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

[Koal-84]

Next week the first round of the Playoffs beginning.



Some games are very difficult to estimate, but I think Monaco, Dinamo, Benfica, RB Salzburg will advance. The other two games I can not estimate. I'm keeping my fingers crossed for Ferencvaros, because the coach there is from Austria and I would like to see Peter Stöger promoted.

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[joker_josue]

Some games are very difficult to estimate, but I think Monaco, Dinamo, Benfica, RB Salzburg will advance. The other two games I can not estimate. I'm keeping my fingers crossed for Ferencvaros, because the coach there is from Austria and I would like to see Peter Stöger promoted.

I would say the Young Boys should also be able to win and enter the Champions League.
They have had good performances in the Europa League in previous seasons.

[KTChampions]

Next week the first round of the Playoffs beginning.



Some games are very difficult to estimate, but I think Monaco, Dinamo, Benfica, RB Salzburg will advance. The other two games I can not estimate. I'm keeping my fingers crossed for Ferencvaros, because the coach there is from Austria and I would like to see Peter Stöger promoted.

Funnily enough, two pair are clearly stronger than the others in this round. This is Monaco - Shakhtar and Benfica - PSV, I am sure that if they had not played with each other, then everyone would have passed to the next stage. It can be said that fate turned out to be supportive of the underdogs and gives everyone a chance, and the stronger teams compete with each other.

[Swordsoffreedom]

~snip
Moreover, Messi, Neymar, and Mbappe will be in the forward. Icardi will not get too many chances to play with Messi.

and in the end, they will end up not getting CL title this season
they will score many goals during group stage, probably have some 7,8 goals games this season, but when comes to decision making, teams that have tough defense and better tactics will end up better

nevertheless, it is still qualification rounds, so PSG will join later in the competition, but making news due to Messi arrival

Are you saying PSG's defense is bad? Hakimi, Kimpembe and Ramos. They are very experienced and skilled. If you talk about match strategy, then I want to say, don't neglect coach Mauricio Pochettino. He is very experienced, the teams he coached before, the teams were not so good. There were no star players in the team. But now he has the best players in the world.

[slaman29]

By the way, I noticed that the rule "who begins a series of penalties that wins" was the work even more tightly than before. I can't even remember when I last saw the opposite, although statistically the team starting the streak has an advantage of about 10%.

Not sure what you mean by this rule? If you have a streak of penalties you have a better chance of winning the shootout you mean? Didn't this also happen in the last EUROs though?

Italy failed the second kick and then England made it 2-1 so the pressure was on Italy, and then Italy even missed the last, but then we all know England missed their last 3 shots and boom, trophy lost.

[suzanne5223]

Indeed, very true comparison between City and PSG, go far and fall short. That is what would be so exciting if indeed both teams would face each other in a Champions League. One thing would be certain even before the game would have started: there'd be much more trauma to come for one of the two!

But Messi facing Pep and all the superstars in both squads, that would be a final worth every single second of the 90 minutes watching the game. I think that Messi will have one of his stronger seasons of his career in the coming year. Ligue 1 won't motivate him much although he will deliver, but in the CL I can see him go nuts once more as if he had to prove something bigger one more time.

I do not think that Messi should prove something to someone, for him at PSG it may take some time before he adapts to a new city, to a new team. He was very depressed when he left Barcelona, this can also affect his psychological state. But he is a professional, so everything should be fine. This season can really be good for him.

Yes, Messi doesn't need to prove anything to someone for his previous record and knowledge of playing on the pitch speak louder than him proving himself but with people like Neymar whos his friend, and Di Maria whos his National (Argentine) teammate, Messi will easily adapt to the PSG city.
With Lionel Messi, Neymar, and Kylian Mbappe in the front I see PSG as the most competitive team and it will be bloody if they face the City in the Champions league.

[KTChampions]

By the way, I noticed that the rule "who begins a series of penalties that wins" was the work even more tightly than before. I can't even remember when I last saw the opposite, although statistically the team starting the streak has an advantage of about 10%.

Not sure what you mean by this rule? If you have a streak of penalties you have a better chance of winning the shootout you mean? Didn't this also happen in the last EUROs though?

Italy failed the second kick and then England made it 2-1 so the pressure was on Italy, and then Italy even missed the last, but then we all know England missed their last 3 shots and boom, trophy lost.

