Topic: UEFA Champions League 2023/24 Season - page 433. (Read 141787 times)

Before the first leg of the UEFA Champions League round of 16 tie between Napoli and Barcelona was played, I was of the opinion that Napoli were gonna eliminate Barcelona from the competition and qualify to play in the quarter finals but because they failed to beat Barcelona in the first leg of the tie at the Diego Armando Maradona stadium in Naples, winning the tie at Camp Nou I think will be very difficult for the Italian champions.

Barcelona who won the Spanish La Liga title last season without doubt have not been consistent this season nor have they been convincing with their performances but let's also not forget that Napoli who won the Italian Serie A title last season have been managed by three different managers already this season and that's because of the fact that they've also been very inconsistent in all competitions they're involved in this season. So because of the how well Barcelona plays when they're playing any home game in the UEFA Champions League, I think they'll beat Napoli when they meet for the second leg of the tie

I predict Napoli will be eliminated after the second leg match, I compared it to when Napoli played in the first leg, there was nothing special and they can only make 1 shot on target even though they were playing at home and the goal was lucky. I can't imagine what Napoli will do in the second leg match and Barcelona as the home team is certainly more aggressive than the first leg match, I'm a little doubtful that Napoli can score a goal.

Barcelona has been favored to win the game soon. Im feeling so damn good with the second leg to happen as campnou. It will boost the performance from the club and this will be very helpful for the club. Barcelona needs to make sure that if it will able to play better. Napoli is still performing so poorly in the serie a and i see no chance owned by this club to show better performance in the  UCL as well. The chance owned by napoli to get into the next round would be so damn smaller than before. The bad performance has made napoli has lesser chance to beat barceloana. Getting draw when playing away against barcelona is good achievement. this is making the situation even better than last season and im feeling barcelona is playing very well.
The club is showing that if barcelona tries so hard in making the situation even better coz club is really need money through keep playing in the UCL. This is the only best way owned by barcelona to farm more money caused by UCL gives club better income rather than domestic league.
So, xavi shall not miss an opportunity to make it happen. Im feeling very good to bet on barcelona caused by the chance to win the game is very high this time. Barcelona was not as good as it used to be but that's good enough for the club to perform better.

Napoli have not been the same since Luciano Spalleti left the club and position, alot of things have gone wrong and this is exactly the crucial scenario the president of Napoli, Aurelio De Laurentiis have been working on, appointing and sacking managers, he lacks patience and he will not achieved what he seeks in a hurry, everything needs gradual process. Napoli had a 1-1 draw tie against Barcelona in the first leg of UCL round of 16. They still have hope, atleast they're on draw points and they will target for a winning when they travel to Camp Nou next week.

I won't underestimate Napoli because they managed to draw the match at home. Their performance may not be as good in league games, but they are performing very well in the Champions League, and if they wish, they can eliminate Barcelona at this point because what Barcelona played against them will not be sufficient to hold them back and prevent them from progressing to the next round of the competition when they repeat the same in the day of the second leg. If I were to rate each of their performances this season, I would give them the same score, even though Barcelona is in a better position in the standings than Napoli. My score could be attributed to the competitive nature of each league which I feel that of Serie A is more harder to play in than that of La Liga.

It is this same overconfidence that killed Arsenal in the first leg. They underrated Porto. Underrating teams from other leagues is something premier league teams and fans have been known for. Arsenal really thought Porto would be a very easy match, a walk over and they were wrong.
Arsenal didn't play well, so I can't say they didn't deserve to lose. They had only one shot on target.

This is the same thing Arsenal fans think about the second leg. They feel because they're at home they would win the match. It is still not going to be an easy match for Arsenal. Arsenal still have a chance to qualify for the next round but they have to take their chances and not underrate Porto.

To be honest, Porto's recent victory over Arsenal was largely due to luck; Arsenal's performance flagged as the game was about to end, Otherwise I doubt they could have scored in that match, as Arsenal played with great intensity in both the first and second halves. Everyone had a hard time seeing a goal because they both thought the game was really challenging.

However, given how well Porto has played Arsenal at home, I don't think they can duplicate that performance in the second leg. That being said, even though Arsenal is formidable at home, Porto will undoubtedly find the match extremely challenging.

Napoli has a good chance to earn the quarterfinal vs this not so strong Barca.

With the change of the rule of the away goals, even with a 0-0 they can have a shot in the penalties.

Barcelona case is more severe of you ask me because this team hasn't been the same for almost two years now while Napoli on the other hand were just crowned champions of Italy and don't really know what went wrong but they seem to have spoiled everything and now with the new coach, if his system is good then Napoli can ignite that last season flare that gave them the serie A.

I saw two different games in two different halftimes to be honest. In the first half there is no doubt that Barcelona should have probably taken the lead by at least two goals. But when they had this single goal, I thought all the time that this could backfire as we should keep in mind that Napoli has its own Lewandowski who can score anytime and that is what Osimhen did. And when you see how the game went after that Napoli goal, I think if they won the game eventually it wouldn't even have been undeserved. They had their fair amount of chances and offensive pressure. That's Barcelona's biggest weakness. They play well, don't score and then concede goals.

