Topic: UEFA Champions League 2024/25 Season - page 233. (Read 37168 times)

I'm even more surprised to hear this now that Kylian Mbappe disrespected Messi while they were still playing together at PSG because Messi is a very calm player that doesn't quarrel with any of his teammates even when he was playing at Barcelona and most of the time when a penalty is awarded to PSG Messi gives the ball to Mbappe to play the penalty so I'm so confused and even made some research to know if there was actually a time Mbappe disrespected Messi but I haven't seen any. I know Kylian Mbappe to be a proud player but that's simply because he is a good scorer and Messi is more of a play maker when he was in PSG.
The Trio of Neymar Jr, Kylian Mbappe and Lionel Messi not being able to win the UCL together was pure hard luck of the club and not that the players didn't give their best performance and now that Kylian Mbappe who has been the only strong force in the club have left PSG, I am just wondering how they would be able to cope in the UCL maybe they can even get eliminated in the group stage matches.

I think some of them are banter, some come from 'fans' who believe winning one cup means a season of failure, while the others come from an analysis of their spending. It's fair to demand or set a treble as your target, but they definitely to think again if sacking Pep or something similar is the answer. It doesn't help that recently there's a trend of demanding instant results even if your club doesn't spend as much as City. On the other hand, I do agree that this is probably a good time to focus more on UCL for City. There's no need to focus much on the local cups since they won a lot already. CMIIW.

I feel like the fact that they won treble a year before is good enough for them to be fair, doesn't mean that they are going to end up with something good again, we have seen them fail to win UCL this season, but they also got four in a row Premier League title this year, which is good enough for most clubs to be fair.

The expectations for Pep and Man City grew so much that them winning the title fourth year in a row and failing to win UCL only because they lost to Real Madrid at quarter finals somehow sounds like it is not good enough, but the reality is that we are talking a team that would consider to be a lot better so we should definitely not approach this like it is a big deal, we should consider this as a normal situation for sure.

That is a UEFA habit. Once they believe they have not received enough money, they change the format of the competition to make it even more complicated in the hopes of earning more revenue.



Good point, National teams will have valid reasons to complain to UEFA about the busy schedules of their players, but I highly doubt Caferrin will listen to complaints from national clubs. Alexandre Caferrin has ignored any complaints from coaches at major EU football clubs.
Despite receiving numerous complaints, Alexandre Caferrin is unlikely to change the format, and we may continue to use it for a decade or more.

If look at it in the last few seasons when Messi was still playing with PSG, he was indeed able to score several goals but his performance was not that good and he was still quite far behind Mbappe, from this it can be said that Messi presence did not affect anything.
Moreover, if Messi was great player and became PSG best recruit then we wouldn't see Messi leaving to play with Inter Miami, he is no longer star player who is able to bring his team to the title, I don't even think Messi can still be relied on.
If now he is still playing with European team, perhaps only domestic title can be obtained, for important titles such as the UCL there will also be lack because of over other younger players considering that currently European football is starting to be dominated by young players with potential.

Indeed, playing with Inter Miami was the right decision, he will not stand out when he experiences decline in performance and the competition there is not like in European competition.

Messi and Mbappe played together in PSG and there was never a time I heard them quarrelling or heard any rumours of them not having good time with each other or with one player always wanting to be the hero by scoring more goals than the other. Mbappe is more of a goal scorer than Messi to me, so if he scores more goals than Messi when they were at PSG, then ge was worth it at that time. Messi being a playmaker will always provide most of the assist than him scoring the most goals. PSG not winning the champions league when all this three stars where in the club made us to be surprised so much, but it defines what football is. You don’t just have the players and win the competition, you need to put in that extra effort to make it worthwhile and be successful for the title race.

Man City is a strong competitor for Real Madrid in UCL. Real Madrid always got difficulty to win against Man City because they have many top players and they played with good tactics. As long as Pep Guardiola remains the coach of Man City, I think Man City will be always one of the favorite teams to win UCL and be a tough opponent. But there is a rumor stated Guardiola won't extend his contract with Man City. His contract will expire in June 30, 2025. So, in the season 2025/2026 Man City probably will be no longer a favorite team in UCL.

