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

[Harkorede]

Anyone watching todays matches? Everybody thought Ajax would easily win in Cyprus but its 0-0 at HT. Gonna be an exciting 2nd half.

59 minutes gone already, And it's not been an easy night for Ajax, Apoel are matching up to them big time! They'd be lucky if they can steal a victory here tonight, but not losing the game will still be in their best interest since the 2nd leg would be played in the Netherlands.

Not so many games tonight but I'm taking a parlay involving two of the tournament's rather high-performing clubs so far. Brugge has new keeper Mignolet, who let in 3 goals but somehow I think he'll perform tonight. Cluj, giantkillers so far, I'm backing them to slay another former giant (Slavia Praha).

Not much else to look at though tonight.

Cfr Cluj a few years ago has been performing in the group stages of Champions League so they have quite some experience ar this level.Slavia is a strong team but the two local Championships do not differ much,both are somewhat strong leagues in Europe.

I back Cluj too today.

Cluj might seem sronger but I am going to bet for Slavia today.
I have faith in this team and I hope to see them winning today.

Slavia Prague are in lead and It seems like it's going to be your night, today! However, 28 minutes is still enough time for anything to in game.

[LTU_btc]

Slavia won against Cluj at home 0:1 and they played slightly better. Maybe these teams aren't so famous, but I just remind that Cluj kicked out Celtic in previous round. While Slavia had great previous season in Europa league - they eliminated Sevilla and in quarterfinal lost to Chelsea 5:3.
I'm a bit disapointed about Ajax performance, they were far away from their best football. Goaless draw means that everything just will start in second leg.
On Wednesday I expect Dinamo Zagreb win against Rosenborg. Olympiakos - Krasnodar match is hardly predictable. And I'm not sure why bookmakers keep Young Boys as such obvious favorite in match against Crvena Zvezda. IMO, level of these teams is similar.

[Barcode_]

I'm a bit disapointed about Ajax performance, they were far away from their best football. Goaless draw means that everything just will start in second leg.

Ajax are certainly playing very badly at the moment, I thought Ajax would be able to beat APOEL FC easily even when they are playing away from home, but I guess Ajax would still need to rely on the home ground advantage when APOEL FC travels to the stadium of Johan Cruijff Arena for the second leg match.

[yoseph]

I'm a bit disapointed about Ajax performance, they were far away from their best football. Goaless draw means that everything just will start in second leg.

Ajax are certainly playing very badly at the moment, I thought Ajax would be able to beat APOEL FC easily even when they are playing away from home, but I guess Ajax would still need to rely on the home ground advantage when APOEL FC travels to the stadium of Johan Cruijff Arena for the second leg match.

With the upsets during the last round of qualifications, i would not be surprised if Ajax end up crashing out of the tournament at home. It seems they are finally seeing the effect of selling two of their best performing players during the transfer window. And to be honest, it's not really fair for Ajax to be playing the Champions League qualifiers considering that they won the Eredevisie and they made it all the way to the semi finals last season.

[SantiagoSegura]

 Dinamo Zagreb vs Rosenborg

Two opponents of the  similar strength meeting for the first time ever.

I would say that  Dinamo Zagreb is a slight favorite in this match, due  excellent midfield and especially their main star Dani Olmo, top young Spain player who is connected with top clubs, and most likely going to leave Dinamo Zagreb for around 30-40  million euro.He will be main threat for Rosenborg, and unless  stopped he can make some serious damage to them,you will definitely hear about him in the coming years.
On the other hand, best Rosenborg player is their attacker Alexander Soderlund and he will be main threat for Dinamo Zagreb.

In their national championships Dinamo Zagreb is  currently at the top  ( they won 13 out of last 14 championships) while Rosenborg is currently 4th in the Norwegian championsip, with 10 points behind Molde.

Both teams went through  previous round with relative ease, Dinamo beat Hungarian champion  Ferencvaros with aggregate 5-1 win, while Rosenborg eliminated Slovenian champion Maribor with  6-2.

Both teams have all their main players at disposal, without main player injuries or suspensions.

[tomahawk9]

Had a parlay yesterday, felt pretty confident tbh, but then this happened:


Current record: 5W | 4L

Brugge-Ajax-Slavia, all to win @9.78...I did not expect Ajax to be the one that would screw me over. Fair play to Apoel though, they played accordingly to this CL stage: as if it were a final, while Ajax displayed a pathetic performance. Apoel deserved to win at least by 2 goals.

