Topic: UEFA Champions League 2023/24 Season - page 637. (Read 141787 times)

I think that Barcelona just now look a bit worse than Napoli in terms of their physicality, so you can make even a slight bias in favour of a Napoli win. But since there will be two matches, it's hard to say exactly how the 1/8 will end. Both teams know how to get back on track

Squad depth and experience tend to give Barcelona an edge over Napoli in the Champions League, but the teams' performances this season have been relatively similar in their respective domestic leagues. I hope that Barcelona will be able to qualify for the quarter-finals this season by beating Napoli, even if Barcelona fails to reach the semi-finals then Xavi will actually have brought the team up two levels from previous seasons in the Champions League. Of course I don't consider Barcelona capable of getting to the final and winning the title, that seems unlikely.

Napoli was the home team in the first leg, so it is possible that they could perform better than Barcelona. I don't think we can analyze what their chances will be in this match, I mean there are several things that might change it, including the availability of players in the starting line-up.

Both Napoli and Barcelona are not enjoying a good form so far in their domestic leagues,they have a lot of oscillations and they are quite volatile as teams who were Champions just the last year in their domestic leagues,as such I predict a strong game between these two teams as most likely both will give a really high priority to this clash.

The Atletico vs Inter game is a strong one as both teams are in red hot form with Inter being a bit better in my opinion but still Atletico is there too so this for me is the most interesting encounter and of course the strongest of all other encounters which look easy on paper for most teams.

Arsenal, has been my discussion in the previous two threads. now I discuss it again in the Champions League thread. I agree with what you said for Arsenal, and it will not be an easy matter for the Gunners to beat Porto in the next match. in fact, my question is whether Arsenal will be able to win when they visit Porto. because the first leg will be held at the Estadio do Dragao. if they are able to appear impressive, without mental pressure, the Gunners should be able to do their job well. because this match is an away match for Arsenal. so, there was no choice but to win the battle at Porto's headquarters. for the second leg, the Gunners played in front of their own supporters. as an Arsenal supporter, I don't worry too much when they play at home. and referring to betting bookies, Arsenal is indeed superior. there are no other words, as an Arsenal fan I wish them the best they can do in this competition.

Now, we are talking Napoli vs Barcelona. coincidentally, Barcelona and Arsenal are my two favorite teams. of course, I have high hopes if Xavi is able to bring his squad to appear much more established and solid. not because Barcelona is the defending La Liga champion, neither is Napoli in Serie A. these two teams can currently be said to be in an unstable condition. that's why, the bookmaker puts the odds equal to @2.55. even though it is still temporary, it means that it can be said that the two teams are equal opponents. however, Xavi should be able to manage his team better. because in terms of strength, Barcelona has much better depth. although, Gavi was absent due to injury. but at least, it looks like Barcelona has some newcomers. one of them, Vitor Reque wonderkid from Brazil. I know, this player will not immediately shine. but at least, there is additional ammunition that Xavi can use when their front line players have difficulty scoring goals. well, because this match still has quite a long time. let's just follow developments regarding the teams entering the round of 16.

Napoli are far from the good football they played last season, but they are still not that bad. In big matches, some teams may perform unexpectedly well. Also, Barcelona is not a very good team right now. So it is very difficult to make predictions for this match and it is difficult to say who will win the match.

My favorite in the Atletico Madrid-Inter match is Inter. Atletico Madrid is not a weak team, but I can say that Inter is more dominant. Football is full of surprises and we cannot know the exact outcome of the match, but I like Inter's game more than Atletico Madrid's game.

The only good news for Barcelona about this game is that Napoli is far from their best level from last season as well. I think this is a game where none of the teams is the favorite. Look at how close Barcelona was to ending the game against Almeria with a draw in their home stadium. That is quite unacceptable against a team like Almeria, but more is not possible for Barcelona these days. I also don't see them as a serious competitor for the title. That's all about Real Madrid and if they play a normal season, Barcelona won't be at the top ever this season.

