Barcelona just had a bad start last season, but in the second half the team improved its results and naturally took second place in the standings. Well, this season Barcelona has a great start and only the defeat by Real Madrid in El classico slightly spoils the impression of the team's start. Another question is, it is stupid to draw far-reaching conclusions after 11 rounds, and even more so on the basis of this to say that this season is much better. In the remaining time, anything can happen, as well as maintaining the momentum, as well as its fall and, as a result, falling out of the contenders for the title of champion.

In any case, a club with such a history and with such a squad should strive to win titles and if it didn't work out with the Champions League this season, Barcelona should try to realize itself in the remaining tournaments with a vengeance and energy. Moreover, Barcelona hardly claimed to win the Champions League with such a squad, but the club is now obliged to have the Europa League win as a goal. And the team should make every effort to do this.

Xavi may not want to lose anything with Barcelona, but besides him there are other strong contenders to win the Europa League. In addition, the last draw showed that not so high-status clubs can tune in to a match with a favorite in an unusual way, since the cup system allows you to win the battle thanks to one of your successful matches and an unsuccessful one from the favorite. The example of Eintracht showed all this perfectly in the last Europa League draw. Therefore, it is not necessary to distribute cups to certain top clubs in advance. The luck factor can neutralize all the layouts and give the world an unexpected winner of the tournament.

That's just the match with Nottingham Forest and will show in what condition Arsenal is now. I also think that we should not attach too much importance to the loss of the PSV team in Eindhoven, but still any loss may not reflect on the team in the most favorable way. However, given the current situation, it is not necessary to exaggerate the importance of Arsenal's victory in the upcoming match over Nottingham, just the team should take its own in the match with an outsider. But if a loss happens, it is dangerous, because it is fraught with plunging the team into a psychological pit. Nevertheless, the current Arsenal has not had a long experience of leadership in the standings for quite a long time and such a failure can lead to undesirable consequences.

There are serious doubts about the fact that Ronaldo will return to Serie A and it is in Napoli, because it seems that everything is in perfect order with Napoli and the appearance of such a player can cause changes that may adversely affect the game and the results of the team. On the other hand, on the contrary, perhaps it is the appearance of such a football player that can positively affect the team's game and prevent the team from declining in the second half of the season, which we could clearly observe last season. The fact that Ronaldo is no longer in the same order, at least as last season, can have a positive impact on both the transfer value of the player and his financial needs, therefore, certain prospects can be viewed from this side.

I have great respect for Lionel Messi, but I'm afraid that his return to Barcelona will not necessarily solve all the game problems and raise the team's game to a new level. Or to put it another way, it does not necessarily immediately lead to the desired result. Let's look at the situation that happened with the arrival of the Messiah in Paris Saint Germain. Let's be honest that the player's first season was pale and he almost spent all of it on adapting the player himself and adapting to a new club and adapting the club itself to a new player, and only in the second season Messi began to show the level that was expected of him. Now imagine a situation when Messi returns to the club. The team has somehow already learned to do without him and build the game in a different way, and now everything is for nothing and everything is new and the season can be sacrificed to this restructuring. Or a situation similar to the situation with Ronaldo may happen again, when a player could not be integrated into a new scheme and the player becomes a victim of a new scheme and sits on the bench and the head coach is not going to change anything because of this. Therefore, we need to think specifically about whether Messi's return to Barcelona is necessary?

Well, why didn't the world come together with a wedge on only one Champions League, and if, say, Lewandowski wins the World Cup with his national team, or at least gets to the final of the tournament, and also wins La Liga, the Europa League with Barcelona, then I think that would be quite enough to win Ballon d'Or Another question is that this is all problematic enough for everything to work out at the same time, but I just want to say that the team's departure from the Champions League does not mean automatic exclusion from the contenders for the prestigious trophy.

I think that the fact that Inter's win over Victoria Pilsen deprived Barcelona of even a theoretical chance of reaching the playoff stage had a role in such a Barcelona game. Barcelona president Joan Laporta said on this occasion that watching Inter win was like torture, because they hoped for a miracle, but it did not happen. On the other hand, I personally think that this should not serve as an excuse for losing and the lack of shots on goal, because even before that, it was clear to all sane people that Inter was obliged to win at home and solve the issue of the team's participation in the playoff stage. Barcelona had to show with this match that the team is on the way to restoring the old traditions, but to the great regret of the club's fans, this did not happen and, frankly, Bayern Munich won this match and it turned out even easier than in the first match in Munich.

As far as I remember, Messi decided to postpone the question about his future for the period after the World Cup, so all such questions are now just speculation and insinuations on a given topic. Because almost every week mutually exclusive information is dumped into the press, then according to it Messi remains in Paris Saint Germain, but on the contrary Messi returns to Barcelona. The latest information is that Paris Saint-Germain wants to sign a new contract with Messi, and not include the option of extending it for another year, as the club is entitled to. So far, everything is going exactly to the fact that Messi will stay at Paris Saint-Germain, but I still would not say this confidently, because the World Cup and especially the 1/8 final of the Champions League can radically change everything.

Thanks to two victories over Milan, Chelsea turned the situation in the group in their favor, and with their victory over Salzburg, they further consolidated this position. Now the position of the teams in the group has acquired the outlines that many expected before the start of the Champions League group stage matches, but the upcoming full-time match with Milan allows Salzburg to tip the scales in its favor and take the coveted 2nd place.

