Topic: UEFA Champions League 2023/24 Season - page 644. (Read 141787 times)

We agree, in fact I have submitted on many occasions a review of Manchester City. although it is possible, my point of view about City is not correct or is only based on personal assumptions. but in fact, in every match Pep always rotates several of his players, and Pep often doesn't hesitate to change several patterns. I really don't understand what he actually expected. however, it could be that he prepared his team more for this competition than the Premier League. well, we can refer to the Club World Cup match they played. this match was the first time I saw Pep apply the 3-5-2 pattern. a little strange and confusing, even made me laugh, Bernardo Silva and Mathues Nunes were paired as a sticker. I think Pep really likes experimenting with ideas that are difficult for us to understand.

The good news is, a breath of fresh air is blowing towards Manchester City. their mainstay midfielder, Kevin De Bruyne, is currently recovering from his injury. reportedly, De Bruyne has returned to training, reported by The Daily Mail. although in fact, I doubt the validity of the report. however, so far, there have been many rumors that Bruyne will soon recover from his injury. to be sure, we'll just see the exact news from City or the coach. and if that is true, what is certain is that Bruyne will need to readjust after months of absence. he will start playing more from the bench. but at least when the player returns to the main squad, Pep can apply his flagship pattern, namely 3-2-4-1. and that will be a frightening threat for the teams that will be City's opponents in this competition. there are no other words, I still have the point of view that City's probability is high enough to defend their title for the second time.

It could be that Manchester city and Real madrid will meet earlier, either in the last 8 or in the last 4. I think these two teams are of course quite strong in the Champions League this season but you also don't forget that Bayern Munich are very strong this season. With the depth of Bayern Munich squad this season, I think they will be able to reach the final and even become champions this season. I doubt Manchester City can defend the title this season because they experienced big problems in several matches in the domestic league which could have a bad impact on them in the Champions League this season.

Bellingham could make big history if he succeeds in bringing Real Madrid to win the Champions League this season because in his first season with Real Madrid, Jude Bellingham immediately became an idol for the fans because he always contributed greatly to every match by scoring goals. Even Haaland and Harry Kane will both work hard in every match to bring their team to go far in the Champions League this season. The strongest candidates are still held by Real Madrid, Manchester City and Bayern Munich as well as one of the Serie A representatives, namely Inter Milan.

We have clubs that will enter key rounds, no doubts about these clubs. You seem to be too sure about a specific club lifting the UCL trophy this season. Whereas I'm contemplating on Real Madrid coming out to be a promising club and won't relent in achieving major goals this season. Real Madrid is the only promising Spanish club that have great potentials of reach the UCL final this season. They have all the quality players this season and a genius as headcoach, Carlo Ancelotti to ginger his players to enter key rounds in the UCL competition.

I agree with you because this is UCL as every team will want to try their possible best to make a difference in the UCL and all these clubs that are being underrated as small clubs can perform Wonders just as a mediocre club like Copenhagen held Bayern Munich to a draw during their group stage matches so there might actually be a surprise in this knockout stages because the teams we least expected to qualify to the next round might actually be the ones to qualify so anything can happen.

For now I only think that Real Madrid could get to the Champions League final this season, while another team might be Inter Milan because Inter Milan is also extraordinary this season even though they didn't win their own group. So I am more confident that it will be Inter Milan and Real Madrid who reach the final, but if one of them falls first, I think Real Madrid will definitely survive until the final this season.

Remember the first rule, don't 100% believe in Arsenal because they are not a team with a good winning mentality so far. Arsenal has not won the Champions League title so far even though Arsenal has 13 Premier League titles in the club's history. After all, Arteta does not have the experience to win the Champions League title as a coach, which is different from Pep Guardiola, Ancelotti, Thomas Tuchel and Luis Enrique.

I tend to believe Ancelotti, Tuchel, Luis Enrique or Pep Guardiola are still capable of taking their team to the Champions League final this season. They have experience and have achieved it, so indirectly any coach who currently does not have experience of winning a title will most likely not have a great chance of achieving it.

Borussia Dortmund taking on PSV in the UCL round of sixteen is another game actually anticipate the thrill that will be accompanied by this game because both teams are looking like they will be tough on each other, PSV in their domestic league is at the top of the table and are doing so well, they have a very good point difference ahead of the other teams behind them.

PSV is definitely not a weak side as compared to borussia Dortmund, I could consider they a good or fair contender, recalling back to their group stage performance, PSV literally looked like they escaped been relegated to Europa  because they were just a point ahead of lens and four points behind Arsenal leaving them at the second position in their group standings, meanwhile Dortmund finished top of their group with three points ahead winning three matches a d drew two so obviously they are by statistics matching in strength in some ways, so I think by champion league standard they are both average teams. The game is going to be such that we can expect any result been sure of the winner may turn out difficult.