Related news: https://www.independent.co.uk/sport/football/pep-guardiola-contract-future-news-manchester-city-b2547671.html

I think not only Man City but there are some teams which have the same level with Real Madrid. Man City, Liverpool, Bayern Munich, Inter Milan, PSG, and Arsenal have the same level if we consider the squad quality. But if we consider the domination of those teams in the last few years, only Man City and Liverpool that can reach the final round quite often.



UCL final matches

This to me is just a propaganda that the media had developed then to tore the team apart, if we look at the frontline then they had issues of playing together and that was because Mbappe had a problem playing through the striking role which I think every player deserves the right to voice out his choice. After a while they settled in and they started performing well. The declaration that Mbappe doesn’t pass was a lie then. I can remember him assisting Messi’s first Champions league goal for PSG, that was the goal that won that season’s goal of the competition. There are stats that showed how many chances they both created for each other. So it was a lie.

The major problem that PSG lacked and maybe still lacking now is the unbalanced team they have which is mostly the midfield, they don’t have a creative midfielder and they are yet to solve that problem rather they are just buying attacking players. If they still don’t solve this issue they will face same problems again

Is this based on your personal assumptions, because we all know that Pep Guardiola has given his energy and thoughts to the team he manages, namely Manchester City. it is not easy for any coach to consistently lead the team he manages, even if the team he manages has many classy players. Under the guidance of Pep Guardiola, City deserves to win various trophies, especially the Domestic League. the style and play of the Manchester City squad often presents beautiful modern football, the players and system implemented by the coach work very well. that's why, so far City have always been one of the strong challengers wherever they take part in the competition. whether it's in the Premier League or in the Champions League.

Talking about Pep Guardiola, so far I haven't heard any specific news about Pep's contract extension with City. however, as we also know, he only has one season left until 2025, so it would be very natural if there were reports that Pep would leave after his contract ends. whether it's from his statement, or he really wants to coach other clubs and teams, especially outside the Premier League. what is certain is that, from my point of view, Pep Guardiola has left a legacy for TheCitiZen.
Talking about Arsenal, one of my favorite teams. Arteta has been giving competition to Pep Guardiola for two seasons, but what is unique is that Arteta has worked with Pep Guardiola at City. that's why Arteta gained a lot of knowledge regarding coaching with Pep Guardiola.
Well, in the season that will be held later, City will still be one of the strong challengers in the Domestic League as well as for the UCL. meanwhile for Arsenal, I don't want to assume and speculate too much before they succeed in bringing in several new arrivals, especially pure strikers.

I see that so far only Manchester City can compete and have the same level as Real Madrid in the UCL. Even though Real Madrid managed to win the UCL this season and City failed in the quarterfinals, in my personal opinion Real Madrid's most difficult match in the UCL this season was against City. I still haven't seen another team that is at the same level as Real Madrid.

I hope City still has the same level as Real Madrid. In fact, hopefully there are other teams that can become competitors at the same level in the UCL. Because if Pep decides to leave City and Haaland also leaves the club, it's like Madrid will really dominate the UCL.

For some reason, it seems like the opponent always knows very well what to expect from Atlético Madrid. But to me, that’s very easy to understand. Because the coach Simione has been with Atlético Madrid for a very long time. The tactics however did not change that much. Trying the same thing again and again is probably not going to work when you are competing at the biggest level of competition.

Remember, Simione has seen both prime Real Madrid and Barcelona in recent times. The fact that he was able to win La Liga title in that period was actually surprising. But suddenly it becomes not so surprising when you see the level of players that they had. At that time La Liga was really known for being a competitive league. Just like the English Premier League is right now. Now it is not so much like that. And Atlético Madrid is also unable to attract that level of players anymore.

You are correct it is not about luck, Real Madrid is incredibly shrewd, which is why many clubs suffer before they get the opportunity to overcome them. In my opinion, the only club that will stop Madrid next season is Manchester City, but I haven't seen any players that Guadiola has added to the team, so I feel Madrid will still have a chance to win the Champions League if they meet. I'm only waiting for the Euros to end and the new season to begin to see how Madrid will perform in the league competition with Mbappe, because with the new striker Madrid now has the strength and belief to win the laliga title and even the Champions League probably if they so well in it.

