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

[Luzin]

I think this rate of the Paris team can be considered a surprise. I was thinking that Manchester City or Paris Saint-Germain would win the UCL this year. However, the ratios are misleading me. Perhaps because of the Real Madrid-PSG match, Paris Saint-Germain's rate is so high. If they can knock out Real Madrid, they can drop their odds and become one of the favourites.

I didn't even want PSG to make the final this season. Although they have a lot of great players, it doesn't seem like they have the UCL winning mentality in every player yet. Moreover, they will play Madrid, of course I will choose Madrid to win. At least all madrid players are more experienced than PSG this year. But I think the opportunity still exists for PSG they could certainly be a surprise and beat Madrid, Madrid must be vigilant.

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[babo]

I didn't even want PSG to make the final this season. Although they have a lot of great players, it doesn't seem like they have the UCL winning mentality in every player yet. Moreover, they will play Madrid, of course I will choose Madrid to win. At least all madrid players are more experienced than PSG this year. But I think the opportunity still exists for PSG they could certainly be a surprise and beat Madrid, Madrid must be vigilant.

the problem of PSG is not the mentality, it is not lacking the presence of champions
the problem of PSG is the lack of cohesion of the team, a team must work together champions or not, and it is not easy or trivial to fit all the pieces together

[tulusikhlas]

I didn't even want PSG to make the final this season. Although they have a lot of great players, it doesn't seem like they have the UCL winning mentality in every player yet. Moreover, they will play Madrid, of course I will choose Madrid to win. At least all madrid players are more experienced than PSG this year. But I think the opportunity still exists for PSG they could certainly be a surprise and beat Madrid, Madrid must be vigilant.

the problem of PSG is not the mentality, it is not lacking the presence of champions
the problem of PSG is the lack of cohesion of the team, a team must work together champions or not, and it is not easy or trivial to fit all the pieces together

I agree with this, they don't lack top players on all sides, which for sure is already feeling the atmosphere in the big games. I don't know if my opinion is right or wrong, but I see this as their weakness. PSG may be underdog with individual quality of players, but for team play they are still lacking. And that has to be fixed if they really want to win the Champions League this season.

[hd49728]

I didn't even want PSG to make the final this season. Although they have a lot of great players, it doesn't seem like they have the UCL winning mentality in every player yet. Moreover, they will play Madrid, of course I will choose Madrid to win. At least all madrid players are more experienced than PSG this year. But I think the opportunity still exists for PSG they could certainly be a surprise and beat Madrid, Madrid must be vigilant.

Real Madrid are like AC Milan with DNA to succeed in Champions League. However in football, you can not beat all opponents and all times with history and your tradition. So in this clash, Real Madrid have more experience, more advantage but PSG have their own diligent chance to beat Real Madrid. They don't have to fear Real Madrid because of history, tradition, whatever. They have enough world-class players to beat Real Madrid.

the problem of PSG is not the mentality, it is not lacking the presence of champions
the problem of PSG is the lack of cohesion of the team, a team must work together champions or not, and it is not easy or trivial to fit all the pieces together

They can change it with time. Like Chelsea, Manchester City, Barcelona. Do you recall that Barcelona were almost nothing in Champions League before they had a golden era with Pep, Messi, Xavi, Iniesta, Alves, etc.?

Chelsea were nothing before they won 2 Champions League. Manchester City and PSG are moving more closely to Champions League title and they are keep improving their squads. I am sure they will win Champions League but to achieve what Chelsea have now, they might need one  more decade.

[BitcoinHunt3r]

I didn't even want PSG to make the final this season. Although they have a lot of great players, it doesn't seem like they have the UCL winning mentality in every player yet. Moreover, they will play Madrid, of course I will choose Madrid to win. At least all madrid players are more experienced than PSG this year. But I think the opportunity still exists for PSG they could certainly be a surprise and beat Madrid, Madrid must be vigilant.

the problem of PSG is not the mentality, it is not lacking the presence of champions
the problem of PSG is the lack of cohesion of the team, a team must work together champions or not, and it is not easy or trivial to fit all the pieces together

I agree with this, they don't lack top players on all sides, which for sure is already feeling the atmosphere in the big games. I don't know if my opinion is right or wrong, but I see this as their weakness. PSG may be underdog with individual quality of players, but for team play they are still lacking. And that has to be fixed if they really want to win the Champions League this season.

