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

[jakdanyel]

Atletico Madrid - Manchester United could be a really interesting matchup. Because there is not a big difference between them now in terms of strength. Atletico Madrid are very experienced when it comes to defending their opponents in critical matches. But they haven't been playing like themselves recently. They are in a really bad shape now as they have a losing streak of three matches in the La Liga. And Manchester United are on the rise by Rangnick's arrival. But their performance is still not too impressive. In this case, we can watch very competitive matches here. But in my opinion, Manchester United are still stronger than Atletico Madrid now and they can advance to the next round if we don't see big changes.

[Jackl87]

Atletico Madrid - Manchester United could be a really interesting matchup. Because there is not a big difference between them now in terms of strength. Atletico Madrid are very experienced when it comes to defending their opponents in critical matches. But they haven't been playing like themselves recently. They are in a really bad shape now as they have a losing streak of three matches in the La Liga. And Manchester United are on the rise by Rangnick's arrival. But their performance is still not too impressive. In this case, we can watch very competitive matches here. But in my opinion, Manchester United are still stronger than Atletico Madrid now and they can advance to the next round if we don't see big changes.

I agree here. At least on paper this of probably the closest matchup in the round of the last 16 of the champions league. Both teams are not in the best shape at the moment but that does not necessarily mean that much when it comes to such important knock out games. If Manchester United would have not changed their coach then Atletico would definitely be the favorite here for me, but now with Rangnick i think the odds have changed a little bit. For me he is one of the best coaches in Europe and even back in the late 1990#s the teams of Rangnick already played pressing and they already covered the space instead of fixed players.

[mia_houston]

It is naive to assume that Real will play defensively in this pair and will give PSG a lot of chances to score.

Why it is naive? It is my prediction, I consider how Real Madrid should deal with PSG strikers. I think Real Madrid coach may consider about this. Focusing in defending doesn't mean Real Madrid stop attacking and has no intention to control the match. What I mean, those defenders must be more discipline and more strict to keep PSG strikers. You are misunderstood, I never state that Real Madrid players to let PSG players be easier in attacking.

Against PSG which has a lot of great strikers, it would be a mistake if madrid prefers to stay, even though madrid are in pretty good form at the moment, but you mustn't forget that madrid's defense is still very bad, I think whoever scored first in the match will dominate the game, and I think madrid will play aggressively in that match so as to put pressure on PSG players, sometimes attack is a good defense in football.

[masulum]

Against PSG which has a lot of great strikers, it would be a mistake if madrid prefers to stay, even though madrid are in pretty good form at the moment, but you mustn't forget that madrid's defense is still very bad, I think whoever scored first in the match will dominate the game, and I think madrid will play aggressively in that match so as to put pressure on PSG players, sometimes attack is a good defense in football.

PSG have a lot of strikers, but that doesn't mean they will be easy to beat Madrid. Currently Madrid are on-fire in the domestic league and are doing quite well in the play-offs with 5 wins. However, what made this match interesting was that it was like Messi met his opponent during La Liga. And Ramos is back not as captain of madrid, but as their opponent. But, in other hand, experience of Ramos and Messi in La Liga, may be difficult for Madrid to win.

[Luzin]

PSG have a lot of strikers, but that doesn't mean they will be easy to beat Madrid. Currently Madrid are on-fire in the domestic league and are doing quite well in the play-offs with 5 wins. However, what made this match interesting was that it was like Messi met his opponent during La Liga. And Ramos is back not as captain of madrid, but as their opponent. But, in other hand, experience of Ramos and Messi in La Liga, may be difficult for Madrid to win.

Interesting as for this match, it's a long time coming. Ramos will meet with his former club. At least Ramos already understands how madrid and that's PSG's advantage. But in the end I agree with you it will be difficult to guess the final result. Maybe they should make the most of the game at home, because it will last 2 legs. Of course the first game should Madrid can win without conceding. At least Madrid should also win 2-0. With a margin of 2 goals of course Madrid will feel more confident for the 2nd leg in Paris.

[Furious 7]

Against PSG which has a lot of great strikers, it would be a mistake if madrid prefers to stay, even though madrid are in pretty good form at the moment, but you mustn't forget that madrid's defense is still very bad, I think whoever scored first in the match will dominate the game, and I think madrid will play aggressively in that match so as to put pressure on PSG players, sometimes attack is a good defense in football.

PSG have a lot of strikers, but that doesn't mean they will be easy to beat Madrid. Currently Madrid are on-fire in the domestic league and are doing quite well in the play-offs with 5 wins. However, what made this match interesting was that it was like Messi met his opponent during La Liga. And Ramos is back not as captain of madrid, but as their opponent. But, in other hand, experience of Ramos and Messi in La Liga, may be difficult for Madrid to win.

