⚽UEFA Champions League Discussion Thread -- 2023/24 | Prelim Qualifiers

[Yurkov]

Atletico Madrid and Tottenham just destroyed my parlay last night. It was unbelievable to watch the moments after Atletico Madrid won a penalty in the last minute. A save by the goalkeeper, a shot coming back from the goal post... It was really devastating for me to see them wasting a huge chance which cost them the Champions League as well.

Tottenham on the other hand shocked me. I don't know how they couldn't beat Sporting home. Getting a win in this match was going to secure last 16 for them by the way. This should have been another motivation source for them. But instead they started the match terrible. There was nothing good in them in the first half. They even barely scored the equalizer in the last ten minutes. Conte must do something immediately as they are bad not only here but also in the EPL.

Teams like Tottenham are disappointing fans now and then. It is really disappointing that they are performing so poorly despite having great players in their team. Now the games are getting really hard. No mistakes can be made to advance to the next round. But Tottenham drew against Spotting which really hurt the fans. Tottenham will need to win the next matches by big margins.

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[Yurkov]

That’s really sad what’s happening to Barcelone last years and the way they play is just doesn’t represent a club with great history, Xavi is really destroying his name and what he did as a player  and also destroying the club reputation, Bayern played well last match but also Barcelone was so weak defensively
Barcelone now need to rebuild an new club from 0, coach and player so they can have a chance for having a good journey in champions league next year otherwise they are going to nowhere with these strategies and players

How many changes in the Barcelona team before my eyes. Barcelona was once one of the best teams in the world. 2014 Final between Real Madrid and Barcelona. What a great performance Barcelona played, which is still rare in history. I feel really bad to see that Barcelona's deterioration. This time they had to depart from the group stage of the Champions League. I don't know when Barca will fulfill the hopes of their fans.

[KTChampions]

Atletico Madrid and Tottenham just destroyed my parlay last night. It was unbelievable to watch the moments after Atletico Madrid won a penalty in the last minute. A save by the goalkeeper, a shot coming back from the goal post... It was really devastating for me to see them wasting a huge chance which cost them the Champions League as well.

Tottenham on the other hand shocked me. I don't know how they couldn't beat Sporting home. Getting a win in this match was going to secure last 16 for them by the way. This should have been another motivation source for them. But instead they started the match terrible. There was nothing good in them in the first half. They even barely scored the equalizer in the last ten minutes. Conte must do something immediately as they are bad not only here but also in the EPL.

Atlético was able to lose the group in which it was the favorite - this is really an unexpected achievement even though this club is deteriorating and Simeone seems to me to have "lingered" in his place.
I have no questions for Conte yet, but the last three games have crossed out all previous work - Tottenham were eliminated from the title race (an exaggeration, but two defeats in a row is a bad signal) and a draw with Sporting makes it possible not to reach the Champions League playoffs if Marseille can beat them at home.

[ILuckyGuyI]

How horrible it is indeed to see Barcelona collecting only 4 points in whole 5 games in the group stage so far.

They got only one point in 4 games against Inter - Bayern Munich duo. Barcelona have a really terrible history especially against Bayern Munich and it has got worse by the games recently against them. I've seen the head-to-head record like this on the Champions League website:



13 goals against 33 goals...  It's really unbelievable. Barcelona are just pyschologically weak against Bayern Munich. No matter they have Messi or not, they are still staying weak against Bayern Munich. Xavi also couldn't create a solution in both games this season. It isn't an impossible task in the end. Even Villarreal eliminated Bayern Munich in this tournament. A team like Barcelona shouldn't do less.

[joker_josue]

13 goals against 33 goals...  It's really unbelievable. Barcelona are just pyschologically weak against Bayern Munich. No matter they have Messi or not, they are still staying weak against Bayern Munich. Xavi also couldn't create a solution in both games this season. It isn't an impossible task in the end. Even Villarreal eliminated Bayern Munich in this tournament. A team like Barcelona shouldn't do less.

