Topic: UEFA Champions League 2024/25 Season - page 337. (Read 76957 times)

Barcelona has very young players who don't have the confidence and boldness to play with one man down and win the match. This is one of the advantages of matured and experience players because they will not allow a man down tovaffect their performance that much but will prefer to draw the game than being defeated.

It was the same thing that happened last season against PSG when Barcelona was winning 1-0 and a red card made them scared because of weak mentality that they can still win the match if they don't play with fear but with hope of winning PSG. Look at it, the same thing has happened to them the season and they still lost the match.

I think the coach should always prepare them for a man down mindset so that they can know how to play the match and draw it than losing it because it is possible.

Maybe they can make a great impression this season right ? I mean , I'm sure the entire squad wants to make a great run in current season of UCL and that's why I won't be surprised to actually see them finishing in top 8 of UCL League.

However , like you said above , the real challenge for them will be when they face stronger and more powerful teams because Leverkusen hasn't tested themselves yet with teams like Real , City or even Inter and that is where the real test begins for them. If they can gather points against these teams , then they can qualify further as well. 

I mean Atalanta - Arsenal wasn't that boring to me in terms of performances. But it still made me disappointed because of not seeing any goal.    By the way have you seen Raya's saves? It was really great to watch. It seems like Arsenal has done the right thing with making him a permanent signing. Because he gets better in time obviously.

I was sad for Barcelona. I and probably most people bet on their win after watching Hansi Flick effect in many games so far. But Eric Garcia reduced my hopes by that too early red card. But it was totally ter Stegen's fault as his pass was going to cause them to concede a goal.

The first game of the Champions League was very unpredictable. For the last four games the results made many of my betting lists fail. Barcelona and RB Leipzig made me fail to get a win. The unexpected one was Barcelona's defeat to Monaco.
For the Atalanta vs Arsenal match, I chose a draw and Arsenal for me always go against the predictions so I often don't choose Arsenal to win in most of their games.

That's still too soon to talk about Leverkusen if they can have a good performance in the Champions League or not because there is still a long way ahead for them considering the games they will have in this tournament against much harder teams. But they had a good start and they won the game against Feyenoord with a 4-0 result which is very good for Xabi Alonso and his players because Feyenoord couldn't score a goal against them while Leverkusen scored four goals in this match.
Florian Wirtz was their best player because he scored two goals in this match.
 

Absolutely — I don't know how the draws were made (not like I care) but I went through everyone's fixtures and everything seem to tally right. While Feyenoord will be playing 3 of the strongest teams in the tournament which I don't see them winning any, they'd have the opportunity to garner some points when they play against teams their own size. Regarding their recent performances, it looks like it has dipped just like Ajax for a few years now.

At the end of the day, teams we are all familiar with will take the first 8 tickets to the round of 16s I'm sure.

Barca were the favorites but Eric Garcia got a red card in the 10th minute and they had to play with 10 men for a very long time. Nevertheless, they scored the equalizer and had chances to win the game but couldn't capitalize. It was an unfortunate result for Barca but we can't blame them too much. The only criticism we can make is that Flick didn't make any changes until the 2nd goal they conceded. He could have intervened earlier in the game.
Away games will be difficult in the new format of the Champions League. If they don't make mistakes in the home games, Barca will still have a top 8 chance. It's bad to start with a defeat, but we have seen how this team plays in La Liga. They will get better.

Bayer started their way in the Champions League very well, I didn't think that they would be able to beat Feyenoord away, here is the answer to how good Bayer can be in the Champions League. Their next opponents will be Milan and Brest, considering how weak Milan looks now, I think they have a chance to consolidate at the top of the table, at least in these first matches. The most difficult match will be with Liverpool, but Bayer was lucky with their opponents, not the most difficult ones.

Losing momentum at the beginning of the match made the situation of Feyenoord must be more difficult in this match especially after they fell behind by 2 goals in the 30th minute made Feyenoord a little lost their mentality which in the end it ended up creating the 3rd and 4th goals for Leverkusen.

In addition, the mistake of Feyenoord's scheme in the first half was also one of the reasons why they had to lose with a fairly heavy score because when we look at the situation that occurred, the 3 Leverkusen goals actually occurred because the Feyenoord defenders were too lax in guarding the players from Leverkusen which actually made the Leverkusen players more comfortable in creating opportunities that ended up becoming goals.