Yes, Spanish teams really tried, and they dominated the group stage, only Sevilla was eliminated out of the Champions League, but the remaining four teams are still intact in the knockout stage even though due to the draw some of them might not go above this stage especially Real Sociedad and Atletico Madrid due to hoe tough the opponents are.

Manchester and Real Madrid are actually the favorites again this season, but I don't the two of them are too good enough to be finalist this season like they do last season, because so many teams are trying their best to win the Champions League, and as a team, some of them are playing well more than these two teams; all I know is that, this season will come with some surprises.

Who knows, Arsenal could win the UCL this season, it would certainly be a surprise and break everyone arguments regarding their favorite team. This does not rule out the possibility because sometimes luck favors what we want, so that Arteta and his fleet can achieve success that we never imagined before. In terms of attributes, Arsenal has the bargaining power to compete and beat any team, the proof is that we have also seen that the Gunners were able to beat the defending UCL champions as well as the defending EPL champions yesterday in domestic competition.

It's different in the UCL, Arteta needs to instill a winning mentality in his squad, because most of them haven't experienced the UCL atmosphere and the pressure they will receive. Having relatively easy opponents in the knockout round can indeed give you great hope of advancing to the next round, but that doesn't mean you can underestimate Porto.

The ups and downs in a team performance is something we usually see. With the last 16 matches still long, all clubs have the same opportunity to improve their performance. Moreover, the transfer window is almost open, this could be a solution for teams who want to challenge for the UCL title this season, without a balanced squad it will certainly be very difficult to talk about the UCL trophy.

It is impossible to write off City in any competition, they are the best team in the world and even though they are not having their best moment now, you would not expect it to last long and City are going to bounce back sooner rather than later. City are missing a couple of players, especially KDB, i think City have missed him more than they thought they will, i know Julian Alvarez has played in the KDB role since the Belgian got injured, but he is not close to being as creative as KDB. When KDB returns, as well as the other players who are missing, Pep would have a complete team and can play in the best way he wants to.

The dominance of the Spain teams during this UCL has been surprising, with half of the groups being won by them, however the performance by Real Madrid seems to be a few steps ahead of the rest and only Manchester City was able to match it, so it seems to me both of those teams are the favorites to face each other on the final, unless they are really unlucky and they happen to face each other earlier on the competition due to the quarterfinal or the semifinal draw.

Things may change once Manchester City gets all its injured players back. De Bruyne and Haaland are likely to return in January or soon, as is Doku. When Manchester City displays its best squad, it will be difficult for any team to stop it in the Premier League or Champions League.

You can certainly doubt Manchester City in the Champions League, but Manchester City is a team that is much better equipped to advance to the quarter-finals than Copenhagen. Of course I am optimistic about this, even if Copenhagen manages to escape by beating Manchester City then in my opinion it will be a miracle that will never happen again in the next more seasons.

Real Madrid's champion mentality is what always pushes them. Real Madrid has been paired against Leipzig which I think they will win easily.

Real Madrid is consistent enough and they might win both the league and the champions league. I think the contenders for this time's UCL are Bayern Munich, Manchester City, and Real Madrid. I don't see Arsenal and Dortmund crossing the Semi-Final. Bayern Munich has that mentality and they are doing pretty good right now. Manchester City although they have been struggling recently, I believe they will come back. They had some players suffering from injury and if they come back from injury then the team will comeback. Bayern Munich had one of their best signings last summer. Harry Kane is the leading goalscorer currently in the Bundesliga. I think it will all come down to these 3 teams. I see a little chance in Barcelona as well.

Inter Milan and Atletico Madrid are scheduled to face off in the round of 16 of the UCL. Judging both teams, they're good in their leagues. Even though Inter are at the top of their league whilst Atletico aren't, both teams still have the capacity to make the game fierce for themselves. Both managers are good too and have got experiences too and their squad are good in their own separate ways.

 The game would be fierce, predicting a winner would be difficult and definitely both team odds are high. For their domestic leagues, Inter are still on top and there's not really much threats because they're able to subdue other teams even though the games are sometimes tough especially for Juventus following them closely, they've got a work to do to stay on top of they really want to lift the trophy. For Atletico, they've got 3 teams ahead, so their struggle will only be to finish in the top 3/4 spot because currently they've not gotten any glimpse at the trophy and I doubt that the teams ahead of them will give them the leisure.

