Topic: UEFA Champions League 2024/25 Season - page 586. (Read 89437 times)

It felt really nice to win some money in the first leg games.    I was actually thinking of adding APOEL and Qarabag also but changed my mind later on. I wish I did though as total odds were going to be much better.

Anyway it is a good start to the season and I hope to maintain it. If I don't lose my balance until the 2nd leg games, I can try my luck once again. Dynamo Kyiv were really great by the way.    When they got 1-0 behind first, I must admit I got a little nervous. But that comeback was a huge one. The Fenerbahçe game made me worried for real though. They had issues with keeping a score advantage but thankfully they won in the end.

Hanadawa, no one denies that Real Madrid are the favorites to win La Liga and the Champions League because the composition of players that Real Madrid has is getting stronger after the arrival of Kylan Mbappe. If in the 2024-2025 season there are other teams that are included in the candidates for the Champions League, don't argue.
In terms of statistical figures, we can say that Real Madrid are great and deserve to be favorites, but from other calculations that do not include numbers, Real Madrid can be thwarted as the favorite team.

Barcelona are no longer considered top competitor for the UCL because they've failed entirely to bounce back to their feet in major tournaments. They can't prove themselves worthy enough to face the top elite clubs. While Real Madrid have focus and priorities to meet every season. Los Blancos have everything to worry about and winning becomes very compulsory for them. Carlo Ancelotti is here to make sure they achieve the ultimate goals which is been set out for them. The UEFA Champions League have been their main priority every single time.

It is understandable and quite reasonable why Madrid are favored as champion candidates next season, Ancelotti squad has not undergone many changes. Toni Kroos, Nacho Fernandes, Joselu, Rafa Marin left for reasons we already know, then Mbappe and Endrick came in. Therefore, I think Madrid will be sharper and more aggressive in terms of strength after these slight changes. Indeed, losing players of the caliber of Kroos and Nacho could affect the stability of their performance if not resolved properly.

Apart from that, if we talk about the priority scale, a club of Madrid caliber certainly targets success in every competition. The reason is very easy to understand too, achieving success will automatically bring profits, so that in the end Madrid can maintain its status as one of Europe elite clubs. Meanwhile, regarding the challenges that Madrid will face in the Champions League, perhaps Man City is the only club out of all the contestants that is ready to become a direct challenger, of course I do not mean to underestimate other teams.

Real Madrid will always pay attention to any competition, but it is true that they pay more attention to the Champions League because, when you think about it, the Champions League is one of the biggest leagues that people pay a lot of attention to. Winning the Champions League means you are not an ordinary club because if clubs from different leagues compete and you win out of all those clubs, it means you have level. Before this season they allowed Barcelona to win the la Liga and even when they focused on the champions league they still did not win but last season they were able to win the two at the same time this shows how good Real Madrid can be, Manchester city also put a lot of seriousness into winning, instead of Real Madrid  fighting with Barcelona Manchester City have now occupied that position.

Real Madrid is the favorite to win in La Liga and the Champions League so it's not strange if people think Real Madrid is focused on the UCL. As far as I know there is no team that is thinking about focusing on the UCL and ignoring the competition in the League. Usually every top team will target to win the League and UCL. Real Madrid are the kings of the UCL but it seems unlikely that they will ignore the domestic competition. Real Madrid can get both and almost every season can get one of them. They have a solid squad. I think even this season they have a better squad than the previous season.

Tuesday was the lucky day for the Qarabağ FK football team because all players played very full strength and all players were looking in good form and situations were in the favour of them.  Qarabağ FK football team did 2 goals in this match and after that Lincoln Red Imps F.C team tried their best to do the goal but Qarabağ FK defended very well and won the match easily by high margin because opponent team could not do any single goal . Juninho did first goal of the match and he did good at 47 minutes after starting the match and after that Lincoln Red Imps F.C. lose the match due to unqualified staff. Both players are lucky person because they can get benefits by using their fame.