This analysis is very interesting. I had no idea that Barcelona lost almost every game against Bayer Munich throughout history.
This should make you think about the bets to be made when both teams face off. Betting on Barcelona has a high probability of losing. 

[buwaytress]

^ Yeah some things you just don't touch, I actually didn't know about Barca's history h2h when I backed them the first game, just as you never back Everton vs Liverpool (the only h2h that comes to mind) no matter the value.

And I'm hoping Napoli's mini hoodoo against English teams continue tonight. To be fair, I don't mind and might even prefer Liverpool finishing second so we can meet a group winner at next stage as if I'm honest, I think we actually do better against big teams in our current form.

I won't be backing any of the other giants already out (looking at you Ajax, Atletico and Juve!).

[CryptoBuds]

13 goals against 33 goals...  It's really unbelievable. Barcelona are just pyschologically weak against Bayern Munich. No matter they have Messi or not, they are still staying weak against Bayern Munich. Xavi also couldn't create a solution in both games this season. It isn't an impossible task in the end. Even Villarreal eliminated Bayern Munich in this tournament. A team like Barcelona shouldn't do less.

This analysis is very interesting. I had no idea that Barcelona lost almost every game against Bayer Munich throughout history.
This should make you think about the bets to be made when both teams face off. Betting on Barcelona has a high probability of losing. 

Barcelona's performance against Bayern Munich has always been poor. They cannot win against Bayern. Barcelona's squad has been comparatively stronger than Bayern Munich's this season. However, Barcelona lost both matches. Barcelona are always unlucky against Bayern Munich. And I think the confidence of the Barcelona players went down when they played against Munich. Due to low self-confidence, their performance becomes weaker. And it is very important for the players to be confident in these matches.

[Joca97]

How horrible it is indeed to see Barcelona collecting only 4 points in whole 5 games in the group stage so far.

They got only one point in 4 games against Inter - Bayern Munich duo. Barcelona have a really terrible history especially against Bayern Munich and it has got worse by the games recently against them. I've seen the head-to-head record like this on the Champions League website:



13 goals against 33 goals...  It's really unbelievable. Barcelona are just pyschologically weak against Bayern Munich. No matter they have Messi or not, they are still staying weak against Bayern Munich. Xavi also couldn't create a solution in both games this season. It isn't an impossible task in the end. Even Villarreal eliminated Bayern Munich in this tournament. A team like Barcelona shouldn't do less.

Statisticly Xavi is doing a really really bad job with this team and they arent looking good at all. They have some of the best players in the world and just collect only 4 points in the group stage. Kooman that had a bad team and everybody hated has a bigger winning rate then Xavi in Barcelona.

[Davidvictorson]

Statisticly Xavi is doing a really really bad job with this team and they arent looking good at all. They have some of the best players in the world and just collect only 4 points in the group stage. Kooman that had a bad team and everybody hated has a bigger winning rate then Xavi in Barcelona.

No doubt, we can agree that Barcelona has improved under Xavi, but we know that it is more of a result of having such a legendary player as a coach. Truth be told, Xavi is quite stubborn and consistently makes the same mistakes. However, if he is willing to recognize his errors in player selection and tactical shortcomings, the Barcelona team can be corrected. On the other hand, imagine where Barcelona would have been now if Lewandoski wasn't playing for the team.

[KTChampions]

How horrible it is indeed to see Barcelona collecting only 4 points in whole 5 games in the group stage so far.

They got only one point in 4 games against Inter - Bayern Munich duo. Barcelona have a really terrible history especially against Bayern Munich and it has got worse by the games recently against them. I've seen the head-to-head record like this on the Champions League website:



13 goals against 33 goals...  It's really unbelievable. Barcelona are just pyschologically weak against Bayern Munich. No matter they have Messi or not, they are still staying weak against Bayern Munich. Xavi also couldn't create a solution in both games this season. It isn't an impossible task in the end. Even Villarreal eliminated Bayern Munich in this tournament. A team like Barcelona shouldn't do less.

