Topic: UEFA Champions League 2024/25 Season - page 159. (Read 35768 times)

Girona didn't actually flop, in as much as they made the top4 and came to the champions league, it is good a result. I wasn't expecting them to win the Laliga but I expected them to make the top 4 which they made and that was fantastic.

Also, I am no only expecting to see how Girona will fare in the champions League, I am more concerned about Bayern Leverkusen of Germany. Honestly, Alonso and his boys need to show some class in the champions league this season. It's a tough expectation for Xavi Alonso both in local league and Champions league.

It would be a miracle if they make it to the RO16, yes they had a fantastic season in Laliga 23/24, but the CL is something completely different and there is no way Girona can compete with the quality of teams in the CL. Remember how Newcastle came into last season's CL with a lot of promise, but failed to make it past the group stage, so all Girona can do is have as much fun as they can playing their brand of football, because their stay in the CL will be short.

I look forward to actually seeing  again good performance from Girona with their last performance in Laliga, they should probably channel such energy in the upcoming UCL, although  it didn't  last much as expected but they really did a great job standing tall in the last laliga which is such a good performance IMO neglecting their flopps because I knew it will be hard for them to keep up in the first place, can't say Bolonga too probably because I'm not familiar to watching their games

Bologna with the transition where their new coach after Motta left of course this will make the situation different because with the new coach it could be that his performance is not as good as before because after all, different coaches are definitely different from the way they play.

For Girona too, they still haven't experienced a busy schedule because this is their first time in the Champions League so when they can't adapt and organize rotations well, their performance could be different between last season and next season.
Moreover, some of their core players next season are certain to leave such as Savio who is definitely going to Manchester City and Aleix Garcia who is going to Leverkusen, it will definitely make the midfield of Girona a little different.
The expectation remains the same where they remain as surprising as last season but when they can't deal with the pressure then it would be better for them to only focus on one competition.

I don't know about Bologna, but as for Girona I'm sure they will perform well, at the beginning of last season they were performing very well in their domestic league and even towards the middle of the season, at some point they were even at the top of the table in the Spanish la Liga for a while before Madrid took over the mantle. so I think they have the temperament and the composure to chat a new course in this their champions League journey. If Girona continue the way they played last season, then they are a team to watch out for.

Personally I like Fenerbahçe team. But Fenerbahçe is unable to dominate the Super Lig despite building a strong squad in the last few seasons. Fenerbahçe has fielded a title-winning squad every season. But could not hold the top spot in the table at the end of the season.

This is why Fenerbahçe management has appointed an experienced coach like Mourinho. And I would say it was a very good decision by Fenerbahçe management. Fenerbahçe players performed well against FC Lugano. It is expected that Mourinho will be able to gradually build this squad stronger. Fenerbahçe's defense still has some weaknesses. Fenerbahçe's defense needs to be strengthened before the start of the season. Mourinho should start working on Fenerbahçe's defence.

Only on this one? Do you think of placing a big amount of money? That would also be pretty risky though.    I think it would be better to add a few more games to increase the odds to at least 3-4 but it is your choice of course.

I believe Fenerbahçe are going to win once again. This time I expect a more comfortable win honestly. The reason why it ended 4-3 in the 1st leg was that they weren't fully ready for new season yet. I guess they would get better now.

I have also checked the second leg games to see if it makes sense to bet again. The odds are just too low I'm afraid... Maybe I would take some risks by adding 4-5 games anyway.

Each club has their own goals when participating on the UCL, and while some of them have as a goal to win it all, as it is the case of Real Madrid and a few other teams, there are other clubs which goal is nothing more than to participate and make the best impression they can, as in this way they can sell the players currently playing for them for a better price and improve their finances on this way, which is not really a bad move when you think about it.

Lugano will prefer a defensive style of play. The earlier Fenerbahçe unlocks this lock, the more goals they will score, but if they cannot score in the first half, they may see dangerous positions in their goal with counterattacks in the second half. To be honest, I also expect a Fenerbahçe victory with at least three goals in this match. Fenerbahçe was the team that was much superior in terms of football in the first match. I am sure that they will not give up the advantage in this match either.

They scored four goals in the first match, but they also conceded three. I don't think Jose Mourinho is happy with this situation. Lugano is a team that is not at Fenerbahçe's level. There should be a big difference in quality between the two teams. However, when we look at it, we see Fenerbahçe conceding 3 goals from its opponent. Of course, Fenerbahçe has the advantage since tomorrow's match will be at home, they will be able to pass this stage. However, if they pass this round, their opponent will be Lille, and beating them may not be as easy as Lugano.

It is still possible to happen even the chances are quite high for Fenerbahce to win for the second leg this time because besides they are superior on aggregate, they will also play home. In addition, they are still favorites because the level difference is still there and Fenerbahce is still above Lugano, it's just that in terms of performance it looks like Mou should try to change some schemes so that the match goes well.

Their attack line is quite good for now especially with Dzeko who does have good experience so indeed this can be a pretty good weapon for Fenerbahce. but a good attack line is inversely proportional to the midfield and defense that is less solid where their chemistry is still quite weak.
This must be fixed and of course Mou must have realized that so for tomorrow's match with odds of 1.27 it seems that it will not be in vain even though the bet is quite small.

The odds are in and it would be a miracle if Fenerbahçe doesn't win against Lugano. I expect Fenerbahce to score at least 2 goals and at most 4. I think Mourinho, who will shower the fans with goals this season, will be appreciated with his goal-oriented football while playing less with the ball. I expect that we will see 2-3 goals against Lugano even in the first half.