The second half was actually better for Feyenoord but with Leverkusen already comfortably ahead they were playing carefree as they only had to defend their lead for 3 points and Leverkusen deserved this win.

This thing is a bit funny because the guard, as always, compliments his opponents even if he were playing against a Serie C team, so it's partly for good luck and partly to bring his opponents around, then if he doesn't manage to win he cries and he complains as he does against Inter "they defended themselves" "they never attacked" it's the truth that he is a very childish person when he does these behaviors, according to his logic everyone should play his tiki taka game, but then when he finds a team that defends and starts again he fails and complains!

Leverkusen's opponent, Feyenoord was the top 2 of last season's Eredivisie. This season they were not so good at the beginning and became unlucky again because they had to face several strong teams in the Champions League.
In addition to Liverpool, Leverkusen will also face Milan, Inter, and Atletico Madrid in the Champions League. Of course, they are not weak teams that can be easily defeated by Leverkusen.
The new system implemented for the Champions League is interesting. All teams will work hard to maximize their chances of winning from their first 8 matches. So no one is lucky to face a weak team or feels unlucky to face a stronger team.

Nah, Leverkusen is only beat weak teams, it's nothing to compare with Munich, Real Madrid and Manchester City. They didn't even stay at the top in Bundesliga, so I really not expecting anything for Leverkusen in Champions League.

Leverkusen is really lucky to meet weak teams in Champions League, we need to wait in November where they meet Liverpool.

Where do you get the idea that I expect them to behave to score more goals in the second half?

Leverkusen's situation is so comfortable that I don't expect anything more especially with a 4-goal deficit in the first half it was enough to show that they can still be a stumbling block again and maybe even surprise just like last season where they were spectacular until the end of the season.

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Talking about Barcelona and Arsenal, there are definitely not a few people who lose in the gambling they do because after all, with opponents who are actually below their level, it is clear that it has become a provision where the favorite club will be more used as betting material, especially with Barcelona's performance in domestic competitions, so indeed for pre-match there must be a lot of people betting in 1x2 for Barcelona. But the red card was out of control because in the end it was a mistake from their own players which had a worse impact until the game ended.

The Arsenal game vs Atlanta wasn't a surprising thing to me, though I know how good arsenal has been for sometime now. The Truth is that, if you happen to support any English team, you will prefer to face teams from other leagues than Serie A teams. Serie A teams are totally built different when it comes to European football, so that was what literally limit the play of the arsenal team. One funny thing about serie A team is that, they can be having a very bad season in their league, but when it comes to European competition, you always find them active. I didn't watch the arsenal game much because it was kind of boring. Atalanta really dominated. And I think what I like about that Atalanta side is their attack and defense. The three attackers clearly understand what to do. Their positioning was very threatening to the arsenal defense. And I think we should appreciate David Raya for making that fantastic save when they needed him the most. The current arsenal team should better learn how to cope and play without their captain Odegaard. I have noticed Jorginho's shaky feet in the past 2 games now. He needs to show some courage as the current leader of the team.


I was in shock as well. Yesterday's game didn't meet expectation. No matter how good a team is, winning a game with a red card is a 50-50 chance. Though I didn't watch the game, but I already knew that the red card will definitely change the result I was expecting. I was even surprised when my app notified me that barce had equalize  around the 30th minute, but it's unfortunate that they lose the game. Best of luck to them next time. I think all teams still have about 7 game to play in this group stage, so there is still chance.

Damn looking over the table and over the results of week 1 I can only say how BAD this extension was!!
I mean seriously, we will see a lot more of those blowout wins, believe me.
Who needs 2 teams from Croatia, 2 teams from Austria, 4 teams from France and so on.

Too many teams that just don't belong and make the whole league a joke. It's called champions league, not everybody can join league. Some of the teams never in their history have been the champion in the domestic league and here they are, playing with the big guys.
That just shows yet again how broken UEFA as well as FIFA is. Money money money, more games, more teams, more money. What a boring contest this has become!

