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

[snipie]

UEFA has just officially announced:
''UEFA can confirm that the Champions League round of 16 first leg between Leipzig and Liverpool will now take place at Puskás Aréna in Budapest on 16 February.''

RB Leipzig 20:00 Liverpool

Right now I doubt LFC will win even if that game will be played in the moon. Their actual record is very bad while Leipzig is more consistent in its league...

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[AndySt]

The point is that each country has its own Covid rules and UEFA cannot influence the decisions of the state authorities.
As last season in the Champions League showed, the most important thing for UEFA is that all their competitions somehow end, because of the big money that is at stake here.
The German government's decision to ban matches will not stop the Champions League and other competitions, but only transfer those matches to other countries.
Regardless of all the problems surrounding Covid and border closures, the most important thing for Uefa will always be to protect their financial interests.

I understand both sides, when on the one hand the government is trying to stop the spread of the pandemic, on the other hand, it is understandable UEFA built to protect businesses and jobs. Although I believe that it would be possible to make an exception for the football club itself, while of course requiring thorough testing of all participants. Still, the number of players and staff of a football club is incomparable with the number of fans.

[Daniel91]

UEFA has just officially announced:
''UEFA can confirm that the Champions League round of 16 first leg between Leipzig and Liverpool will now take place at Puskás Aréna in Budapest on 16 February.''

RB Leipzig 20:00 Liverpool

Right now I doubt LFC will win even if that game will be played in the moon. Their actual record is very bad while Leipzig is more consistent in its league...

I agree that Liverpool are in a very big crisis at the moment but I wouldn't write them off so easily.
Champions League is a completely different competition in which players always give their maximum and are especially motivated.
After losing to Manchester City the Liverpool players know this competition is their last chance and I'm sure they will be particularly motivated and show their best.
It wouldn't be the first time that a club that stands badly in the national championship wins the Champions League.

[SFR10]

- The participants list would we extended from 32 to 36 teams.
~Snipped~

I liked almost all of the proposed changes apart from this one...
^{- IMO, other leagues deserve an additional spot as well [it's unfair to only give those spots to teams from England, Spain, Italy, Germany, and France].}

''UEFA can confirm that the Champions League round of 16 first leg between Leipzig and Liverpool will now take place at Puskás Aréna in Budapest on 16 February.''

Does this also mean that their return leg could be on neutral ground as well?

[Daniel91]

''UEFA can confirm that the Champions League round of 16 first leg between Leipzig and Liverpool will now take place at Puskás Aréna in Budapest on 16 February.''

Does this also mean that their return leg could be on neutral ground as well?

Of course not, the return match will be played normally in England, according to the schedule.
Therefore, the question of the regularity of this competition arises, because obviously not all clubs will have equal conditions.

EDIT: Prominent Italian journalist Tancredi Palmeri just posted the exclusive news that the matches between Benfica and Arsenal will be played in Rome, Real Sociedad-Manchester United probably in Turin, Italy, and Atletico-Chelsea in Warsaw, Poland.

Sources: https://twitter.com/tancredipalmeri/status/1358803592010956800
https://twitter.com/tancredipalmeri/status/1358806558130503680

[kassex]

UEFA has just officially announced:
''UEFA can confirm that the Champions League round of 16 first leg between Leipzig and Liverpool will now take place at Puskás Aréna in Budapest on 16 February.''

RB Leipzig 20:00 Liverpool

Right now I doubt LFC will win even if that game will be played in the moon. Their actual record is very bad while Leipzig is more consistent in its league...

I agree that Liverpool are in a very big crisis at the moment but I wouldn't write them off so easily.
Champions League is a completely different competition in which players always give their maximum and are especially motivated.
After losing to Manchester City the Liverpool players know this competition is their last chance and I'm sure they will be particularly motivated and show their best.
It wouldn't be the first time that a club that stands badly in the national championship wins the Champions League.

That club was Real Madrid. But to win the Champions League, Real refused to fight in La Liga, losing it in the first round. Liverpool is unlikely to do that. I think if Allison would have played more confidently, the score would have been a draw.

[swogerino]

UEFA has just officially announced:
''UEFA can confirm that the Champions League round of 16 first leg between Leipzig and Liverpool will now take place at Puskás Aréna in Budapest on 16 February.''

RB Leipzig 20:00 Liverpool

Right now I doubt LFC will win even if that game will be played in the moon. Their actual record is very bad while Leipzig is more consistent in its league...

I agree that Liverpool are in a very big crisis at the moment but I wouldn't write them off so easily.
Champions League is a completely different competition in which players always give their maximum and are especially motivated.
After losing to Manchester City the Liverpool players know this competition is their last chance and I'm sure they will be particularly motivated and show their best.
It wouldn't be the first time that a club that stands badly in the national championship wins the Champions League.

