first prove that they won the match in the second leg. well, let's wait and watch.

I don't think the risk is too high to choose Arsenal to win the match. I don't think Arsenal lost at home even though Porto had 1 goal in hand from the first leg. Arsenal are in their best form so far, but in the first leg they were really unlucky.

The second leg will be a decision that makes Arsenal have to work hard. The match might be fierce and less balanced if Porto focus on defending, but this is an opportunity that Arsenal can take advantage of, especially to press higher. Arteta must formulate the right strategy for this match, but his focus now is on winning the next two matches against Sheffield and Brentford.