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

[Spack17]

Sheriff Tiraspol have drawn the attention of all people by the results they have gotten so far in their group matches. Who would have thought that they would play this smart and win both of their first two matches? I can get the win against Shakhtar by 2-0 as it was a home match and Shakhtar weren't in a very ideal shape. But the win against Real Madrid even away was just something else. I don't know how but they managed to defeat Real Madrid by 2-1 even though their competitor was completely dominating the match. It was like a miracle for them. I can't wait to watch their next match vs Inter.

For the most part, Sheriff won the match against Real Madrid because of the hosts poor shape... For some reason the major Spanish teams have been playing very poorly this Champions League season!
Inter are not in the best position either and they need this win against a Moldovan club, which is now in first place in the group!
I would like Sheriff to win again, but I think it will be very difficult!

Except Atletico Madrid, yes the Spanish clubs haven't got very satisfying results so far in the Champions League. Actually, Atletico Madrid haven't been playing very good also but they still managed to collect 4 points in 2 matches. The win against Milan was thanks to Milan's getting a red card. Even then, Atletico Madrid barely won by a last minute goal. I really don't understand what is going on with these clubs. I understand the condition Barcelona are in but I don't when it comes to Real Madrid and Atletico Madrid.

[CryptoBuds]

Barcelona got very bad results here and in the La Liga but the board still decided to continue with Ronald Koeman. This was a shock for me but then I realized that the real problem is not actually their manager. It is the players of course. They still haven't started playing as Barcelona players. And it may take a long time too as it is not easy to get accustomed to playing with each other strongly. I hope to see Barcelona getting better as soon as possible.

Adopting a new play pattern should be what Barcelona should look out for, the manager as well as the players has so much to work on as they have a great team but are yet to adopt a pattern that suits their current squad.
Roland koeman should look at his team get the strength of each players discover their different playing tactics then decide what formation suits the new club Barcelona is not the Barcelona Messi played. Since Messi has left Barcelona the game formation should change in the absence of a replacement

@jackdanyel Barcelona board hasn’t sacked Koeman because they’ll have to pay him a compensation if they sack him, and that’s the only reason stopping them. However if they continue to failing in champions league and La Liga then he’ll be sacked even if it means having to pay him compensation.

^^ The players alone can only do much. The coach will also play a vital role in this phase. Barca is going through a phase what Real Madrid went through 3 years ago, after Ronaldo left. They will have 1 or 2 bad seasons, but they need that time to refocus and shape well around the players, and also the coach needs to find out what tactics for this specific squad and what doesn't. What they need now is motivation. The young players seem very demotivated and Koeman needs to bring back their confidence.

[KingsDen]

Barcelona got very bad results here and in the La Liga but the board still decided to continue with Ronald Koeman. This was a shock for me but then I realized that the real problem is not actually their manager. It is the players of course. They still haven't started playing as Barcelona players. And it may take a long time too as it is not easy to get accustomed to playing with each other strongly. I hope to see Barcelona getting better as soon as possible.

Adopting a new play pattern should be what Barcelona should look out for, the manager as well as the players has so much to work on as they have a great team but are yet to adopt a pattern that suits their current squad.

Roland koeman should look at his team get the strength of each players discover their different playing tactics then decide what formation suits the new club Barcelona is not the Barcelona Messi played. Since Messi has left Barcelona the game formation should change in the absence of a replacement

You nailed it. Koeman is facing some soughts of pressure now. I think he has either lost confidence or strategy. He was hit by Messi's exit and he had no enough time to restrategize. What is needed is building FCB from scratch by abandoning past glories, and this can be achieved by introducing a new head coach with a different formula and mindset.
One more defeat to Barcelona is going to affect them adversely. They are in need of a new coaching spirit.

[icopress]

This can be judged after the meeting with Inter, Although I doubt that Sheriff Tiraspol will score a winning hat-trick, but it is likely that they will still remain on the second line in the table. The first line will definitely be taken by Real, as they are guaranteed two victories over Shakhtar, given that both the first and the second games will not be in Shakhtar's favor due to the fact that they do not have their own stadium. I mentioned this a little earlier, and I will definitely use this fact when I include Real in my multi bets.