I think a lot of people initially did not take these teams as something serious in the Champions League, obviously they are teams that will get into such a competition once in a decade, if not more. So for them to perform in the group stage is already worthy, and if they suddenly get to 1/8, it will be a real success for them

The problem with smaller pool is that you are getting the same teams over and over again, with a bigger pool you are going to get some new names, and these clubs will get a lot of money to be there, something like 20-30 million euro per year, and while they won't be there every single year, when they are, that money could go to paying for salaries and new facilities or even getting better players.

That means they can get better, a 30 million is nothing for City or Madrid, but could be huge for some Greek team or some Turkish team or Cyprus or Israel etc etc, even Copenhagen last year did so well in the group stages could use 30 million because it's huge for them.

So think about how some nations may sound like rich nations, but they do not spend much money on football, hence we need to make sure that these teams get some money too. They may not look like they are awesome now, but if they keep getting in, and getting paid, eventually they can grow to be a better team, with right amount of support from fans as well, a team could grow from nearly nothing, to something greater. This is why I believe that increasing the pool is very important, allows more teams to have a better future ahead.

In the domestic competition last season, they have indeed changed because their performance improved quite well but that does not mean that this season they are doing the same thing because it is precisely the pressure of this season that will make them more stressed than before given the great expectations and of course with last season's comparison so well that they must try to do the same performance.

This is definitely not an easy thing because after all, this is a test for Girona or Bologna considering they have to prepare with additional portions that are quite different where their schedule is denser than before. For Bologna, it's undeniable that they thrived under Motta last season, so they'll have to prepare for when he leaves with a new coach and a lot of pressure.
Hopefully they don't fall far because they can't compensate for the tight schedule they have by exporting the players to play harder than before.

I honestly don't see any chance for Girona in the European Champions League. They may have had a good campaign in La Liga, but that was because Barcelona is shit and Atlético Madrid, along with Real Sociedad, are also doing very well. To add to that, Betis and Sevilla were also very bad. The teams I listed were the ones that constantly finished at the top and last season they weren't doing well. So Girona, which did well, managed to finish in a good position. But in the European Champions League they will play against teams that are much better than the ones I listed. That's why I believe Girona won't go through to the next round.

About Bologna, they changed coach. With the old coach, they played better in defense and conceded few goals, but they also didn't score many goals. This strategy allowed them to finish in a good position in Serie A. But I very much doubt that with a new coach they will have the same strategy. In the European Champions League, they will play against very strong teams. I think that Bologna will not advance to another phase, they will only give points to the strong teams

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I'm thinking of betting on Fenerbahce to win



but it has low odds, I also see it as risky to bet on the over or under goals market, in the both teams score market it has good odds, but I also see it as a bit risky, Fenerbahce did not show good defense in the first leg game and made serious mistakes, while the attack is good, I will probably bet that both teams score

Mourinho is also aware of how fragile the defense is, he will change three players in the first 11, these players are defenders, I believe that Mourinho has done the necessary precautions and work. Fenerbahçe will have less difficulty compared to the first match, and they are currently the home team.

The Lugano team was ready because their season started, so they made Fenerbahçe very difficult in the first match. Fenerbahçe will be much more comfortable in Kadıköy and will be able to read the opponent's game. I definitely expect the defense line to be much better with the atmosphere and changes.

The result from the second leg is gonna be a bit easy to predict. It's easy to believe Fenerbahce will destroy Lugano. They host the second leg. I trust Mourinho's club will win it.

Again, it's also worthy to bet on the 1x2 or even take a club that will qualify for the further stage. I have bet on Fenerbahçe. They played badly in the first leg, but they scored 4 goals and still won the game.

I think Jose knows Fenerbahçe's defense was terrible in the first leg. They gifted Lugano three goals. I hope in the second leg, Fenerbahçe's defensive line is going to improve a lot.

Fenerbahce defend like amateurs in the first leg, but i hope they will not repeat it soon.

This is also my parlay for the second leg.

One thing about this small clubs that we need to understand is that they do not have the finances to actually maintain this high level of football, after every fairy tale season they fall off because of player sales, this sales are something I can’t blame them for, it’s either they cash in big on the player or they risk keeping them and later losing them on a low amount. Also keeping this players is usually against the players wishes because most of them usually have the clubs of their dreams and when does clubs come for them they simply want to go, even if it means playing in the lower European competitions like the Europa league or conference league and this smaller clubs usually respect their wishes which is the best thing to do

The only time you can keep the high level performance of this teams is only when they have a very rich sponsors or owners that can run the club very well if not it is not usually possible. Take a look at the Leicester City side that won the Premier League, they tried to keep their players but in the end they still couldn’t keep them, because most of the players wanted the big club move. This same thing that happens with clubs having same story. So Girona and Bologna should just look for a way to manage the resources they have now and just motivate the remaining players to give their all and that’s it

Girona, excellent season last year, true Cinderella story, entering the Champions League. This ain't La Liga anymore. Deeper squads, more experience, and a heck of a lot more resources mean you are fighting against seasoned veterans

Look at Union; they are an excellent example of what occurs when one overdoes. They made it to the Champions League, fantastic, but now they find it difficult to maintain in their home league since they simply lack the depth

Girona must thus really hit the transfer market. Get some reinforcements in there; keep Dovbyk; he is your star player; don't let him go. Your squad will be eaten alive in the Champions League if you fail to improve it. And also guess what? That would influence your performance in La Liga as well