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

[Swordsoffreedom]

Despite all the problems at the club, they managed to keep key players and they strengthened the team well. Xavi is a good coach, he improved the discipline in the team and in the last matches it was clear that this is not the same Barcelona that it was at the beginning of the year. They have a pretty good line-up to perform decently in the Champions League and compete with Real Madrid in La Liga.

Barcelona's performances stabilized after Xavi took charge of Barcelona. And this season they are getting stronger with the addition of players like Raphinha and Lewandowski to the squad. Barcelona are in a financial crisis, yet they are spending a lot of money. Because next season their target is La Liga and Champions League titles. Xavi is building his squad to win these two titles.

[morvillz7z]

∆ GNK Dinamo Zagreb (-2/-2.5) @1.60 ∆  X

Dinamo Zagreb has already played a number of matches this season, including a win over Hajduk in the Croatian Super Cup and a comeback win against Loko Zagreb over the weekend, as well as a few friendlies...they have scored three goals in three of those four matches. Shkupi almost blew a 3-0 lead against a very weak opponent from Gibraltar in the previous round. I'll be shocked if they don't concede three or more goals today. According to transfermarkt, Dinamo's squad is worth more than €100mln, while the team from North Macedonia is worth roughly €6 mln...

∆ PFC Ludogorets 1945 Razgrad (-1)@1.99 ∆  won

Even though Shamrock did not concede in their visit to Hibernians in Malta, they were thoroughly outclassed. If they give up that many chances against Ludogorets, a team with European experience, it will be over in the first leg. I expect the team from Bulgaria to take a comfortable lead before the reverse fixture next week.

∆ FC Midtjylland (-1)@1.72 ∆  X

I don't trust Danish teams in general, but Midtjylland has so much more experience in those tournaments than AEK Larnaca that they should be the favorites to advance, which surely implies a comfortable win at home hence the -1.

∆ Bodo/Glimt (-1)@1.84 ∆  X

Bodo/Glimt had a difficult visit against Klaksvik, i expect them to take note from that game and win today, they did rest some of their starters over the weekend in preparation for this match.

edit;

Rough day!

Needless to say, only two out of seven betting favorites won their matches, while everyone else shit the bed pretty hard.

[LTU_btc]

2nd qualifying round of Champions league starts today and we have 7 games today. My main bet for today is combo of Ludogorets and Bod/Glimt wins @2.18. Both teams level is way above their opponents, but odds for single bets isn't very attractive. What else, maybe Midtjylland - AEK Larnaca over 2.5 @1.70. And I'll risk with Qarabag win against Zurich @2.10
Today's gamesdoesn't looks very attractive and it's difficult to find good bets. Tomorrow things looks a bit more interesting.

[CLS63]

Is there anyone who has any thoughts about the Dynamo Kiev - Fenerbahçe matchup that is going to be played in Poland tomorrow? Dynamo Kiev have lost their foreign players because of the war in Ukraine. On the other hand Fenerbahce have entered a renovation process with their new manager Jorge Jesus. And they haven't been able to build the squad completely yet. The favourite of this matchup would be definitely Fenerbahce if this was played 2-3 months later. However Turkish teams can't show the wanted performance from them at the beginning of a season.

[LTU_btc]

There was plenty of upsets today, probably only Qarabag and Ludogorets wins is something expected. Ludogorets in next round almost, while Zurich after loss 3:2 still in the fight.
Zalgiris 1:0 win against Malmo was nice surprise for me. Seems that Malmo struggle against Vikingur wasn't coincidence, today they failed to create something dangerous. It's bad that Zalgiris managed to score only once, it will be big factor in 2nd leg. Especially it's sad to waste such moments, you won't see such crazy misses often like this one:
https://youtu.be/vPIQN5tWVg8?t=53
Pyunik lost 0:1 at home against Dudelange in game of more or less equal level teams, Linfield won against Mourinho nightmare Bodo/Glimt, despite that Bodo dominated game. Midtjylland and Dinamo Zagreb failed to beat complete underdogs at home, odds for their wins were something like 1.10-1.20

Is there anyone who has any thoughts about the Dynamo Kiev - Fenerbahçe matchup that is going to be played in Poland tomorrow? Dynamo Kiev have lost their foreign players because of the war in Ukraine. On the other hand Fenerbahce have entered a renovation process with their new manager Jorge Jesus. And they haven't been able to build the squad completely yet. The favourite of this matchup would be definitely Fenerbahce if this was played 2-3 months later. However Turkish teams can't show the wanted performance from them at the beginning of a season.

In general, I would give little advantage to Fenerbahche, but not in 1st leg. In Poland Dynamo will play like at home, maybe in full stadium. As you said, they lost foreign players, but core of their team is Ukrainian players who remains in the team, so, these losses don't affect them that much.