In principle, all this shows that he is not indifferent to this situation and Ronaldo wants to change this situation. Although, of course, I also don't quite agree with the methods that Cristiano takes for this. I think that the player still feels the strength to prove himself in Europe and therefore will not agree to move to the USA yet. Another question is that after all that has happened, it will be problematic for him to do this at Manchester United, because there is information that ten Hag agrees to allow Ronaldo to the training process with the team if the player agrees to the role of not the main player of the team. Judging by the fact that the player returned to training with the team, the player most likely agreed to it. Another question is that Ronaldo is unlikely to agree to do this all season and will most likely leave the team in the winter transfer window. I think Ronaldo is still able to find himself a strong European club where he won't be sitting on the bench.

Benfica created problems for itself out of the blue, first by not making the score 5-1 and then by not realizing a one-on-one exit with the Juventus goalkeeper at 4-3. Even if Juventus had really lost with a big score of 5-1 or 4-1, I'm not sure that the club's management would have decided to dismiss Allegri, and so the final score of the match is quite respectable and it looks like nothing threatens the head coach's positions so far. At least Allegri said after the match that they were disappointed and angry that they had been eliminated from the Champions League and would now focus on the Italian championship and the upcoming match with Paris Saint-Germain in order to compete for a place in the Europa League. If the head coach says so, it means he is confident in continuing his work at the club.

On the one hand, balance is really needed in everything, but on the other hand, a lot depends on the character of the person himself, his priorities, his needs. I think that if a person has a goal to earn more money, then he is more likely to achieve this, because he will put more effort into it, devote more time to it, choose the field of activity that will make it more likely to achieve this. If a person has other priorities, then of course he will also earn enough, but still not as much as a person aspiring to it.

Ronaldo's main problem is that with the arrival of Ten Hag at Manchester United, the club's playing model has changed with high pressure of players, and Cristiano was not strong in this even in his best years. It is also a problem for Cristiano that ten Hag does not even try to change his playing model taking into account the presence of such a player in the team and Rashford is more preferable for him. And only then can we talk about such factors as Ronaldo's pre-season preparation, which was actually disrupted by his own fault, and the desire to leave Manchester United at the beginning of the season for a club that takes part in the Champions League. I think that at the beginning of the season, Ten Hag was still ready to try to integrate Ronaldo into his playing scheme, but Ronaldo actually pushed the coach away with his actions before the season, but now we have what we have when Manchester United is steadily gaining points and without Ronaldo's participation and ten Hag has no good reason to change anything in this regard.

Real Madrid has already secured entry to the next stage of the Champions League, so the loss of these players should not be fatal for the club. Another question is that now the main question can only be from where it will be possible to do this and, in theory, the first place in the group can provide more advantageous positions and an easier opponent in the playoff stage. On the other hand, Leipzig, unlike Real Madrid, has not yet secured participation in the playoff stage, so the match is of the utmost importance for the club, especially since the match will be held at home. Also, let's not forget with what difficulty Real Madrid made a saving draw for themselves in the previous match with Shakhtar, along with Benzema and Modric in the squad, so I would not be in a hurry to say that Madrid should ensure at least a draw for itself. Moreover, the Real Madrid players can involuntarily keep in their heads that they will have the next match with Celtic at home.

Unai Emery proved with his work at Villarreal that he has not lost his coaching skills and can make the most of the limited resources available. It is clear that he became too cramped within this club and wanted big challenges. Let him not succeed in working with top clubs, because this is a rather specific issue, often having little to do with coaching. In the case of Aston Villa, he may well expect success, because there are not so high expectations. Moreover, he has experience and knowledge of the realities of the Premier League. A well-known insider Fabrizio Romano claims that Aston Villa will pay 6 million euros to Villarreal as compensation for the transfer of the coach. And the coach himself will receive 7 million euros a year in Birmingham.

Basically, any coach relies on some players in the game of his team and Xavi is no exception here. It is the injuries of several of his main players that Antonio Conte is now referring to as an excuse for his Tottenham's two consecutive defeats in the Premier League. Any coach would dream of having two or even three equivalent squads to rotate between them in case of injury to their key players, but that's why they are key players, that there can't be too many of them. If there are too many of them, then problems of the psychological climate in the team may begin, resentments of players on the amount of playing time. As for finances, the coming years will continue to be very difficult for Barcelona and the very likely failure of the team to reach the Champions League playoff stage will also not greatly contribute to the financial recovery of the club. On the other hand, in my opinion, the club's management is making the most of the strength of the signed players and therefore Xavi should at least claim the title in La Liga and no one will accept discounts for injured players.

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I think that Antonio Conte's positions in Tottenham are not in danger yet, although of course the second loss in the championship in a row may be alarming, but I am sure that Tottenham has enough margin of safety not to fall into a peak. Conte blames injuries to three or five players for the failures and said after the match that the team needs to strengthen the squad if the team wants to play in the Premier League and Champions League.  And let's not underestimate Newcastle United, which looks very good at the beginning of this season, being among the leaders and this is no longer the outsider team that was on the verge of relegation to the championship at a certain stage last season. Saudi injections into the club are slowly doing their job and the team is steadily moving forward into the number of permanent leaders of the Premier League.

I agree that on the one hand, Roma could have got a draw if not for this mistake by Roma defender Chris Smalling, who nevertheless let Osimhen to the ball and gave him a shot from an acute angle.  And in my humble opinion, goalkeeper Rui Patricio could also try to hit this ball, and not the way he did when he seemed to jerk towards the ball, and then stopped, hoping that the ball does not go into the goal. Such a focus on a draw played a cruel joke with the team when, after conceding a goal, the team could not rebuild and Jose Mourinho's wards could not even arrange a semblance of an assault in the time remaining until the end of the match. Mourinho said after the match that he congratulates the opponent, but feels that they won without deserving it, and Roma lost without deserving it.