BitcoinNews.com's UEFA Champions League Football Preditor Pool Discussion thread

[Harkorede]

^Ah I didn't even realise there was a VAR disallowed goal till I read, they'll definitely feel hard done by, and I know I always rate Real in UCL (experience and game management are big factors for me) but feel like Chelsea offer the better chance of facing up to City -- of course, I'm not ruling Atletico out. If there's a team than can outdo Villareal shithousery, it's them. I absolutely can't stand it when my team's facing it, but it's good footballing fun to see them to it to your rivals... of course, our reward if we navigate past Benfica is to have another go at that but I think we'll take a lot of lessons from meeting Atletico twice already.

Yeah, I believe Chelsea would have been a tougher team to face for Man City than Real Madrid (provided Man City don't bottle it tonight), I'd hate to see an all Madrid semi-final to be honest, no direspect intendend but I believe Bayern Munich getting eliminated means an easy final route for Liverpool, yeah ? or do you think Emery's side can complete a hattrick of eliminating the big dogs, having done so against Juventus first, and now Bayern as their lastest victim.

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[Trofo]

Yeah, seemed very harsh. Did it 100% even hit his hand? From the angle I saw I don't think it was 100%. They normally disregard handballs if it hits the body first as well.

They have some new, extra stupid rule about unintentional handballs in actions before goal. Not understanding it 100% yet but if he did not shoot and scored immediately after the handball the goal would be legit. If for instance he passed the ball to another player or dribbled pass another player before goal was scored. Seems like another rule that will cause a lot of controversy in the future.

Yesterday games went according to plan with both to score for me, was a bit luck for Villarreal goal involved but I'll take it. I was very hesitant but decided to provoke my luck again today. Both to score on both games once again. Hopefully Atletico will decide to try and play a little and not just defend until 85th minute.

[Harkorede]

^

If Atletico Madrid so decide to play all defensive approach yet again tonight, then it would their loss, at least they've got to score to stand a chance of overturning the first leg deficit.

Both teams to score in Liverpool vs Benfica looks rather more probable to me, given that Jurgen Klop have decided to rest a host of his best players on the bench, including Mane, Salah, VVD and Fabinho, Benfica should be able to get a goal at least.

[LTU_btc]

What a drama in Atletico - City game. Atleti were so close to score goal and send game to extra time. But last 15 minutes of game was disgraceful from both sides, we haven't saw much football there.
Liverpool 3:3 Benfica. Liverpool already did main part of work in 1st leg, but despite it Benfica gave great fight. They even didn't gave up when Liverpool were leading 3:1.

Probably because they were really bad in the first game? They failed to have a single shot towards the City goal and were on the back foot throughout the whole 90 minutes.
If there is a team in the world that can get a result out of nothing, I agree it is Atletico. Still - I watched their previous game and I really feel there's nothing in Simeone's team that can surprise City.

I had in mind their performance in 1st leg, but it was their intention to play in such way to simply save score for 2nd leg. And today they were really close to eliminate city.

[cryptofrka]

Atletico actually played a fantastic game from a tactical perspective. They managed to limit City to only 1 shot in the whole game and waited patiently for their 1 potential chance.
They got it in the last minutes of the game but Ederson managed to save the shot.

It is the only way they could have played and as ugly as it was, tactically it was spot on. Villarreal will try to do the same against Liverpool in the semifinal.

[casperBGD]

Atletico actually played a fantastic game from a tactical perspective. They managed to limit City to only 1 shot in the whole game and waited patiently for their 1 potential chance.
They got it in the last minutes of the game but Ederson managed to save the shot.

It is the only way they could have played and as ugly as it was, tactically it was spot on. Villarreal will try to do the same against Liverpool in the semifinal.

maybe it was fantastic from tactical perspective, but with this kind of football all-around, we would have empty stadiums, because it is not that interesting to watch it
that is why Chess championship have fewer spectators than football

nevertheless, duel between City and Real will be an interesting one, Liverpool should kick-out Villareal, but surprises are always possible

[cryptofrka]

maybe it was fantastic from tactical perspective, but with this kind of football all-around, we would have empty stadiums, because it is not that interesting to watch it
that is why Chess championship have fewer spectators than football

nevertheless, duel between City and Real will be an interesting one, Liverpool should kick-out Villareal, but surprises are always possible

Of course, it is horrible to watch for the neutrals. What I'm saying is that it was the only way for them to have a chance of winning and they came really close to extra time late on in the game.

Knockout games are often cagey and more tactical - the stakes are much higher and mistakes are more costly. Even City was really cautious yesterday and played a lot more slower and with way less risk than usual.