I think it's not in psychology but in the game scheme. Barcelona and Bayern have their own play style and it is retained regardless of the selection of players and it turns out that the play style of Bayern >> Barcelonas style. In my opinion, Bayern is Barcelona only a level (or a few) higher - they can play ball control with high pressure, but they can press against this style or even give the ball away to lure the opponent and use the game arrhythmia to crush him. Barcelona is a team with one plan A, against such a diverse and smart team as Bayern, they have no chance.

[aylabadia05]

The final match in Group D will be a tough match to predict who will win. We start with Tottenham.
Tottenham, who are now in first place in Group D, are eyeing a win in France against Marseille. It is not an easy job for Antonio Conte to smooth his goals there because their performances we can say have not been stable. Coupled with Marseille's motivation to qualify for the round of 16.

The same thing is likely to happen in the match between Sporting CP vs Frankfurt. Although Sporting CP benefited more from playing at the José Alvalade Stadium, they could also get an undesirable result considering that Frankfurt still had hope of qualifying for the last 16. Surely Oliver Glasner as the coach will carry out a special strategy to raise the spirits of his players to beat Sporting CP.

[Distraction]

And Atletico Madrid are officialy out of not only the Champions League but also the Europa League now.

Because Leverkusen drew with Club Brugge 0-0 and Atletico Madrid are about to lose by 2-0 to Porto now. I'm surprised with Atletico Madrid's being this much bad against Porto. I thought that they would at least get a draw and secure the third spot in their group. While I'm writing this they scored a goal by the way but it is still very difficult for them to make it 2-2 in a very short time. It is not a thing they didn't do before though. I'd like to remind you of their previous matchup against Porto which they won by the goals came in the stoppage time.    But I don't think it will happen again.

[1miau]

How horrible it is indeed to see Barcelona collecting only 4 points in whole 5 games in the group stage so far.

It’s pretty ironic, that Lewandowski, a striker playing for Bayern Munich very successfully for a very long time, is now playing for Barcelona and Barcelona is out of Champions Leauge.
If he would have stayed at Bayern Munich, he’d have a great shot at winning CL with Bayern Munich. Bayern is playing very well currently and it didn’t took long for Bayern Munich to adapt when Lewandowski left Bayern for Barcelona.

[kro55]

And Atletico Madrid are officialy out of not only the Champions League but also the Europa League now.
Because Leverkusen drew with Club Brugge 0-0 and Atletico Madrid are about to lose by 2-0 to Porto now. I'm surprised with Atletico Madrid's being this much bad against Porto. I thought that they would at least get a draw and secure the third spot in their group. While I'm writing this they scored a goal by the way but it is still very difficult for them to make it 2-2 in a very short time. It is not a thing they didn't do before though. I'd like to remind you of their previous matchup against Porto which they won by the goals came in the stoppage time.    But I don't think it will happen again.

I lost my money in Leverkusen vs Brugge match. My prediction for this match is Brugge to win. And I thought Brugge would dominate and win this match. But we don't see that. Brugge could not win this match. The match was a goalless draw. Brugge did not perform too well. Brugge's players performed very carefully in this match and played a completely defensive strategy.

Porto vs Atletico Madrid match was quite enjoyable. However, Bamathis' result is 2-1. But the players of Atletico Madrid were not able to score any goal. Atletico Madrid needs more experienced strikers.

[Lida93]

^ Yeah some things you just don't touch, I actually didn't know about Barca's history h2h when I backed them the first game, just as you never back Everton vs Liverpool (the only h2h that comes to mind) no matter the value.

And I'm hoping Napoli's mini hoodoo against English teams continue tonight. To be fair, I don't mind and might even prefer Liverpool finishing second so we can meet a group winner at next stage as if I'm honest, I think we actually do better against big teams in our current form.

I won't be backing any of the other giants already out (looking at you Ajax, Atletico and Juve!).

