⚽UEFA Champions League Discussion Thread -- 2021/22 winner - Real Madrid!

[Ebede]

^ Come on guys, you really think Real gets distracted for a blip in La Liga? They probably knew they were coming into that game with their weakest side in years against a resurgent Barca. And they would happily have rested Benzema even if he were half-fit, in preparation for Chelsea.

Chelsea are the favourites, and rightly so, but Real have experience and streetsmarts. Way too much of both to be affected by the El Clasico sidequest.

They had same experience but couldn't win over Barcelona.
Repeating the same thing for Chelsea will be very embarrassing as they will be knocked out once more by the same team in two years.
Despite all the happenings, Chelsea are a very focused team and still hitting the hammer on the nail.

[1714911091]

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[SatoPrincess]

My expectation from the Chelsea - Real Madrid draw is that Real Madrid can move Chelsea out of this tournament this time. They had a bad experience against Chelsea last season. I don't think that the history will repeat itself here. We are all seeing a much stronger Real Madrid in this season until this point. We all saw how they destroyed PSG despite being in a bad situation first. And I don't see the same Chelsea in this season. I don't feel like they can eliminate Real Madrid once again by this level of performance.

Real Madrid has been lost in El Classico Laliga. Will it also give influence to the mental of the players? Although maybe they purposely did not play hard because they want to save their power to play against Chelsea.
But exactly, bot Real Madrid and Chelsea are a big clubs, they may be drawn in the first leg, but something interesting and surprising may be also existed during the game and probably will be a surprising result of the game. At least, they must let all power to face each other in the field and to prove wihc one is better

I would like to see how Real Madrid would have destroyed Paris Saint-Germain if it hadn't been for Donnarumma's dude trick and the subsequent collapse of the entire game of the club from Paris Also, a lot will depend on whether Benzema will participate in the match, because Real Madrid with Benzema and Real Madrid without Benzema are two big differences and the current El Classico showed all this with great clarity. Therefore, for me personally, the result of the match between Real Madrid and Chelsea is by no means obvious, despite the bright victory of Real Madrid in the match with Paris Saint-Germain, which until a certain time was also by no means obvious.

Real Madrid will stay beat PSG again even if they fix that tie for 10 more times, it was obvious that Real Madrid were more experienced in approaching games of that magnitude compared to the PSG side whose coach is even a glorified average coach. It could be true that this Real Madrid is just a Swansea team without Benzema because they obviously struggles when he's not playing but for the El classico, I think they didn't expect Barcelona to be that good.

[herurist]

Chelsea is a team that should not be underestimated. They recently won the Champions League, and in that season they were definitely not favorites to win the tournament. What they showed in the tournament then was very convincing. Didn't they easily win at Real Madrid with 0-1 or 0-2? That should have been 0-4 then. And in London 0-0 I seem to remember. Real didn't stand a chance against this roughly comparable team in those 2 games.

Now things are different at every club including the coach too, like the current Real Madrid coach Carlo Ancelotti who has a lot of experience in drafting players for the Champions League and that has been proven in the past before Zidane became Real Madrid coach last season.
So obviously there will be a difference for this season at Real Madrid even though what Real Madrid are up against is last season's trophy winners.

Experience is an important factor now because indeed with experience here at least they can understand better what to do but on the other hand talking about coaching of course Tuchel also knows how this will be dealt with.
He is one of the best coaches right now in my opinion and his experience at UCL cannot even be underestimated. Last season, Chelsea was unseeded to win the title and it is possible that the opportunity is still there now, although I would prefer Madrid to continue to progress.

[KTChampions]

Just a quick reminder to everyone :

Real Madrid never beat Chelsea in an official international playoff competition so maybe this year they can break the curse ? To be honest , Chelsea can play the best football in the world when they want so it's really up to their players if they want to win or not.

When it comes to Real Madrid , we all know that they can win against anyone no matter what squad they have ...it's simple in their ADN as a football club.

An interesting fact, I think Real Madrid has every chance to break this "pattern" (although I initially do not believe in such patterns on a historical scale - these are just coincidences). Real Madrid are on the rise, and Chelsea are in crisis, so I rate Real Madrid as the favorite in this pair.

^ Come on guys, you really think Real gets distracted for a blip in La Liga? They probably knew they were coming into that game with their weakest side in years against a resurgent Barca. And they would happily have rested Benzema even if he were half-fit, in preparation for Chelsea.

Chelsea are the favourites, and rightly so, but Real have experience and streetsmarts. Way too much of both to be affected by the El Clasico sidequest.

Yes, it was not a particularly important match for Real Madrid, so it is difficult to draw any conclusions based on this. In addition, I think the result is rather a coaching mistake by Ancelotti. From this defeat, Real should draw useful conclusions for themselves (at least they will not overestimate themselves).

