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

[Sandra_hakeem]

Does anybody have any good tips for making early bets?
I know I'm probably going to waste money chasing losses if the first leg doesn't turn out but I do want to make sure I get good bets in.

Chelsea has Lampard now already as caretaker and I believe they will get great results from this. He won't last long and the effect won't last long but old players can give fresh motivation for the remainder of the same season.

I wasn't hoping to have things getting better speadily,..most especially for the fact that the former Coach had messed up Chelsea, in a way that'll need much time and concentration to build back.
Frank lamparp is back to Chelsea, hallelujah!! But the big question say a different thing,..like I learnt he's coming to stay till the ends of the season; that's seems more like someone on probation right?? So how about the Bruno guy? Hmmm....now you talk about old players?? Like Alonso who's out already?? Uhmm,..I'll say, that's a straight win for Madrid based on their form currently.

Sandra 🧑‍🦰

[KTChampions]

Does anybody have any good tips for making early bets?

I know I'm probably going to waste money chasing losses if the first leg doesn't turn out but I do want to make sure I get good bets in.

Chelsea has Lampard now already as caretaker and I believe they will get great results from this. He won't last long and the effect won't last long but old players can give fresh motivation for the remainder of the same season.

I think the most obvious bet is: Benzema will score a goal  (please do not take it as advice and dyor) - by the way, for some reason, there are no quotes for this outcome yet, probably because the lineups for the game have not yet been announced.

Personally, I look at the multibet: City - Bayern BTTS Yes (1.62), Benfica - Inter BTTS No (1.82), Napoli double chance (1.45) and Real win (1.74). x7,43 seems to be a decent number.

[Slow death]

Does anybody have any good tips for making early bets?

I know I'm probably going to waste money chasing losses if the first leg doesn't turn out but I do want to make sure I get good bets in.

Chelsea has Lampard now already as caretaker and I believe they will get great results from this. He won't last long and the effect won't last long but old players can give fresh motivation for the remainder of the same season.

I think the most obvious bet is: Benzema will score a goal  (please do not take it as advice and dyor) - by the way, for some reason, there are no quotes for this outcome yet, probably because the lineups for the game have not yet been announced.

Personally, I look at the multibet: City - Bayern BTTS Yes (1.62), Benfica - Inter BTTS No (1.82), Napoli double chance (1.45) and Real win (1.74). x7,43 seems to be a decent number.

looking at the game between benfica and inter, i think that given the poor performance that benfica had against porto in yesterday's game, which was a portuguese league game, and taking into account that when porto played against inter, it was unable to dominate Inter just like Benfica did yesterday, even taking into account Inter's poor performance in Serie A I would say that Inter can score a goal against Benfica and win or draw, Benfica is a team that always does the same thing, it starts the league well but when it is approaching the end of the league they start to play very badly

about the bayern game, well city is a team that when they try hard they manage to have a good defense and bayern is a team that has another coach, despite tuchel being a good coach it seems to me that the possibility of not scoring a goal in that the game is very real, especially after what I saw in the game against freiburg in the cup game, we will see in a few minutes how bayern will be on the field when playing again against freiburg, of course betting on the BTTS in this game even seems more viable to me

In the cases of the napoli and real madrid game, in my opinion both teams will win, napoli will beat milan, real madrid will beat chelsea, despite milante beating napoli a few days ago, then milan was the same again milan of bad performance, maybe because it didn't put its best players, but napoli will also have its best players that's why i see napoli beating milan, in the case of chelsea, we'll see how they will do in today's game for premier league, According to the press, all players were happy with Volta and Lampard.

[slaman29]

I think the most obvious bet is: Benzema will score a goal  (please do not take it as advice and dyor) - by the way, for some reason, there are no quotes for this outcome yet, probably because the lineups for the game have not yet been announced.

In the cases of the napoli and real madrid game, in my opinion both teams will win, napoli will beat milan, real madrid will beat chelsea, despite milante beating napoli a few days ago, then milan was the same again milan of bad performance, maybe because it didn't put its best players, but napoli will also have its best players that's why i see napoli beating milan, in the case of chelsea, we'll see how they will do in today's game for premier league, According to the press, all players were happy with Volta and Lampard.

Benzema goal is the most delicious bet I agree here, but we have to find out first what the odds are, I think the problem is it is probably the "lowest" of all the goal scorer markets and this always makes me a bit wary.

Napoli it seems is the most consistent, we can ignore 0-4 loss to Milan, I agree. They perform badly again in league, while Napoli already had their bad game.

