The fact is that Barcelona still has a chance in the La Liga standings to get a ticket to the UCL next season and with that, it doesn't matter if Barcelona don't win here too. But I personally really believe that Barcelona will go further in this UEL, but if Barcelona can't do their best here then that's also not a problem. Because after all, Barcelona is still in the process of improving which of course takes time to become their squad more solid.
If we believe the news that says that Barcelona has increased its debt by 30% (four hundred million euros) over the past year, then its prospects become incomprehensible to me. By the way, I don't know the intricacies of the rules of financial fair play, but it seems that Barcelona does not follow its spirit - it spends much more than it earns and this cannot end well. You know they already had to sell the best player of their squad and they don't want this to get worse than that. And if the news is true then they might also face a lot of legal lawsuits. Now their main focus should have to save money for future development otherwise surly they are going to be in big trouble again.
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Another interesting match I won't want to miss is Sporting Vs Manchester City. Sporting is currently at the 2nd position in their League. While City are leading in the Premier League. Manchester City have a better squad compared to that of Sporting, but I think Sporting will make the game tough for City to win. Also, sporting will be hosting the first leg. But, despite playing home, it won't be an easy task for them to resist City. Anyways, Let wait and see how it will eventually end. However, without doubt, am quite sure, Manchester City won't lose in the game.
Honestly, knowing Sporting well, I don't see him being able to play these amazing games. They can even provide an interesting spectacle, for being a young team and fighting with all their strength at all times of the game. But Man City won't have much trouble winning both games. One thing is for sure, Sporting's coach is not known for playing only defense. So he will certainly seek his luck, but he will hardly be able to surprise. I think that sporting will try to apply some early pressure to Manchester City and yet I don't think that they will be able to really achieve some great things. Instead, I think that they might get caught off guard on the counterattack. Man city should really easily win both games in my opinion also.
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LOL.. Canada won the match and now they are at the top of the table with 22 Points. The United States and Mexico have 18 points each and Panama is trailing them with 17. 4 matches remain for each of these teams, so there is plenty of time for those who are outside the top-3 to catch up. But realistically the chances are low. Costa Rica, placed at the 5th position only have 13 points. It will be a tough task for them to catch up with Panama, so that they can qualify for the inter-confederation play-offs.
yeah, interesting, was not following their qualifications, but Canada is on the top, and probably secured for World Cup now would this be their first appearance on World Cup? Mexico and USA should be good as well, Panama is far worst than them, and Mexico is playing Panama in next round, so this could be it, Costarica is far down from them, four rounds, four points, it is hardly manageable to be fourth Actually, I don't think that Canada has ever appeared in the World cup. This is going to be the first time as far as I know. I am actually quite impressed and shocked at the same time by their performance. I actually expected better from Mexico. Out of there three draws maybe one should have been converted to a win. Especially the match against Costa Rica today. Mexico dominated but couldn't achieve the results needed.
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Real Madrid is one of the most favorite team presently in La Liga. Their squad are strong enough to withstand other top clubs in the League. Also, from the current performance of theirs, Madrid are likely to win the La Liga title this season. Although, they have won a trophy already this season (Super cup). However, Madrid have the Copa del Rey quarter finals match against Athletic Club ahead. Is an away match for them, but the game will be quiet tough. Athletic Club won't want to lose the match, because they lost the Super cup to Madrid. But despite that, I think Real Madrid are the favorite here.
Madrid success defeat Athletic Bilbao last match on final Spain Super Cup where Luka Modric and Karim Benzema become super hero with one goal each other and give first trophy for Real Madrid. I think will be the same composition player for Madrid again faced Athletic Bilbao on Cope del Rey quarter final on Friday night, I think Madrid want to get all trophies in this season because still have good chance on La Liga, Champion League and now waiting for Madrid get back Copa del Rey after missing with long time. Yes, I also think that RMA is definitely the favorite in the match. And I also think it's safe to say that Madrid is going to will the league title as well. Because right now the teams which should have given Real Madrid a good fight for the title are really not posing a threat for them. Seems like Real Madrid domination for quite some time in the future at least.
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From the 2nd Bundesliga, St. Pauli will play against Union Berlin and Hannover 96 against Leipzig (both other teams from the 1st Bundesliga). And Hamburger SV against Karlsruher SC. This means that at least one club from the 2nd Bundesliga will reach the semi-finals.
Yes, that's true DFB-Pokla is going to be interesting. These matches are going to be exciting because teams with rather low positions in the league will try to prove their worth in the cup matches. ![Smiley](https://bitcointalk.org/Smileys/default/smiley.gif) And it will be really interesting to see if these smaller teams can continue the form in the league and do better.