[CryptoPanda]

The champion's league tie against Chelsea will not be easy but I believe Chelsea will win because they are quite dynamic than Real Madrid, I doubt if Madrid or most of these top team can go through what Chelsea is going through and still put out top performances, winning games. This Chelsea's side will cruise past this current Madrid to be very honest.

[ReiMomo]

The champion's league tie against Chelsea will not be easy but I believe Chelsea will win because they are quite dynamic than Real Madrid, I doubt if Madrid or most of these top team can go through what Chelsea is going through and still put out top performances, winning games. This Chelsea's side will cruise past this current Madrid to be very honest.

Chelsa's performance has been fantastic when compared to Real Madrid. If you look at their performance in PL, yes consistent wins equally as strong as Liverpool. Yes Liverpool is bit far from Chelsa with their top performance setting up its own record at the table. But yes Real Madrid is not a easy team to win the match but yes its going to be a real fight at quarter final .

[usekevin]

Chelsea is a team that should not be underestimated. They recently won the Champions League, and in that season they were definitely not favorites to win the tournament. What they showed in the tournament then was very convincing. Didn't they easily win at Real Madrid with 0-1 or 0-2? That should have been 0-4 then. And in London 0-0 I seem to remember. Real didn't stand a chance against this roughly comparable team in those 2 games.

Now things are different at every club including the coach too, like the current Real Madrid coach Carlo Ancelotti who has a lot of experience in drafting players for the Champions League and that has been proven in the past before Zidane became Real Madrid coach last season.
So obviously there will be a difference for this season at Real Madrid even though what Real Madrid are up against is last season's trophy winners.

Coach making huge difference in the game.Most of fans opinion was Carlo,he was gifted to the Madrid team.He was in the top most list of world coach.His best was the drafting of players to the Champions League.Madrid was favorite team for most of the people.Now the captain for the team also changed with top most man.So they will win the trophy for sure.

[Issa56]

^ Come on guys, you really think Real gets distracted for a blip in La Liga? They probably knew they were coming into that game with their weakest side in years against a resurgent Barca. And they would happily have rested Benzema even if he were half-fit, in preparation for Chelsea.

Chelsea are the favourites, and rightly so, but Real have experience and streetsmarts. Way too much of both to be affected by the El Clasico sidequest.

It was a disappointing result for real madrid even in the absence of karim benzema they should have done better, they have more experience players than barcelona so the result should not have been so. Barcelona has improved alot under Xavi's management and they prepared well ahead for real madrid, they deserve to win yesterday. Real madrid should do better against chelsea in their champions league clash else they will loose to them just like last season.

[3meek]

The chances of an English club becoming a Champions League winner are very high... No doubt that Man City and Liverpool should play in the semi-finals! With Chelsea and Real Madrid there are doubts, but I think Real Madrid have a better chance of winning... Chelsea aren't having the best of times right now... Although it would be fun if they could get to the semi-finals too! Then it would be Bayern competing against three English teams...

[iv4n]

The chances of an English club becoming a Champions League winner are very high... No doubt that Man City and Liverpool should play in the semi-finals! With Chelsea and Real Madrid there are doubts, but I think Real Madrid have a better chance of winning... Chelsea aren't having the best of times right now... Although it would be fun if they could get to the semi-finals too! Then it would be Bayern competing against three English teams...

I think you said it all nicely, most of us think the same, Liverpool goes further through Benfica and City through Atletico, but can there be any surprises? Atletico plays nice football and have a nice string of victories behind them, self-confidence is at a level, and if anyone can surprise it might be them!
Nobody is talking about Villareal, it seems to everyone that it's a finished game and that Bayern has moved on! They are obviously a much stronger team with more experience, and maybe for Villarreal, the quarterfinals are a good success already!?
Chelsea is in some administrative problems due to this war situation, but the guys are playing good football, if they beat Real and move on, maybe the selling price will increase!?
I expect interesting matches, we saw some nice surprises in the last round, so I believe we will see another one, the question is which one!?

[Swordsoffreedom]

^ Come on guys, you really think Real gets distracted for a blip in La Liga? They probably knew they were coming into that game with their weakest side in years against a resurgent Barca. And they would happily have rested Benzema even if he were half-fit, in preparation for Chelsea.
Chelsea are the favourites, and rightly so, but Real have experience and streetsmarts. Way too much of both to be affected by the El Clasico sidequest.

It was a disappointing result for real madrid even in the absence of karim benzema they should have done better, they have more experience players than barcelona so the result should not have been so. Barcelona has improved alot under Xavi's management and they prepared well ahead for real madrid, they deserve to win yesterday. Real madrid should do better against chelsea in their champions league clash else they will loose to them just like last season.