The rule (or rather a statistical observation) is that the team that strikes first in the penalty shootout has a greater chance of winning than the opponent. And by the way, Italy was the first in the penalty shootout. In principle, this is easy to explain - the team that kicks the first one always goes one move ahead, and the second team catches up, so the first team has the right to make one mistake.

[joker_josue]

Yes, Messi doesn't need to prove anything to someone for his previous record and knowledge of playing on the pitch speak louder than him proving himself but with people like Neymar whos his friend, and Di Maria whos his National (Argentine) teammate, Messi will easily adapt to the PSG city.
With Lionel Messi, Neymar, and Kylian Mbappe in the front I see PSG as the most competitive team and it will be bloody if they face the City in the Champions league.

I actually think he needs to show that he is capable of performing at the same level at other clubs, outside of Barcelona.
Barcelona has built over the last few years a team around Messi, adapted to his style of play and qualities. I don't think that's wrong, but going to another club that wasn't planned that way is a totally different and new challenge.

Of course he doesn't have to prove he's a great player! But he has to prove that he is able to be winning at other clubs.

[Iranus]

Yes, Messi doesn't need to prove anything to someone for his previous record and knowledge of playing on the pitch speak louder than him proving himself but with people like Neymar whos his friend, and Di Maria whos his National (Argentine) teammate, Messi will easily adapt to the PSG city.
With Lionel Messi, Neymar, and Kylian Mbappe in the front I see PSG as the most competitive team and it will be bloody if they face the City in the Champions league.

I actually think he needs to show that he is capable of performing at the same level at other clubs, outside of Barcelona.
Barcelona has built over the last few years a team around Messi, adapted to his style of play and qualities. I don't think that's wrong, but going to another club that wasn't planned that way is a totally different and new challenge.

Of course he doesn't have to prove he's a great player! But he has to prove that he is able to be winning at other clubs.

He should have gone to a top club in Europe to test his abilities. He could have gone to the Premier League. Ligue 1 is the fifth league in Europe. There is no good team here except PSG. Only PSG reigns in this league. Moreover, the PSG team is not entirely new to Messi. Messi has played with Neymar, Di Maria and Icardi before.

[joker_josue]

He should have gone to a top club in Europe to test his abilities. He could have gone to the Premier League. Ligue 1 is the fifth league in Europe. There is no good team here except PSG. Only PSG reigns in this league. Moreover, the PSG team is not entirely new to Messi. Messi has played with Neymar, Di Maria and Icardi before.

He might even eventually go to the Premier League, but English clubs traditionally don't make such high investments. On the other hand, PSG is currently the only top club with the money to pay a Messi. For as you say, the French league is the least competitive at the moment.

[tyz]

Lots of star players on the team, controlling them will be a difficult task for Pochettino. However, Messi is not fierce. He will not have a problem with the coach. Ramos and Mbappe can be a bit difficult to control. Since Mbappe has been at PSG for a few years, maybe his relationship with the coach is good. It will be a bit difficult to control Ramos. Rumor has it that PSG will sell Icardi, if it does, then Messi-Icardi's problem is solved. Moreover, Messi, Neymar, and Mbappe will be in the forward. Icardi will not get too many chances to play with Messi.

Agree! But it will also be exciting to see how well Neymar and Messi match up. They played together at Barcelona a few years ago and won the CL together once, but back then Messi was the absolute superstar and Neymar was "only" highly talented. Therefore, Messi was the undisputed leader, so the roles were clearly distributed. Today that is no longer the case and neither of the two will want to subordinate themselves in this star ensemble. That could create a lot of potential for conflict. It would be even more intense if Ronaldo were to switch to PSG.

[Iranus]

He should have gone to a top club in Europe to test his abilities. He could have gone to the Premier League. Ligue 1 is the fifth league in Europe. There is no good team here except PSG. Only PSG reigns in this league. Moreover, the PSG team is not entirely new to Messi. Messi has played with Neymar, Di Maria and Icardi before.

He might even eventually go to the Premier League, but English clubs traditionally don't make such high investments. On the other hand, PSG is currently the only top club with the money to pay a Messi. For as you say, the French league is the least competitive at the moment.

Messi is now 34 years old. At the age of 36, if he joins any team in the Premier League, he will not be able to perform well. First of all, at the age of 36, he can't keep fit. He will get injured after performing in 2/1 matches. Secondly, players in the Premier League players need more speed. Messi dribbles brilliantly but is slower than other star players Ronaldo or Mbappe.