That club was Real Madrid. But to win the Champions League, Real refused to fight in La Liga, losing it in the first round. Liverpool is unlikely to do that. I think if Allison would have played more confidently, the score would have been a draw.

Liverpool was in this situation a couple of years ago where they had to win at least 1-0 in their home field again Atletico Madrid if I remember correctly and they were fighting only for the Champions League and they couldn't go more than a 0-0 draw so I doubt Liverpool is capable to win the Champions this year.I think Manchester City is better suited to win the Champions as they have fought so far for this without achieving it.Based on their form which is at the top winning every game and beating every opponent they for me are the top contender this year together with a few other teams.

[Spack17]

M'gladbach 20:00 Manchester City

This game is also going to be played in Puskás Aréna like Leipzig-Liverpool game. This means a really big advantage for City. But if it was decided to play in Borussia-Park, I would see City as the absolute favourite team of this game again. There is really a huge power difference. I appreciate Gladbach's performance in the CL so far. But they have a very unlucky draw and I think it is time for them to be eliminated. City are fighting for the championship in the Premier League and I think they can climb to the Semi Finals in the CL at least.

[StartupAnalyst]

The BBC has published the official UEFA position on the possibility of postponing the match between Liverpool and Leipzig.

We must support this decision! We are not in a good situation because of the fast spread of Covid-19. To ensure the security of all players and club management, postponing the match may be the best solution for now. There are many things to be considered on pandemic days, we cannot force to hold the match if it will be too risky for all parties and those players of the two clubs (both players of Liverpool and Leipzig).

A very strange position from UEFA. I don't quite understand why they didn't accept it at the beginning of the season. In the fall, almost the entire main team Shakhtar Donetsk was infected with coronavirus and a lot of team staff too. But the matches were not postponed.

I would interpret the statement of UEFA a little differently, that the organization reserves the right to postpone the match, but not necessarily that this will happen in the case of a match between Liverpool and Leipzig. Just in case, UEFA leaves itself room for maneuver, but in this case, it seems that we are not talking about the COVID-19 players of the teams, but about the unwillingness of the German authorities to lift the ban for Liverpool and allow them to enter the country.

The point is that each country has its own Covid rules and UEFA cannot influence the decisions of the state authorities.
As last season in the Champions League showed, the most important thing for UEFA is that all their competitions somehow end, because of the big money that is at stake here.
The German government's decision to ban matches will not stop the Champions League and other competitions, but only transfer those matches to other countries.
Regardless of all the problems surrounding Covid and border closures, the most important thing for Uefa will always be to protect their financial interests.

Well to be fair, almost any organization or company is concerned about their financial interests. UEFA is not unique here. But some of their decisions remain unclear to me. In addition, we should not forget that it is one of the most corruption organizations in sports. So it's possible that their decision could somehow be influenced.

[bct_ail]

Well to be fair, almost any organization or company is concerned about their financial interests. UEFA is not unique here. But some of their decisions remain unclear to me. In addition, we should not forget that it is one of the most corruption organizations in sports. So it's possible that their decision could somehow be influenced.

Of course, financial interests must also be looked at and a company without money does not work. But it is also about trust. Trust that health is not being played with. And in my opinion, that's where it fails.

[Serious475]

UEFA has just officially announced:
''UEFA can confirm that the Champions League round of 16 first leg between Leipzig and Liverpool will now take place at Puskás Aréna in Budapest on 16 February.''

Yeap good advantage for Liverpool even if closed doors is not so big.

Anyway its almost time, 10 day left!

Tuesday 16th February
Barcelona 20:00 Paris Saint-Germain
RB Leipzig 20:00 Liverpool

Wednesday 17th February
FC Porto 20:00 Juventus
Sevilla 20:00 Borussia Dortmund

Tuesday 23rd February
Atletico Madrid 20:00 Chelsea
Lazio 20:00 Bayern Munich

Wednesday 24th February
Atalanta 20:00 Real Madrid
M'gladbach 20:00 Manchester City

Source: https://www.skysports.com/champions-league-fixtures

I think for the game of Barcelona and Paris Saint Germain, I am gonna bet for Barcelona because it has a total of a six-win streak and those games are against Real Betis, Granada, Athletic Club, Rayo Vallecano, Elche, and Cornella. Those mentioned teams are very skillful. But Paris Saint Germain managed to win five times in their past 6 games and it is against Nimes, Montpellier, Anger, and Merseille for 2 times but they lost their game against Lorient with a score of 3-2. I think that game I will vote for Barcelona because they managed to get a long win streak and against powerful teams. But I cannot say that Paris Saint Germain will be defeated easily because they also got a long win streak too before they lose to Lorient.

