UEFA Champions League 2023/24 Season

[Frankolala]

Real Madrid performed poorly in La Liga last season but played well in the Champions League, losing to the reigning champions in the semi-finals. So it may happen that this season they may do well in La Liga but poorly in the Champions League. We have to wait for the group stage and see how they perform.

Before the group stage begins, it is indeed difficult to determine the strength of a team this season in the Champions League, even though the domestic league has already started. And even though the domestic league has started, it doesn't mean that what you see now is the real strength of a team like Real Madrid, because it could be that in the middle of this season, Real Madrid has another strategy that they didn't apply last season, so they might be stronger. Because it's still not certain that Real Madrid can be stronger in La Liga, but it could be worse in the Champions League, even though for now Real Madrid is at the top of the La Liga standings after wading through three matches.

You have a good point here mate,the performance of a club in domestic league shouldn't be used to judge the club's performance in champions league because it isn't a domestic club that they are used to playing with and for that reason they know the weakness of almost all the clubs in that league.

However,I strongly believe that Real Madrid will try their possible best to make show that they perform better than last season in the Champions league this season. This is the league that they are more after and not the Laliga but we can still see that currently they are the top on their table and this will make them more focus on coming up with a strategy that they can use to go far in the Champions league.

[1715171120]

1715171120

[hahay]

Real Madrid performed poorly in La Liga last season but played well in the Champions League, losing to the reigning champions in the semi-finals. So it may happen that this season they may do well in La Liga but poorly in the Champions League. We have to wait for the group stage and see how they perform.

Before the group stage begins, it is indeed difficult to determine the strength of a team this season in the Champions League, even though the domestic league has already started. And even though the domestic league has started, it doesn't mean that what you see now is the real strength of a team like Real Madrid, because it could be that in the middle of this season, Real Madrid has another strategy that they didn't apply last season, so they might be stronger. Because it's still not certain that Real Madrid can be stronger in La Liga, but it could be worse in the Champions League, even though for now Real Madrid is at the top of the La Liga standings after wading through three matches.

You have a good point here mate,the performance of a club in domestic league shouldn't be used to judge the club's performance in champions league because it isn't a domestic club that they are used to playing with and for that reason they know the weakness of almost all the clubs in that league.

However,I strongly believe that Real Madrid will try their possible best to make show that they perform better than last season in the Champions league this season. This is the league that they are more after and not the Laliga but we can still see that currently they are the top on their table and this will make them more focus on coming up with a strategy that they can use to go far in the Champions league.

After all, in an assessment it can't just be about good in the domestic league and bad in the Champions League and vice versa, and then compare it to last season for this season. Instead of thinking or judging in that way, why don't you judge and put more definite hopes on Real Madrid this season, like for example about doing well in all competitions. Because after all, Real Madrid is a big team and of course, Real Madrid has good quality and ability to get a treble winner and not only about Manchester City.

[ILuckyGuyI]

Galatasaray did a good work on scoring in the first leg. However there was a huge problem with their defending. They could have conceded like 4-5 goals from even Molde I mean. Because Molde attackers were in such a comfortable situation to find big spaces in Galatasaray defense. It isn't only due to the defense line though.

The midfield was also not strong enough at defending. Torreira's absence was felt quite much. It would be really nice if they sign another reliable defensive midfielder.

Maybe they are most likely to qualify for the group stage. But before the transfer window closes I think that they should bring a centre-back (Sergio Ramos is likely to come for now) and maybe a defensive midfielder too.

[W Jr.]

Real Madrid performed poorly in La Liga last season but played well in the Champions League, losing to the reigning champions in the semi-finals. So it may happen that this season they may do well in La Liga but poorly in the Champions League. We have to wait for the group stage and see how they perform.

Before the group stage begins, it is indeed difficult to determine the strength of a team this season in the Champions League, even though the domestic league has already started. And even though the domestic league has started, it doesn't mean that what you see now is the real strength of a team like Real Madrid, because it could be that in the middle of this season, Real Madrid has another strategy that they didn't apply last season, so they might be stronger. Because it's still not certain that Real Madrid can be stronger in La Liga, but it could be worse in the Champions League, even though for now Real Madrid is at the top of the La Liga standings after wading through three matches.

We saw that they were always effective after the first three matches in the league. Obviously, there are great hopes in Real Madrid, I hope they can make this successful game permanent. I have great sympathy for Real Madrid. Especially since they transferred the young Turkish player Arda Güler, I have been following closely. I hope they can repeat their important success at UCL.