[hilariousetc]

What a drama in Atletico - City game. Atleti were so close to score goal and send game to extra time. But last 15 minutes of game was disgraceful from both sides, we haven't saw much football there.

That was mostly Madrid's fault. Felipe kicked out at Foden after he made the tackle after earlier cutting his head open with a foul that he wasn't even carded for. He should have been sent of much earlier so don't know why he was complaining. Madrid did some horrific fowl throws as well. Saw a couple City fans complaining to the ref about them but he didn't do anything.

Hoping it's not an all English final. It's always boring when that happens. Liverpool should beat Villareal but they've got this far and just knocked out Bayern so probably won't be a pushover. Real Madrid V Liverpool would probably be my favoured choice. Karim Benzema will probably be up for the running in the Ballon Dor this year. Looks like Madrid will win the La Liga this season and Benzema is only one goal behind Lewandowski in the top scorer along with being the La Liga top scorer so he's definitely a contender especially since Messi and Ronaldo haven't been up to much in their domestics.

[Trofo]

Hoping it's not an all English final. It's always boring when that happens. Liverpool should beat Villareal but they've got this far and just knocked out Bayern so probably won't be a pushover. Real Madrid V Liverpool would probably be my favoured choice. Karim Benzema will probably be up for the running in the Ballon Dor this year. Looks like Madrid will win the La Liga this season and Benzema is only one goal behind Lewandowski in the top scorer along with being the La Liga top scorer so he's definitely a contender especially since Messi and Ronaldo haven't been up to much in their domestics.

Benzema is absolutely the only contender for Ballon Dor this season, IMHO if anybody else gets it is a steal. Ronaldo and Messi have bad seasons, Salah had great first half of season but tuned off in most important part and had bad results with national team. Lewandowski is probably runner up but I watched him a lot this season and he is not dominant on the pitch. Yes he scores but he has just a couple of touches every game and he is nowhere to be seen most of the time while Benzema is doing everything for Real: scores, assists, plays deep when necessary.... Everything real did this season had an enormous signature from Benzema.

[cryptofrka]

Benzema is absolutely the only contender for Ballon Dor this season, IMHO if anybody else gets it is a steal. Ronaldo and Messi have bad seasons, Salah had great first half of season but tuned off in most important part and had bad results with national team. Lewandowski is probably runner up but I watched him a lot this season and he is not dominant on the pitch. Yes he scores but he has just a couple of touches every game and he is nowhere to be seen most of the time while Benzema is doing everything for Real: scores, assists, plays deep when necessary.... Everything real did this season had an enormous signature from Benzema.

I think it will be between him and Salah. Salah is having a great season and I don't feel that he has underachieved with Egypt. He got them to the AFCON finals which was really unexpected and is an overachievement for the Egyptian team and they lost on penalties in a WC qualifier.

I think it comes down to who wins what. Both of them are at the top of their game but if Liverpool wins 3 trophies and Salah scores 2 goals in a CL final, I think he'll be getting it for sure.

[Trofo]

Benzema is absolutely the only contender for Ballon Dor this season, IMHO if anybody else gets it is a steal. Ronaldo and Messi have bad seasons, Salah had great first half of season but tuned off in most important part and had bad results with national team. Lewandowski is probably runner up but I watched him a lot this season and he is not dominant on the pitch. Yes he scores but he has just a couple of touches every game and he is nowhere to be seen most of the time while Benzema is doing everything for Real: scores, assists, plays deep when necessary.... Everything real did this season had an enormous signature from Benzema.

I think it will be between him and Salah. Salah is having a great season and I don't feel that he has underachieved with Egypt. He got them to the AFCON finals which was really unexpected and is an overachievement for the Egyptian team and they lost on penalties in a WC qualifier.

I think it comes down to who wins what. Both of them are at the top of their game but if Liverpool wins 3 trophies and Salah scores 2 goals in a CL final, I think he'll be getting it for sure.

Fair point, when I am thinking about Egypt and Salah I just remember penalty losses where Salah misses or does not even take penalties but you can look at it as well as achievement just by being there.

It will come to that CL final as it should. Lewa probably ruled himself out with loss from Villarreal.

[cryptofrka]

Fair point, when I am thinking about Egypt and Salah I just remember penalty losses where Salah misses or does not even take penalties but you can look at it as well as achievement just by being there.

It will come to that CL final as it should. Lewa probably ruled himself out with loss from Villarreal.

Sorry I'm replying a bit late, I took a few days off for Easter eating
I still feel that the discussion is relevant though.