Compared to Arsenal and Barcelona, I prefer Bayern Munich because even though they don't have an experienced coach, their mentality and experience have been tested enough. Leverkusen is not at that level because they are not a seeded team even though they played quite consistently last season. The Champions League is different and there are many clubs that might be favored but ultimately fail to advance to the next round.

PSG cannot be underestimated even though Mbappe is no longer playing there because PSG's game next season will be much more solid because they don't have to think about one person. Luis Enrique is one of the coaches who has the ability to bring PSG to play better and I'm sure they will be much better than last season.

In fact, the priority for every big team is to win the Champions League. Because they have definitely won the league they play in the past. Reaching the championship in a tournament with the biggest teams in Europe is the dream of every team and every player. This is Real Madrid's priority and this is Manchester City's priority. There were many teams trying to win the Champions League in every aspect, especially after they no longer had any claim in the league. The latest example of this is Borussia Dortmund last year. They left the league and made it to the Champions League final, and they almost won.

It doesn't matter whether Real Madrid prioritize the Champions League or La Liga because after all, Real Madrid always have a big chance to get trophies every season. So, I think when Real Madrid failed to get the La Liga trophy but managed to get the Champions League trophy, I believe it also does not guarantee that Real Madrid prioritizes the Champions League more than La Liga. Because anyway, when Real Madrid failed to get the La Liga trophy also the fact that Real Madrid still made efforts to catch up at that time, but the results were still lost.

So yes, I personally believe that Real Madrid always has a very good chance of getting the trophy every season because after all, Real Madrid really has an advantage in all aspects compared to other teams. But even though I believe that, at least I also still recognize that failure can still occur, because every competition will certainly have a team that wins and a team that loses.

I think you're honestly wrong, in my opinion Real Madrid gives more importance to the Champions League, in fact the season in which Barcelona won (two years ago) they actually abandoned La Liga to focus on the Champions League.  I don't know about Manchester City, but for Real Madrid the priority is the Champions League.

If you choose 5 clubs that have the chance to become champions of the Champions League, I myself would narrow it down to 2 clubs that in my opinion have a big chance of becoming champions next season, those two clubs are Real Madrid and Manchester City. Real Madrid is the most dominant club in the Champions League with 15 Champions League wins, while Manchester City is a mature and consistent club over the last few seasons, both in the Champions League and in the Premier League.

Let's take a look at some of the meetings between these two clubs in previous seasons. Last season Real Madrid managed to beat Manchester City and they managed to become champions, in the previous season Manchester City managed to get rid of Real Madrid and they also managed to become champions. From these notes, I see that these two clubs have been the most dominant in the last few seasons and it will be even more fun when we see them in the final next season.

The first leg match was won by Fenerbache, but this did not make Fenerbache in a safe condition in the second leg later because the goal difference was very small, especially since the Champions League no longer applies the home away goals rule, so make Lugano has a chance of qualifying for the next round the same as Fenerbache later, actually the victory over Lugano didn't really surprise me because from the start I saw that Fenerbache squad was still better than Lugano so Fenerbache chances of winning were also better than Lugano, but what surprised me was that Fenerbache had to struggle to win, and in fact the match their conceded a relatively large number of goals if you look at the quality of the Fenerbache squad right now.

Edin Dzeko deserves to be considered a hero because he can continue to give hope and prevent Fenerbache from losing in that match, even though he is no longer young, but Dzeko is still capable enough to be a mainstay for Fenerbache all this time.

He saw the goal early in the Fenerbahçe goal and won the match 3-4 with the goals he scored later, but he played bad football.
Especially the goal he conceded in the last minute was very amateurish and did not suit the team of a coach like Mourinho.
Mourinho needs time to fit his system into the team. While wondering whether Dzeko would be the first striker or not, he responded to the criticism with 3 goals.
Finally, Fenerbahçe must find a player who can convert penalties into goals.