Both team are having poor results in matches, but let's start from Barcelona, they're ranking 3rd position on La Liga table. Barcelona manager, Xavi Hernandez will leave at the end of the season, but he still have work to do with the present team. Napoli president, Aurelio De Laurentiis have sacked his current coach, Rudi Garcia and immediately replace him with Francesco Calzona. He have solid plans to execute for the club and he's busy implementing down more exploring ideas. Napoli and Barcelona are experiencing difficulty this season, none of these teams stand in solid spot to win.

Both teams are equally bad in terms of consistency, but Barcelona is certainly better than Napoli. As bad as Barcelona's performance is, they are still a team that has the possibility of qualifying for the Champions League next season. Currently Barcelona is in 3rd place in the La Liga standings and they also have the potential to take second place from Girona if Girona loses points in the next match.

Napoli are not very reliable in the Champions League and basically they are more likely to fail to qualify for the quarter-finals. I think Barcelona will qualify for the quarter-finals, they have a good performance to be underestimated.

We all know that City is a team that is quite a strong challenger in this competition. at the start of the group phase, Manchester City played very well even though they were not supported by several of their core players. in the away match against Copenhagen, City defeated the home team with a fairly large score. in the second leg, City's probability is very high to overthrow Copenhagen at the Etihad Stadium. so City is one of the strong contenders in this competition, especially since De Bruyne and Haaland have returned to the regular team. so it's natural if you say something like that. because Pep Guardiola's team has a chance for that. It's just that, in football there are many possibilities and interesting things. we can't say for sure which team will win this competition. there is a big possibility, as you said, that City will win this competition again. it could also be that City slipped when they met an unexpected team. in football, every possibility can happen. or, Madrid is able to overthrow City if they meet again. to be sure, we can't say for sure yet. because, so far what we have discussed is only based on assumptions and predictions. although in reality, both City and Real Madrid have the same probability of advancing to the final round of this competition. maybe, if there is a mediocre team that is unexpectedly able to qualify and overthrow City and Madrid. therefore, let's just follow what this competition will present each round after round until the final match. to me, that's more interesting.

Arsenal was very outstanding in that match but they were just unlucky not to have scored any goal in that game while the goal of FC Porto came at the final minutes when no one expected it which gave Arsenal no time to fight back to equalize the goal. Just more minutes in that game, I am sure of an equalizer from Arsenal because they were playing better football than Porto and FC Porto made use of their home advantage to punish Arsenal and didn’t allow them to get a ball through into their net. The returning leg is going to be a very interesting match and I feel Arsenal can win the game and advance to the quarterfinals of the competition than FC Porto will do. Arsenal just need to give in their best in the returning leg which will be played at the Emirates Stadium and am home advantage to them. I hope they don’t take the match lightly because if they do, FC Porto will win and qualify for the next round of the champions league.

Even with those problems, they managed to draw with Barcelona. I don't think Barcelona have any serious problems that prevent them from winning, at least they are playing better than Napoli. Napoli are awful this season, as their play shows, I'll be surprised if they go any further

I don't think it will be a very good plan if FC Porto is going to play more of defense in the returning leg again Arsenal at Emirate Stadium, the one goal victory that Porto got is not enough to see them progress to rhe next round this is because Arsenal will come all out with a lot of pressure to see if they can get an early goal then they will push attack but once they find it difficult to score they will fall back ro defend the one goal they have while they keep pushing to ensure they get a winner goal  even they it won't be an easy game for them.

FC Porto escaping with a lone goal in their home is impressive, kudos to them but I don't think they can repeat that when they visit Arsenal at Emirate in second leg.
Arsenal is stronger at home

A 1-goal aggregate is enough to secure their position and indeed defending the same as in the first leg is a strategy that is still very good for them to do but it will certainly be very difficult for them.
In the first leg we saw Arsenal's dominance was very good, it's just that they missed in the last minute of extra time which made them have to chase the aggregate that happened now but we know for the second leg they will play at their own home which sometimes emirates stadium is very haunted and it could be that Porto must be willing to lose a place.
I think it will be interesting because after all, Arsenal certainly don't want them to be eliminated when the opportunity they have been waiting for for several years waiting to play in the Champions League stops at this time.

Regardless of strategy, Porto only needs to end the match with a draw or win to qualify for the quarter-finals. However, it is unlikely that this plan will easily come true because Arsenal will try to maximize their home advantage to win the match. It is this away game that is the real challenge for Porto, even if they have 1 goal in hand, it is not much.

Arteta is likely to change his playing strategy after learning something in the first leg against Porto. He knows Porto is strong in defense, so Arteta will adjust his strategy to damage Porto's defensive dominance. Maybe it was too risky for Porto to use the bus parking strategy, it was not a very wise choice when they had a chance to play a little offensively.

Seem like whenever you check them meeting together, Arsenal has them way of returning to be winners of the second leg or the games they play at home. Gunner's can still go ahead to win the game two goals to nothing to finally cross into the next round of the tournament.

Arsenal would be cautious while attacking as they would be paying close attention to the midfielder's and the defenders otherwise if they attack too offensively they'll be exploited.
Mikel Arteta should learn all the available lessons right now. He needs a striker who has the abilities of shinning during Premier League games and Competitions and also the Champions League Competition.
Right now, Saka and Odegaard have not helped the te successfully in the Champions League Competition.