[Pokapoka124]

He should have gone to a top club in Europe to test his abilities. He could have gone to the Premier League. Ligue 1 is the fifth league in Europe. There is no good team here except PSG. Only PSG reigns in this league. Moreover, the PSG team is not entirely new to Messi. Messi has played with Neymar, Di Maria and Icardi before.

He might even eventually go to the Premier League, but English clubs traditionally don't make such high investments. On the other hand, PSG is currently the only top club with the money to pay a Messi. For as you say, the French league is the least competitive at the moment.

Messi is now 34 years old. At the age of 36, if he joins any team in the Premier League, he will not be able to perform well. First of all, at the age of 36, he can't keep fit. He will get injured after performing in 2/1 matches. Secondly, players in the Premier League players need more speed. Messi dribbles brilliantly but is slower than other star players Ronaldo or Mbappe.

The English premier league is very competitive, there are no favorites. It would take him some time to get used to premier league, the mode of play is more aggressive than Spanish la liga. The injuries aren't something to laugh about. A simple match in EPL could result in a career ending injury

[slaman29]

Not sure what you mean by this rule? If you have a streak of penalties you have a better chance of winning the shootout you mean? Didn't this also happen in the last EUROs though?

The rule (or rather a statistical observation) is that the team that strikes first in the penalty shootout has a greater chance of winning than the opponent. And by the way, Italy was the first in the penalty shootout. In principle, this is easy to explain - the team that kicks the first one always goes one move ahead, and the second team catches up, so the first team has the right to make one mistake.

Ah okay, so it's just a statistics thing but yeah, who wouldn't want to be the one having a perfect streak in penalties right? Yet we have also to look at the whole picture. If you put your best 3 in first, maybe the pressure is bigger on the weaker ones. Maybe better to give the weaker ones FIRST and let the 3 best takers at the end who may not be as affected by pressure?

[KTChampions]

The rule (or rather a statistical observation) is that the team that strikes first in the penalty shootout has a greater chance of winning than the opponent. And by the way, Italy was the first in the penalty shootout. In principle, this is easy to explain - the team that kicks the first one always goes one move ahead, and the second team catches up, so the first team has the right to make one mistake.

Ah okay, so it's just a statistics thing but yeah, who wouldn't want to be the one having a perfect streak in penalties right? Yet we have also to look at the whole picture. If you put your best 3 in first, maybe the pressure is bigger on the weaker ones. Maybe better to give the weaker ones FIRST and let the 3 best takers at the end who may not be as affected by pressure?

These are not just statistics. This is a statistic that follows from the pattern - the one who starts the penalty shootout has the advantage.
I think that putting weaker players in the beginning is a bad idea, since there is a possibility that the turn of the stronger players will not come as the penalty shootout will already be lost. In addition, misses and catch-up position are demoralizing even for strong players.

[suzanne5223]

Yes, Messi doesn't need to prove anything to someone for his previous record and knowledge of playing on the pitch speak louder than him proving himself but with people like Neymar whos his friend, and Di Maria whos his National (Argentine) teammate, Messi will easily adapt to the PSG city.
With Lionel Messi, Neymar, and Kylian Mbappe in the front I see PSG as the most competitive team and it will be bloody if they face the City in the Champions league.

I actually think he needs to show that he is capable of performing at the same level at other clubs, outside of Barcelona.
Barcelona has built over the last few years a team around Messi, adapted to his style of play and qualities. I don't think that's wrong, but going to another club that wasn't planned that way is a totally different and new challenge.

Of course he doesn't have to prove he's a great player! But he has to prove that he is able to be winning at other clubs.

He should have gone to a top club in Europe to test his abilities. He could have gone to the Premier League. Ligue 1 is the fifth league in Europe. There is no good team here except PSG. Only PSG reigns in this league. Moreover, the PSG team is not entirely new to Messi. Messi has played with Neymar, Di Maria and Icardi before.

@joker_josue, the path of his national team is quite different from Barcelona, and his performance when he played for his country show Messi to be a play that will perform well in any giving circumstance but you make a point that he still needs to show out himself because this is the first time he will play for another football club which is not Barcelona.