[indah rezqi]

We saw that they were always effective after the first three matches in the league. Obviously, there are great hopes in Real Madrid, I hope they can make this successful game permanent. I have great sympathy for Real Madrid. Especially since they transferred the young Turkish player Arda Güler, I have been following closely. I hope they can repeat their important success at UCL.

True, Madrid was slightly better than last season's defending champion Barcelona in the first three matches, Ancelotti squad was consistent enough to win despite being hit by a hurricane of injuries. Ancelotti has been quite successful in carrying out his tactics so far, wading through the new season without striker number 9 has been very impressive. As we have seen Benzema in this role for more than ten years, Ancelotti has been able to cope with Bellingham and Vinicius so far.

About Arda Guler, he is still in the healing stage I think. Madrid confirmed on August 14 that Guler has an injury to his knee, but I have not seen any information about when Guler will make his Madrid debut.

[beerlover]

Barcelona is presently relying mostly on youthful and gifted players. The club is still lack of an experienced player in the club. It's good to give them all chances to play in UCL but experienced players actually needed by the club once it would be competing in UCl.
UCL where so many best of the best are competing each other to get the most prestigious trophy in EU. Barcelona needs to add more defenders. barca was conceded so many goals in la liga.

The current defensive lines are not enough to keep the goal keeper away from its opponent. Italian and english clubs gonna be even stronger than before.
Going to the play off can be considered as an impressive achievement by barcelona. Barcelona has not yet faced some clubs were having best qualities like city, intermilan or even bayern.

Yes but that is not necessarily a new strategy that they are pursuing here. I think it is also a question of quality.

It is not like they are all about young players. With ter Stegen they have a highly experienced goalkeeper. They have Christensen and Alonso who are not that young anymore. Sergi Roberto is also there. Frenkie de Jong is only 26, but I would count him as an experienced player. Gündogan and Romeu of course who are both over 30 years old. Then there is Lewandowski.

I know there are still a lot of younger players, but how good are they really? Are they all going to be better with age? That's difficult to tell, but I think that they need more quality players.

I would guess that as long as you have "some" good players playing 30+ games a season that means you could sell them later on and make some money. It is clearly obvious that we are seeing them building some young talent but we are not sure if they are going to sell those players or not.

I think it's the financial debt that confuses people, because they should sell their players the young ones when they worth money, like they could find maybe 3 players that can go for 300+ million total at this point, maybe even more money, maybe for like 400 if they are lucky as well. That would be nearly half of the debt all gone, they could just use that money and pay the debt and open up cap space and not replace them with expensive players, just get free agents and suddenly they are back on their feet financially. But we do not know if they will do that or not.

[baeva]

Undoubtedly, a player like Karim Benzema left Real Madrid and Real Madrid could not recruit another star in that position which can be considered as a weak point for Real Madrid. After Karim Benzema left Real Madrid, Real Madrid lost their first two friendlies and everyone feared that a bad season might be in store for Real Madrid, but as the season started, Real Madrid returned to their former form. Real Madrid have played three matches so far in La Liga where Real Madrid have won the first three matches. Real Madrid will do well without Karim Benzema in the Champions League if they can maintain their current performance in La Liga.

Carlos Ancelotti is well experienced person who is working on good strategy mainly he never depends on one player after exit of Karim Benzema there were many rumors about Real Madrid future and their start of pre-season games were also not good but now as they are playing in La Liga things are looking impressive and their best player Jude Bellingham is also doing impressive as right now he is at the top of the league table, but now they need to keep this momentum and also having their replacements in better shape because any injury or other problem can ruin their season which could be not good.

Now in few days we will have group stage to be started, so load could be increase and things could be also more difficult for the players and teams, but hopefully they will be able to manage this all as they are well-prepared for this all with their current available sources.

It's not just Benzema, they now have at least 4 key players injured and won't be able to play anytime soon, it's a really big problem. Vinicius according to media reports is out for a month due to his injury. Losing their main goalkeeper is also quite serious. So believe me, even if their performance seems weak in the group stage of the champions league, it's definitely not because of Karim's absence

[Ndabagi01]

Real Madrid performed poorly in La Liga last season but played well in the Champions League, losing to the reigning champions in the semi-finals. So it may happen that this season they may do well in La Liga but poorly in the Champions League. We have to wait for the group stage and see how they perform.