[buwaytress]

Is there anyone who has any thoughts about the Dynamo Kiev - Fenerbahçe matchup that is going to be played in Poland tomorrow? Dynamo Kiev have lost their foreign players because of the war in Ukraine. On the other hand Fenerbahce have entered a renovation process with their new manager Jorge Jesus. And they haven't been able to build the squad completely yet. The favourite of this matchup would be definitely Fenerbahce if this was played 2-3 months later. However Turkish teams can't show the wanted performance from them at the beginning of a season.

Took a look but odds don't make me interested, bookies made it finely balanced, as they should be given the unknowns in both sides. Ukraine did seem to show a lot of spirit during internationals, so if the club's core is left and that's mainly locals, they should probably be playing a highly spirited game. 35/10 for a HT lead seems the best choice for me =D

@LTU_btc you know, based on last night's results, time to go for all the long shots yeah? I'd take Slovan Bratislava, with regular boost is almost 8/1 but in a couple of hours today there's a Super Boost on Sportsbet -- should easily get to 85/10.

[3meek]

An interesting game is expected between Dynamo Kyiv and Fenerbahce... Statistically, the Turkish club have never managed to beat Dynamo... But this game will take place not in Ukraine but in Poland because of the war... Bookmakers are not giving preference to anyone and bets on the win are about the same - 2.5... I think today will be a win or a draw for the Ukrainians...

[LTU_btc]

Today almost all games looks difficult to predict. So, I avoid going with ML todey. I pick under 2.5 @1.67 in HJK - Plzen game. MMaribor - Sheriff - over 1.5 @1.60
@3meek, bookmakers are giving 1.50 for Dynamo not to lose. It doesn't sounds sexy, but realtively save, I'm going with it.

@LTU_btc you know, based on last night's results, time to go for all the long shots yeah? I'd take Slovan Bratislava, with regular boost is almost 8/1 but in a couple of hours today there's a Super Boost on Sportsbet -- should easily get to 85/10.

Yeah, considering yesterdy's results, why not. Though, Ferencvaros is very good team at home, thjey lose rarely there.

[ingiltere]

Is there anyone who has any thoughts about the Dynamo Kiev - Fenerbahçe matchup that is going to be played in Poland tomorrow? Dynamo Kiev have lost their foreign players because of the war in Ukraine. On the other hand Fenerbahce have entered a renovation process with their new manager Jorge Jesus. And they haven't been able to build the squad completely yet. The favourite of this matchup would be definitely Fenerbahce if this was played 2-3 months later. However Turkish teams can't show the wanted performance from them at the beginning of a season.

It's hard to predict first official game of Fenerbahçe because they are pretty unstable and friendlies don't shed much light. There are a lot of factors that can change the result. It's been playing in Poland, would it be an advantage for Dynamo or Fenerbahçe?
Historically Turkish teams are having hard times against Dynamo Kiev. Lucescu knows Türkiye very well, maybe he's the most knowledgeable foreign manager about Turkish football. That's definitely a negative side for Fenerbahçe.
Squad qualities don't have much difference. Fenerbahçe have a new squad, they had a busy transfer season. We better watch first game and analyse Fenerbahçe so we can have a better predictions in second leg.

[FanEagle]

It's never easy to predict at this stage, but it's getting closer. I mean right now is better than the previous ones. In the end we are talking about Fenerbahce and Dynamo type of situations, much better than the last one, you could actually have a clue on how these teams play because we see them in the UCL groups time to time, whereas they end up with teams that never or rarely ever played in UCL in the previous stages.

Still, it's not easy, it's never easy, anyone who tells me they predicted all Real Madrid games correctly and saw them winning then they would be lying, they were expected to lose 4 times in a row and won all of them, and that's literally the end, hence why it's always hard.

[LTU_btc]

@buwaytress, I really hope that you took Slovan win after you posted about it.
Dynamo Kyiv - Fenerbhche game ended without goals. Fener had way more chances, but Dynamo goalkeeper Buschan was MOTM. Dynamo should be happy that they didn't conceded, but on 2nd leg in Istanbul life will be difficult for them.
Maccabi Haifa managed to make score 1:1 against Olympiacos in final minutes. And the way they did it, goal was really beautiful, check it out:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qhatlmv095Y

[buwaytress]

@buwaytress, I really hope that you took Slovan win after you posted about it.
Dynamo Kyiv - Fenerbhche game ended without goals. Fener had way more chances, but Dynamo goalkeeper Buschan was MOTM. Dynamo should be happy that they didn't conceded, but on 2nd leg in Istanbul life will be difficult for them.
Maccabi Haifa managed to make score 1:1 against Olympiacos in final minutes. And the way they did it, goal was really beautiful, check it out:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qhatlmv095Y

Of course I did And strangely enough not even on one of my regular bookies but on a fiat one, was out on a different device when I plomped it down.