Actually, that was a pretty big ""blip"" in my opinion. I don't think even they thought that they were not going to lose against Barcelona at least in this season.

But, they did and that was also by a humiliating result. The defense looped absolutely dumb about what was happening and the headed goals seemed like the attackers were absolutely unmarked. Free headers and Attackers converted with ease. I really don't think that people have any doubt about the capability of Barcelona from now on.

[ILuckyGuyI]

Honestly, I have zero expectation from Real Madrid to lose their focus and have problems about their targets this season. Just because they lost to Barcelona by a score like that, it is not the end of the world for Real Madrid. They are still a great team and have done great things so far. They are still running to the La Liga championship and we shouldn't forget how epic they eliminated PSG in the Champions League too. When we take all of these into account, I believe in them to eliminate Chelsea here. Real Madrid seem to be a stronger team than them.

[buwaytress]

Actually, that was a pretty big ""blip"" in my opinion. I don't think even they thought that they were not going to lose against Barcelona at least in this season.

But, they did and that was also by a humiliating result. The defense looped absolutely dumb about what was happening and the headed goals seemed like the attackers were absolutely unmarked. Free headers and Attackers converted with ease. I really don't think that people have any doubt about the capability of Barcelona from now on.

Not at all discounting the size of the blip -- and full credit to Barca for restoring hope and confidence in their rebuilding campaign spearheaded by Xavi (and dare I say Auba?). But blips are allowed, and sometimes even necessary, if you believe in the philosophies of football that dictate teams need a wakeup call every now and then especially when there's a big cushion in the league lead.

I remember when Liverpool lost 7-frikking-2 to Villa last season and yes, it was humiliating, it broke records and it was a horror show but it was a blip (one of several no doubt, but I note also that was a crazy season without defenders). We've seen big blips from champions this season, Bochum v Bayern for example. Ajax blip over 2 legs (it has to count right?).

You're right of course, Ancelotti shouldn't let his defenders off easy even if he's taken all the blame but I still think they're value odds to bet on against Chelsea.

[Marvell1]

I think you said it all nicely, most of us think the same, Liverpool goes further through Benfica and City through Atletico, but can there be any surprises? Atletico plays nice football and have a nice string of victories behind them, self-confidence is at a level, and if anyone can surprise it might be them!
Nobody is talking about Villareal, it seems to everyone that it's a finished game and that Bayern has moved on! They are obviously a much stronger team with more experience, and maybe for Villarreal, the quarterfinals are a good success already!?
Chelsea is in some administrative problems due to this war situation, but the guys are playing good football, if they beat Real and move on, maybe the selling price will increase!?
I expect interesting matches, we saw some nice surprises in the last round, so I believe we will see another one, the question is which one!?

I think that the matches are going to be quite competitive because there is a reason why these teams have qualified this far into the tournament. But, I really don't think there will be many surprises. If anything I think in my opinion Chelsea is going to win the match against Real Madrid but that match could go either way. I don't say Liverpool having any problems and also not Bayern Munich.

The chances of an English club becoming a Champions League winner are very high... No doubt that Man City and Liverpool should play in the semi-finals! With Chelsea and Real Madrid there are doubts, but I think Real Madrid have a better chance of winning... Chelsea aren't having the best of times right now... Although it would be fun if they could get to the semi-finals too! Then it would be Bayern competing against three English teams...

I really don't have too much doubt about the champions trophy going to an English side this year. It really seems hard for the English teams to lose except for Chelsea versus Real Madrid. But, even then in that match, I think Chelsea is going to be the winners. If Bayern Munich does end up taking the champions League trophy it will not be surprising but it will surely be something to watch.

[Velvet78]

I think that Manchester City - Atletico Madrid can be an interesting draw too. Because Atletico Madrid started to improve their performance recently and they are in a lot better condition these days. Their position in the La Liga is not the best for them but their performance there lately has been impressive. And in the Champions League, they are doing a great work too. Manchester City are still the absolute favourite team to advance maybe but they absolutely shouldn't underrate their opponent. In the other case, things can be more difficult for them.

[Gosgosking]

My expectation from the Chelsea - Real Madrid draw is that Real Madrid can move Chelsea out of this tournament this time. They had a bad experience against Chelsea last season. I don't think that the history will repeat itself here. We are all seeing a much stronger Real Madrid in this season until this point. We all saw how they destroyed PSG despite being in a bad situation first. And I don't see the same Chelsea in this season. I don't feel like they can eliminate Real Madrid once again by this level of performance.