The majority of these teams are able to recreate their domestic league performance in the Champions League. But, as far as I can tell, everything still relies on the team they face in the Champions League. The manner a team plays against a weaker team in the local league should not be replicated in the champions league, where top teams from various leagues compete. This, I believe, is what is developing into what people see today, in which some teams perform well in the domestic league but perform poorly in the Champions League.

In some instances, the reversal is the case, and this may be related to where the team's goal is; for example, they may desire to win the Champions League and place more emphasis on attaining success there than in their home league. No one can predict the outcome of each team's Champions League matches until the competition begins and we see how each team performs.

[skarais]

~~~

Joselu, who was expected to replace Benzema, hasn't lived up to expectations,

Joselu was not brought in as a striker to replace Benzema, he even conveyed this to the media himself before this season started. Joselu was brought in as an alternative as Real Madrid have so far lacked a centre-forward, but Real Madrid have no intention of working to find a suitable replacement for Benzema.

However, Real Madrid do not appear to be lacking a centre-forward as Joselu can play well in Ancelotti's game plan. He has been the first choice in that position while making some adjustments to the players alongside him. Vinicius' injury is of course an additional problem for Ancelotti, but they could have won the last game without him too. But the Champions League is never the same, it's a competition that will be tough for Real Madrid if they don't have a balanced squad.

[TastyChillySauce00]

It's not just Benzema, they now have at least 4 key players injured and won't be able to play anytime soon, it's a really big problem. Vinicius according to media reports is out for a month due to his injury. Losing their main goalkeeper is also quite serious. So believe me, even if their performance seems weak in the group stage of the champions league, it's definitely not because of Karim's absence

Vini is gonna leave for 4 - 6 weeks depending on how fast his recovery is. It's hard to replace vini's position. The club can only rely on bellingham right now. Im not hoping a lot from joselu caused by his performance was terrible. The reason why ancelotti puts him on the bench instead of include him as starting line up. Real madrid needs to think about how to replace the injured players as soon as possible. It's not necessary to buy the new players but madrid should consider when a lot of players were suffering injury.
This will be also hurting the club so much caused by real madrid was only able winning the game as long as it was using main formation. Bellingham is the last hope by real madrid.
Ancellotti counting on him now. Madrid has been making wrong decision by stopping to buy the new players.

[Leviathan.007]

~~~

Joselu, who was expected to replace Benzema, hasn't lived up to expectations,

Joselu was not brought in as a striker to replace Benzema, he even conveyed this to the media himself before this season started. Joselu was brought in as an alternative as Real Madrid have so far lacked a centre-forward, but Real Madrid have no intention of working to find a suitable replacement for Benzema.

However, Real Madrid do not appear to be lacking a centre-forward as Joselu can play well in Ancelotti's game plan. He has been the first choice in that position while making some adjustments to the players alongside him. Vinicius' injury is of course an additional problem for Ancelotti, but they could have won the last game without him too. But the Champions League is never the same, it's a competition that will be tough for Real Madrid if they don't have a balanced squad.

I don't think if Joselu was the alternative player for Benzema because the most important thing about Joselu is his age and he is not younger than Benzema to take his place in Real Madrid for years and On the other hand Joselu was never on the same level with a player like Karim Benzema.
Real Madrid needs a player like Mbappe or other young center forwards to make them sure in the next seasons.  

[GxSTxV]

I don't think if Joselu was the alternative player for Benzema because the most important thing about Joselu is his age and he is not younger than Benzema to take his place in Real Madrid for years and On the other hand Joselu was never on the same level with a player like Karim Benzema.
Real Madrid needs a player like Mbappe or other young center forwards to make them sure in the next seasons.  

To be honest Joselu is very old and doesn’t have any good news to bring for Real Madrid, the last three matches i really got impressed with the middle field Bellingham in his 20 age only he managed to be the striker of LaLiga in the beginning of this season beside saving Real Madrid in their last match against Celta Vigo. The same thing with Barcelona they both need a real strong striker this season in order to do something in UCL, otherwise we going to see the English teams taking over and winning every single trophy.
Manchester City still the most strong team i can suggest taking the UCL again this season if everything stay the same way as this. But honestly this season has much less attention and competition after the big players moving out to Saudi Professional League  and leaving UCL less attractive as many people loves to follow player and not clubs.