Told you guys, these games simply not worth betting on 2/1 or thereabouts markets, even to get wins + BTTS get you maybe 4/1? And we know teams prefer drawing these games now.

I've got money on all 3 underdogs in Conference today as well, but that's for another topic

[el kaka22]

Fener having a good game there still didn't mean much, why? Because they attacked with absolutely no frustration. I mean they had a few chances where they could have scored, but they had the ball so many times where they just didn't know what to do and that is a big problem. Just ignore any team that doesn't know how to attack to a team that is laying back and waiting to be attacked.

Dynamo ended up doing that tactic a lot, let Fener attack a ton, and then when they got the ball they counter attacked and it worked like a charm. Maybe no team won the first game, but I feel like Dynamo could end up winning the second game if they score least once because I doubt Fener could.

[Joca97]

Fener having a good game there still didn't mean much, why? Because they attacked with absolutely no frustration. I mean they had a few chances where they could have scored, but they had the ball so many times where they just didn't know what to do and that is a big problem. Just ignore any team that doesn't know how to attack to a team that is laying back and waiting to be attacked.

Dynamo ended up doing that tactic a lot, let Fener attack a ton, and then when they got the ball they counter attacked and it worked like a charm. Maybe no team won the first game, but I feel like Dynamo could end up winning the second game if they score least once because I doubt Fener could.

Fenerbahce was better in the match and should have won,but i still think they are missing a really good striker. They got a good coach and i think they will win at home against Dinamo Kiev. But still a rough match for both teams and a lot is at stake

[Harkorede]

@buwaytress, I really hope that you took Slovan win after you posted about it.
Dynamo Kyiv - Fenerbhche game ended without goals. Fener had way more chances, but Dynamo goalkeeper Buschan was MOTM. Dynamo should be happy that they didn't conceded, but on 2nd leg in Istanbul life will be difficult for them.
Maccabi Haifa managed to make score 1:1 against Olympiacos in final minutes. And the way they did it, goal was really beautiful, check it out:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qhatlmv095Y

Of course I did And strangely enough not even on one of my regular bookies but on a fiat one, was out on a different device when I plomped it down.

Told you guys, these games simply not worth betting on 2/1 or thereabouts markets, even to get wins + BTTS get you maybe 4/1? And we know teams prefer drawing these games now.

I've got money on all 3 underdogs in Conference today as well, but that's for another topic

Sparta Prague with more experience failing to win against Viking and Motherwell losing at home pretty much summed up my bet slip for today, the other slip on which I had some teams Over 1.5 goals was another 5 dollar bill thrown in to the trash can, Sparta Prague and Young Boys are pretty much the last teams I couldn't have expected loads of goals from today, but neither was able to come through

[LUCKMCFLY]

I mean, yeah this is Champions League but it's not actually started yet, betting at this stage is just like betting on Third or Fourth tier football. I blame it on lack of La Liga!

As i always say everybody now plays football. Before it was much easier on this qualifiers teams quality was a big difference .
But yeah Dinamo was an apsolute favorite and to lose to such a weak estonian club is a shock. Be careful with this bets in the future

That's some truth to it, I mean I don't mind there is Conference League and everyone gets their chance for international club football but now yes I even see weird teams playing to qualify for Champions league, now it's really 90% of the teams I don't recognize.

No use to be more careful, but maybe useful to bet on the other team facing favorites!

This is why I believe that we should be getting the qualifiers of UCL a bit less, not have this many, instead move those to europa right now, and the high amount of qualifiers for europa should be moved to conference league instead. Have the conference league a VAST thing that all the weird smaller clubs could play, and have the eruopa to be few smaller clubs and then mediocre European ones, and only the greatest ones and champions at the champions league.

Why would you have teams that worth less than literally bench player of a big club as a whole. We see literally bench player of City being worth more than Dinamo as a whole for example, that just doesn't make sense, send them to europa and they would have a chance.

Well, the comparison of the player from the bench with one from Dinamo is a bit exaggerated, but if it transmits in a certain way what is wanted to be transmitted, and it really has been something important, but the reality is, if the number of quotas for the UCL will not cause more pain in some countries? many want to go up to the first division of their countries because they dream of playing in the UCL, I know that only the best qualify in the UCL, but it would be entering into a non-inclusion issue and for what reason? I don't think that for now UEFA is going to get into a big problem in FIFA just for saying that other teams are not up to the task.

Fener having a good game there still didn't mean much, why? Because they attacked with absolutely no frustration. I mean they had a few chances where they could have scored, but they had the ball so many times where they just didn't know what to do and that is a big problem. Just ignore any team that doesn't know how to attack to a team that is laying back and waiting to be attacked.