[ILuckyGuyI]

Haaland - De Bruyne duo are doing a wonderful job lately. Their performance against Arsenal in the Premier League was so impressive. They had better keep up this level of communication with each other at a high level for the Champions League also. Because there isn't much time to go until the first leg against Real Madrid in Santiago Bernabeu. This cooperation can help them a lot about capturing an advantage away already.

Last season they experienced a really big disappointment in the same stadium with an unbelievable comeback by Real Madrid in the final moments. I must admit that Manchester City were strong back then without Haaland also. But I still see a significant difference between that version and this one now. It is like there is no defense line that can stop Haaland from doing what he always do. Real Madrid should work hard to find a formula to decrease his effectiveness against themselves.

What do you think will happen in the first leg? I think that Manchester City will manage to get a draw at worst.

[RealMalatesta]

Haaland - De Bruyne duo are doing a wonderful job lately. Their performance against Arsenal in the Premier League was so impressive. They had better keep up this level of communication with each other at a high level for the Champions League also. Because there isn't much time to go until the first leg against Real Madrid in Santiago Bernabeu. This cooperation can help them a lot about capturing an advantage away already.

Last season they experienced a really big disappointment in the same stadium with an unbelievable comeback by Real Madrid in the final moments. I must admit that Manchester City were strong back then without Haaland also. But I still see a significant difference between that version and this one now. It is like there is no defense line that can stop Haaland from doing what he always do. Real Madrid should work hard to find a formula to decrease his effectiveness against themselves.

What do you think will happen in the first leg? I think that Manchester City will manage to get a draw at worst.

The trick is that De Bruyne was always a technical player and he always passed so well for his teammates, but Haaland was missing, they scored and they played wonderful and they won cups, it was all great until Haaland showed up, after he did, things changed and a team that already won everything but UCL, became even better and that's shocking, you don't see the best team become even better, you see best teams start to fall apart a lot more often than you see them get better. This is why now?

Now De Bruyne still passes wonderfully but then the person he passes to ends up getting the ball and bulldozes through everyone in front of him and he just scores, people can't catch up to him and he can score from anywhere and can move his body all angles to score, he is a scoring machine without a doubt.

[ILuckyGuyI]

The trick is that De Bruyne was always a technical player and he always passed so well for his teammates, but Haaland was missing, they scored and they played wonderful and they won cups, it was all great until Haaland showed up, after he did, things changed and a team that already won everything but UCL, became even better and that's shocking, you don't see the best team become even better, you see best teams start to fall apart a lot more often than you see them get better. This is why now?

Now De Bruyne still passes wonderfully but then the person he passes to ends up getting the ball and bulldozes through everyone in front of him and he just scores, people can't catch up to him and he can score from anywhere and can move his body all angles to score, he is a scoring machine without a doubt.

De Bruyne is definitely a pure talent. He is 31 years old now maybe but he still doesn't lose anything from his skills and effectiveness for his team. Moreover his performance has reached a higher level in this season in fact. I think Haaland's joining Manchester City has also a significant level of effect in this. Because like I said they made a spectacular duo this season.

There is a serious level of increase in the number of assists De Bruyne makes and there are still many weeks left for the end of the season. He doesn't score as many as last season maybe but there is no need for that. Because Haaland is taking nearly full responsibility about scoring goals for his team. But still De Bruyne is a great scorer with different kind of goals. His technique is a unique one.

[FanEagle]

The trick is that De Bruyne was always a technical player and he always passed so well for his teammates, but Haaland was missing, they scored and they played wonderful and they won cups, it was all great until Haaland showed up, after he did, things changed and a team that already won everything but UCL, became even better and that's shocking, you don't see the best team become even better, you see best teams start to fall apart a lot more often than you see them get better. This is why now?

Now De Bruyne still passes wonderfully but then the person he passes to ends up getting the ball and bulldozes through everyone in front of him and he just scores, people can't catch up to him and he can score from anywhere and can move his body all angles to score, he is a scoring machine without a doubt.

I think the unyielding situation is the biggest difference compared to last year as well. They end up working hard but even if they fall behind, even if they do as much as they could but fail, they don't give up and they fight hard to make sure it works for them. This is why it's important to not compare them to last season, because last season they ended up with a lot of "active resting" periods within games, they give up when they are ahead, so they get a lot worse when it comes down to leading.