[MusaMohamed]

To be honest Joselu is very old and doesn’t have any good news to bring for Real Madrid

He is old but not very old as he is only 33 years old now.

the last three matches i really got impressed with the middle field Bellingham in his 20 age only he managed to be the striker of LaLiga in the beginning of this season beside saving Real Madrid in their last match against Celta Vigo.

Jude Bellingham adapted very quickly and well in Real Madrid. It's big surprise to see a young player can adapt very well and play so impressively after a big transfer that has pressure on the player certainly.

The same thing with Barcelona they both need a real strong striker this season in order to do something in UCL, otherwise we going to see the English teams taking over and winning every single trophy.

Barcelona already have Lewandowski who is a world class striker. He played well for Bacelona in the past season and won Pinicchi in La Liga.

Manchester City still the most strong team i can suggest taking the UCL again this season if everything stay the same way as this. But honestly this season has much less attention and competition after the big players moving out to Saudi Professional League  and leaving UCL less attractive as many people loves to follow player and not clubs.

Manchester City will have to cover their player loss to Saudi Professional League as well as injury of Kevin De Bruyne. In early matches of this season, so far we can see they still maintain to have high ball possession, create many goal-scoring opportunities but they don't convert them too well. The missing of De Bruyne and a decreasing performance of Haaland will affect Manchester City in Premier League and Champions League.

In contrast of the Haaland's performance, I see good growth of Julian Alvarez who will become a more important player in Manchester City. He continues his good growth since the last season and success in World Cup 2022.

[makishart]

I don't think if Joselu was the alternative player for Benzema because the most important thing about Joselu is his age and he is not younger than Benzema to take his place in Real Madrid for years and On the other hand Joselu was never on the same level with a player like Karim Benzema.
Real Madrid needs a player like Mbappe or other young center forwards to make them sure in the next seasons. 

To be honest Joselu is very old and doesn’t have any good news to bring for Real Madrid, the last three matches i really got impressed with the middle field Bellingham in his 20 age only he managed to be the striker of LaLiga in the beginning of this season beside saving Real Madrid in their last match against Celta Vigo. The same thing with Barcelona they both need a real strong striker this season in order to do something in UCL, otherwise we going to see the English teams taking over and winning every single trophy.
Manchester City still the most strong team i can suggest taking the UCL again this season if everything stay the same way as this. But honestly this season has much less attention and competition after the big players moving out to Saudi Professional League  and leaving UCL less attractive as many people loves to follow player and not clubs.

Signing joselu was a bad decision but since he was coming with very cheap fees and it's not a serious problem for real madrid. Joselu's salary was also very low. Bellingham had a multiple role in madrid. Bellingham to playing as an attacking midfielder, while he took on the role of central striker, resulting in more goals for the club. I can't imagine if real madrid was not recruiting him for dortmund. it will be a disaster for madrid as the club still find about how difficult in getting a new striker that can play as good as benzema when he was still there last season.
Joselu is far from our expectation and i think that this guy will always be benched as ancelotti doesn't really need him at this moment. The club is now having bellingham who played in multiple roles at the same time.

Madrid needs to find a good striker to strengthen its attacking line. Ancelotti needs to bench Joselu and make a move before the end of transfer season to find a good striker for Madrid's attacking line..
Many madridista has been pushing him in signing the new striker but there's no signal from madrid regarding this.

[mamesso]

Manchester City still the most strong team i can suggest taking the UCL again this season if everything stay the same way as this. But honestly this season has much less attention and competition after the big players moving out to Saudi Professional League  and leaving UCL less attractive as many people loves to follow player and not clubs.

Manchester City will have to cover their player loss to Saudi Professional League as well as injury of Kevin De Bruyne. In early matches of this season, so far we can see they still maintain to have high ball possession, create many goal-scoring opportunities but they don't convert them too well. The missing of De Bruyne and a decreasing performance of Haaland will affect Manchester City in Premier League and Champions League.

In contrast of the Haaland's performance, I see good growth of Julian Alvarez who will become a more important player in Manchester City. He continues his good growth since the last season and success in World Cup 2022.

Manchester City still dominated the game by maintaining possession of the ball which is the hallmark of the strategy used by Guardiola, but they have not been able to maintain goal productivity. Manchester City have only been able to score 3 goals in the last two matches in the EPL or overall have scored 6 gal in the three official EPL games.