PSG and Real Madrid are the shadows in my mind who is greater than them, so I will continue to judge this match to be crucial.
If Madrid's defense is still lacking, there is still a chance to get the desired defender in the transfer market later, because it can be said that PSG are perfect in their squad but that doesn't mean they will continue to dominate the game. I think this match will be even.
So Messi and Ramos will unite to destroy Real Madrid.

[Silberman]

At least there should be CL and UEFA league games without the crowd.

The problem is many players got infected by the Covid. It harms the clubs who lose a lot of players, especially losing their key players because they must be quarantined. It is surely not as simple as we think, Covid transmission is just starting and looks to increase quickly. The best option is absolutely to stop CL, UEFA, and also local league competitions. Even with no crowd, cannot solve the problem because the real problem comes from many aspects.

I understand your point but if we consider everywhere covid can spread from person to person, football and other sports are not in the top of that list. I wish we could come up with a better solution than stopping CL, UEFA and other leagues and tournaments.

I also think it is obvious that there is a vaccination problem everywhere, including athletes. I acknowledge the freedom aspect but just get the damn vaccine and be done with it:
https://www.si.com/soccer/liverpool/news/premier-league-has-most-unvaccinated-players-in-europes-top-leagues
https://www.theguardian.com/football/2021/dec/18/covid-chaos-leads-jurgen-klopp-demand-action-anti-vaxx-players-liverpool

Things will need to get really bad in order to stop these leagues, I understand that there is a lot of fear for the new strain of the virus and that at the same time we cannot be too cautious, but at the same time I do not think the economy of the world is going to endure another series of lockdowns like the ones we suffered back then, so it is likely that the leagues will continue and that at worst they play behind closed doors to reduce the possibility of people getting infected.

[poldanmig]

There are still months to go for the last 16 matchups to be played in the Champions League. And the covid-19 situation is getting heavier in Europe now. Therefore, I think that it is really difficult to comment on the matches. For example, Virgil van Dijk, Fabinho and Curtis Jones tested positive for covid-19 at Liverpool today and they couldn't play in the Newcastle match.

If the corona virus is spreading now, of course it is not impossible that uefa will stop the champions league competition for a while, several clubs in europe have confirmed that many of their players have contracted the corona virus and make them have to postpone the current match in the league domestic and European competitions.

The situation, hopefully, will not be that bad. The winter of course might be very hard, considering the relatively high number of cases, but I cannot imagine we will go back to quarantine times like 2020. At least there should be CL and UEFA league games without the crowd. Just personally, I cannot bear to live without these normal things we took for granted.

Covid that continues to hit the world today really makes us quite constrained in every activity of our lives, right now we can only hope that the worst phase that is happening now will end soon and we will be able to live a normal life again, football is the only entertainment available for us at this time, and if the virus does spread further, it might be better if the games were played behind closed doors rather than stopping them completely.

[ShowOff]

PSG have a lot of strikers, but that doesn't mean they will be easy to beat Madrid. Currently Madrid are on-fire in the domestic league and are doing quite well in the play-offs with 5 wins. However, what made this match interesting was that it was like Messi met his opponent during La Liga. And Ramos is back not as captain of madrid, but as their opponent. But, in other hand, experience of Ramos and Messi in La Liga, may be difficult for Madrid to win.

One of the match I don't want to miss in the last 16 of the Champions League this season is the match between PSG and Real Madrid. Although some of the other match also look good, I believe PSG and Madrid are the most anticipated match.

In that match Real Madrid had several former players and also former captains, namely Sergio Ramos, Di Maria, and Keylor Navas. Of course Messi and Ramos became the players who were in the spotlight in that match because they were united in one team to beat Real Madrid. I just want to see these two play in that match, but what is certain is hope that both of them are fit enough to play.

[Swordsoffreedom]

There are still months to go for the last 16 matchups to be played in the Champions League. And the covid-19 situation is getting heavier in Europe now. Therefore, I think that it is really difficult to comment on the matches. For example, Virgil van Dijk, Fabinho and Curtis Jones tested positive for covid-19 at Liverpool today and they couldn't play in the Newcastle match.

If the corona virus is spreading now, of course it is not impossible that uefa will stop the champions league competition for a while, several clubs in europe have confirmed that many of their players have contracted the corona virus and make them have to postpone the current match in the league domestic and European competitions.

The situation, hopefully, will not be that bad. The winter of course might be very hard, considering the relatively high number of cases, but I cannot imagine we will go back to quarantine times like 2020. At least there should be CL and UEFA league games without the crowd. Just personally, I cannot bear to live without these normal things we took for granted.