This is a problem that always exists in a team that has a lot of great players PSG won't be able to solve it in a short time they need more time to play together
Here PSG will play Madrid, we know Madrid are an experienced team and we'll see what PSG do with some of its great players. without cohesiveness they can be defeated again like Man city did last November.

[SquirrelJulietGarden]

This is a problem that always exists in a team that has a lot of great players PSG won't be able to solve it in a short time they need more time to play together
Here PSG will play Madrid, we know Madrid are an experienced team and we'll see what PSG do with some of its great players. without cohesiveness they can be defeated again like Man city did last November.

Problems with PSG are their dependence and belief on some players who are not professional like Neymar. Chelsea in the past had many professional players, Cech, Terry, Drogba, Lampard, etc. but they only won their first Champions League when those players were more than 30 years old.

Neymar after his record transfer from Barcelona to PSG are not very professional with his life before and after matches or when he has vacation from injury. It is not a player you can rely on for important match. I believe Neymar will end his career like many Brazilian players with shorter career time than European players. Players of PSG now look to have worse ambition than players of Chelsea in the past. Partially because Chelsea were managed by Mourinho who is a very ambitious coach. He shaped career for many Chelsea players from Terry, Lampard to Drogba.

[baeva]

They actually have their own advantages. But somehow they seem difficult to put together. Maybe because the superiority of each player makes this condition? Or the tactics used so far are still not good and right.

You may be right, and that is indeed the case. But let's remember how the trio of Suarez - Neymar - Messi played. Each of them was scoring, giving away goals, everything was good, they were the best trio. There is the same player, a young star - Mbappe. Why does everyone at PSG want to score?) I don't know, but Neymar and Messi play very well but for some reason they don't score all the time, I look for the problem in Mbappe, maybe he has caught a star.

[jakdanyel]

There are around only three weeks to go for the last 32 matches to be underway. And it is going to be a big pleasure for me to watch the PSG v Real Madrid match firstly. This is the most waited matchup of this round undoubtedly. This is like a finale and I really wonder what both of these teams will do in Parc des Princes first. Taking the current forms and performances into account, I've started seeing Real Madrid being one step ahead. I still see some minor problems at PSG. And this might cost them this round against Real Madrid, who knows.

[buwaytress]

Four clubs ahead of PSG as the favorites to win the Champions League?

You will be surprised, but this is Chelsea:

Manchester City FC 3.80
Bayern Munich 4.65
Liverpool 6.05
Chelsea 7.60
Paris Saint Germain 9.95

@joker_josue actually it might surprise you even more to learn that PSG has never been in the top 3, not even pre-season as I recall, because I placed bets on City (the #1 favourite pre-season) and Liverpool, who were around 8/1 but still thought to be likelier winners than PSG. IIRC even Man Utd were ranked higher pre season, thanks to all their supposed literal purchase of champion material.

We actually discussed their odds 2 months ago in French Ligue 1 thread and it hasn't changed much then, except to oddly switch Chelsea above PSG after pretty bad performances from the Blues:

Manchester City FC 3.95
Bayern Munich      4.90
Liverpool             6.15
Paris Saint-Germain 6.85
Chelsea               6.95
Manchester United 16.20
Real Madrid          17.40
Ajax                   20.20

Pure fourth place and their quotes are even higher than Chelsea's (how?). In my opinion, these are adequate odds, except maybe Real Madrid's underestimation.
By the way, there is a possibility that after yesterday's 7th Ballon d'Or for Messi, a tense situation will arise in the team due to this obvious injustice and ambitions of Mbappe and Neymar. At least I hope so 

Don't ask me how Chelsea, the defending champions and EPL leaders, are below PSG. Don't remember early season but Ajax deserve better quotes and Real are Real... they love UCL and UCL love them.