[judas]

Tuesday 16th February
Barcelona 20:00 Paris Saint-Germain
RB Leipzig 20:00 Liverpool

I want to share my opinions about the first games of 1/8 finals.

Barcelona 20:00 Paris Saint-Germain : For this game, I expect a draw. Each side has a very tight schedule until this game. Each side will have 2 games on Feb 10 and Feb 13 before this game. Barcelona still depend on Messi too much and I've no doubt that he will play a key role in this draw too. But I think PSG are too strong compared to them. I believe that Barcelona can withstand them in Camp Nou.
RB Leipzig 20:00 Liverpool : This game is going to be played in a neutral location, Puskás Aréna. This is a disadvantage for Leipzig. But Liverpool have been too bad for some weeks and they could struggle in this game. So I think that Leipzig can get an advantageous result before going to Anfield.

[onecall123]

7 Days until Barcelona vs Paris Saint-Germain. Barcelona will be without Araujo. Nowadays Barca is not competent to challenge to any other team! As a Barca fan I will remain positive that they will win. But, I have feeling PSG gonna win the game. We should keep a watch out how it goes this season.

[Swordsoffreedom]

7 Days until Barcelona vs Paris Saint-Germain. Barcelona will be without Araujo. Nowadays Barca is not competent to challenge to any other team! As a Barca fan I will remain positive that they will win. But, I have feeling PSG gonna win the game. We should keep a watch out how it goes this season.

The main problem for the Barcelona team is that they do not have enough skilled defenders. Moreover, there is a lack of coordination among their defenders. Overall, their defence is very poor. Against teams like PSG, who have formidable strikers like Neymar, Mbappe, Di Maria, Barcelona will not be able to win the match if Barcelona cannot build a strong defence against them. Barcelona's midfield and forward are now stable enough. Only on defence, they are weak.

[asus09]

Tuesday 16th February
Barcelona 20:00 Paris Saint-Germain
RB Leipzig 20:00 Liverpool

I want to share my opinions about the first games of 1/8 finals.

Barcelona 20:00 Paris Saint-Germain : For this game, I expect a draw. Each side has a very tight schedule until this game. Each side will have 2 games on Feb 10 and Feb 13 before this game. Barcelona still depend on Messi too much and I've no doubt that he will play a key role in this draw too. But I think PSG are too strong compared to them. I believe that Barcelona can withstand them in Camp Nou.
RB Leipzig 20:00 Liverpool : This game is going to be played in a neutral location, Puskás Aréna. This is a disadvantage for Leipzig. But Liverpool have been too bad for some weeks and they could struggle in this game. So I think that Leipzig can get an advantageous result before going to Anfield.

Barcelona will face PSG in the last 16 of the champions league first leg, this match will prove for the new coach Pocchetino to be able to continue the positive trend when Tuchel was able to bring PSG to the final of last season's champions league, especially the match between Barcelona vs PSG will be very interesting. PSG's revenge on Barcelona's comeback two seasons ago.

[hahay]

7 Days until Barcelona vs Paris Saint-Germain. Barcelona will be without Araujo. Nowadays Barca is not competent to challenge to any other team! As a Barca fan I will remain positive that they will win. But, I have feeling PSG gonna win the game. We should keep a watch out how it goes this season.

The main problem for the Barcelona team is that they do not have enough skilled defenders. Moreover, there is a lack of coordination among their defenders. Overall, their defence is very poor. Against teams like PSG, who have formidable strikers like Neymar, Mbappe, Di Maria, Barcelona will not be able to win the match if Barcelona cannot build a strong defence against them. Barcelona's midfield and forward are now stable enough. Only on defence, they are weak.

It looks like these two teams don't have a good defensive line but the great thing is, these two teams are great at scoring goals because they have a good attacking line. If only one or two main players can't play I don't think it will be a problem, because the most important thing is when the attacking line can be played and have no problems then I think it will be a game that is still exciting. Regardless of who wins and loses, I think these two teams have the same chances but I believe the match will end in a draw.

[Daniel91]

The BBC has published the official UEFA position on the possibility of postponing the match between Liverpool and Leipzig.

We must support this decision! We are not in a good situation because of the fast spread of Covid-19. To ensure the security of all players and club management, postponing the match may be the best solution for now. There are many things to be considered on pandemic days, we cannot force to hold the match if it will be too risky for all parties and those players of the two clubs (both players of Liverpool and Leipzig).

A very strange position from UEFA. I don't quite understand why they didn't accept it at the beginning of the season. In the fall, almost the entire main team Shakhtar Donetsk was infected with coronavirus and a lot of team staff too. But the matches were not postponed.

