Topic: UEFA Champions League 2024/25 Season - page 628. (Read 88592 times)

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.

I don't think Pep Guardiola is willing to leave Manchester City for now. What he may have said in the media seems to be for some personal reasons. Perhaps he wanted the hype and the fame, bragging about the EPL title he had won since he came to Manchester City and that there is no other team in the EPL that matches his strength. Such things are rumors that he is willing to leave, and I know he is a little scared because he knows Arsenal is rising so fast which will be the next one that will take the league from his hands. He doesn't want to be the Manchester City when Arsenal wins the league, he is too scared to see his downfall. Let him remain if he feels he is the boss. I am certain that the next season won't be taken lightly.

IMO, at that time PSG seemed to have an instant desire and it happened very briefly when they brought in star players in succession but didn't pay attention to the coaches they brought in at that time and on the one hand, for me the composition of PSG players was very irregular so even though they had players star but the performance is still the same as having only 1 star player.
The conflict is actually just a matter of player composition as I said before and it's not perfect, using star players but not being able to rotate players well, which creates problems that the players may not reveal.

Well, from this discussion we know that competing for the UCL title must have high quality performance and quality performance cannot be built instantly, whereas the PSG president wants it instantly by bringing in star players but the coach is not very good at managing the players well.
So that these star players will continue to leave PSG who cannot accept the long process of being able to create high quality performance and now PSG is just realizing that building a strong team to compete in all existing competitions, all of this takes a very long time and requires very high consistency.

Several clubs and players have complained about the busy schedule with this new format so that each team will certainly not be able to perform optimally. They must often rotate their players if they want to get the best results from all the competitions they play. UEFA seems to only care about personal matters and does not give freedom to the players and in my opinion this is more like exploitation which is quite regrettable.

Other advantages, such as the small teams you mentioned, will certainly increase competition in the Champions League, but of course it won't change who will advance to the higher rounds. Maybe small teams are very happy to be in a competition as big as the Champions League and when that time comes they have to make good use of it because it can be something they can be proud of.

Another problem arose when Paris Saint Germain had 3 star players on the front line, and instead of being able to improve the team's performance they were busy with their own problems. In my opinion, this also happened because perhaps their coach at that time was unable to build good relationships between the players, which resulted in a conflict that could be said to have been prolonged until finally the 3 players actually left Paris Saint Germain.

Another fact, as you said, is that they also couldn't do much in the Champions League. They are the same as clubs that we have often seen before, where they cannot compete closely, especially when they face clubs that have the same strength as them. In the end they had to taste failure even though they had a star-studded squad in the composition of players.
Paris Saint Grmain must be able to get rid of that habit, because in my opinion they are also capable of competing even without star players, as long as their squad is even and they can work as a team well.

Messi, Mbappe and Neymar were all there in PSG and they could not manage the players at that time to win UCL. It will be a difficult task for them. Having all the best players is one thing and using them to achieve success is another thing. When you don't have a good coach and there are some undisciplined players, poor result will be achieved.

When Messi was in PSG, there was no unity and game bond between the players which is always making Mpabbe to disrespect Messi and only him wants to score all the goals. Mbappe was always stingy with the ball whenever he has it.

City is considered a club that is almost equal in strength to Madrid, and the two teams deserve to be placed on equal footing in the list of favorite teams to win next season. After them there are Bayern, Arsenal, Inter, Dortmund, PSG and several other teams, as usual the competition for trophies will get fiercer every season, where the new rules can also be a challenge for some contestants.

The addition of Mbappe will make Madrid front line sharper, this is a clear signal that Ancelotti fleet is very ambitious to defend the title. If they fail then Mbappe is out of luck, and reminds me of Kane at Bayern. Apart from that, Pep Guardiola looks like he will retain most of his players next season, and that indicates their strength will not be much different from last season.

On the other hand, if Madrid meets City again next season, either in the quarter finals, semifinals or final, it will be the third time in a row. The meeting between the two teams feels quite ideal, regardless of which round they will face each other in.

Did Messi badly performed or was he the problem they never won as much title. Personally, Messi performance was outstanding and him alone can't give them those titles, you don't specifically point out one player out of the team as to why they failed to win trophies. Messi was as of much threat to opponents compared to anyone in the team, he did the best he could but seems the team as a whole were unable make better records as expected

Even though it is unlikely that Real Madrid will experience a decline in performance, there are still other teams that have the same strong performance that might be able to match Real Madrid. To be honest, I hope there is another team that is able to match Real Madrid next season, such as perhaps Manchester City which is indeed can be said to be able to match Real Madrid's performance. I can't imagine if Manchester City loses Haalan and other star players, as well as their coach, who if they change will either make Manchester City still have a strong performance or experience a decline.