With the struggling form of Liverpool FC there's no chance of them winning Napoli in the scores required for them to top the group tonight. Cause the current form of Napoli in that group is one next to known and am pretty convince that Victor O. will definitely lead Napoli to humiliating Liverpool at antfield tonight.

In other words, Liverpool can't top Napoli!!!

[BITCOIN4X]

Statisticly Xavi is doing a really really bad job with this team and they arent looking good at all. They have some of the best players in the world and just collect only 4 points in the group stage. Kooman that had a bad team and everybody hated has a bigger winning rate then Xavi in Barcelona.

I'm not really sure what the problem is now because Barcelona are completely different about the results in Laliga and the Champions League. Barcelona are strong in Laliga with only 1 loss and 1 draw in 12 matches, but it is completely different in the Champions League especially against Bayern and Inter. It can be said that in the last 2 seasons Barcelona failed miserably in the Champions League regardless of who the star players were.

Barcelona's defense in the Champions League this season has been very weak, especially when Araujo and Christensen are absent. Barcelona are not able to win in 4 match against two strong teams, that is his weakness and his unlucky.

[CLS63]

Tottenham are in big trouble at the moment. Because they have just conceded a goal and they are 1-0 behind against Marseille. Sporting are also 1-0 ahead against Frankfurt.

In the circumstances, Sporting and Marseille are qualifying for next round while Tottenham are moving on in the Europa League. Tottenham weren't even like on the field in the first half by the way. They had literally 0 goal attempt in the whole half and Marseille had a ball possesion like 68%. Conte needs to make his players realize how important this match is for them. They can't just give up on the Champions League while even one point is enough for them to move on here. They are already not doing well in the Premier League recently. This is a chance to motivate themselves also.

[Zilon]

Tottenham are in big trouble at the moment. Because they have just conceded a goal and they are 1-0 behind against Marseille. Sporting are also 1-0 ahead against Frankfurt.

In the circumstances, Sporting and Marseille are qualifying for next round while Tottenham are moving on in the Europa League. Tottenham weren't even like on the field in the first half by the way. They had literally 0 goal attempt in the whole half and Marseille had a ball possesion like 68%. Conte needs to make his players realize how important this match is for them. They can't just give up on the Champions League while even one point is enough for them to move on here. They are already not doing well in the Premier League recently. This is a chance to motivate themselves also.

Tottenham came has a shocker and reclaimed back the top of the group D table. The first half was dedicated to Marseille but few minutes after the start of the second half Spurs gather momentum after Sporting and Marseille first claimed the first two position before they were both substituted by Spurs and Frankfurt respectively. Group D happen to be the only game tonight with so much shock and suspense compared to group A, B and C where the top finishers were already known before the start of the match.

[LTU_btc]

Atletico kicked out from Champions league last week and now they got eliminated from Europa league playoffs. But still, I don't think it's likely that Simeone will be sacked for such fiasco. While Brugge after draw with Bayer didn't managed to keep 1st place.
Rangers is another pathetic team - 0 points, 2 goals scored, 22 conceded. Together with terrible Celtic performance it summarize level of Scottish football very well. Ajax didn't looked well in Champions league, but I think they can make some noise in Europa league.
Saw only last minutes of Marseille - Spurs game and I managed to catch that late drama. Goal on 95th minute and win let Spurs to take 1st place in group and avoid potentially stronger opponent in round of 16. Marseille ends in last place, but it was such equal group.

[Marykeller]

With the struggling form of Liverpool FC there's no chance of them winning Napoli in the scores required for them to top the group tonight. Cause the current form of Napoli in that group is one next to known and am pretty convince that Victor O. will definitely lead Napoli to humiliating Liverpool at antfield tonight.

In other words, Liverpool can't top Napoli!!!

What makes Napoli top Liverpool is because of their head-to-head match against each other. Napoli is with 15points while Liverpool has the same. Napoli's unbeaten start of the season is over by Liverpool. Liverpool won against Napoli with 2 goals (2-0). The first and second goals were scored in a few minutes to end the second half by Salah(85mins) and Nunez(90+8).