For today's games, I'm thinking maybe going for the opposite of my parlay yesterday, all home teams to win, but I have my doubts about Olympiacos since Krasnodar just KO'd Porto.

[SantiagoSegura]

Had a parlay yesterday, felt pretty confident tbh, but then this happened:

https://i.imgur.com/gQR7h0V.png
Current record: 5W | 4L

Brugge-Ajax-Slavia, all to win @9.78...I did not expect Ajax to be the one that would screw me over. Fair play to Apoel though, they played accordingly to this CL stage: as if it were a final, while Ajax displayed a pathetic performance. Apoel deserved to win at least by 2 goals.

For today's games, I'm thinking maybe going for the opposite of my parlay yesterday, all home teams to win, but I have my doubts about Olympiacos since Krasnodar just KO'd Porto.

Olympiacos is very strong when playing home at their Karaiskakis stadium, it will be sold out and it wont be easy for Krasnodar. My money would be on Olympiacos, but it won't be an easy game for them.

[swogerino]

I also think that they are very strong indeed when playing at home but only 2 or 3 years ago they did not manage to qualify against an Israeli team and they were not able to go more than a 0-0 draw in their home field.

I would bet on them too but Krasnodar is a team who cannot be underestimated especially when playing in a final qualification game.

[efialtis]

Had a parlay yesterday, felt pretty confident tbh, but then this happened:


Current record: 5W | 4L

Brugge-Ajax-Slavia, all to win @9.78...I did not expect Ajax to be the one that would screw me over. Fair play to Apoel though, they played accordingly to this CL stage: as if it were a final, while Ajax displayed a pathetic performance. Apoel deserved to win at least by 2 goals.

For today's games, I'm thinking maybe going for the opposite of my parlay yesterday, all home teams to win, but I have my doubts about Olympiacos since Krasnodar just KO'd Porto.

Olympiacos is very strong when playing home at their Karaiskakis stadium, it will be sold out and it wont be easy for Krasnodar. My money would be on Olympiacos, but it won't be an easy game for them.

I agree that Olympiakos at home is a favorite to win - yes, Krasnodar is a really strong opposition but I would be surprised if Oly would not manage to win at Karaiskakis - and I am saying this as an AEK fan - we dont have the best connections...

[JeromeTash]

I'm a bit disapointed about Ajax performance, they were far away from their best football. Goaless draw means that everything just will start in second leg.

That's what happens when you sell off the major pillars of the team. This is Monaco 2.0 happening allover again. i don't expect them to go so far up in the Champion league even if they qualify.

[SantiagoSegura]

Dinamo Zagreb completely dominating  Rosenborg so far.
Olympiacos also better so far, they have initiative.

Halftime edit: Dinamo leads 2:0, Rosenborg should be satisfied with that results considering how they played.
Olympiacos leads 1:0, tough game as expected but deserved lead, they were better.

[Harkorede]

Its Half Time and quite a number of goals tonight already, unlike last night.

Dinamo Zagreb are 2 goals ahead against Rosenborg. I have a bet on the fixture for over 2.5 goals as well as Young Boys vs Red Star who are currently playing a 1 -1 draw.

Olympiacos are also in a lone goal lead against Krasnodar.

Dinamo Zagreb completely dominating  Rosenborg so far.
Olympiacos also better so far, they have initiative.

Halftime edit: Dinamo leads 2:0, Rosenborg should be satisfied with that results considering how they played.
Olympiacos leads 1:0, tough game as expected but deserved lead, they were better.

It should be an easy ride for Dinamo Zagreb from here, I doubt Rosenborg will find a way back into the game.

[SantiagoSegura]

Dinamo Zagreb-Rosenborg 2:0, well deserved and easy win, i dont think that Rosenborg has chance next week, Dinamo should go to CL.Next game should be last for Dani Olmo, he is too good to stay with Dinamo.

Olympiacos-Krasnodar 4:0, easier than expected, Olympiacos managed to score 3 goals in 11 minutes in 2nd half, Karaiskakis showed once again as a big advantage for Olympiacos.