Why don't expect for a surprise in this match?
Do you think Barcelona is still the same team as the previous season?
Although Barcelona could qualify for the knock-out round, it seems not very convincingly. They got 2 defeats during the group stage matches. Shakhtar Donetsk and Antwerp could beat Barcelona. So why Napoli has no chance to beat Barcelona? Although Napoli is no longer as strong as the last season, I'm sure Napoli still has enough quality players that can beat a top team like Barcelona.

TBH, I doubt if Atletico Madrid can beat Inter Milan. Inter Milan looks strong enough to defeat Atletico Madrid. Their stats in Serie A and in UCL look quite impressive. In UCL, Inter Milan won 3 matches and got 3 draws, they never got a lose. So, I think Inter Milan should be the favorite to win the match over Atletico Madrid.

Barcelona and Napoli aren't in the same form right now. In the beginning of the season, Napoli was staggering and trying to stay form but it wasn't later before they were able to build stamina in their domestic League, they are now good and there games so far is improving in every round but look at Barcelona, they were in good form in the begin of the season but right now if they should meet Napoli today, they are going to lose that match because are not in form.

Barcelona is trying to maintain their place in the domestic League where Girona is now the supreme leader on the standing but Napoli is trying to come back to the top and so far it is working for them, they only need to spice things up to break Barcelona into pieces. But if Barcelona later come back on form, there is every chance they can take down Napoli because there last game is giving me loss vibes when they have the chance to beat a small club for Coppa Italia.

Ancelotti positioned Bellingham like Kaka when he played for AC Milan, he put him as an Attacking Midfielder who also doubles as a false 9.
Initially, many people were surprised by that, but the fact is that now he is the most fertile Midfielder in the Champions League this season.

And it is effective in helping Real Madrid win every match, because Bellingham is almost never absent in all matches. But he has a high risk of injury due to fatigue.
In the upcoming transfer market, Madrid should buy a pure striker, so that they don't just rely on Bellingham.

It'll definitely be Barcelona progressing to the next stage of the game. I have gotten to look at them both and I have come to agreement that they're both in the same state but anyways, in the Champions League, you cannot overlook Barcelona, they a month and one week to fix things real quick and I'm sure that'll be definitely done.

Fixture between Inter Milan and Atletico Madrid gone be a blast. This is the same Inter Milan that got to the finals last season, dropping out so early? They've done that too much. Last season they scaled though. I be expecting same thing from them in this round. For Paris Saint Germany versus Real Sociedad, Luis Enrique is already experienced with Spanish clubs, you can already day they'll be exited.

When you look at the performance of this two teams, it is very obvious that they are on the same level now. Their individual performance in both leagues is just the same and nothing much can be said in their upcoming match against each other. One of this two teams will be eliminated from this round and won’t advance to the quarterfinals, the thought of it makes it more interesting to watch out for their match by next year when they meet in the round of 16.

Between Napoli and Barcelona currently, there's no much difference because both teams have flaws they're battling with. For Barcelona, they're not so grounded yet as there's a bit of shakiness and inconsistencies in their usual performances before now. They're now at a low leveled performance phase than they are normally known for.

 For Napoli, the team just got a new boss and so Mazarri is trying hard to implement strategies that best fits his team and would give them the required results. There are still weeks to the round of 16 games, so it's more chance given to both teams to improve themselves in their various league games and then be better prepared for the encounter in February, judging both teams, they've got same odds of qualification based on the current teams' technicality.

Was ist that Ancelotti used him intentionally as some kind of center forward or did Bellingham begin to interpret his role on the field differently and then it turned out how dangerous he is at scoring? I can't recall whether Ancelotti wanted him to play that way or whether he decided to go for it and then it went so well for him that Ancelotti gave him maximum freedom. But whatever the case was, every team can only wish for a player like Bellingham who is so strong in literally any position and movement on the pitch.

