Topic: ⚽UEFA Champions League Discussion Thread -- 2022/23 | Qualifying - page 21. (Read 12018 times)

This. I have been writing about this since Xavi came to Barcelona and was even able to start well at first. I immediately wrote that such a Barcelona has no future and as a Real Madrid fan I am calm with such a competitor  But apparently Barcelona decided to go to the very bottom - their financial results are already terrible, and sports resalts will gradually become so (the first stage in the form of the Champions League can be said to have already been completed).

^  It's not 'selfishness', it's judgement during the heat of the moment.


Yeah..  I was hopeful I'd hit it until the end but no.  It seemed like an easy bet to make before the match started as in the league, at home AC Milan's opponents has never had a clean sheet against them.  I thought it would be the same vs Chelsea.

And AC Milan's league record isn't all that bad too even though there are some pundits who are calling them a fraud.  Just three points behind the leader Napoli and they have just one loss so far.  Goal differential is at decent -9.  Overall not bad.

Dembele's selfishness is just killing me. Maybe he scored a goal anyway but wasted many chances also. Especially one of them was unbelievable. If I'm not wrong he had Raphinha on his right side while they were on a counter-attack. If he passed the ball to Raphinha it was going to be an easy goal but he used the chance himself instead and failed. Barcelona must be just grateful for Inter players to waste critical opportunities in the final moments of stoppage time. They could have even lost this match.

The ending of the Napoli - Ajax match was a little dramatic actually. Because Ajax still had a chance to find the equalizer while it was 3-2. But Blind's shocking defensive mistake helped Osimhen score the 4th goal very easily. Ajax are just a desperate team defensively now.

I find it hard to believe what xavi risk in playing those two ahead of well established internationals, I was asking my younger bro if kessie and De Jong were injured before they came on in the second half, if it was not a decisive game in the champions League I would understand but you can't keep players with more experience and can deliver you on the bench and try your luck with kids, I pray is not going to be the reason for his downfall, because such thing happened at Chelsea few years back when Frank lampard never give a little boy mason mount break in the starting xi ahead of better senior colleagues and we all knows how that turns out.

The problem is not just him looking to have Spanish players. The problem is that he continues to insist on a tactical scheme that no longer works, as it used to and was designed for a specific set of players. Then, due to a set of bad management, Barcelona does not have the capital it should have to make good investments, so it ends up having to resort a lot to the players of the formation. These players may even become great players, but they are not yet.

Xavi's obsession with Spanish players will be his downfall. I don’t understand the favoritism. Just because they build a Spanish national at Barcelona and succeeded doesn’t mean he can replicate that. I think it's all over for Barcelona, Xavi is bias in his selections and that costs him yesterday.
You have players like De Jong and Kessie who are more experienced but yet chooses to play Gavi and Pedri all the time, even in decisive games that winning is important.

A very extraordinary comeback was shown by Jorgen Klopp's men, even though they had fallen behind but Liverpool were able to rise and turn things around with a final score of 1-7, in another match Napoli were able to beat Ajax with a score of 4-2, with this morning's victory already It is certain that Napoli and Liverpool have already got tickets to qualify for the last 16 of the Champions League, I hope this will be the beginning of Liverpool's revival with a new formation and can continue the positive trend when facing Manchester city in the domestic league and can compete again for the top spot in the English Premier League .

I won't repeat what I said about Barca game in other thread, but shortly - it hurts. Celtic scored first against Liverpool, but final result 1:7 shows that you shouldn't mess with Liverpool.
New Bayer coach Xabi Alonso had positive start in Bundesliga, but now his team got destroyed by Porto at home 0:3. Stats shows that Bayer attacked more, but it's normal thing, considering that Porto took a lead early and didn't needed to attack that much.
Didn't watched Plzen - Bayern game. Bayern solved everything in 1st half and seems that they also let Plzen to play. They scored 2 goals and made 15 shots (6 on target).
Atletico didn't managed to beat Brugge at home. Now they have risk not get out of group, while Brugge unexpected leading group and already qualified for next round.

