Topic: UEFA Champions League 2023/24 Season - page 535. (Read 141809 times)

I think that's just easier for a lot of people to say at the moment because the game hasn't started yet, but the opposite could happen because in the Champions League usually all the teams can perform brilliantly without anyone realizing it. So it would be a big mistake if PSG underestimated any opponent in the Champions League, especially since Real Sociedad is a team that can sometimes break the concentration of any opponent they face in important matches.

Yes defense is one of the problems faced by Barcelona at the moment, but they can't do much other than maximize the players they currently have. They don't have a lot of money to get new players and can improve their defense which is easily penetrated by opponents.
In terms of goal productivity, they don't have a problem, but it will be difficult for them to have a good goal productivity if their defense is fragile. The forward line will have to work harder to make up for that weakness.
It seems that some of the defensive players owned by Barcelona at this time have not found the right composition so that in the end they have weaknesses there.

This is the problem for Barcelona right now. When we compare their statistics to Real Madrid in the La Liga in the image above we can clearly see it. Barcelona tend to concede so many goals. This number was 20 in 38 matches in the La Liga in the previous season. But they have conceded more in 20 league matches already.

Napoli will have Osimhen back in the squad earlier before the 1st leg of the CL draw against Barcelona. Because even if Nigeria play in the finale of AFCON it is still on February 11th. When Napoli have him back I think they will really have a good chance to eliminate Barcelona. 

It was the worst period experienced by Barcelona and they were one of the teams that conceded the most goals in all competitions. The results were very disappointing and fans did not expect their favorite team to be this weak this season. Other bad results are still unknown in the champions league and if you look at their previous performance it is possible that the results will be the same.

Playing against Napoli is not what they really want and even though Napoli is almost as volatile as Barcelona, there is a possibility that Barcelona will be eliminated in the round of 16. If that happens then Xavi has failed as Barcelona coach this season and imagine that in all competitions the results will not be optimal at all. It is possible that Laporta will make an emergency decision if Barcelona are eliminated in the Champions League and that will be the end of Xavi Hernandez's journey.

Seeing Barcelona's performance which tends to be less stable, it seems normal that Barcelona is not a favorite in the UCL because the competition is quite tough, while the performance of rivals such as Real Madrid, Man City and Munich is more impressive than Barcelona, so at least Barcelona must appear impressive. in Laliga, winning continuously so that you can appear confident in the UCL.
Yes, I heard rumors that Xavi was threatened with being fired because of Barcelona's current performance. But it doesn't seem like it would be easy for Barcelona to fire the coach, at least wait until the end of the season so that the coach's dismissal doesn't have a big impact on the team.

let's say yes great advantage and shameless luck
at the moment Napoli is facing a big internal crisis, I don't see them as a team that can easily compete in the Champions League, so I'm betting on their exit soon
UNFORTUNATELY obviously, I'm not happy about this

I admit that it is a big advantage for Barcelona to meet Napoli in the round of 16 because Napoli is also in a bad situation like Barcelona so the percentage of these two teams to qualify for the round of 8 is still wide open.

Barcelona's performance this season is quite bad indeed and there is no possibility whatsoever for them to win the title this season, in the domestic league alone they can't get the title let alone the Champions League, I wouldn't be surprised if Barcelona won't go far in the UCL this season because It's indeed worth it, with their current performance it's only luck to meet teams that are having problems or under performance that has allowed Barelona to get this far.

Can you imagine a team losing two simple competition in the same month to grab Champions League title from teams like Manchester City or the others!
Barcelona lost Supercopa de Espana earlier this month against Real Madrid by three goals difference then lost against Athletic Bilbao by two goals difference in Copa del Rey. They are way away from their normal performance and barely keeping up good results in La Liga. They are lucky to face a fluctuating team like Napoli in the next round, otherwise you can imagine them being kicked along with Xavi, but it would be really sad if Napoli is the one kicking them from UEFA Champions League!