Well, I wouldn't say that this is a home game ... since their real home stadium is Donbass Arena, a stadium that cost the club $ 400 million. Unfortunately, after the start of civil clashes in 2014, the club relocated to Kiev, where to this day it rents the stadium from the owners (Dynamo Kiev). I mean that Shakhtar does not have tangible support from fans in Kiev, and 70% of their roster have never played at their real home stadium. So there is no point in assuming that today Shakhtar have a home advantage over Monaco, because this is not so ... but I believe that Shakhtar will win today anyway.

[fullhdpixel]

Sheriff Tiraspol have drawn the attention of all people by the results they have gotten so far in their group matches. Who would have thought that they would play this smart and win both of their first two matches? I can get the win against Shakhtar by 2-0 as it was a home match and Shakhtar weren't in a very ideal shape. But the win against Real Madrid even away was just something else. I don't know how but they managed to defeat Real Madrid by 2-1 even though their competitor was completely dominating the match. It was like a miracle for them. I can't wait to watch their next match vs Inter.

I also don't understand about that because I didn't watch the match live, but apart from that I personally wouldn't assume that the favorite team underestimated Sheriff Tiraspol. I just think that Sheriff Tiraspol or weak teams or mediocre teams do sometimes give big surprises in the UCL, but the surprise they have given so far to win at the Santiago Bernabéu is something really extraordinary. But with this result I believe Inter will play better than Shakhtar and Madrid and also, I believe in the second leg Sheriff Tiraspol will not be able to do much, I can't wait for the moment and the result in the next match.

Well football is not a 1-0-1-0 binary game that is based on data. Sometimes players work really hard, like seriously hard in a game, and the other team doesn't play that well, we are all humans and we have bad days and it happens, you can't expect 100% from every player every game. That is exactly what happened with Sheriff, they played very very hard (not meaning tackles, just running around a lot) and they gave it their all because they know this could be one of the rare chances they could be in the groups so they wanted to show themselves, and maybe some of them would be bought by bigger clubs and paid decent wages.

So, it is about "heart" and sheriff put up a lot more heart. They also look like they might actually end up going to next stage as well, they already have 6 points and if they end up losing every single game left then they might end up not going to next stage but if they get some draws and maybe another win then they could actually be going further.

[coderben]

Sheriff Tiraspol have drawn the attention of all people by the results they have gotten so far in their group matches. Who would have thought that they would play this smart and win both of their first two matches? I can get the win against Shakhtar by 2-0 as it was a home match and Shakhtar weren't in a very ideal shape. But the win against Real Madrid even away was just something else. I don't know how but they managed to defeat Real Madrid by 2-1 even though their competitor was completely dominating the match. It was like a miracle for them. I can't wait to watch their next match vs Inter.

For the most part, Sheriff won the match against Real Madrid because of the hosts poor shape... For some reason the major Spanish teams have been playing very poorly this Champions League season!
Inter are not in the best position either and they need this win against a Moldovan club, which is now in first place in the group!
I would like Sheriff to win again, but I think it will be very difficult!

Sheriff Tiraspol are just adding a lot of fun into the Champions League by their totally unexpected results. I think that it is always good to see some different teams showing themselves in a strong way. Otherwise, the tournament would be really boring and most fans would lose their attention. But I feel the same way as you that Sheriff Tiraspol can't maintain this form till the end of the rest of the group matches. But I hope that they can qualify for the Europa League in the worst case.

[henmark]

Adopting a new play pattern should be what Barcelona should look out for, the manager as well as the players has so much to work on as they have a great team but are yet to adopt a pattern that suits their current squad.