Here are full results of the 1st leg in second qualifying round. 



Only surprising results were in the Dynamo Kyiv - Partizan and Lugano - Fenerbahçe matches. Dynamo Kiev really demolished them. The score at the end was pretty surprising.    But I already know how much they have recovered so far. Finishing their domestic league in the 2nd position and now this. Next opponent for them is going to be Rangers so they had better get ready for a fierce fight.

When it comes to Fenerbahçe, I mean I would expect them to win more comfortable instead of 4-3. But I believe they will do nice things in Mourinho's control.    I expect them to get past Lugano by defeating them in the 2nd leg too. Next opponent is going to be Lille then. I think they can eliminate Lille also as they have Mourinho and a really good squad.

Even at the qualifying stage, we see that the competition is very high, difficult opposition is expected not only in the match between Dynamo and Rangers, if Fenerbahce can beat Lugano, they will have to meet with Lille, and in this match it is also very difficult for me to determine the favorite. Leipzig were most lucky, their opponent will be Twente, a good team, but for Leipzig it should be a passable opponent. By the way, Karabakh left a good impression last season, I think they should beat Ludogorets.

These three teams always deliver results that do not disappoint their fans and it looks like some of them will qualify so easily in the remaining series of qualifying rounds. However, the longer the opponents they face, the more difficult they will be and this is where the challenge lies.

Maybe of the three teams the strongest to go further is Mitijland but they have to prove it first in the next match when they face Ferencvaros who also won big today. Apart from that, Dinamo Kiev will not have an easy time playing their next match because Rangers are waiting for them. This will be an exciting match to determine their steps in the Champions League and I hope no one will be disappointed if they lose.

Looking at the quality and quantity that Madrid currently has, it seems that Madrid is worthy of being the favorite, but in my opinion, the percentage possibility for Madrid to win the Champions League next season around 60%, which is too big, because after all we should not underestimate the other teams in the champions league, the change in format in the champions league next season will allow for a large number of matches and clubs so we cannot say whether madrid will be able to win the champions league again, especially now that many teams are starting to make improvements to their squad and their performance so we can't give them a 1% chance of winning.

We all think that Madrid without Mbappe can win, especially with Mbappe in the squad, I think football is more than just one individual player and we also can't guarantee that Mbappe will be able to play well enough for Madrid next season, the possibility of Mbappe being successful in Madrid is very big considering that Madrid has many quality players support him but the possibility of Mbappe failing is also very big because previously Mbappe played in a league that was not competitive while La Liga is one of the competitive leagues in Europe, what many people say might happen if Mbappe cannot adapt to La Liga or Madrid game because previously Hazard also performed very well with Chelsea.

I want to include 5 clubs that are favored to win the UCL trophy next season: Man City, Madrid, Liverpool, Arsenal and Barcelona. Meanwhile, Bayern Munich has not been able to confirm the squad that will be overhauled so it is still too early for Kompany to win the UCL trophy. Leverkusen certainly has many people who have made this club a new favorite, with an impressive one season performance but personally I still don't expect much from Xabi Alonso first season in the UCL and PSG after Mbappe departure this club's goal collection will drop drastically and have an impact on performance team as a whole so there is no guarantee that PSG can advance further, even the semifinals will be too difficult.

Unfortunately, NK Celje made everything mess and didn't live up to expectations, they played in qualifying for the first leg with home advantage but failed to take advantage of that advantage to win and only ended in draw.
In this match, Slovan Bratislava also played not so bad, they scored goals to equalize and only few moments later after NK Celje goals, it just that the performance between the two team looked so significant.
Slovan Bratislava also received red card in the 30th minute which meant he had to play with 10 players, where Kyriakos Savvidis himself was midfielder who really needed to help the defense.
For the second leg, Slovan Bratislava will play at home and maybe this will be an opportunity for them to beat NK Celje.