For me Lewandovski isn't really in contention. He should have won it a year or 2 years ago, this year he's way less involved in the buildup. He's become just a goalscorer and he's still a terrific one for sure but if you compare it to what Benzema is doing for Real all over the pitch it doesn't really come close.

Even as a Liverpool fan I hope Benzema will win it - I simply enjoy in his performances too much to really care that Salah is playing for my club. Salah is having a fantastic season but he's also more of a focal point (goalscorer) while Benzema is playing on an extremely high all-around level. I'd say he plays like Firmino, just 2 times better.

[buwaytress]

Meh, what a damned bloody start. Mahrez cross, KdB miles onside, and a goal within 2 minutes, Real didn't even get the ball out of their half yet. Terrible start for my bet so am only hoping this is typical Real shit start. No Casemiro but hope Kroos and Modric turn on the magic, maybe they're just preferring to go behind first to make it a match. Oh woe is Real, ha ha.

[LTU_btc]

Damn what a game, it was difficult to expectsomething better. What a powerful start City had, in first 15 minutes they dominated completely, but later Real returned to the game. I would say that one of goals that Real conceded (4th I think) was Courtois mistake. It was his corner and he didn't even reacted.
And that Benzema penalty - you need to have lot of confidence to make Panenka in such important game.
At some moments it looked that City can bring quite confident score to Madrid, but Real was able to respond and with 4:3 score most interesting things is still ahead.

[Trofo]

Damn what a game, it was difficult to expectsomething better. What a powerful start City had, in first 15 minutes they dominated completely, but later Real returned to the game. I would say that one of goals that Real conceded (4th I think) was Courtois mistake. It was his corner and he didn't even reacted.
And that Benzema penalty - you need to have lot of confidence to make Panenka in such important game.
At some moments it looked that City can bring quite confident score to Madrid, but Real was able to respond and with 4:3 score most interesting things is still ahead.

What a game This is what every knockout game in CL should look like. Did not watch the whole thing since I played football with my mates but I have seen first 15 minutes and last 15 minutes. I can also brag a bit since I finally won one betbuilder bet. I am usually so unlucky with them but this time around Nacho clinched a yellow card in 90th minute to make it pass.

[slaman29]

Saw the highlights now and totally agree with 4th goal shouldn't happen I mean when you foul someone, or get fouled, stop waiting for referee to do something and keep playing. I think Courtois thought they conceded a freekick so when Silva just took the ball and shot, it was like a free shot. That's really unprofessional to switch off I hate seeing teams do this.

Well at least it's just 1 goal difference. Real only need to win to at least take game to overtime. Should be amazing to watch, I might try see if I can stay up for that.

Hate Real of course but I hate City more

[casperBGD]

looking at match yesterday, this one seems to be from another competition
Villareal is playing their game, and it will be difficult to overcome their defense

regarding Real, as expected they scored after 75' minutes, and it was Benzema, seems as pretty usual statistics for him, if they pass-through, he will secure his golden boot

[LTU_btc]

Yeah, comparing yesterday's game with this pne - it looked like Europa league game. Though, probably it was worthto expect something similar.
For Villarreal it was difficult to achieve positive result with parked bus. After all, they're not Atletico to defend that well. Even against Bayern they weren't so defensive. Things isn't over yet, but Liverpool is one feet in the final now.

[slaman29]

Yeah, comparing yesterday's game with this pne - it looked like Europa league game. Though, probably it was worthto expect something similar.
For Villarreal it was difficult to achieve positive result with parked bus. After all, they're not Atletico to defend that well. Even against Bayern they weren't so defensive. Things isn't over yet, but Liverpool is one feet in the final now.

This is the problem when you get such a treat of 7 goals, that even if this game was 5-0, you would never feel it was half as exciting as the first.

But we all knew Villareal were not going to light up the festival of UCL, what I didn't expect was they would not be able to find a single shot on goal. Stats say just 1 attempt that was off target. How is that even possible unless they really were just going for a draw? but 2 goals down and not to try, seems like a losing recipe.

[Trofo]

Yeah, comparing yesterday's game with this pne - it looked like Europa league game. Though, probably it was worthto expect something similar.
For Villarreal it was difficult to achieve positive result with parked bus. After all, they're not Atletico to defend that well. Even against Bayern they weren't so defensive. Things isn't over yet, but Liverpool is one feet in the final now.

This was a "normal" high stake game between two sides who are not of same quality. Liverpool had absolute control but still they needed a bit of luck to score. First goal with lucky deflection and second would have been offside on another day. Anyway, deserved win and both managers can be happy with what their teams showed.

I am sure neither manager is happy with their defense in City-Real encounter