I was a little surprised by Pep Guardiola, who yesterday won the title in the EPL, saying he was bored and wanted to look for a new challenge, so there were rumors that he would leave Manchester City and could be followed by Haaland, who would indeed take part in the news, of course. If that happens, there is a possibility, in my opinion, that Manchester City will experience difficulties which might affect their performance. I hope Manchester City can win the Champions title next season, even though it seems difficult because the competition in the Champions League is tough competition, but if Manchester City is confident, maybe they can win the Champions League title next season.

Planning for the future and the long term is something a lot of teams out there seem not to have except for a few who sees it as important enough and they eventually put in plans for it, like you have sighted, Barcelona happens to be a team who exhaustively enjoyed their glory days without plans for the future, probably thinking there wouldn't be a time they will struggle this much because already they had the top and best players in their team and as at this times, it felt like this players were never going to leave the team because players like Messi do renewed his contract often and it was almost looking like he was going to have a life deal with Barcelona and so Barcelona didn't really feel the need to plan ahead pretty soon until now they have to suffer their fate.

One team amongst all the team in Europe and Spain that seem to have all this in place is Madrid and it can be seen in how they already have a substitute team that performs almost like the main team, this shows that in the nearest future they will still be as good as they have been and may not be having the need to carry out too many signings except if the players decides to leave of which I don't see that really happening as these players are willing to be part of the success they all enjoy at Madrid which is a plus to their careers. Barcelona when they eventually get pas this stage of their problem may probably want to plan for the future that's if they have learnt enough from their mistakes in the past.

Well, well, well, the circus is back in town! The new Champions League structure, the best entertainment on Earth (or so UEFA wants us to think).

More games? Oh, how generous of them. They obviously give the players' welfare great importance, not only of their own finances. They seem to be pushing players toward their most profitable limits. The secondary squads already line up, eager to make UCL as fascinating as seeing paint dry. Thank you, Ceferin, for your outstanding development not asked for by anyone.

49 pages already before even the qualification rounds starts? That's just huge. 

There are tons of teams to compete in 1/8-finals phase in qualification but I will be following quarter finals part closer as there are more decent teams to watch.

Here is qualification quarter finals:



I don't think we would see a surprise in this phase. Dynamo Kyiv and Fenerbahçe both have comfortable matchups ahead. These teams are going to play 3 matchups before reaching the group stage right? It is going to be quite tough for them to make it considering potential opponents later.

There are four teams I am tipping to get to the semi finals of the champions league next season.The first team I know they will get to the semi final is Real Madrid.They are fully prepared for next season,and with the acquisition of Mbape,they have planned to retain that champions league tittle.Another team that I cannot exempt from my list is Mancity.Pep Guardiola is looking at the possibility of making a move to somewhere else next season,so his altimate target is to win the Champions league,the premier league and any other trophy before leaving,which will serve as a record he has kept at the team.,then Arsenal is another team which will be looking forward to improving next season because they have a complete squad that can win anything for them,and lastly is Leverkusen is another team that will be a threat in the Champions league next season,with Xabi Alonso coaching there,he will really prove himself to get to a greater stage in the tournament.

It's true, even narratives about Messi only playing well when he was at Barcelona or only playing well for one team were heard when Messi was at Paris Saint Germain, so I question it when someone says that Messi is the greatest signing that Paris Saint Germain has made. Maybe saying one of the most expensive signings is still acceptable, but if it has to do with his game with Paris Saint Germain, I don't think so.
Because he could almost be said to have failed in his first season with Paris Saint Germain, I don't mean to doubt his ability as one of the best players in the world. Because there may be reasons why players cannot adapt quickly to a team and that may be what Messi experienced when he was at Paris Saint Germain. Also maybe because here the relationship between the players is not very good, because almost every time we hear about problems between them. that might also be one of the causes.

Why do you consider Messi the best acquisition for PSG? Messi in PSG was remembered by the fact that he could not adapt to the team for a very long time, scored not many goals and received a huge salary. PSG is trying different tactics, they thought that they could collect all the best players in the same team and this would allow them to win, it is now clear that they abandoned this idea, and Enrique showed them that without all super players he almost reached the final, and if only a little more luck could have played in the finale, because PSG looked better than Dortmund.

I think Pep Guardiola had to pay a heavy price for the previous failure. Manchester City's problem is that they always meet a strong team like Madrid before the UCL final, even though everyone expects these two teams to meet in the final but they always meet before the final. Pep Guardiola knows that Madrid has new strengths. namely the arrival of Mbappe in their main squad and filling in a striker in their front line, of course it will also be a threat to Manchester City's defense, because in Manchester City's defense sometimes communication errors and blunders often occur, hopefully Pep Guardiola will fix this in the next season only later.

I don't know who Pep Guardiola will recruit because of course what I think is that their back line is not good, so it's important to strengthen their back line because it's important to keep the defense from conceding goals, I also think that Pep Guardiola should be able to focus more on the UCL because I think that's an important match too, even though maybe the EPL is also quite important for Manchester City to pursue, at least they should be able to focus more on playing in the UCL so they can win their second trophy next season.