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What do you mean highlighted by Indian media? Pakistani media was the one that highlighted the blast that recently happened in Balochistan. They were debating about it for two days and not only the mainstream media but the complete social media was questioning the Pakistan army. There is nothing new both countries blame each other for everything.
Well there are proofs that whats happening in Balochistan is funded by a neighbor country. Every country has its own internal issues, i remember how closely BAN team survived a killing attempt in NZ but nobody boycott going to NZ for playing cricket. There are matches in the past in Pakistan without any issue. You can't compare these both countries in same way because both are living in completely different geopolitical area's and have different security and other measurements so if no team boycott New Zealand then it's not mean now all teams having good idea about Pakistan. We have many other serious threats around Pakistan specially after Taliban taking control into Afghanistan and Pakistan is already having history of many terror attacks and other serious concerns which are creating problems for many other countries around the globe. About media this blame game was in and will be in for many years in future because both countries having many things similar like corruption and hungriness and lack of education with just very few peoples enjoying luxury life and most of the population suffering. Yes, I totally agree but you can't say that what happened in Pakistan is a very big deal and what happened in New Zealand is nothing, okay? Pakistan had security issues before and also the recent bomb blast in Pakistan is undeniably a fault of security which shows a major flaw in their security. And I won't be surprised to be honest if teams don't agree to tour Pakistan at this moment.
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Yes, Dusan Vlahovic is a talented young player who will certainly be good for Juventus from time to time, but I deplore the rumors about Paulo Dybala. I hope they can play together at Juventus, but so far I still haven't got any official news about Dybala and I just hope, the issue of Dybala's transfer is not true because I believe Juventus will continue to get consistent results if they can play together. I hope Dybala will stay. Making a duo with Vlahovic should give him extra motivation. But one has to doubt his fitness levels. He has become terribly injury prone. It's also a waste of his talents playing him so far away from the opponents penalty area. There have been plenty of speculations about why he still hasn't extended his contract. According to Italian media, one of the problems was that he didn't have an agent with a professional license. Not really sure how that is possible and how he was able to work with that agent in the past. Juventus is also questioning if Paulo is worth the money he asks for. It's a fact that Dybala is not a 30 goals per season type of striker and the management is correct in questioning should we pay this lad €10/year. It would be awful to lose him for free though, especially if he goes to Inter. The injury seems to be the main problem for Dybala right now. The management is also right to question his worth because generally if you pay for something you would want something in return. That's where the injury case has made things worse. And losing him for free would surely be a great shame. But, I think that he could have made a great duo with Dušan Vlahović.
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Barcelona are getting confident that they can agree the Aubameyang loan deal before today's deadline. Some journalists are saying that they cannot register him due to salary cap but they are trying to offload Ousmane Dembele to make room.
PSG played it really well in my opinion. And I think that Barcelona would have opted for or better and younger strikers but considering their economy this will have to do for now. But I do wonder if they can confirm the Emerick Aubameyang deal though.
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Maybe we could witness a similar draw to the PSG - Bayern Munich draw in last season. We watched a close competition between them and PSG hardly managed to advance to the next round. I believe that Real Madrid are as powerful as that Bayern Munich right now. And this means that they can make big difficulties for PSG in both games. And I hope so too. We are all expecting this draw to be exciting. PSG will need to make a great effort to be able to eliminate Real Madrid.
In any case, just the fact that the match will be held at the home stadium already gives Paris Saint-Germain some advantage. Also, let's not forget about the two-match format of the teams' confrontation, and if Real Madrid is quite satisfied with a draw in this match, then I think PSG will try to play for victory in any case. In any case, everything will be decided on the football field and the fact that Real Madrid will be quite satisfied with a draw does not mean that the club will play for a draw, because this is not quite in the nature of the team and the composition is strong enough. Therefore, we are waiting for a hard match with some caution from both clubs, because everything will probably be decided already in Madrid. I don't think that anything will play for a draw and both teams are going to play for the win. Because I know that oats teams would like to have an advantage going to the second leg. For PSG I think the first scenario is going to be to win a super first home match and then go for a draw in the second leg.
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It's been a long time since Barcelona stepped into the Europa League after being eliminated from the UCL preliminary group, of course we know how in the past Barcelona always dominated the UCL but this time it decreased due to the loss of several important players. Against Napoli I think it's balanced if Barcelona play, I'm waiting for this and Napoli are also growing but indeed the performance in the domestic league and European league is always different and the Spanish team always outperforms it.