And don't get me started on Messi. Love the guy but he must be embarrassed to be there on stage but as I said before, awards are popularity contests and this one's voted by journalists for a French awardee haha

[izsara]

I think this rate of the Paris team can be considered a surprise. I was thinking that Manchester City or Paris Saint-Germain would win the UCL this year. However, the ratios are misleading me. Perhaps because of the Real Madrid-PSG match, Paris Saint-Germain's rate is so high. If they can knock out Real Madrid, they can drop their odds and become one of the favourites.

the chances of whether they can become champions or not I think they should be able to beat madrid first because indeed when they can beat madrid the chances of their bets will change I think.
but in this case I will be on the side of Madrid and seeing the bet from PSG is a bit too high but not too much for me

[EdenHazard]

There are around only three weeks to go for the last 32 matches to be underway. And it is going to be a big pleasure for me to watch the PSG v Real Madrid match firstly. This is the most waited matchup of this round undoubtedly. This is like a finale and I really wonder what both of these teams will do in Parc des Princes first. Taking the current forms and performances into account, I've started seeing Real Madrid being one step ahead. I still see some minor problems at PSG. And this might cost them this round against Real Madrid, who knows.

Just because both sides have a lot of stars doesnt mean the match is like a final , people just too excited to see a stars clash and especially sergio ramos come back to bernabeu with psg shirt, that would be something and emotional despite ramos has stated that he will do everything to beat his ex club .

worth to wait indeed but it's exaggerrated to call it's like a final . in recent days ... a final doesnt always about the two big clubs though. a fighting spirit club like ajax can also bring you to the final.

[Boristhecat]

Chance for PSG and Manchester City win champion league in this season look joke because they not have mentality how to be the winner in champion league competition, City success reach final stage last year but defeat by Chelsea have under position on the table at primer league than Manchester City, although success get primer league trophy is not guarantee with City can defeat Chelsea on final stage of champion league, for PSG I don't see need to be favorite team because inconsistent performance in champion league group we can see how long PSG step on champion league.

I agree about PSG, because they were average in the Champions League group stage and they had a lot of difficult games in the French league. But City seem to be dominant here and there, much like Bayern, but Bayern have had several failed matches this season, which is probably why they are ranked slightly lower than City. Yes, each team can win, but these odds seem reasonable to me.

[perfect999]

the problem of PSG is not the mentality, it is not lacking the presence of champions
the problem of PSG is the lack of cohesion of the team, a team must work together champions or not, and it is not easy or trivial to fit all the pieces together

I agree with this, they don't lack top players on all sides, which for sure is already feeling the atmosphere in the big games. I don't know if my opinion is right or wrong, but I see this as their weakness. PSG may be underdog with individual quality of players, but for team play they are still lacking. And that has to be fixed if they really want to win the Champions League this season.

PSG management doing things blindly but not as they need to do same happening at Manchester City, but they are some better as Pepe is handling things quite well here first Tuchel and now Pochettino have very long list of stars but these all players trying to give individual performance which never help anyone in these competitions here we need some better team effort which is not available in PSG case we have some better things in many other teams so just because of this no one favoring PSG for this year's title mostly feeling they are not having good time just failing to reach out in last four as well. Liverpool, Real Madrid and Chelsea and Bayern have better squads and capability to win title.

[nurilham]

the problem of PSG is not the mentality, it is not lacking the presence of champions
the problem of PSG is the lack of cohesion of the team, a team must work together champions or not, and it is not easy or trivial to fit all the pieces together

Agree. PSG has many top players but they can't play well as a team. Those superstars like Neymar, Mbappe, or Messi can't show their best if there is no good teamwork among the players. I think they need a charismatic captain to solve this problem, but I have no idea who he is. A captain can have a big role to make the squad be solid in playing. He also can advise other players if needed. So far, I don't see any player in PSG who has that capacity. Another problem in PSG is about their midfield line, it doesn't look good enough. They need to buy some top midfielders who can deliver good passes and have the ability both in attacking and defending.

[KingsDen]

I think this rate of the Paris team can be considered a surprise. I was thinking that Manchester City or Paris Saint-Germain would win the UCL this year. However, the ratios are misleading me. Perhaps because of the Real Madrid-PSG match, Paris Saint-Germain's rate is so high. If they can knock out Real Madrid, they can drop their odds and become one of the favourites.