Yes, of course this is a good step for Xabi Alonso's troops and of course this will definitely make Leverkusen more confident in facing the next match in the Champions League, but it is indeed an exciting match because it is clear that Feyenoord is really not performing well and In terms of mentality, I also see that Leverkusen is superior to Feyenoord, but it's really a shame because even though Feyenoord scored a goal, it's a shame because the goal was invalid because it was offside. and yes, the Leverkusen goalkeeper's mistake was of course an additional bonus goal for Leverkusen and of course this was very profitable for Xabi Alonso's troops.

yes, it is true that it will definitely be increasingly frustrating for the Feyenoord players because it is difficult for them to score goals and win the match because if you measure your strength it is certainly very difficult for Feyenoord to compete with Leverkusen and of course Brian Priske must really improve Feyenoord because of course Feyenoord is still there is hope to rise again.

In the UCL, the competition is of course very tight and of course we'll see what happens later, but what is clear is that I personally also predict that Xabi Alonso's squad will have the potential to become a dark horse and of course will compete closely with strong teams like the ones you mentioned. Yes, this is the start of the season and what is certain is that there is still a long way to go for all teams and what is certain is that Xabi Alonso must really be able to increase Leverkusen's strength because of course becoming UCL champions is not easy. But yes, of course we deserve to congratulate Leverkusen because in their first match in the UCL this season Leverkusen appeared very impressive.

Barcelona's loss against AS Monaco was truly incredible and a shocker. AS Monaco is a normal team compared to Barcelona, but they won the match with a great chance.  Barcelona's Eric Garcia commits a shocking foul ten minutes into the game, causing the referee to send him off with a red card. When a Barcelona team player was sent off after receiving a red card, the opposition team took advantage of this opportunity to launch a strong attack and successfully scored a goal. AS Monaco only managed a goal on 16 minutes, although Lamine Yamal equalized for Barcelona on 28 minutes. After a great attack later, Barcelona scored another goal in the 71st minute and AS Monaco won with that goal, which was a surprise.

The problem is that the mistakes they made were fatal and also there is still a lot of time, it will clearly destroy their mentality. Because they have to play for 80 minutes in normal time with 10 players, it will be very difficult for them, because fatigue will definitely be felt more when facing 11 opposing players.
I think Hansi Flick will be furious in the dressing room with the mistakes made by his team. This is a bad result when the first match in the Champions League has to end in defeat, because they have to work even harder to be able to qualify for the next round.

AC Milan is not in a good condition so they have to swallow a bitter pill in this match by feeling defeated by their guest Liverpool. From 4 matches they only won in the last match when they hosted Venezia which is a promoted team this season.
I think AC Milan is too hasty in deciding to change their coach, even though last season Stefabo Pioli played quite well and I think he still deserves to be in the AC Milan coaching chair.
The latest news I heard is that AC Milan is considering firing Fonsesca. I hope they can find a decision that can bring them better, either by retaining Fonsesca or firing him.

Why blaming Eric in this case? It was entirely Ter Stegen fault because he didn't pass the ball when Garcia was coming towards him but passed the ball when he was retreating back to midfield. By the way, he didn't foul the player deliberately, he was just trying to fight for the ball. I don't think he deserves all the blame because he was actually playing the ball not knowing that the opponent player had a better advantage over him. Stegen made the silly mistake and should be responsible for it.

 After the red card, Stegen still made risky passes that could have led to goal again more than three times. Hansi Flick should better call him to order else he will continue to cost Barcelona important games. He's used to it and that's one reason I dislike him. He had many options but he opted to pass the ball to someone surrounded by opponent players.

The match between Atalanta and Arsenal out our expectations in the match, from the beginning of the match I hoped to see an impressive match and full of high intensity but in fact both teams are more inclined to play carefully in the match, we known so far Arsenal is a team that plays attractively in attack but absent Odegaard seems to haveindeed lowered their speed in the attack, there are not many chances and shots on target that are created actually make the match very boring in my opinion, Arsenal are very lucky  because have Raya as their goalkeeper and he can again and again save Arsenal from defeat after successfully making a fantastic save from Retegui penalty kick, I think the reflexes and also the toughness possessed by Raya that made him able to seize the position of Arsenal main goalkeeper so far from Ramsdale.