That's right we will only see two clubs that are in the final and the others have to be eliminated, that's how it works and the rules. The round of 16 will start on 14 February 2024, which means that currently all contestants are completely focused on the domestic level. This is a good opportunity to hone and improve the abilities of each club before competing again in the knockout rounds later. The current priority scale is domestic competitions.

It would be lucky for a club if it had a complete set of players without any injuries before the round of 16 rolls around again, because that is a key factor in achieving victory and creating luck. Even if Madrid has a balanced squad, it will be difficult if they lose important players. I think this is the challenge for every coach in rotating his players.

I think Copenhagen has luck and makes it to the round of 16 in the Champions League. I hope Galatasaray makes it because Copenhagen cannot defeat Manchester City in the knockout stage because they lack the key players that Manchester City has and I am sure they will lose in the round of 16, but if Galatasaray makes it, I can give them hope that they can compete with Manchester City but they failed to qualify, I believe Copenhagen is a bonus match for Manchester City in the round of 16 because they are already 100% that they are in the round of 8 because Napoli are in good form this season and Barcelona are playing weak games in the league and I don't think if they continue like that they can perform against Napoli in the round 16 but I believe Xavi will buy some new players in the January transfer window to make the team stronger.

Arsenal will face Porto in the round 16 but I believe the match will be tough because Porto has experience playing in the Champions League and Arsenal will find it difficult to defeat them because Porto has won the Champions Leagues trophys before and if Arteta did not perform very well in can be knocked out in the round 16 in the competition is only Real Madrid, Manchester City, Dortmund, I believe they are 100% that have already qualified to round 8 in the competition because I no they will win there matches in the stage, PSG can also qualify, but Real Sociedad are performing well in the league and it will be difficult for PSG to defeat them because how psg are playing this seasons they are not perform well and he can affect them in the Champions League, and make real Sociedad to defeat them and all four Spanish clubs have qualified for the next round of the Champions League, and he can still be possible and qualify to round 8 again.

I do agree that Dortmund "looks" much better team there without a doubt. I am not saying that they will be the winners, but on paper they look like a much better team and if they play like they should then they should get an easy win, but we do not know how teams face each other as well, strengths and weaknesses are different stuff. In football, you can be a lower level team, but be very greatly matched with other teams strategy and just suddenly win a team that you are much worse again, or you could be the great team, that matched with a lower level team and just badly matched and lose, so you do not really know who will win and how they will face.

First game will show that easily, and second should be easier to predict the winner as well. That's not a bad move for all the games, UCL to europa to conference, let the first games happen, and then you can bet on the second game to see how they will do on the second game as well, much better idea.

Inconsistency do happen to clubs that record poor performance in matches, though it's promising to plan ahead. The round of 16 has begun; some clubs did not advance, while others did. Making it to the UCL final is not a simplistic assignment for these clubs because the road trip is fraught with obstacles, with some failing and others succeeding in the final stages. I've seen some of these great clubs become quite erratic in their game results, while others remained solid. Don't get carried away by these elite teams' outstanding forms; they can only be depicted as threats, and the most of them will be tossed from the league.

These drawings are really passable. The only two teams with formidable opponents are Barcelona versus Napoli and Inter Milan versus Atletico Madrid; these matches will be extremely difficult to predict because both teams are capable of defeating one another. Given Barcelona's poor season-long play and their upcoming matchup with Napoli, what do we think will happen? I did not mean that Napoli could beat Barcelona; rather, I meant that if Barcelona did not play well and with caution, Napoli would win because some Barcelona supporters are about to voice their displeasure.

Arsenal has a great chance to win the Champions League, and I believe they will succeed.The truth is that matches between Manchester City, PSG, Bayern Munich, and Real Madrid can all be predicted because they don't have formidable opponents. Although these teams occasionally work extremely hard to defeat well-known teams, I'm confident that Real Madrid, Manchester City, and Bayern Munich will prevail; the only team I can think of with which they might struggle is Dortmund versus PSV, who are also formidable opponents.

Copenhagen team is far behind Manchester City in comparison. Manchester City is a very strong team. Copenhagen, on the other hand, does not have any star players in its squad. The Manchester City team will definitely be ahead of the statistics. But I see no chance of underestimating the Copenhagen team. We saw Copenhagen's performance in the group stage. Copenhagen players were very confident and performed well against the mighty Bayern Munich. Copenhagen lost 2-1 at home against Munich. However, they managed to get 1 point in the away match. Copenhagen showed great dominance in the home match against Manchester United. This is why beating Copenhagen will not be an easy task for Manchester City.