Roland koeman should look at his team get the strength of each players discover their different playing tactics then decide what formation suits the new club Barcelona is not the Barcelona Messi played. Since Messi has left Barcelona the game formation should change in the absence of a replacement

You nailed it. Koeman is facing some soughts of pressure now. I think he has either lost confidence or strategy. He was hit by Messi's exit and he had no enough time to restrategize. What is needed is building FCB from scratch by abandoning past glories, and this can be achieved by introducing a new head coach with a different formula and mindset.
One more defeat to Barcelona is going to affect them adversely. They are in need of a new coaching spirit.

Currently, they are very low on confidence level, and they need to rethink about their own way because after exit of Messi and Griezmann now they have very few good players so if they want to do some better than surely they have to start with new energy which is not easy as internal issues also hurting very badly like debit issue and president and coach issue suddenly these all going against them.

Currently, they have few days which can help them to regroup their energy in positive just sit and talk in positive way for better way. Like if management is not happy with coach then give them exit or if they can settle with him then give him sometime for better strategy and better results just came out from past glory now think about better future is the best way to survive.

[Spack17]

Ajax - Dortmund can be one of the very interesting matches next time. They are both the favourites in their group. So far, I saw that Ajax performed much better than Dortmund. Their performance and results were really impressive and even better than Dortmund's. But the biggest question is whether Erling Haaland will miss this match. But I guess that he won't as he is expected to bounce back one week later. I think that both teams should be able to score easily.

[icopress]

Sheriff Tiraspol are just adding a lot of fun into the Champions League by their totally unexpected results. I think that it is always good to see some different teams showing themselves in a strong way. Otherwise, the tournament would be really boring and most fans would lose their attention. But I feel the same way as you that Sheriff Tiraspol can't maintain this form till the end of the rest of the group matches. But I hope that they can qualify for the Europa League in the worst case.

I mentally see how people try to try their luck by betting on the victory of the Tiraspol Sheriff in the match against the Inter, and I see how bookmakers will make money on this, lol. I hope the same for Shakhtar, although he already won the Europa League in 2009, so Shakhtar needs to win the Champions League at least once in order to knock the arrogance off the titled clubs.

Like if management is not happy with coach then give them exit or if they can settle with him then give him sometime for better strategy and better results just came out from past glory now think about better future is the best way to survive.

It's not for me to explain to you, but it all comes down to money, since by firing Koeman, Barça will not be able to afford a worthy replacement.

[Alisha-k]

Messi managed to deliver a pretty good performance during the PSG vs Man City match on the second matchday of the Champions League group A phase, the 1 goal scored by messi is certainly his first goal in the champions league with PSG this season, I think now messi is starting to understand the style of play PSG and he began to adapt to other PSG players and of course it will make PSG front line more solid and sharp later.

  Haven't you noticed what happens in the upfront during psg games? that neymar doesn't play along with mbappe?
Paul scholes made references to this from one of his interview, he said PSG won't get better with Messi,it will only get worse.
Messi and neymar have been team mates for a while before he was sold out to the french club and since they have played under one coach,team,game plan its obvious they play the psg forward together and mbappe struggles with passes from elsewhere.
I still stand with what the England former striker said because much work is done on the right flank by Leo and neymar helps out in the strike on a 4-3-3 formation but sometimes,gameplay could be switched to the left wing to reduce pressure; the forward needs to coordinate to achieve these.
There is no coordination!
football is a team game but in PSG,the forwards play individually,how would they win? All wrong!

[KingsDen]

Messi managed to deliver a pretty good performance during the PSG vs Man City match on the second matchday of the Champions League group A phase, the 1 goal scored by messi is certainly his first goal in the champions league with PSG this season, I think now messi is starting to understand the style of play PSG and he began to adapt to other PSG players and of course it will make PSG front line more solid and sharp later.