After midfield creator Kevin De Bruyne suffered an injury, Manchester City seemed to have lost a field general who was very influential in the process of scoring goals for Manchester City. Of course Guardiola still has ideal players who can replace De Bruyne and other important players who have left Manchester City, but their presence is very influential on the sharpness of Manchester City's front line.

Haaland has not found his best form this season, Guardiola must find a way so that Manchester City's front line returns to its original form to retain the title they won last season.

[poodle63]

I don't think if Joselu was the alternative player for Benzema because the most important thing about Joselu is his age and he is not younger than Benzema to take his place in Real Madrid for years and On the other hand Joselu was never on the same level with a player like Karim Benzema.
Real Madrid needs a player like Mbappe or other young center forwards to make them sure in the next seasons. 

Real Madrid thought he could replace Benzema, but he wasn't as good as they hoped because Joselu was not performing as well as Benzema. He performed well in Espanyol, but I noticed Joselu struggled to build chemistry with another player in Real Madrid.. Joselu was not being a starting line up of real madrid. Ancellotti puts him in the starting lineup in the first match but after, ancellotti is aware of how bad the performance of joselu. I rarely seeing him become starting line up again.

There's no choice for madrid than buying a new striker but since the club linked to the mbappe and i think that it will be wise for us waiting for the confirmation from real madrid. Mbappe is yet to extending his contract with PSG.
Madrid is still having a chance to get him next year caused by mbappe's contract gonna expire soon. The close of summer transfer window is very close.

Madrid doesn't have a lot of times in searching a new striker.

[len01]

-snip

Manchester City will have to cover their player loss to Saudi Professional League as well as injury of Kevin De Bruyne. In early matches of this season, so far we can see they still maintain to have high ball possession, create many goal-scoring opportunities but they don't convert them too well. The missing of De Bruyne and a decreasing performance of Haaland will affect Manchester City in Premier League and Champions League.

In contrast of the Haaland's performance, I see good growth of Julian Alvarez who will become a more important player in Manchester City. He continues his good growth since the last season and success in World Cup 2022.

to see the decline in the performance of some of Man City important players will indeed be very worrying and this puts pressure on Guardiola as a coach who must be responsible for improving performance without De Bruyne who is currently injured and I heard rumors that Guardiola is actually eyeing several players from other teams to replace De Bruyne position temporarily but whether that will come true or not we all have to wait and see what will happen.

what is certain is that Guardiola must first focus on Haaland performance because this is an important player who must really pay attention to because Haaland decline in performance has been very visible in several of these matches so Guardiola must focus on this.

[Gencecikmen]

There are three great play-off matches tonight before the  start to the UEFA Champions League group stage. These matches are Galatasaray-Molde, Panathinaikos-Braga and Young Boys-Maccabi Haifa. In the first legs, Galatasaray beat Molde 3-2, Braga beat Panathinaikos 2-1 and Young Boys-Maccabi Haifa drew 0-0. I think Galatasaray, Braga and Young Boys will go to the group stage. If Panathinaikos performs well at home, they can eliminate Braga that there's a very small chance.

[3meek]

There are three great play-off matches tonight before the  start to the UEFA Champions League group stage. These matches are Galatasaray-Molde, Panathinaikos-Braga and Young Boys-Maccabi Haifa. In the first legs, Galatasaray beat Molde 3-2, Braga beat Panathinaikos 2-1 and Young Boys-Maccabi Haifa drew 0-0. I think Galatasaray, Braga and Young Boys will go to the group stage. If Panathinaikos performs well at home, they can eliminate Braga that there's a very small chance.

Yes, there are really three interesting games today... The goal difference is minimal, which means that any of the teams has a chance... But I also think Galatasaray and Braga will win... But I am not sure about Young Boys vs Maccabi Haifa... I think it will be the most interesting match...

[jakdanyel]

Manchester City can of course feel the absence of De Bruyne in the Champions League as well. However it is the truth on one hand that they are still able to stay strong. Things are going well in the English Premier League these days. They are winning their matches one by one and I don't doubt their performance in the Champions League too.

Manchester City squad is full of talented players. Guardiola can find a solution to his absence one way or another here as well.

De Bruyne is one of the most special players in this squad. He has a wonderful relationship with Haaland. I hope we don't see Haaland getting balls less than before without him. For now he is still doing okay at scoring.