Dynamo ended up doing that tactic a lot, let Fener attack a ton, and then when they got the ball they counter attacked and it worked like a charm. Maybe no team won the first game, but I feel like Dynamo could end up winning the second game if they score least once because I doubt Fener could.

Fenerbahce was better in the match and should have won,but i still think they are missing a really good striker. They got a good coach and i think they will win at home against Dinamo Kiev. But still a rough match for both teams and a lot is at stake

Many are embracing that, they say that they will easily beat Dynamo kyiv, although I did not trust myself very much, Dynamo kyiv can do things differently and make a difference, I think that one of their tactics and that it can work for them is look for the early goal and then all get on defense, to precisely defend the score, and play counterattack, many times a ball from defense can be taken by a striker and score a goal, it's something like the Italian style, and play with desperation of the opposing team.

[Daniel91]

∆ GNK Dinamo Zagreb (-2/-2.5) @1.60 ∆  X

Dinamo Zagreb has already played a number of matches this season, including a win over Hajduk in the Croatian Super Cup and a comeback win against Loko Zagreb over the weekend, as well as a few friendlies...they have scored three goals in three of those four matches. Shkupi almost blew a 3-0 lead against a very weak opponent from Gibraltar in the previous round. I'll be shocked if they don't concede three or more goals today. According to transfermarkt, Dinamo's squad is worth more than €100mln, while the team from North Macedonia is worth roughly €6 mln...

It proved once again how difficult it is to predict football results, isn't it?
When comparing the qualities of both teams, reputation and experience, then it seemed that Dinamo would have a very easy job with Shkupi, but a big surprise happened at the end.
Dinamo definitely did not enter this season well, they struggled also in the first match of the Croatian championship against Lokomotiva and obviously they have not yet reached the desired level of play.
This is probably normal considering the large number of new players and few games played.
In the return match in Macedonia, I think that Dinamo expects a very difficult match, but Dinamo is a big favorite because of the team's quality and experience.

[swogerino]

∆ GNK Dinamo Zagreb (-2/-2.5) @1.60 ∆  X

Dinamo Zagreb has already played a number of matches this season, including a win over Hajduk in the Croatian Super Cup and a comeback win against Loko Zagreb over the weekend, as well as a few friendlies...they have scored three goals in three of those four matches. Shkupi almost blew a 3-0 lead against a very weak opponent from Gibraltar in the previous round. I'll be shocked if they don't concede three or more goals today. According to transfermarkt, Dinamo's squad is worth more than €100mln, while the team from North Macedonia is worth roughly €6 mln...

It proved once again how difficult it is to predict football results, isn't it?
When comparing the qualities of both teams, reputation and experience, then it seemed that Dinamo would have a very easy job with Shkupi, but a big surprise happened at the end.
Dinamo definitely did not enter this season well, they struggled also in the first match of the Croatian championship against Lokomotiva and obviously they have not yet reached the desired level of play.
This is probably normal considering the large number of new players and few games played.
In the return match in Macedonia, I think that Dinamo expects a very difficult match, but Dinamo is a big favorite because of the team's quality and experience.

In the return leg they most probably will take the game much more seriously than they did in the first leg in Croatia.We know that Dinamo is a much bigger name compared to Shkupi and we know that betting on Dinamo on the return leg can be a really wise and good choice because the odd will be bigger for Dinamo.

This game was so far the biggest surprise I remember in the Champions League preliminary stages,a team with an odd of 1.08 to not be able to win their game while they play at home,shocking result for real this one.

[püsür]

This year's favorites in the Champions League, Manchester City, PSG, Liverpool and Real Madrid are the teams that stand out the most in my eyes. It was the same for last season, but Real Madrid seemed to me one step behind. They've done an unexpectedly good job for me as champions. I don't want to remove them from the favourites, because of their experience. For Manchester City and PSG, this is another chance for their first title. But of course, it's too early to talk about who will win the trophy this season. Anything can happen during the season, and there's also the World Cup this time around. I don't see any clear favorites other than Manchester City that can go straight to the final. On a lower level, Barcelona, Real Madrid, Paris Saint-Germain and other Britons can be counted. I don't think the Germans have a chance this year. There is no team in Italy that is strong enough to go to the cup. Again, at least one, maybe two English teams will see the final. Considering the gap between the leagues, this is quite natural.

[snipie]

I was taking a look on the odds here and I didn't understand Ludogorets one. They won with 3 goals to 0 in the first leg vs Shamrock Rovers then I find odds for the second leg SR 2.9 vs 2.4 Ludogorets.. I understand that SR will try to score and win but the odds are quite worrying.
Bodo odds in the other hand are quite funny @1.09. Imagine winning x30 if Linfield won as in the first leg, or x9.4 if the game ends with a draw!
Zalgiris odds @14 are quite interesting vs Malmo. Too many traps planted here imo!