Covid that continues to hit the world today really makes us quite constrained in every activity of our lives, right now we can only hope that the worst phase that is happening now will end soon and we will be able to live a normal life again, football is the only entertainment available for us at this time, and if the virus does spread further, it might be better if the games were played behind closed doors rather than stopping them completely.

Corona virus infections are on the rise again. And growing terribly. Now all clubs and leagues should be careful. Players will be infected with the Corona virus again if they are not careful. As a result, all kinds of sports may be canceled again for a while. Many Premier League matches have been posponed for coronavirus.

[W Jr.]

An interesting statement came from Sergio Ramos. Continuing his career with Paris SG, Ramos announced that he will fight to the death in the Real Madrid match. The fact that he will play with such passion against his old team makes the matchup a little more exciting. How will the Spanish fans react to Sergio Ramos when Paris goes to Madrid?

If Ramos, Navas and Messi could play in that match, I think it would be better to see the reaction of the Real Madrid fans than without the involvement of the two former players. This is not a friendly match, but their professionalism is required to beat all their opponents without exception if it is their former team.

I would like to see the collaboration of Navas, Ramos and Messi to beat Real Madrid in the next two Champions League leg, if PSG really manage to beat Real Madrid then as a fan you shouldn't take it as a betrayal either. LOL

Professionalism in football emerges more in such situations. Nothing much has changed for Messi, but it will be an emotional pairing for Navas and Ramos. They will play against their old team. Especially Ramos will play against his club, which he captained for many years. I think Paris SG will pass the tour. However, it is a fact that this match will be like the final match.

[Boristhecat]

By the way, I recalled that last year in the championship of my country there was an interesting situation: one of the teams (which was the favorite) was almost completely quarantined, but it was forced to play against a formal outsider. As you can imagine, it was a match of the second squad against the main squad of the other team - that is, it was completely unfair. Nevertheless, this match took place and ended with a score of something like 8-0. I would not want this to happen in the Champions League.

a few months ago also happened in the portugal league where at that time 13 players of the Portuguese club Belenenses were tested positive for Covid and they had to be forced to play matches with their youth squad.
they inevitably have to fight benfica at full strength with some young players and a shortage of players.
As a result, they conceded 7 goals and in the second half only 7 Belenenses players were left on the field.
This is very worrying and like you said, I don't want something like this to happen because it will definitely harm everyone

Terrible events. I don't even know which is better: transfer the game (break the entire calendar and there is a possibility that there will be too many transferred games); awarding a technical defeat to the kotoara team is in quarantine (but then the clubs will not receive income from ticket sales and broadcasts) or allowing young players to play - but this will lead to such absurd results. It looks like this is an equation without a good solution.

[hd49728]

Professionalism in football emerges more in such situations. Nothing much has changed for Messi, but it will be an emotional pairing for Navas and Ramos. They will play against their old team. Especially Ramos will play against his club, which he captained for many years. I think Paris SG will pass the tour. However, it is a fact that this match will be like the final match.

Players like Ramos are very ego and professional. They don't have issue to play against clubs they played in many years. It is just their works have to be done. They have less emotional impacts because they are not home-grown players of Real Madrid. They were just bought by Real Madrid and played there in a few seasons (Navas) and almost whole of career (Ramos). Both Ramos and Navas have their best time in Real Madrid so this return is emotional for them.

PSG have better players than Real Madrid but Real Madrid have a better coach in Champions League. Ancelotti have more experience in Champions League than Pochettino and it can be very important contributor to result of this clash.

[swogerino]

Professionalism in football emerges more in such situations. Nothing much has changed for Messi, but it will be an emotional pairing for Navas and Ramos. They will play against their old team. Especially Ramos will play against his club, which he captained for many years. I think Paris SG will pass the tour. However, it is a fact that this match will be like the final match.

Players like Ramos are very ego and professional. They don't have issue to play against clubs they played in many years. It is just their works have to be done. They have less emotional impacts because they are not home-grown players of Real Madrid. They were just bought by Real Madrid and played there in a few seasons (Navas) and almost whole of career (Ramos). Both Ramos and Navas have their best time in Real Madrid so this return is emotional for them.

PSG have better players than Real Madrid but Real Madrid have a better coach in Champions League. Ancelotti have more experience in Champions League than Pochettino and it can be very important contributor to result of this clash.

If we analyse the game based on players quality then this is a no brainer that PSG should have an easy win in this fight.However Ancelotti has a lot of experience in Champions League back at the times when he was managing Milan and he has also won a couple of Champions League trophies with Milan.This experience may really be a game changer if he manages to tactically to block PSG players,he is an Italian and they are well known for applying the best tactics to football.We still have to wait a couple of months before seeing this clash so there is time until then.