I would interpret the statement of UEFA a little differently, that the organization reserves the right to postpone the match, but not necessarily that this will happen in the case of a match between Liverpool and Leipzig. Just in case, UEFA leaves itself room for maneuver, but in this case, it seems that we are not talking about the COVID-19 players of the teams, but about the unwillingness of the German authorities to lift the ban for Liverpool and allow them to enter the country.

The point is that each country has its own Covid rules and UEFA cannot influence the decisions of the state authorities.
As last season in the Champions League showed, the most important thing for UEFA is that all their competitions somehow end, because of the big money that is at stake here.
The German government's decision to ban matches will not stop the Champions League and other competitions, but only transfer those matches to other countries.
Regardless of all the problems surrounding Covid and border closures, the most important thing for Uefa will always be to protect their financial interests.

Well to be fair, almost any organization or company is concerned about their financial interests. UEFA is not unique here. But some of their decisions remain unclear to me. In addition, we should not forget that it is one of the most corruption organizations in sports. So it's possible that their decision could somehow be influenced.

UEFA is moving further and further away from the true fans and they showing that they are only interested in the profit and interests of big clubs like Real, Barcelona, Juve etc.
The Champions League is increasingly becoming an exclusive society for big countries and clubs and small countries and clubs find it increasingly difficult to enter there.
According to some rumors, in a few years there will be new changes in the organization of the Champions League that will allow large countries like Spain and England to have as many as 6 clubs in this competition while small countries and clubs will find it almost impossible to enter this elite club.
The Champions League is slowly becoming the NBA and those who have no money and influence will slowly fall out of that exclusive society.

[ILuckyGuyI]

7 Days until Barcelona vs Paris Saint-Germain. Barcelona will be without Araujo. Nowadays Barca is not competent to challenge to any other team! As a Barca fan I will remain positive that they will win. But, I have feeling PSG gonna win the game. We should keep a watch out how it goes this season.

For the first game, I think Barcelona might not lose that game. Although they have been awesome in La Liga for a very long time, I have doubts about the first game of this draw. Because they still seem weak to me against PSG. Even though Barcelona win this game somehow, PSG will still have a big chance for advancing to the quarter finals (unless Barcelona make a big surprise and win it with at least a 2 or 3-goal difference  ).

[Juggy777]

7 Days until Barcelona vs Paris Saint-Germain. Barcelona will be without Araujo. Nowadays Barca is not competent to challenge to any other team! As a Barca fan I will remain positive that they will win. But, I have feeling PSG gonna win the game. We should keep a watch out how it goes this season.

For the first game, I think Barcelona might not lose that game. Although they have been awesome in La Liga for a very long time, I have doubts about the first game of this draw. Because they still seem weak to me against PSG. Even though Barcelona win this game somehow, PSG will still have a big chance for advancing to the quarter finals (unless Barcelona make a big surprise and win it with at least a 2 or 3-goal difference  ).

@onecall123 when it comes to champions league no team can be underestimated, and what you’re forgetting is that this may be Messi’s last season at Barcelona and he may just fire them to champions league glory.

Lastly Koeman knows that his job is on the line, and if Barcelona doesn’t win against PSG then he may get the sack, hence I feel that Barcelona will prevail over PSG.

Sources:

https://everythingbarca.com/2021/01/14/psg-convince-lionel-messi-barcelona/

https://www.sportskeeda.com/football/5-managers-sacked-season

[Swordsoffreedom]

7 Days until Barcelona vs Paris Saint-Germain. Barcelona will be without Araujo. Nowadays Barca is not competent to challenge to any other team! As a Barca fan I will remain positive that they will win. But, I have feeling PSG gonna win the game. We should keep a watch out how it goes this season.

The main problem for the Barcelona team is that they do not have enough skilled defenders. Moreover, there is a lack of coordination among their defenders. Overall, their defence is very poor. Against teams like PSG, who have formidable strikers like Neymar, Mbappe, Di Maria, Barcelona will not be able to win the match if Barcelona cannot build a strong defence against them. Barcelona's midfield and forward are now stable enough. Only on defence, they are weak.

It looks like these two teams don't have a good defensive line but the great thing is, these two teams are great at scoring goals because they have a good attacking line. If only one or two main players can't play I don't think it will be a problem, because the most important thing is when the attacking line can be played and have no problems then I think it will be a game that is still exciting. Regardless of who wins and loses, I think these two teams have the same chances but I believe the match will end in a draw.

The attacking lineup of both teams is very strong and woeld-class. Now the team whose defence and goalkeeper will perform well as expected will win the match, I think. Experts think PSG will win. Because they are in great form. But I think Barcelona has an equal chance of winning the match. However, we can enjoy a competitive match