Barcelona performance is not good this season, even though I don’t know what they will play in the round 16 as the competition is going to be tough in this stage. However, the Barcelona and Napoli matches will be somehow unpredictable to me because both of them are not in good form, and we don’t know which team will dominate the game or the team that will be lucky to win that day. Although I think Napoli performance is quite better than Barcelona performance in the competition, you can see that the round 16 is going to be tough, so I think Napoli will do great.

As for Arsenal and Porto, I don’t really know, but I think Arsenal is doing a little bit well, so let's see how they perform when the day arrives, but I don’t think Porto will be able to win Arsenal.

Barcelona been more experienced in the champions league is and advantage they will be having over Napoli in their round of sixteen game, knowing how crucial this stage is for them if they must be able to get to semi finals, both teams will definitely put in every effort to making sure they win but then it's eminent that one team wins.

Napoli suffering in their domestic league could have an effect on their psychology and may affect their performance aswell, this will be the advantage Barcelona will have over Napoli aswell but then the home advantage is what Napoli has got over Barcelona. AthletiCo Madrid taking on inter Milan is another very interesting game that will be happening in the champions league round of sixteen because both team are actually strong and doing well aswell.

Very interesting. This season's Champions League top 16 matches will certainly present something exciting. In my opinion, in the big 16 matches that are eagerly awaited there will be surprises, including Napoli vs Barcelona, Inter Milan vs Atletico Madrid and PSV Eindhoven vs Borrussia Dortmund.

Interestingly, the Copenhagen vs Manchester City match will be a place to prove that the Danish representative can win over Manchester United. how about against Man City? If they can get rid of the defending champion, this will be an extraordinary achievement for Copenhagen.

Meanwhile, the Paris Saint-Germain vs Real Sociedad match will be even more exciting as well as being an event for two teams that have always only finished in the round of 16 in the last few seasons.

When it comes to the ranking then you have to put Barcelona before Napoli. They both might be having issues but I'd always bring Barcelona before Napoli. It's Football though, anything can happen the under dogs can become predators. Xavi Hernandez has been backed the management and he will gradually sort all of them issues.

Napoli lost my lost because they used the second or B team to play the Copa Italia few days ago. Top names like Victor Oshime and Khivicha Kvaratskhelia didn't play in the first half of the game they came too late and wasn't able to do nothing to comeback into the game. I don't like the plans of Walter Mazzari. He's experienced, I would love to see that happening in the Champions League. ( Dominating ) sikce they've been knocked out of the Copa Italia.

Borrusia Dortmund will greatly missed out on the player, he's such a young rare talents and he will become one of the best players in Santiago Bernabéu this season. With his presence, Real Madrid have developed 10x better than they were last season, good players brings positive speedy changes and Carlo Ancelotti is happy with his current squad that's bringing in the best results in matches. Jude Bellingham have contributed more valuable resources to Real Madrid this season and there's absolutely nothing wrong with the new signing.

We cannot really say that Barcelona are far better than Napoli.  They are struggling in the league and are dropping points here and there. They just struggled Yesterday against Almeria, which is the last team in the La Liga.

Barcelona's current form is not that great. Napoli's current form is also not that great either.  It is true that Barcelona has an edge, but Napoli are not going to give them win that easily. Barcelona's defense line and forwards really need some work.  Napoli suffered a big defeat against Frosinone as well.  Last season Barcelona beat Napoli  and Napoli would be hungry to get that revenge. It is anyone's game. And as I have said,  this is the Champions League and this brings the best out of everyone. So you cannot really say that Barcelona are going to get that win very easily.

Yes whenever I also thought like he would start to score less often he just continued to score goals like a real striker. He is really like a centre-forward rather than a midfielder recently.

Back at Dortmund he was even a central midfielder and he wasn't scoring this many goals in a season. But here Ancelotti started to use him as an attacking midfielder and even rarely as a centre-forward. Now he is making the biggest score contribution to Real Madrid.    He is in his first season maybe but he is already one of the most critical players of the team. Real Madrid would never like to let him go to another team.