Was there ever a time when Barcelona dominated the Champions League? I remember that they won the league, but their victory alternated with regular big defeats from Bayern. If any club has dominated the Champions League, it's only Real Madrid. It is unlikely that anyone will be able to repeat their recent achievement when they won the Champions League 4 times in 5 years. I think what he is trying to say that in the last 20 years or 10 years ... barcelona always reached semi final of the champions league at least , clearly it's not kind of dominatinhg definition , the one who win it the most it might could be defined as domination here but i guess there is no single team dominating the champions league. Real madrid just had the better statistics above all which yeah for me it's still cant be defined as dominating. You are right. We can call domination what RMA or AC Milan did in the Champions League not what Barcelona did. They were not dominant, they were a good team in UCL. But I'm curious how well this new FCB team does in the EUL as they face Napoli. This game is gonna be a crucial game as it might set the momentum of Barcelona in EUL.
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Juventus have been impressive for so many weeks in the Serie A. Juventus haven't been losing in the league for nine weeks. They are one of the hardest teams to defeat in the recent times. And their next match seems to be against Verona home. It is good to see Juventus recovering and going to upper positions in the standings. They are one of the worthy teams of the Champions League and they can make it there at the end of the season as long as keep this level up. As they have signed Vlahovic also, I'm expecting them to be more effective.
It is really good to see Juventus making a really good comeback in the latter part of the season. They are a really good team and for the record, I have always believed in Juventus. Right now they easily have a chance to finish the season in the top four and the way they are performing in recent times, if they keep performing like this they will surely challenge the top three for a spot. And Dušan Vlahović signing should be a great addition to the team also.
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Okay, Juventus paid dearly for Vlahovic and I think it's unlikely they'll also sign Aubameyang for the same position. Barca manager Xavi wants to add a striker to his squad before the transfer window closes on Monday, but any arrival will depend on whether winger Ousmane Dembele signs a contract extension or moves elsewhere. In addition, Vlahovic has already been offered to Barça before, but the club prioritized other players, will he now.
I believe Arsenal not thinking where he went. The important thing is this sale must give them cash because they want to hunt the new players. but the time is running out, the deadline until Monday, Juventus or Barcelona must thinking fast. I don't know what strategy Barcelona for use when Aubameyang has a deal because they have Ansu Pati, Ferran Torres, Adama Traore, Ousmane Dembele, and academy graduates also. will he fill up the bench also?. I think that Barcelona is also thinking the same thing and that is the reason for the delay of this transfer. I really think that Barcelona should hold on to their money right now and buy a really better striker in the next transfer market. Someone who can be the backbone of Barcelona's attack. But the problem is Barcelona players in all the positions almost. So it is a hard job for them to hold onto their money.
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The Lille - PSG game is getting close and I think that PSG might have some difficulties in this game. First of all, Lille are obviously not playing like in the previous season and they are having a problematic season now. However, their recent form has actually been decent. And maybe they can be good enough to do the same Lyon did to PSG some time ago. But Lille will definitely need to score the first goal of the game. If PSG score first, then I don't think that they would lose any point. But in the other case, Lille can at least have a chance for a draw in the worst case.
I think PSG might have the edge over Lille just because they have players who can singlehandedly win them games. But that doesn't mean that they will win each and every game because their chemistry is not that good compared to other teams. Maybe Lille will be able to give a good fight, but a lot will depend on who scores the first game as that will determine the momentum of the game.
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It's Barty, a dominant 2 set win against Collins, the first set was easy, but she has to be extended and win in a tie-break.
That second set should have gone to Collins side, she had 5:1 and Barty was moving uncharacteristically bad. Then she found the strength and turned it around. Australians must be happy with winner in women's part of the tournament and with all Australian final in men's double. Pure celebration Saturday, and then men's final to clear the hangover. Barty has shown why she is the better player between the two. Experience does come in handy as she was quite resilient in the 2nd quarter and came back strong and won the match eventually. Seems like the Australian Open is actually gonna be a happy tournament for the Australians.
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In fact, Napoli also has the advantage of fixtures. There are very difficult matches waiting for Inter. They will try very hard as they have to win all of these matches. So they can stumble. If they can get through this fixture with their wins without a problem, Inter will probably be champions anyway. However, it seems that Napoli will never give up. I think there will be a championship race between the two until the end of the league.
Maybe Napoli won't give up, they will try their best to win the title. But to win the title requires good playing as well as experience. Inter Milan will be ahead of Napoli in terms of experience. If Inter Milan does not lose points against AC Milan, then maybe Inter Milan will win the title. Because Inter Milan does not usually lose points against a weaker team. They fight hard every season to win the title because they can perform consistently. So I think the match between Inter Milan vs AC Milan will play an important role in winning the title. Napoli have the same chance with Inter Milan how to get scudetto but depend can Napoli keep consistent with their performance or not, still have match for Napoli make points the same with Inter Milan because two weeks later have match between Napoli vs Inter Milan, if can take three points from Inter Milan will give chance for Napoli how to get three points and keep competitive on standing position. I think Inter Milan left match with bigger team, next match AC Milan waiting for and later chance for Napoli for giving chance to Inter Milan keep safety on first standing position or take chance lead Serie standing fixtures. Napoli obviously has a chance of winning the title but the first problem is that they have played one more match than Inter. And obviously, they are also four points behind Inter, But that should not be a problem if they can perform consistently and bring the results. Sadly in recent times, they have not been consistent and their past few games are not really good. So, first of all, they have to play a good consistency and hope that Inter loses their next matches.
