UEFA Champions League 2023/24 Season

[ShowOff]

Since Manchester City won the Manchester City in the last season of the Champions League currently people look at this team as the first chance to win the tournament for another time but the Manchester City we see right now is far from the Manchester City we see in the last season and they lose much power.
Manchester City currently is not in the best form and they are racing with other teams in the premier league while the situation in Manchester City is not as good as other teams.
Personally, I don't think if they can win the Champions League for another time in this season.

No wonder Manchester City are still considered the strongest candidate to return to winning the Champions League this season, because their appearance has not decreased much. Although there is a decline, it is not so significant, especially if they bring in new ammunition that can complement their weaknesses this season.
Now teams from La Liga dominate the round of 16, there are 4 teams that are here now. They are also highly considered, especially there is the name Real Madrid which we know they are a team that has an above average mentality when in the Champions League. The representative from Serie A is also looking promising right now, Inter Milan. They are one of the strong candidates here.

There is no guarantee whatsoever for all teams to reach the final and win the title even though some leagues have more representatives in the round of 16. La Liga has 4 representatives, while the Bundesliga and Serie A have 3 representatives. None of them have any guarantee of qualifying for the quarter-finals, semi-finals or final, but some teams can be considered favorites based on their experience and squad depth.

Manchester City, Bayern Munich and Real Madrid are the 3 teams most favored to reach the final, but none of them are certain to reach the final without heavy obstacles. If Manchester City, Bayern Munich and Real Madrid do not get strong opponents in the round of 16, then perhaps these three teams will get equal opponents in the quarter-finals and semi-finals.

[Justbillywitt]

This system is definitely more interesting, because the teams that qualify for the quarterfinals will be drawn again and thus, no one really knows which team they will face next. But ya,regarding Bayern Munich in this round of 16 I think it is clear, that Bayern Munich will probably easily win too. Because ya, considering the opponent to be faced in this round of 16 is Lazio and ya, at least Lazio in this season also does not really have good results in Serie A, Because Lazio very different from last season.

Anyway, Bayern Munich clearly has better quality than Lazio because ya, Bayern Munich is always in and plays in the Champion League every season. Therefore, Bayern Munich certainly has better quality and mentality than Lazio and thus, it might be easy for Bayern Munich to beat Lazio later.

I must say that the clubs from the Italian leagues have do well in the various Competitions I mean European Competitions this season that means that nobody should look down on em even if them opponents are stronger.
Bayern Munich anyways have bigger chances of winning the Champions League. We all know how they're preparing hard from the Bundesliga to Champions League.
Sarri and his side have dropped a good form this season, they are not the club to hold down Bayern Munich honestly.

So many clubs are preparing very well, this Champions League is hard to predict, I doubt Pep Guardiola can be able to repeat what they did last season. Winning the treble is something that happens once in a long time.

Serie A teams have performed well in the Europa League and Champions League last season. Serie A teams are doing pretty well this season too.
I think Bayern Munich is the most deserving team for the Champions League title. Real Madrid and Manchester City are very strong indeed. However, there are several weaknesses in their squad. We cannot find any weakness in Bayern Munich's squad. They have a perfect squad. Now the team can win the Champions League title only if they can continue the winning streak.

Every team has weakness, if Bayern Munich face Manchester City in the Champions like league I don't think they will win Manchester City that easily. When you said we can find a weakness I Bayern Munich team I just laugh. I like the champions league because big teams will eventually meet each other and I know Bayern Munich will want to avoid Manchester City till they meet in the finals.

[Weawant]

UCL have promising and favorite clubs that are nominated to win the league every season, though these selections do changes but I'm quite aware how difficult these clubs can find their path to win matches. This season, I would vouch for the UCL title to go to Spanish clubs because they're in good shape. Consequently, Manchester City are the reigning champions and they wouldn't give up so easily when it comes to elite competitions. Pep Guardiola have the morale to explore the performance of his club in every UCL and top phases they found themselves, no relenting efforts because they've bounce back to glory.

Manchester city is a very good prospect for the champions league this season, when it comes to the champions league Manchester city usually have a different kind of approach which may be different from their premier league performance so I sometimes don't bother to make comparison with their performance at the premier league to seeing how well they will do with the UCL.