  Haven't you noticed what happens in the upfront during psg games? that neymar doesn't play along with mbappe?
Paul scholes made references to this from one of his interview, he said PSG won't get better with Messi,it will only get worse.
Messi and neymar have been team mates for a while before he was sold out to the french club and since they have played under one coach,team,game plan its obvious they play the psg forward together and mbappe struggles with passes from elsewhere.
I still stand with what the England former striker said because much work is done on the right flank by Leo and neymar helps out in the strike on a 4-3-3 formation but sometimes,gameplay could be switched to the left wing to reduce pressure; the forward needs to coordinate to achieve these.
There is no coordination!
football is a team game but in PSG,the forwards play individually,how would they win? All wrong!

Mane, Femino and Salah have done this for some years and no problems. Those three players can blend only if the coach really want them to. Neymar and Messi played well in Barcelona, and also Neymar and Mbape has been playing well for PSG. So, I see no oďd here. What the coach really need to do is to define their roles and allow the game to begin. Neymar 11, Get a striker,  Mbape 7
                               Messi.
Alternatively, allow Mbappe to go where his mind is and get a young striker.

[lixer]

Sheriff Tiraspol are just adding a lot of fun into the Champions League by their totally unexpected results. I think that it is always good to see some different teams showing themselves in a strong way. Otherwise, the tournament would be really boring and most fans would lose their attention. But I feel the same way as you that Sheriff Tiraspol can't maintain this form till the end of the rest of the group matches. But I hope that they can qualify for the Europa League in the worst case.

Even Sheriff Tiraspol is doing something special in Champions League, but their record at home league is nothing special as they are third in Moldova League but their goals difference is real something special after these two wins now they have some better chance for staying in hunt for next round qualification if they fail then surely now they have place in Europa League because now after having two wins they can't stay out of this for this season.
Because, Inter and Real Madrid are still more chances for fighting back and qualifying for next round of Champions League instead of this surprise package.

[Daniel91]

Sheriff Tiraspol are just adding a lot of fun into the Champions League by their totally unexpected results. I think that it is always good to see some different teams showing themselves in a strong way. Otherwise, the tournament would be really boring and most fans would lose their attention. But I feel the same way as you that Sheriff Tiraspol can't maintain this form till the end of the rest of the group matches. But I hope that they can qualify for the Europa League in the worst case.

Even Sheriff Tiraspol is doing something special in Champions League, but their record at home league is nothing special as they are third in Moldova League but their goals difference is real something special after these two wins now they have some better chance for staying in hunt for next round qualification if they fail then surely now they have place in Europa League because now after having two wins they can't stay out of this for this season.
Because, Inter and Real Madrid are still more chances for fighting back and qualifying for next round of Champions League instead of this surprise package.

The great and unexpected success of the Sheriff actually shows how bad and unfair the idea of an elite superleague was.
The same clubs would always play in the Super League, and small clubs like Sheriff would have no chance of entering such an elite league.
I believe for most fans it would be a boring and unattractive competition.
Luckily that competition failed and now we have a situation where Sheriff has a realistic chance to pass the group stage of the competition and continue competing in the Champions League in the spring.
For all true football fans, this is fantastic news, money is not always crucial in football.
Unexpected events like this actually arouse interest in this competition and no matter how much money PSG or Manchester City spend on new players they can't win this competition.
Before the introduction of the Bosman rules, many other small clubs even had a chance to win the Champions League, such as the Crvena Zvezda or Steaue, but unfortunately by the time it ended irrevocably.

[Joca97]

Sheriff Tiraspol are just adding a lot of fun into the Champions League by their totally unexpected results. I think that it is always good to see some different teams showing themselves in a strong way. Otherwise, the tournament would be really boring and most fans would lose their attention. But I feel the same way as you that Sheriff Tiraspol can't maintain this form till the end of the rest of the group matches. But I hope that they can qualify for the Europa League in the worst case.

Even Sheriff Tiraspol is doing something special in Champions League, but their record at home league is nothing special as they are third in Moldova League but their goals difference is real something special after these two wins now they have some better chance for staying in hunt for next round qualification if they fail then surely now they have place in Europa League because now after having two wins they can't stay out of this for this season.
Because, Inter and Real Madrid are still more chances for fighting back and qualifying for next round of Champions League instead of this surprise package.