Real Madrid has been lost in El Classico Laliga. Will it also give influence to the mental of the players? Although maybe they purposely did not play hard because they want to save their power to play against Chelsea.
But exactly, bot Real Madrid and Chelsea are a big clubs, they may be drawn in the first leg, but something interesting and surprising may be also existed during the game and probably will be a surprising result of the game. At least, they must let all power to face each other in the field and to prove wihc one is better

I would like to see how Real Madrid would have destroyed Paris Saint-Germain if it hadn't been for Donnarumma's dude trick and the subsequent collapse of the entire game of the club from Paris Also, a lot will depend on whether Benzema will participate in the match, because Real Madrid with Benzema and Real Madrid without Benzema are two big differences and the current El Classico showed all this with great clarity. Therefore, for me personally, the result of the match between Real Madrid and Chelsea is by no means obvious, despite the bright victory of Real Madrid in the match with Paris Saint-Germain, which until a certain time was also by no means obvious.

Real Madrid will stay beat PSG again even if they fix that tie for 10 more times, it was obvious that Real Madrid were more experienced in approaching games of that magnitude compared to the PSG side whose coach is even a glorified average coach. It could be true that this Real Madrid is just a Swansea team without Benzema because they obviously struggles when he's not playing but for the El classico, I think they didn't expect Barcelona to be that good.

You never can tell or predict accurately, sometimes the smallest team when it comes to performance defeat the big team which surprises everyone. PSG is a good team,  many didn’t expect Barcelona will defeat Real Madrid  very well.

[nurilham]

Honestly, I have zero expectation from Real Madrid to lose their focus and have problems about their targets this season. Just because they lost to Barcelona by a score like that, it is not the end of the world for Real Madrid.

Yes, being defeated by Barcelona doesn't mean Real Madrid will lose again in UCL. Instead, Real Madrid will prepare more carefully and evaluate why they can lose against Barcelona yesterday. Losing in La Liga can be a good lesson before the match against Chelsea in UCL. Real Madrid has experienced players and a brilliant coach that can surprise the Chelsea squad.

When we take all of these into account, I believe in them to eliminate Chelsea here. Real Madrid seem to be a stronger team than them.

If Real Madrid can play with all their key players, no doubt they are stronger than Chelsea. But if Benzema is still injured and cannot play, Chelsea must be the favorite to win the match. If think the Benzema factor will be very crucial in this match.

[Doell]

I think that Manchester City - Atletico Madrid can be an interesting draw too. Because Atletico Madrid started to improve their performance recently and they are in a lot better condition these days. Their position in the La Liga is not the best for them but their performance there lately has been impressive. And in the Champions League, they are doing a great work too. Manchester City are still the absolute favourite team to advance maybe but they absolutely shouldn't underrate their opponent. In the other case, things can be more difficult for them.

Atletico Madrid are very strong defensively and have quite a troublesome counter attack. Pep Guardiola may find it difficult to make an attacking strategy and make tactics to get a gap between Atletico Madrid back line, but whatever it may be this first leg Manchester City will play strategy casually to take a meaningful opportunity to win this game. I think Manchester City will win but a bit difficult too.

[AndySt]

Chelsea is a team that should not be underestimated. They recently won the Champions League, and in that season they were definitely not favorites to win the tournament. What they showed in the tournament then was very convincing. Didn't they easily win at Real Madrid with 0-1 or 0-2? That should have been 0-4 then. And in London 0-0 I seem to remember. Real didn't stand a chance against this roughly comparable team in those 2 games.

Now things are different at every club including the coach too, like the current Real Madrid coach Carlo Ancelotti who has a lot of experience in drafting players for the Champions League and that has been proven in the past before Zidane became Real Madrid coach last season. So obviously there will be a difference for this season at Real Madrid even though what Real Madrid are up against is last season's trophy winners.

Experience is an important factor now because indeed with experience here at least they can understand better what to do but on the other hand talking about coaching of course Tuchel also knows how this will be dealt with. He is one of the best coaches right now in my opinion and his experience at UCL cannot even be underestimated. Last season, Chelsea was unseeded to win the title and it is possible that the opportunity is still there now, although I would prefer Madrid to continue to progress.

As for Chelsea's result in the Champions League, something concrete can be said only after the end of the season, if, of course, Chelsea can stay in the Champions League until the very end of the season For me personally, both teams, Chelsea and Real Madrid, for various reasons, are teams of riddles this season and I do not fully imagine what stage of the tournament they can reach. On the one hand, these teams have great potential even to win the tournament, but on the other hand, teams like Liverpool or Manchester City have even more potential for me personally and I would prefer these teams.

[1kodumtek7]

Bayern Munich and Liverpool are the biggest favourite teams in next round of the Champions League. Benfica can't compete with Liverpool at the same level. They didn't do so against Ajax too but they were just lucky to eliminate them. And Bayern Munich are in the same situation with Liverpool against Villarreal. Maybe the match in Spain would end in a draw. But the match in Allianz Arena can be one-sided.