This season, even when they scored the first goal against Arsenal, Pep was busy arguing with Ederson about a small tiny mistake, that's the power they have this season, they will work much harder to make it happen and that will make sure that they get the cup and the league as well, because being ahead means nothing anymore, they want to keep working 90 minutes even if they are winning.

[emrecemsan]

The first leg matches are closing in on us. The most attention getting match is surely going to be Real Madrid v Manchester City.

The current odds are:

- Real Madrid : 3.35
- Draw : 3.55
- Manchester City : 2.16

First of all to tell the truth, I would have expected to see closer odds here. But Real Madrid seem like quite the underdog even in Santiago Bernabeu. But Manchester City are really in an unstoppable shape these days which must be very effective in these odds to be determined like this. As long as Haaland is fit and ready to play Manchester City are going to be the biggest favourite in not only this matchup but also the Champions League. Real Madrid will need to stay really strong in defense otherwise Manchester City can finish this round in Santiago Bernabeu already with a big help of Haaland.

[tokeweed]

^  You just got your answer last night.    I didn't see it live bu I watched bits of the replay.  I think Real Madrid did a pretty good job putting the pressure on City by forcing Stones to go back instead of being one player in Pep's double pivot and making it harder for City to carry the ball to KDB or Gundongan.

And since when did Guardiola start playing Stones in the midfield?  Lol.  

Anybody think Real Madrid is in for the upset against City?  It could be a hard fought match with Real eeking out a greasy win.  They're lined at 5.20 to win...  BTTS and win combo is at 8.  The latter looks like a fun bet.

[Razmirraz]

De Bruyne is definitely a pure talent. He is 31 years old now maybe but he still doesn't lose anything from his skills and effectiveness for his team. Moreover his performance has reached a higher level in this season in fact. I think Haaland's joining Manchester City has also a significant level of effect in this. Because like I said they made a spectacular duo this season.

There is a serious level of increase in the number of assists De Bruyne makes and there are still many weeks left for the end of the season. He doesn't score as many as last season maybe but there is no need for that. Because Haaland is taking nearly full responsibility about scoring goals for his team. But still De Bruyne is a great scorer with different kind of goals. His technique is a unique one.

Real Madrid was well aware of the threat from one of the pillars of Manchester City (Haaland). During the match, the Real Madrid retainer managed to stop Haaland movements which prevented him from scoring. After successfully closing the first half with a 1-0 advantage, Kevin De Bruyne managed to break into the Real Madrid goal guarded by Courtois. Real Madrid had to settle for ending the game in a draw as a result of not being able to increase their advantage in the remaining time of the game.

De Bruyne is really reliable, when Manchester City main striker is unable to score goals, he is able to become a hero for Manchester City. A draw in the first leg is very profitable for Manchester City who will act as hosts in the second leg. Real Madrid must be wary of the strengths that Manchester City has, especially when they act as hosts, Manchester City have never lost in the last 10 matches in all competitions.

[tokeweed]

^  What it was really was a good result for Real Madrid despite City scoring a goal.  A lot of folks thought it was a match all in sky blues...  But the Los Blancos had other ideas.  It was a master class on how to negate a dominant force such as Pep's City.

I missed the first leg which I was really excited for but I'll def not miss the return leg.  I feel like Real shines here and wins a hard fought back and forth battle with 2 - 1. 

[Distraction]

We have reached the end of another Champions League season. Congratulations to Manchester City on their first ever CL championship in the team history!

But I would like to start my words with how inadequate Manchester City were generally. This is really not exactly a team of finals in my humble opinion. Because while Inter were playing their own game it wasn't the case for Manchester City. Inter had a 3-5-2 formation on paper but they did what they have always done so far. While Manchester City were attacking Inter were changing their formation to 5-3-2 quickly with the help of their left and right-backs.

Manchester City had serious issues with controlling the ball as they wanted for a long time and we didn't see proper attacks by them much. But the second half was in favour of them more thanks to Inter's starting to giving some spaces in defense. Rodri scored the winner and they won the title. Inter could have still made a comeback if it weren't for Lukaku's incapability.

Guardiola has finally reached his biggest goal with Manchester City so I wonder what his plans will be for the future.

[LTU_btc]

Despite that 2022/23 sason final was played lesl than 2 weeks ago, draw of upcoming season preliminary qualifying round was made. Unlike in further rounds, there will be single leg games, both in semifinals and final, it will be played on 27th and 30th June in Iceland. And hosts Breidabik looks like main contender to win this mini tournament.