The great and unexpected success of the Sheriff actually shows how bad and unfair the idea of an elite superleague was.
The same clubs would always play in the Super League, and small clubs like Sheriff would have no chance of entering such an elite league.
I believe for most fans it would be a boring and unattractive competition.
Luckily that competition failed and now we have a situation where Sheriff has a realistic chance to pass the group stage of the competition and continue competing in the Champions League in the spring.
For all true football fans, this is fantastic news, money is not always crucial in football.
Unexpected events like this actually arouse interest in this competition and no matter how much money PSG or Manchester City spend on new players they can't win this competition.
Before the introduction of the Bosman rules, many other small clubs even had a chance to win the Champions League, such as the Crvena Zvezda or Steaue, but unfortunately by the time it ended irrevocably.

Sheriff is doing amazing things this season in the Champions league.They are currently living their dreams and showing what is football all about,people like to see small clubs go really up in the Champions league. Also its a really good thing that superleague wasnt introudced because they would make something like NBA from it and no one can get in or out and no presure of getting relegated or knocked out.Clubs are getting gready because they are wasting too much money and going into a big negative and thats why they wanted this tournament.

[BALIK]

Sheriff is doing amazing things this season in the Champions league.They are currently living their dreams and showing what is football all about,people like to see small clubs go really up in the Champions league. Also its a really good thing that superleague wasnt introudced because they would make something like NBA from it and no one can get in or out and no presure of getting relegated or knocked out.Clubs are getting gready because they are wasting too much money and going into a big negative and thats why they wanted this tournament.

I am happy that clubs like Sheriff and Young Boys have won. Because, before, the competitions were only between big and renowned teams. But teams like Sheriff and Young Boys are showing great performances now. Although I still don't think they can get to the next round. However, as a result of such performances, they are making the group stage matches more competitive. Which is very admirable. And it’s a shame for renowned parties. This proves that it is not always possible to win a team by spending a lot of money.

[CryptoBuds]

The great and unexpected success of the Sheriff actually shows how bad and unfair the idea of an elite superleague was.
The same clubs would always play in the Super League, and small clubs like Sheriff would have no chance of entering such an elite league.
I believe for most fans it would be a boring and unattractive competition.
Luckily that competition failed and now we have a situation where Sheriff has a realistic chance to pass the group stage of the competition and continue competing in the Champions League in the spring.
For all true football fans, this is fantastic news, money is not always crucial in football.
Unexpected events like this actually arouse interest in this competition and no matter how much money PSG or Manchester City spend on new players they can't win this competition.
Before the introduction of the Bosman rules, many other small clubs even had a chance to win the Champions League, such as the Crvena Zvezda or Steaue, but unfortunately by the time it ended irrevocably.

^ Football always has been an unpredictable game from the start. Even we saw how Bayern and PSG lost to comparatively smaller teams. And the win for Sheriff against Real came as quite a surprise for me. But Sheriff deserved the win. Real were having problems with their defense after the departure of Ramos and varane. Currently, Sheriff is on the top group D after 2 matches. I'm hoping that Real and Inter would bounce back but it was a nice start for Sheriff in the CL. As a real fan, I want Real to qualify also I do want that Sheriff qualifies for the next round.

[poldanmig]

 Football always has been an unpredictable game from the start. Even we saw how Bayern and PSG lost to comparatively smaller teams. And the win for Sheriff against Real came as quite a surprise for me. But Sheriff deserved the win. Real were having problems with their defense after the departure of Ramos and varane. Currently, Sheriff is on the top group D after 2 matches. I'm hoping that Real and Inter would bounce back but it was a nice start for Sheriff in the CL. As a real fan, I want Real to qualify also I do want that Sheriff qualifies for the next round.