I thought that the implementation of the new format should be done through voting, but UEFA never cared about that. To be honest, the participation of small teams is not changing the fact that only big clubs can advance to the next round; however, it adds more income to those small teams, but their participation will not change the situation a lot. 

Still, players are facing disadvantages from the implementation of the new format. There should be democracy in UEFA. The big team must have carefully prepared their secondary team in order to ensure their key players won't be injured. 

I hate to say this, but I don't like this new format. Though it gave more opportunities to the new players, it may be a boring competition. 

A playmaker like Messi is indeed extraordinary in terms of his contribution to the team, but don't forget that he also needs help from other players because he will not be able to bring a big team to the peak of success alone. So the failure experienced by the team that once housed him was actually not Messi's fault but rather a collective fault for not being able to contribute more consistently to the team in each season. And it needs to be realized that in a team it is not appropriate to blame just one person because the team is formed from many parties and there are many players in it.

If many players suffer injuries as a result of the reform of the new Champions League format, UEFA will receive sharp criticism from club managers and also from national team managers. In the managers view, the new format makes them worried about the players performance, the fatigue factor will make the players prone to injury. For UEFA the more matches, the more profits, that's how it works. Small clubs, and second tier players at each club, may feel happy with the number of matches, because they have a greater opportunity to get playing minutes. However, to maintain the interests of a much larger club, managers will often have headaches because of the workload. In my opinion, if the new format reaps a lot of criticism, UEFA will change the rules again in the future.

The Champions League next season will officially use a new format in their competition and requires small teams to be able to have a good squad depth to be able to compete in the Champions League next season, usually we will see 6 matches will be played in one group so it is still possible for small club clubs to compete with a busy schedule so far,  However, with a new format that reportedly will have 4 pots each of which will be filled by eight teams, later each team will compete eight matches in the league phase and will face eight different teams, the four matches will be home matches, and the remaining four will be away.

With the new champions league format, of course, it is possible for large teams to meet each other faster than the old format, but in my opinion the new format may only make it difficult for small teams to compete in the Champions League next season, surprise teams that qualify and play in the Champions League next season are of course required to be able to add depth to their squad next season, so that it may make them able to compete tight in the Champions League next season.

I don’t think that small clubs will benefit, rather the opposite. For example, before, a small club like Victoria could be lucky in the qualifying rounds and get into a group with Bayern, Inter and Barcelona - 6 guaranteed games at the top level with legendary teams. Now a small club finds itself in a huge group where it will play a maximum of a couple of games with top clubs and the rest of the games will not differ from the qualifying games (in the old format). Plus, the value of the group stage drops to junk.

The new format will increase the match schedule and of course the big teams are very uncomfortable with such a situation. However, we haven't seen what the process will look like, but the initial match doesn't look like it will be an exciting match because the requirements for teams to qualify for the knockout phase consist of the top eight teams from each group. The new Champions League format seems to give small teams the opportunity to face big teams. So until now there have been no complaints from participating clubs regarding the new format, so let's enjoy it for the next season, hopefully the Champions League will become more popular.

 Although we know that Manchester City has a strong squad, without Haaland and other key players, including their coach, I don’t think they can do anything, although all this happened as a result of Guardiola saying that he is seeking a new challenge, which sparks rumours from every angle. and this will definitely affect the dynamics of Manchester City, but still, considering their squad, I can say that they might still keep the strong performance as we know, but to be honest, I don’t think there will be any other team that will be able to be stronger than Real Madrid. The best season is some how very hard to agree on, but we will see what will happen. Anything can happen in football. 

We must understand that no matter the performance of a player he will never be able to perform well if he joined a certain club or leagues and from his performance during his time on PSG shows that he was not meant to be there because the time he spent on PSG he wasn't able to showcase his performance as he does on the previous clubs he has played, though wouldn't blame him for the failure of PSG then because even if he was performing the way he normally do there is no way only him would have actually pulled PSG out from there struggling then, so it was actually good for him to have left the club because it would have weaken him alot, so wouldn't say that Mesi was the best acquisition for PSG because his performance was not that good but in other words I consider Mbappe to be the best acquisition for PSG because he gave the team what they want.