I didn't even want PSG to make the final this season. Although they have a lot of great players, it doesn't seem like they have the UCL winning mentality in every player yet. Moreover, they will play Madrid, of course I will choose Madrid to win. At least all madrid players are more experienced than PSG this year. But I think the opportunity still exists for PSG they could certainly be a surprise and beat Madrid, Madrid must be vigilant.

PSG has always had one target. Not really their local league. If not past season, ligue 1 title has been their birth right.
They signed Neymar and Mbappe for this purpose and it didn't work.
They signed arguably the world best player - Messi, I believe they will fight to the end.
If they can escape Real Madrid, they will lift the trophy.  Their major problem is Madrid because of experience. Madrid as a team has champions league final experience. Even the individual players has such experiences. So it will be tough.

[AndySt]

I think this rate of the Paris team can be considered a surprise. I was thinking that Manchester City or Paris Saint-Germain would win the UCL this year. However, the ratios are misleading me. Perhaps because of the Real Madrid-PSG match, Paris Saint-Germain's rate is so high. If they can knock out Real Madrid, they can drop their odds and become one of the favourites.

I didn't even want PSG to make the final this season. Although they have a lot of great players, it doesn't seem like they have the UCL winning mentality in every player yet. Moreover, they will play Madrid, of course I will choose Madrid to win. At least all madrid players are more experienced than PSG this year. But I think the opportunity still exists for PSG they could certainly be a surprise and beat Madrid, Madrid must be vigilant.

PSG has always had one target. Not really their local league. If not past season, ligue 1 title has been their birth right.
They signed Neymar and Mbappe for this purpose and it didn't work.
They signed arguably the world best player - Messi, I believe they will fight to the end.
If they can escape Real Madrid, they will lift the trophy.  Their major problem is Madrid because of experience. Madrid as a team has champions league final experience. Even the individual players has such experiences. So it will be tough.

Actually, let's not forget that Paris Saint-Germain also has the experience of the Champions League final and it was quite recently in 2020. It is not even necessary to talk about the winning experience of such players as Keylor Navas, Lionel Messi, Sergio Ramos. Paris Saint-Germain is really difficult to call the main favorite of the current Champions League draw, given the kind of game the club showed before, but on the other hand, I wouldn't be too surprised if they told me that PSG would win the Champions League. It's just that now the club needs to pass a very difficult barrier in the face of Real Madrid, and in terms of the status of its players, PSG is not lower, and in some ways even higher than Real Madrid.

[TopT3ns]

the problem of PSG is not the mentality, it is not lacking the presence of champions
the problem of PSG is the lack of cohesion of the team, a team must work together champions or not, and it is not easy or trivial to fit all the pieces together

Agree. PSG has many top players but they can't play well as a team. Those superstars like Neymar, Mbappe, or Messi can't show their best if there is no good teamwork among the players. I think they need a charismatic captain to solve this problem, but I have no idea who he is. A captain can have a big role to make the squad be solid in playing. He also can advise other players if needed. So far, I don't see any player in PSG who has that capacity. Another problem in PSG is about their midfield line, it doesn't look good enough. They need to buy some top midfielders who can deliver good passes and have the ability both in attacking and defending.

The number of star players in one club makes the dressing room situation very difficult to overcome and makes conducive a very difficult thing. Currently, it is like the picture in the PSG dressing room, especially with the presence of Messi, making PSG increasingly dominated by star players, but on the one hand, almost every PSG striker from Neymar, Messi to Mbappe tries to impress by relying on individual skills without teamwork. But currently Lionel Messi is still injured and has not performed consistently with PSG in Ligue 1 and only contributed 1 goal. The situation is quite difficult considering Lionel Messi is the best player in the world today.

[S A KHAIR]

I think this rate of the Paris team can be considered a surprise. I was thinking that Manchester City or Paris Saint-Germain would win the UCL this year. However, the ratios are misleading me. Perhaps because of the Real Madrid-PSG match, Paris Saint-Germain's rate is so high. If they can knock out Real Madrid, they can drop their odds and become one of the favourites.