The Spanish teams especially Real Madrid is really fighting hard for the title this season so they aswell have good chances because they also have the experience and the Spanish teams are more amongst those who were able to get pass the group stage which looks more like a reason they have a bigger chance at the trophy than the English or the German side who has got just two teams that made it pass the group stage of the league. I wouldn't be surprised if a Spanish team wins the trophy this season or Manchester city wins the trophy again because they are both experienced and have got the ability and strength to be able to get to the finals and win the trophy as the case maybe.

[QueenVera]

I don't know if it's a matter of luck or not, but Barcelona has shown from the start that they have fought as hard as they could to get through the round of 16 and in the end this struggle results in Barcelona emerging as group winners even though they had the same points as Porto, Barcelona suffered 2 defeated in the phase, Porto also got the same thing in the Champions League group. This was not just a result of luck because in reality Barcelona fought hard in this group stage amidst the storm of injuries experienced by Barcelona.

Barcelona opponent is actually quite a tough opponent when compared to opponent Real Madrid, Manchester City and Bayer Munich. In my opinion, in the rounds of 16 it is very visible thats big team like Barcelona, PSG, Inter Milan and Atletico Madrid find quite difficults opponent. Even though I expect Real Madrid, Bayern Munich and Manchester City to get equal opponent so they felt the same pressure, but it turn out that opponent Real Madrid, Bayern Munich and Manchester City actually had less formidable opponents. So the round of 16 is not too bigs of a challenge for these three tough clubs.

Barcelona's performance are not even encouraging, they're behind their usual style of play. This definitely isn't the usual Barcelona of past seasons. Their performance hasn't really been encouraging and even though they're a better side technically to other teams, it's just a number of uncertainties that are present. The players and management teams aren't really at their best and it has to be corrected.

 In the round of 16, they are up against a tough opponent, they've got enough weeks to prepare hard and build strong confidence ahead. They really can't afford to take a bow out of the contest at this stage. Although it's unpredictable but they're definitely boasted of to scale through and they have the right player quality too. Just a bit of increase in performance is needed. Although, their games in the coming weeks are definitely awaited.

[Docnaster]

I don't know if it's a matter of luck or not, but Barcelona has shown from the start that they have fought as hard as they could to get through the round of 16 and in the end this struggle results in Barcelona emerging as group winners even though they had the same points as Porto, Barcelona suffered 2 defeated in the phase, Porto also got the same thing in the Champions League group. This was not just a result of luck because in reality Barcelona fought hard in this group stage amidst the storm of injuries experienced by Barcelona.

Barcelona opponent is actually quite a tough opponent when compared to opponent Real Madrid, Manchester City and Bayer Munich. In my opinion, in the rounds of 16 it is very visible thats big team like Barcelona, PSG, Inter Milan and Atletico Madrid find quite difficults opponent. Even though I expect Real Madrid, Bayern Munich and Manchester City to get equal opponent so they felt the same pressure, but it turn out that opponent Real Madrid, Bayern Munich and Manchester City actually had less formidable opponents. So the round of 16 is not too bigs of a challenge for these three tough clubs.

Barcelona's performance are not even encouraging, they're behind their usual style of play. This definitely isn't the usual Barcelona of past seasons. Their performance hasn't really been encouraging and even though they're a better side technically to other teams, it's just a number of uncertainties that are present. The players and management teams aren't really at their best and it has to be corrected.

 In the round of 16, they are up against a tough opponent, they've got enough weeks to prepare hard and build strong confidence ahead. They really can't afford to take a bow out of the contest at this stage. Although it's unpredictable but they're definitely boasted of to scale through and they have the right player quality too. Just a bit of increase in performance is needed. Although, their games in the coming weeks are definitely awaited.

Barcelona actually started the season in a very good note and were one of the best teams in the Spanish La Liga at the start of the season but hasn't been consistent in recent weeks and that has seriously raised eyebrows on wether they can have a good season both in their domestic league as well as in thei UEFA champions league. They managed to win their group in the UEFA champions league but will now have to face reigning Italian champions Napoli in the round of 16 of the competition and as we all know, Napoli is a strong Italian team that's capable of defeating any European club on their day because they have all the needed quality of players  to it.
Barcelona is a traditional club when it comes to the UEFA champions league history but without taking anything away from them as a club, I don't think they are in the same category with other big European clubs like Bayern Munich, Manchester City and Real Madrid as far as this season is concerned.