Barcelona can never be the favorite for the Champions League with the current situation they have in this team. Barcelona lost many points in La Liga and they lost the games they could easily win, on the other hand there many injured players in this team and that's why Barcelona is not in good form.
Even their coach, Xavi is about to get fired from the team if they continue their bad performance.
 

Although PSG is more experienced than the Real Sociedad but that does not mean that they must win the match, besides if you check their last games with Dortmund and Newcastle both of which they draw in the matches. Those two matches or at least I was expecting a win with Newcastle since Dortmund is as hot and strong right now.

But this also goes to talk about how one cannot be over confident about the performance or outcome of the match. Every club wants to make history this season of champions league and Real Sociedad as PSG to win the match. What will determine their success will be the experience or the confidence that will be built in their players and formation on that day.

PSG will try to use the experience they have which includes the chemistry of players they in their squad but Real Sociedad will try to rely on the confidence instilled on the players by the manager and the club's management. 14th of February is the day.

Barcelona will hardly get to the semi finals and finals given by the current level of performance they've had. Their last two games were not really impressive with the way they poorly won over Porto and how they failed to win their second leg with the Antwerp which happens to be their last match so far.

Unlike Antwerp, Napoli is a very strong club to contend with and they have to do extra efforts to secure a win for themselves. I know this as a very tough match but Napoli also have the chance to win this match if they put in more efforts with the current squad. Napoli should try and bring Osimhen back to the pitch on the day so he can help them secure goals.

And that PSG gains a lot from their dominance in Ligue 1 or from their “experience” in the Champions League? For the second year in a row, they cannot even win their group, losing to outsiders (last year to Benfica, and this year to Dortmund). Of course, Sociedad is the underdog in this pair, but as I wrote above, they have extensive and regular experience of playing as an underdog against top teams and I don’t think that these games will be a walk in the park for PSG.

There is no doubt about PSG being one of the best clubs in Europe. In fact, PSG's squad has always been one of the best. In fact, since the Neymar era and then the arrival of Messi and Mbappe, PSG has become even better in terms of squad composition. It's just that a good squad doesn't actually become the strongest club. Because as we know, every season PSG always fails to go further. And now the star players have started to leave PSG. Mbappe is one of those who is still staying but it is reported that he will also leave after his contract expires at the end of this season. Unless PSG succeeds in persuading Mbappe to sign a new contract.

But for the match against Real Sociedad it shouldn't be too difficult for PSG to win the round of 16 and qualify for the next stage. And until now PSG have never lifted the UCL trophy so it would be great if this season they can get it. Even though the possibility is small. Because Real Madrid and Man City currently still have a better chance of fighting for the trophy this season. But in football surprises have become commonplace, haven't they?

Last season Barcelona's performance was still quite impressive and they were able to win the domestic league title and this season Barcelona's performance has actually decreased and not improved, and I really agree with what you said if Xavi Hernandez is a good coach and he is actually very suitable to be Barcelona coach considering he is a former Barcelona player so he already understands how to adapt to the Barcelona players and how to find a style of game that suits Barcelona's play. In my opinion, everything Barcelona is experiencing right now is not only Xavi's fault but the management who do not provide financial support So Xavi can't do much about changing coaches, it would be the same if the management didn't provide financial support for coaches to build the performance of all the players.

In the match against Napoli, I'm sure Barcelona can win it and qualify for the quarter-finals. Honestly, I'm not sure Barcelona can advance to the final or semifinals if you look at Barcelona's current poor performance, so I think Barcelona will definitely focus a little in the La Liga match to overtake Girona and Real Madrid.

Yes, experience does not always provide a guarantee, but with a lot of experience a club can have a greater chance of qualifying for the next round and Real Sociedad will face PSG and maybe PSG will be the favorite in that match.
But there is no guarantee that PSG will progress to the next round because every season there are always surprises that are difficult to predict.
I admit that PSG is currently one of the best clubs, but we'll see if what I say comes true.
Against Real Sociedad not easy because Real Sociedad really has quality players and often has experience in the Champions League.
But long as PSG has weakness against Real Sociedad, I'm sure PSG can beat it and qualify for the next round, but if I guess the first match, Real Sociedad will score 1 score and PSG will score 2 scores.