Young Boys-Red Star 2:2 ,Red Star stopped playing in the 2nd half after they scored for 2:1,they should be happy with this draw that gives them big chances to go through, they are very strong at their stadium.

[Coyster]

That's what happens when you sell off the major pillars of the team. This is Monaco 2.0 happening allover again. i don't expect them to go so far up in the Champion league even if they qualify.

You can't really blame this teams for not hanging onto their players, when teams of lower status have a good season, it showcases the amount of good players they have in their team, and this attracts the big boys to come for them, with the players eager to leave, the team has no choice but to cash in on them and make good money for themselves.

This leaves such teams depleted for the coming season, if they do not make wise signings, but I think this teams have to find a way to hold onto their players, and see if the form shown, can be replicated.

[LTU_btc]

Olympiakos - Krasnodar result is a big surprise for me. It's not surprise that Olympiakos won, but I didn't expected 4:0 result. I expected more from Krasnodar, especially after they kicked out Porto last week.
As expected, Dinamo Zagreb achieved quite easy win. But they still can't be confident about reaching group stage before second leg.

That's what happens when you sell off the major pillars of the team. This is Monaco 2.0 happening allover again. i don't expect them to go so far up in the Champion league even if they qualify.

Well, it happens every few years with Ajax - they sell their talented players to rich big clubs. It's reality of Ajax and similar clubs. And then they have to rebuild team with academy players, and it's normal that it takes some time to start play well. In recent years Ajax didn't had amazing results in UEFA cups and Eredivisie, but this generation was exceptional talented.

[SantiagoSegura]

Current situation regarding CL pots

Pot 1:

Liverpool
Chelsea
Barcelona
Manchester City
Juventus
Bayern
PSG
Zenit

Pot 2:

Real Madrid
Atletico
Borussia D.
Napoli
Shakthar
Tottenham
Ajax/Apoel
Benfica

Pot 3:

Lyon
Leverkusen
Salzburg
Olympiacos
Club Brugge
Valencia
Inter
Dinamo

Pot 4:

Lokomotiv M.
Young Boys /Red Star
Genk
Galatasaray
Leipzig
Slavia /Cluj
Atalanta
Lille

I think that we can assume Olympiacos will go through, and most likely Dinamo Zagreb.

Apoel can shift things here if they beat Ajax, as that would put Lyon to pot 2 and Lokomotiv to pot 3.

We could get some interesting groups like Liverpool-Real-Inter-Galatasaray.

[swogerino]

The funny thing yesterday is that from what I have seen in the sportbooks around everybody was favouring Young Boys as the odd was reduced to 1.7 from 2.1 initially.People were betting on Young Boys thinking that last year they beat Juventus and draw with Valencia at this stadium and the players are the same of last year.Red Star has now a golden opportunity to enter the group stages.

[SantiagoSegura]

The funny thing yesterday is that from what I have seen in the sportbooks around everybody was favouring Young Boys as the odd was reduced to 1.7 from 2.1 initially.People were betting on Young Boys thinking that last year they beat Juventus and draw with Valencia at this stadium and the players are the same of last year.Red Star has now a golden opportunity to enter the group stages.

To be honest Young Boys were better team, Red Star was lucky to finish 2:2.
I agree that Red Star has good chance at home, they are very good there, last season they beat Liverpool 2:0 there.

[slocker]

We could get some interesting groups like Liverpool-Real-Inter-Galatasaray.

To be honest any team with Liverpool and RM in group could be death one. Many combinations and calculation on this but this time I could expect to see maybe more. It could be MNC RM Inter and some other fourth club. Many combinations for so called death group. We will have to wait for 29th this month to see groups in both CL and EL.

[narcopop]

We could get some interesting groups like Liverpool-Real-Inter-Galatasaray.

To be honest any team with Liverpool and RM in group could be death one. Many combinations and calculation on this but this time I could expect to see maybe more. It could be MNC RM Inter and some other fourth club. Many combinations for so called death group. We will have to wait for 29th this month to see groups in both CL and EL.

And isn't it what are we waiting for? Two superteams, two teams that think of the comeback from the dead. Group stages have to be more interesting because that's what the Champions League was made for. To be interesting. Do you remember last year's drama in groups with Liverpool, PSG and Napoli or with Barcelona, Tottenham and Inter? Groups of deaths are very important in Champions League's early stages. Although this product sells by itself, big emotions are needed.