After they successfully beat shaktar and real madrid in the champions league, honestly I immediately went to google and find out about the sherrif club, i didn't think a team from moldova could embarrass a big team like real madrid, even at first the sherrif was only considered a complementary team in the group D, but it turns out that their performance can be very surprising, but even so I personally don't believe the sherrif will be able to go far in the champions league this season and I think in the second leg later teams like real madrid and shaktar will come back and maybe beat them.

[Minecache]

Messi managed to deliver a pretty good performance during the PSG vs Man City match on the second matchday of the Champions League group A phase, the 1 goal scored by messi is certainly his first goal in the champions league with PSG this season, I think now messi is starting to understand the style of play PSG and he began to adapt to other PSG players and of course it will make PSG front line more solid and sharp later.

Haven't you noticed what happens in the upfront during psg games? that neymar doesn't play along with mbappe?
Paul scholes made references to this from one of his interview, he said PSG won't get better with Messi,it will only get worse.
Messi and neymar have been team mates for a while before he was sold out to the french club and since they have played under one coach,team,game plan its obvious they play the psg forward together and mbappe struggles with passes from elsewhere.
I still stand with what the England former striker said because much work is done on the right flank by Leo and neymar helps out in the strike on a 4-3-3 formation but sometimes,gameplay could be switched to the left wing to reduce pressure; the forward needs to coordinate to achieve these.
There is no coordination!
football is a team game but in PSG,the forwards play individually,how would they win? All wrong!

Mane, Femino and Salah have done this for some years and no problems. Those three players can blend only if the coach really want them to. Neymar and Messi played well in Barcelona, and also Neymar and Mbape has been playing well for PSG. So, I see no oďd here. What the coach really need to do is to define their roles and allow the game to begin. Neymar 11, Get a striker,  Mbape 7 Messi.
Alternatively, allow Mbappe to go where his mind is and get a young striker.

Messi, Neymar, Mbappe trio haven't figured out their chemistry so fat. But I think a change of formation could work for them. Maybe play Neymar on the left, Di Maria on the right and play Mbappe as a striker, and play Messi behind Mbappe as false 9. In that way, Messi and Neymar can also duo up to create more chances for them in the attacking third. And we all know how good Messi is like a false 9 and he is really good in playmaking. I could be wrong but maybe this is a change that Pochettino can try.

[Yogee]

It's hard for the coach of PSG to figure out the best formation for each game but that also applies to the coach of the opposing team hehe. PSG may not be a great team right now but it's still tough playing against a team with great players.

...
Maybe play Neymar on the left, Di Maria on the right and play Mbappe as a striker, and play Messi behind Mbappe as false 9. In that way, Messi and Neymar can also duo up to create more chances for them in the attacking third. And we all know how good Messi is like a false 9 and he is really good in playmaking. I could be wrong but maybe this is a change that Pochettino can try.

This formation actually looks good. Neymar and Di Maria would be comfortable playing in those positions while Messi could be given more freedom to roam around. He has to be always in top shape to pull this off since he's not that young and agile anymore.

[condoras]

Messi, Neymar, Mbappe trio haven't figured out their chemistry so fat. But I think a change of formation could work for them. Maybe play Neymar on the left, Di Maria on the right and play Mbappe as a striker, and play Messi behind Mbappe as false 9. In that way, Messi and Neymar can also duo up to create more chances for them in the attacking third. And we all know how good Messi is like a false 9 and he is really good in playmaking. I could be wrong but maybe this is a change that Pochettino can try.

Those three have the freedom to do whatever they think and unfortunately, modern football doesn't play this way. I mean you can't have three players on the same line (attack) that play in loose, at least someone has to follow the playbook and of course not trying to prove that is the #1 superstar among them.
If you put Mbappe as a clear striker, then his speed advantage will be lost or he will have to go in midfield and get a ball. Di Maria on the right maybe can help but he clearly states that he wants to play on the left side and I can't blame him. Neymar can be put on the other side and Messi will still act as an attacking playmaker but I don't think that this will help.
IMO the problem is that none of them can play as a classic striker and that's missing from PSG. They can all create opportunities and with a classic striker, things will be very different.