Since the start of this season, Barcelona's performance has been quite bad and even worse than last season, but I don't think that the issue of Xavi Hernandez's dismissal is true because I think Xavi Hernandez is a good coach and what Barcelona is currently experiencing is not entirely his fault. In fact, Barcelona's management must be blamed because they were unable to stabilize the club's finances so they could bring in quality players.

In the round of 16 against Napoli, I think Barcelona's chances of qualifying are still quite big because on the other hand, the Napoli team is also experiencing performance problems this season, but to go further and compete for the title this season, I really doubt Barcelona this season.

Currently, Barcelona performance in La Liga and Copa del Rey not enough impressive and conceded goals evert match, eliminating from Copa del Rey after losing from Athletic Bilbao and how weakness defensive of Barcelona conceded 4 goals. Inconsistent performance made Xavi Hernandez not secure with his position and any rumor get potential sack from Barcelona manager exactly crucial losses in Copa del Rey from Athletic Bilbao.

In 16 of Champion League round, Barcelona will away first leg against Napoli and current bad record against Serie A teams give bad dreaming for Barcelona will impressive performance on first leg or not? Since become the UEFA Champion League winner season 2015/16, Barcelona never have good achievement lead until final round, last two season in a row failed qualify to 16 round and its first time for Xavi Hernandez made Barcelona lead to knock out round, for the final I doubt has inconsistency performance will be easy for Barcelona will get one place in the final round.

Barcelona deserved no spot as a favorite team to win UCL buddy, it has been performing so poorly and it must be out from UCL as soon as possible. UCL was only for best of the best and im sure that intermilan will be replacing arsenal to be the strongest team to win UCL this season. im shocked to see you said that about barcelona but in reality was saying the opposite thing if barcelona's performance was relly poor. Barcelona was still playing in the UCL caused by it has gotten the easiest route compared to the other club.

The thing will be going even harder for barcelona once the club will able to go to the further stage. Barcelona has not yet got a strong club as its opponent and you must also be aware how barcelona had a bad performance in the domestic league and competition as well.
There is no strong point in putting barcelona as the most favorite club to win the UCL this season. Barcelona is still playing so badly this time and i think that the club can leave from there anytime.

It's so crazy to put a weak team like barcelona to be the favorite club to get UCL trophy this season. Barcelona's performance was not even better compared to the sociedad and PSG.

League experience is not sufficient for any team to have the final victory in this matchup. The atmosphere of playing in the champions league is different from what we see in the league games irrespective of the league they’re playing from. PSG have the experience of the champions league and have been dominant in Ligue 1 back to back yearly. Real Soceidad on the other hand have no much prior experience of the champions league than PSG, so also, they can’t say to be the most dominant in La Liga even though they finished in the top four last season. I will be much reserved in the outcome of this match but will all facts on ground, PSG are the best team to win this match in both legs they’re going to be playing.

Xavi has played a very good role to date but indeed the problems that occur for Barcelona now cannot be completely blamed on Xavi because after all, we must be aware of the more complicated problems within them at this time.
Player injury problems and financial difficulties are still a barrier to Xavi being able to develop their current squad in a better direction so seeing this is actually somewhat inappropriate if we only blame Xavi for the difficulties Barcelona is experiencing now.
The situation that Xavi is currently experiencing is the same as what happened to Allegri at Juventus last season because in my opinion internal problems like this will not be solved only by a coach but club management also takes part and is responsible for solving club problems so that their performance in the game becomes more directed in the end.

Xavi is trying his possible best for the team,he made them win the Lalliga tittle,and they also qualified for the Champions league this season,Yes,their performance dropped a little,but you don't have to blame the coach,the players are to be blamed because in most of the matches they play,they miss alot of chances which later hurts them,because in football,if you aren't able to take your chances when you get them,times coming in that game when those chances will not come again,and pressure from your opponent will make you make mistakes,and before you know it,you've lose.
Another problem Barca have currently is their striker, Lewandowski,he is no longer scoring as he used to,and this is really making them lose matches.