I didn't even want PSG to make the final this season. Although they have a lot of great players, it doesn't seem like they have the UCL winning mentality in every player yet. Moreover, they will play Madrid, of course I will choose Madrid to win. At least all madrid players are more experienced than PSG this year. But I think the opportunity still exists for PSG they could certainly be a surprise and beat Madrid, Madrid must be vigilant.

PSG has always had one target. Not really their local league. If not past season, ligue 1 title has been their birth right.
They signed Neymar and Mbappe for this purpose and it didn't work.
They signed arguably the world best player - Messi, I believe they will fight to the end.
If they can escape Real Madrid, they will lift the trophy.  Their major problem is Madrid because of experience. Madrid as a team has champions league final experience. Even the individual players has such experiences. So it will be tough.

Actually, let's not forget that Paris Saint-Germain also has the experience of the Champions League final and it was quite recently in 2020. It is not even necessary to talk about the winning experience of such players as Keylor Navas, Lionel Messi, Sergio Ramos. Paris Saint-Germain is really difficult to call the main favorite of the current Champions League draw, given the kind of game the club showed before, but on the other hand, I wouldn't be too surprised if they told me that PSG would win the Champions League. It's just that now the club needs to pass a very difficult barrier in the face of Real Madrid, and in terms of the status of its players, PSG is not lower, and in some ways even higher than Real Madrid.

It is well discussed in this topic that PSG looks really good and often too strong of a team on paper. but we all can agree that their results tell us a different story.

It is true that they look really stronger than real Madrid but judging by their performance, well at least this season does not look so promising. They are winning the league and I have no problem with that and no one does but we all can agree that there should have won the league more convincingly and asserted dominance. But in PSG vs Real Madrid, I think it is going to be an even match.

[hahay]

the problem of PSG is not the mentality, it is not lacking the presence of champions
the problem of PSG is the lack of cohesion of the team, a team must work together champions or not, and it is not easy or trivial to fit all the pieces together

Agree. PSG has many top players but they can't play well as a team. Those superstars like Neymar, Mbappe, or Messi can't show their best if there is no good teamwork among the players. I think they need a charismatic captain to solve this problem, but I have no idea who he is. A captain can have a big role to make the squad be solid in playing. He also can advise other players if needed. So far, I don't see any player in PSG who has that capacity. Another problem in PSG is about their midfield line, it doesn't look good enough. They need to buy some top midfielders who can deliver good passes and have the ability both in attacking and defending.

The number of star players in one club makes the dressing room situation very difficult to overcome and makes conducive a very difficult thing. Currently, it is like the picture in the PSG dressing room, especially with the presence of Messi, making PSG increasingly dominated by star players, but on the one hand, almost every PSG striker from Neymar, Messi to Mbappe tries to impress by relying on individual skills without teamwork. But currently Lionel Messi is still injured and has not performed consistently with PSG in Ligue 1 and only contributed 1 goal. The situation is quite difficult considering Lionel Messi is the best player in the world today.

I don't agree with Messi being said to be still the best player in the world, because now there are many other stars who have really had an influence on both their clubs and their respective national teams. The era of Messi seems to be over now, because no matter what kind of opponents PSG face in the League and in the UCL, Messi still struggles to score goals. But indeed, although Messi doesn't have many goals so far at PSG, but at least with Messi being able to create chances and provide assists it is enough for Messi to contribute at his age.

[Apes]

The number of star players in one club makes the dressing room situation very difficult to overcome and makes conducive a very difficult thing. Currently, it is like the picture in the PSG dressing room, especially with the presence of Messi, making PSG increasingly dominated by star players, but on the one hand, almost every PSG striker from Neymar, Messi to Mbappe tries to impress by relying on individual skills without teamwork. But currently Lionel Messi is still injured and has not performed consistently with PSG in Ligue 1 and only contributed 1 goal. The situation is quite difficult considering Lionel Messi is the best player in the world today.

it is true that many star players the dressing room situation has become unstable especially regarding the sensitive issue of salary differences,
because the difference in salary makes the mentality of players to each other not conducive. the current problem in PSG and other big and rich club is, clubs can buy star players but can't buy or get trophies. However, buying a star player is a short way to give PSG the chance to pursue the CL trophy they have been dreaming of. Regarding PSG vs Real Madrid I think don't underestimate PSG they might give you an unexpected surprise.