If you bet on both teams to score then this match is very unlucky for you. To tell the truth, I also thought of betting on that because of being quite logical. I thought that Milan would be much more effective in San Siro. This was one of their very important and tough matches in the group at the same time.

However look at the current condition of the match now. Tomori got a red card due to holding very early in the match. This was enough to push them into a difficult situation. Chelsea have been able to benefit from this chance great so far as they are in the lead by 2-0. Milan have only one shot in the second half which wasn't even on target. Milan are having another nightmare. If the matches in the group end up with current scores then Milan will be in third position being 2 points behind Salzburg. It'd be a big waste if Milan don't manage to qualify for last 16.

^  Mou does that...  That guy could find a way to outfox the better squad.  It won't pass the eye test because it def will not look good but it's effective to get the W.  Lol.

Anyway, I'm watching City vs FC Copenhagen and bored out of my wits as I got no bet in the match.  And Haaland isn't even playing.  Some of the other match ups are pretty much so so too except for maybe Dormund and Sevilla which could be interesting.  But AC Milan vs Chelsea could be a good one.  What do you guys think of BTTS at 1.85? 

I'm really mad at Barcelona as my betslip lost only because of their not being able to defeat Inter. But I really appreciate Inter's resistance against them because there was totally a different team there. It was like there was no sign of the Inter that played against Roma and lost by 2-1 home. Now they have a nice advantage of being three points ahead of Barcelona in the group.

However in the match in Camp Nou, I expect none other than a Barcelona win. I've checked the odds and Barcelona have a 1.46 odd for the win. This is a convincing odd for me to add to my new betslip for the CL. They must have learned their lesson from their mistakes in the previous match. I expect Xavi to prepare his players much better for next time. I can't stand watching Barcelona in the Europa League once again so they must win this one of the important matches.

Well we can't forget that detail, Man City is a very powerful team, they also have a great coach like Peo Guardiola, and one of Guardiola's characteristics is that he likes to win every tournament, plus the UCL, and on the other hand although Real Madrid is right now with a squad of very veteran players, they are at their best, I wouldn't say that they are in the prime of life, but Real Madrid should never be left aside, and although now it is Little is said about that team, I think Barcelona should be considered, it is a very good team, and Xavi has been polishing it all this time, I think he managed to put together a better team and oh, take care of them.


It is undeniable that Barcelona's performance is far below its performance, although it is in the UCL, but in the League they are doing well, but everything that Xavi has done to have a mega team, I feel that they still have a lot to prove, For me, Barcelona has to wake up quickly for everything that comes to them, the UCL is getting much more difficult and the teams are becoming much tougher and very difficult to win, of course this is what one always thinks because as the teams come out, the level of football is higher and the teams want to win much more, there are teams that the more they advance in the UCL the stronger they become.

When there are many stars, the specialists in knowing how to handle them are at Real Madrid, the technical directors of Real Madrid are the ones who know how to match them and who support and help each other, for Xavi this is a new challenge, I think that what is coming to Xavi is a lot of pressure, because really in the past transfer window the team that did the best for him is Barcelona, of course there are other teams that can also stand out, but the best prices, and the best transfers and acquisition of players are there, I think that the large number of people who bet on Barcelona just because they have good stars is very large.

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Among other things, I really like the self-esteem that Neymar Jr has:

'I don't think there's a new Neymar' - PSG star insists he's no different after brilliant start to the season




Source: https://www.goal.com/en/news/i-don-t-think-there-s-a-new-neymar-psg-star-insists-he-s-no-different-after-brilliant-start-to-the-season/blt2c5bcd693e0b3995

These are the things that Mbappé may not like, but in the same way everyone is free to say what they want..

Congrats to Potter's boys. They did a really great job against Milan by getting a solid 3-0 win. There was a huge improvement in their performance not only offensively but also defensively. They needed to be more effective in scoring goals already and this is a good start. It is still early to judge a manager by only one match of course. There is a long season ahead of Chelsea and we will see how much consistent they will be able to stay.