[fullhdpixel]

Atletico Madrid - Manchester United could be a really interesting matchup. Because there is not a big difference between them now in terms of strength. Atletico Madrid are very experienced when it comes to defending their opponents in critical matches. But they haven't been playing like themselves recently. They are in a really bad shape now as they have a losing streak of three matches in the La Liga. And Manchester United are on the rise by Rangnick's arrival. But their performance is still not too impressive. In this case, we can watch very competitive matches here. But in my opinion, Manchester United are still stronger than Atletico Madrid now and they can advance to the next round if we don't see big changes.

Now knock out stage have many interesting matches, but surely this is also going to be very entertaining but with current form I am favoring Manchester United because they improved their quality in recent matches and Atletico Madrid is not good enough like we have them in last few years recently they are losing matches consistently but still it's going to be anybody game.

Because, which team will perform at home then surely going with some better advantage and will try to defend on other match here recently Manchester United also done some better and Atletico Madrid is also done something special in their last match against Porto. With the targets having new Manchester United manager, we can feel better results from them after this break.

[BITCOIN4X]

Professionalism in football emerges more in such situations. Nothing much has changed for Messi, but it will be an emotional pairing for Navas and Ramos. They will play against their old team. Especially Ramos will play against his club, which he captained for many years. I think Paris SG will pass the tour. However, it is a fact that this match will be like the final match.

That would be great, and it is true that professionalism is the most important thing. No matter how much Ramos loved Real Madrid before, he had to help PSG win that match because he was paid for it. Obviously Messi, Ramos, Di Maria and Navas are players who know the atmosphere against Real Madrid and they should be able to use it to help their team win.

That match will be played in February, so I think we can still see the two teams maybe going to change in some ways even though at the moment both team are playing very well in their respective domestic leagues. Most recently, Real Madrid drew vs Cadiz so anything is still possible for these two teams.

[lixer]

If we analyse the game based on players quality then this is a no brainer that PSG should have an easy win in this fight.However Ancelotti has a lot of experience in Champions League back at the times when he was managing Milan and he has also won a couple of Champions League trophies with Milan.This experience may really be a game changer if he manages to tactically to block PSG players,he is an Italian and they are well known for applying the best tactics to football.We still have to wait a couple of months before seeing this clash so there is time until then.

Surely this is one off biggest competition in Champions League knock out stage with two heavy weights are going to fight for place into quarter-final currently on papers PSG is very strong and having some better chances, but Real Madrid under Ancelotti is doing best job for last few weeks and having very good results, so it's not easy for them in presence of an Italian legend to win this match very easily. Another thing is also very important, Real Madrid is having love affair with Champions League and PSG is still looking for their first Date even they spend some very big amount in last few years for this one.

[Pulsar77]

Chelsea are a very lucky team that they have one of the easiest matchups among the favourite clubs to win the Champions League title. And it was really interesting to see that they got a draw against Lille two times.    It must be really frustrating for Lille. As Lille are not having a very satisfying season, Chelsea should be able to move them out of the CL by not having too much problem. I know that there has been a decrease in Chelsea's performance lately but they are still too powerful against their opponent.

[nurilham]

PSG is strong in names. But are names on the pitch that strong? Remind me of the game this season, when exactly did the strikers do something at the extra level and PSG beat a strong team?

Basically, PSG is a strong team, they have many top players. So, they are possible to beat Real Madrid in theory. The problem is how the coach manages a strategy and motivates PSG players to play solidly. If Pochettino can do that, surely PSG strikers possibly make Real Madrid defenders in trouble. Messi, Mbappe, Di Maria, or Icardi look fit to play in the next match, these strikers are enough to beat Real Madrid if they are playing in their best performance.

but you mustn't forget that madrid's defense is still very bad

Real Madrid defense isn't very bad, you are too much saying this. I can agree if you state they are not strong enough, but claiming they are very bad, totally not true.

I think whoever scored first in the match will dominate the game,

No, which team dominates the game doesn't depend on the first goal. It purely depends on which midfield can win the ball possession, so they will control and dominate the game.

[icopress]

Real Madrid defense isn't very bad, you are too much saying this. I can agree if you state they are not strong enough, but claiming they are very bad, totally not true.

It depends on what to compare, but in general I agree that Real's defense remained at the proper level even after the departure of Varan and Ramos. By the way, it is interesting that after the departure of Ronaldo, Benzema's talent and strength were revealed in full force.

Even when it was Marcelo, Varane, Ramos and Cavaja which was indeed a strong defense, Real Madrid never relied much on their defense.
Their strength always has been the attack and how much goals they were able to get for the club. Exactly the mentality of Liverpool.

I am only guided by logic, no more ... besides, I do not agree on the account of the similarity of the teams you mentioned, since Real Madrid has looked like a lazy cat for the last couple of years, while Liverpool players are working hard.