[slaman29]

Hey OP you should activate this thread again and change the titles (along with Europa and Conference).

There are major threads already, but since they're not self-moderated, they have so much garbage in them.

Wanted to follow some news about qualifiers, usually it's very hard to find news about them anyway but does anyone have any super tip like what happened with Sheriff qualifying?

[buwaytress]

Heh, yeah. Self moderation is a pain, and people do flock to the megaspam threads anyway, but point taken, and thanks for the bump reminder. I've updated the threads, and will now go on to fix the Europa and Conference threads.

Sad for Tre Penne, but the guy who scored for them said he only wished the UCL theme song played (it only starts at group stage!).

[morvillz7z]

Sad for Tre Penne, but the guy who scored for them said he only wished the UCL theme song played (it only starts at group stage!).

Dream big they say! Lol

Tre Penne still has a shot, but in the Conference League, they start from the second qualifying round later this month.  I can't believe they scored in Iceland. I was "sweating" a Breidablik first-half win at stupidly low odds.

Here are the matchups in the first qualifying round which kicks off next week:

source: https://www.uefa.com/uefachampionsleague/draws/2024/2001771/

Häcken (SWE) vs The New Saints (WAL)
Ballkani (KOS) vs Ludogorets (BUL)
Shamrock Rovers (IRL) vs Breidablik (ISL)
Žalgiris Vilnius (LTU) vs Struga (MKD)
KÍ Klaksvík (FRO) vs Ferencváros (HUN)
Olimpija Ljubljana (SVN) vs Valmiera (LVA)
HJK Helsinki (FIN) vs Larne (NIR)
Lincoln Red Imps (GIB) vs Qarabağ (AZE) *
Raków Czestochowa (POL) vs Flora Tallinn (EST) *
Slovan Bratislava (SVK) vs Swift Hesper (LUX)
Farul Constanța (ROU) vs Sheriff Tiraspol (MDA)
Hamrun Spartans (MLT) vs Maccabi Haifa (ISR)
Urartu (ARM) vs Zrinjski (BIH)
Partizani (ALB) vs BATE Borisov (BLR)
Astana (KAZ) vs Dinamo Tbilisi (GEO)

Opening odds started to appear yesterday, and i sorta missed out on Ferencvaros ML and Qarabag -1AH (sharps were all over them), odds have dropped significantly in less than 24 hours.

Romanian Champions vs. Sheriff Tiraspol is probably the most evenly-balanced matchup out there. I don't see any of the big favorites getting surprised and knocked out early in the competition.

[darxiaomi]

I really like this phase of the champions, because we can see how more normal teams fight against each other for a place into the group stage, and i always have some love, for small clubs and i want to see them reaching the group stage, im not going with one on particular, but yes seeing how all develops. The problem its when you reach the last stance of this journey and you play against the 4/5 teams from the 5 big leagues.

For example in this list, Ferencvaros its always reaching the last stages, going to UCL groups or falling into UEL. I can see a few more regulars on UEL.

[LTU_btc]

I really like this phase of the champions, because we can see how more normal teams fight against each other for a place into the group stage, and i always have some love, for small clubs and i want to see them reaching the group stage, im not going with one on particular, but yes seeing how all develops. The problem its when you reach the last stance of this journey and you play against the 4/5 teams from the 5 big leagues.

For example in this list, Ferencvaros its always reaching the last stages, going to UCL groups or falling into UEL. I can see a few more regulars on UEL.

For these clubs who start qualifiers now it's very difficult to reach group stage. From all these clubs maybe only Ferencvaros and Ludogorets managed to do it more than once in last decade. Offcourse, there magical story of Sheriff, but in general, these qualifiers is made to eliminate these small clubs. On the other hand, starting qualifiers from CL 1st round clubs have very good chances to reach Europa or Conference league group stage.
I love betting on these qualifiers, you can find so much value. And despite that I folllow it for many years, I see some team names that is new for me. Hacken from Sweden and Urartu from Armenia. In recent years it was common that champions of these countries were Malmo and Pyunik.

[buwaytress]

Thanks for the list of matchups morvillz7z and yeah Tre Penne guy, who works as part time truck delivery apparently, also can't believe he scored against champions of Iceland.

Wish I'd seen them earlier, for sure I'd go for Qarabag as well, but I'll keep an eye out on these over the next few weeks. I guarantee there's plenty of value. Like darxiaomi, I enjoy these stages too -- only problem is to find a live stream for them =(

Also, updated Europa and Conference League threads