Their job in Italy is going to be really difficult. But if they somehow get a win there then I will see their qualification from the group like guaranteed. Because I don't expect them to lose points against Salzburg and Dinamo Zagreb by improving their performance more until those matches.

Barcelona have spent a lot of money building up their squad this season. They now have a lot of star players in the squad. Barcelona have talented players like Lewandowski, Raphinha, Dembele, Depay, Torres and Fati in their squad. Even though the attack is so strong, they are not able to score. I would say it's Xavi's failure. Xavi should now find his attacking weaknesses. And the weak points must be strengthened. Barcelona will not qualify for the next round of the Champions League if their attacking weaknesses are not addressed.

I can't deny the fact that Barcelona are in a more dangerous situation in the group now. However I don't think that we will watch Barcelona in the Europa League one more time. This would be devastating for not only Xavi but also the supporters. Because they have made a big progress since they entered a new phase with Xavi's management.

I'm aware that Barcelona couldn't even score one goal for two weeks in the Champions League. But I still expect them to fix the issues and come back stronger next time. My expectation from the Inter match in Camp Nou is none other than a Barcelona win. This would be a big motivation for sure. They are lucky to face Bayern Munich home as well. In short, they can actually collect 9 points in the remaining matches. It all depends on how much eager they will be to take wins. Xavi should motivate his players for this by doing his best.

Yes this defeat made Barcelona even more difficult. They only have 3 points and are in third place. But I think the opportunity is still open, they still have a home game. Xavi had to take advantage of the situation.
Regarding the course of the game, in fact, I was very amused by Barcelona's style of play, it was a pity that they couldn't make a goal. The possible absence of some players makes it a little frustrating for Barcelona to find it difficult to break into inter's defence. Inter are also good at them being effective, they can make goals. At the moment the most important thing is the final result and congratulations to Inter.

I'm happy to see that Juventus got their first win in their group finally. It is crucial for them to defeat Maccabi Haifa in both matches if they really want to qualify from their group. This isn't a difficult task for them as long as they play consistently. Actually the first half of the Maccabi match was a little scary for them. Because they let their opponent come very often and things might have been more difficult for them if Maccabi weren't incapable of scoring a goal.

Juventus need to work on their defense more to prevent surprise results. The next match is against Maccabi again and this time it is away. I remember that Maccabi got ahead first against PSG but of course they couldn't resist PSG much after that. However if they do the same against Juventus I might doubt Juventus about a comfortable comeback just as PSG did. Hence they need to play more convincing.

I wasn’t surprised with Benfica's performance. Benfica started with an intense and high press that unsettled PSG in the early stages. I knew what they were capable of. They have a good way of playing against a big team like that. Circulating the ball well and fast, with that way they put PSG on the back foot from the start. PSG are not used to facing such a flood of attacking waves, they were constantly exposed and on a good day Benfica would have scored more.

I must applaud Chelsea ( Potential Cow-Boys ) lol for the win last night I watched the game very well and even if you give Milan a second chance, I can clearly say that they're still gon pump and dump more goals innit Ac Milan's goal.
Raheem Sterling, any one saw how he was self centered ? Aubameyang would have secured two goals in that game but the pass didn't lw in at the right time that's sad for a top winger like sterling.

I was real impressed by the performance of Recce James, that shot was beautiful taken, perfect timing and good technique with the right power exerted on the ball

Yep's, still boggled at Sevilla, things aren't looking sexy for them, they are yet to play a good game not to talk of winning matches, I've been pondering what's taking them so long to get the manager out!

Haaland never stopped scoring goals for Manchester City, after scoring a hat-trick against Manchester United in the Premier League, Haaland again scored two goals against FC Copenhagen. Haaland performance was extraordinary, he had made it easier for Manchester City to win through goals that were born from him.
Manchester City must always maintain the quality of their game at a high level and support Haaland to always score goals to make it easier for them to achieve their goals this season. So far City have always failed to get the Champions League trophy, this time the City road is a little easier to achieve the target they have long wanted. Pep Guardiola must be able to present the UCL trophy for Manchester City because it has been a club dream for a long time.