@Iranus, Messi exit from Barca happened so fast, he needed to join a club before the season starts and if you follow his transfer deal all the major club in Europe that ought to buy him have already spent a lot in buying players but Arsenal that wants to buy him seems not to be serious about it.

[joker_josue]

@joker_josue, the path of his national team is quite different from Barcelona, and his performance when he played for his country show Messi to be a play that will perform well in any giving circumstance but you make a point that he still needs to show out himself because this is the first time he will play for another football club which is not Barcelona.

I understand what you mean. But I don't think he had a great performance, in general, in the Argentina national team. I don't say it lacks quality! He is a great player! But what helped his performance a lot was his way of playing for Barcelona. Going to another club will force him to adapt to other ways of playing as well, and I think it will be good for us to see his performance in this new scenario.

[LittleBitFunny]

@joker_josue, the path of his national team is quite different from Barcelona, and his performance when he played for his country show Messi to be a play that will perform well in any giving circumstance but you make a point that he still needs to show out himself because this is the first time he will play for another football club which is not Barcelona.

I understand what you mean. But I don't think he had a great performance, in general, in the Argentina national team. I don't say it lacks quality! He is a great player! But what helped his performance a lot was his way of playing for Barcelona. Going to another club will force him to adapt to other ways of playing as well, and I think it will be good for us to see his performance in this new scenario.

Everyone is waiting to see how Messi performs with a new squad. Messi has been at Camp Nou since the beginning of his career. So he has been able to adapt easily to everyone in the Barcelona team. But now the situation is a bit different. He has to play with many new players now. Although everyone on the team is talented. I don't think it will take long for Messi to adapt to them.

[MI6]

I also find the match between PSV and Benfica very interesting. Those are two teams that are evenly matched. There are also teams in the last round that make you wonder if they are worthy to play in the main tournament. But the cash register does ring well.

[mv1986]

Hahaha, It's really funny. But now we can’t take the PSG team lightly. They have one of the best players in the world in their team. Ramos is one of the best players in the world in defending. Messi is the dribbling master at the forward, moreover, there is no other player with such great speed as Mbappe. One of the best goalkeepers Donnarumma is in their squad. PSG will be a little ahead of Manchester City in terms of players. But City is in charge of Guardiola. He can turn the game around at any time.

Never have, I always think they'll go far, but fall short -- sort of like City. Slick as you like, bursting with talent, but you question their ability to dig in, and it's hard to be hungrier than the underdogs once you reach the final. Real is probably one of the few teams capable of that feat and that's down to Zidane having his team at his feet.

PSG-City final on the cards? Cept I got Liverpool to win it at almost 9/1 ha ha.

With players like Neymar, Mbappé and the campaign, PSG will definitely be the Champions League favorite, their only problem is that the domestic championship does not allow maintaining a high level of players' motivation due to its weakness.
It is very good that there is always a high level of randomness in the playoffs and that other teams always have the opportunity to beat the money bag  

No one enjoys it like I do. Almost every 10/1 or more game in UCL is a must-bet for me;)

Indeed, very true comparison between City and PSG, go far and fall short. That is what would be so exciting if indeed both teams would face each other in a Champions League. One thing would be certain even before the game would have started: there'd be much more trauma to come for one of the two!

But Messi facing Pep and all the superstars in both squads, that would be a final worth every single second of the 90 minutes watching the game. I think that Messi will have one of his stronger seasons of his career in the coming year. Ligue 1 won't motivate him much although he will deliver, but in the CL I can see him go nuts once more as if he had to prove something bigger one more time.

I also would like to add that Poch has a huge task at his hand with this randomly assembled squad, hence I don’t expect PSG to win Champions League because they barely had any time to integrate all player’s. Furthermore while these are superstars, but the bigger superstar bigger their ego, so Poch will have a hard time managing their fragile egos.

While your statement is correct that it is an unexperienced squad in regards to their time spent on the pitch together, all the players they now signed are extremely experienced and established. They players like Mbappe, Neymar and Messi won't need three years until they understand each other. They will function from the first minute. It is a bit similar to national teams meeting for big tournaments, where the best of the best play with each other as if they had been together in the same club for a decade. If Pochettino seriously starts crying now about the fact that he needs time and it is new team, I wouldn't take that guy seriously anymore. He has to deliver. That doesn't mean he has to win the CL title because there is also luck involved, but if that team performs bad he just failed.