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I haven't seen the game, but from what I've read the game was quite controversial. Two expulsions, with very lengthy analysis by the VAR and the referee. As well as expulsions reversed after analyzing the images, despite being very dubious releases. Anyway, the referee turns out to be an element that did not help an excellent football show.
Given all these events, the show turned out great. And if you take the final result, then it arranged for both teams - Brazil did not lose and Ecuador scored an important point. As for refereeing decisions, if this match had an important tournament value, then most likely they would have caused a scandal and a long discussion after the match. Almost the whole match was a 10 v 10. Ecuador had a player sent off at 15 minutes of the game and Brazil had a player sent off at 20 minutes of the game. I also have to agree that if this was a more competitive match there might have been a lot of talks about controversies in that match. But overall I think it was a good game and good to see a match full of action.
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Now we're in the quarter finals I'll give my predictions for the rest of the tournament:
Gambia 0 vs 2 Cameroon Burkina Faso 0 vs 1 Tunisia Egypt (P) 0 vs Morocco Senegal 2 vs 0 Equatorial Guinea
For the semi's obviously depends on the draw (which I'm not exactly sure how that works in the AFCON), but I'm feeling a Senegal vs Egypt final, which Senegal take in normal time. Probably a 2-1 victory or 2-0 victory.
I think that your prediction are quite on the point. If we look at how these teams have played in this tournament we can expect an outcome which is going to look somewhat like that. I do want Egypt to win but if they face Senegal in the semi-finals, I also probably think that Egypt is going to lose that match, but Cameroon vs Tunisia is a hard one to predict in my opinion.
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NLEX and Gin kings are hot, but we know both TNT and SMB are both capable of chasing the title.
We just have to hope that everything will go back smoothly now. Just last week although I can't find the link, I have read that there's also a consideration wherein the Governors Cup will be pushed but without the imports as these guys also have a business to take care and these delays are making their schedule in jeopardy.
It's been a while that we see a not usual team on the top of the standing that's why I like to see where's the dominance of NLEX this Governor's Cup will end up. Have not read that but i think imports can play as the resumption of games would be on the first Sunday of February and no word yet from the PBA that imports are not allowed to play for the time being. With the "unrestricted free agent" rule in effect, SMC and MVP teams will become stronger as free agents main priority is to sign with those teams, last option for them is to sign with low tier teams if no offer from strong teams. But isn't it final already that they will resume next month on the 1st week? No import, I think it's not exciting, however, I would just accept it as it's better to have that than no PBA at all. I hope there's no more changes and we will finally see the return of the PBA conference, I think it's almost a month already since it was stopped. Though no imports are not exciting, as you said, I would also just accept it. PBA has always had a soft spot for imports. This time that decision is different and maybe it's ok to have no imports than having no PBA at all. But I don't think that any more changes will be appreciated.
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Inter are currently only 4 points ahead of Napoli who are now in 2nd place. Italian league in the coming months will get really competitive and Inter should in no way think that they are safe on top of the table, okay?
Juventus, after having a bad start to the season, have found back their rhythm and the gap among the top 4 teams is only 10 points. One mistake and Inter will fall to 3rd or 4th place. So, I'm hoping for a thrilling Italian League.
Inter are ahead of Napoli by only 4 points, but you need to take into account that Inter played one game less, so they can potentially further increase their lead over Napoli. Juventus are gradually gaining form, but they need to strengthen the attack line in order to count on something more. I didn't like how they played against Milan because the Juventus attack didn't create any really dangerous moments. Inter is certainly not safe but they are obviously ahead of everyone else so they would surely want to keep it that way. Juventus has regained their form in recent times but I doubt that it is going to be enough for them to be in the top three, but they certainly can be in the top four but they need to start performing well. The top 4 spot is open to anyone for the taking to be honest.
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Galatasaray really need to improve their game immediately. I know that they are doing well in the Europa League. They have done more than just "well" actually. They finished the group stage as the leader in the end. Their performance was really mesmerizing. I watched them closely especially in the Marseille match that they got a huge win. But something is odd when it comes to the Super League. They've changed their manager but I think they shouldn't have done this. I don't think that the real problem is about the manager.
Well, they have changed their manager already and I think that now some new strategy and the change of authority is going to to help them in some ways. But if it does not then they have to realize that the problem is not their manager but within themselves. They have to improve their game immediately and start bringing good results.
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