[beerlover]

This system is definitely more interesting, because the teams that qualify for the quarterfinals will be drawn again and thus, no one really knows which team they will face next. But ya,regarding Bayern Munich in this round of 16 I think it is clear, that Bayern Munich will probably easily win too. Because ya, considering the opponent to be faced in this round of 16 is Lazio and ya, at least Lazio in this season also does not really have good results in Serie A, Because Lazio very different from last season.

Anyway, Bayern Munich clearly has better quality than Lazio because ya, Bayern Munich is always in and plays in the Champion League every season. Therefore, Bayern Munich certainly has better quality and mentality than Lazio and thus, it might be easy for Bayern Munich to beat Lazio later.

I would say that its "almost" easy for them to meet everyone aside from a few teams. I mean it's football and anyone can lose to anyone in the football world, but aside from Madrid and City, I do not see any team that could be better on paper than Bayern to be fair. The thing is, if they lose to those two teams then I would say it was expected and not a shocker, but if they lose to anyone else, it would be a shock, but not unheard of in the world of football neither, that's why there isn't anything that we need to consider. I believe they will definitely go to quarter finals, and when you are in the quarter finals you are right that anyone can meet anyone, that means very big clubs could meet each other. I still wish for a City vs Madrid finals though.

[Dump3er]

I think it is rather the exception than the rule that a team which is performing bad in the domestic league is one of the strongest teams in the Champions League. Yes I know that now some people will come up with examples, like Sevilla and how they won the Europa League last season when they were so bad in La Liga. But where is Sevilla now? They finished their Champions League group with 2 points out of 6 games and got destroyed in almost every game. There is a correlation between the overall performance of a team in the league and the other competitions, but yes there are exceptions of course.

Some teams have poor performance in domestic league but success with quit well performance in Champion League, difference with Sevilla performance in this season not only poor in La Liga but also failed and finish on bottom standings in Champion League group phase. But another teams Napoli have quit well performance in Champion League and success qualify to knock out round although with 2nd standings finish position but they have poor and inconsistency performance in domestic league.
I think domestic league and Champion League have difference atmosphere and some teams focus with quit well performance in Champion League but they have poor performance when playing in domestic league.

Napoli was playing in a pretty weak Champions League group and it was not surprising that an average performance would be enough for them to qualify for the knock out rounds in the Champions League. If you call their performance in the Champions League a quite good performance, I don't know but we do differ a lot in opinion here. Their performance was not that good, but good for them that there was no team which was really able to pose a threat to them. If they ended up in a more difficult group, they would have probably failed to qualify for the next round. This time it was a happy ending for them.

[Huppercase]

Especially Kevin De Bruyne's return will increase the chance for Manchester City to win the Champions League title much more. Because he is one of the crucial players for Manchester City attacking organizations. His creativity is very valuable for Manchester City now. He is such an incredible player that he can bring the win to his team by really impressive assists or amazing shots thanks to his technique.

Manchester City have been indeed out-of-form. But they must be really happy about the good news came from De Bruyne's side.  

From now on I expect to see a better Manchester City in the attacking side. I wish to see Haaland on the pitch as soon as possible at the same time.

Kevin De Bruyne might be a good player that can fit in the space in the Manchester City midfield but when a player take a rest for some time, there capacity and style reduce, even as he has return, he has to undergo a lot of trainings and more check up to see if he his fit enough to come back to field bit since the Champions League will resume by February, his improvement should have been better but that doesn't mean he might even do well as many of us expected because a player alone can't do much if others aren't doing their part.

Before I can be convince of Manchester City return in form, until I see them improve in the Premier League. As of last season, by this time a lot of people don't think twice before they bet on Manchester City because they always have their ways of passing through any team but now, unpredictable. Who even knows if Guardiola has some new surprises for the team in this January transfer period, there has been quite some silence from the managers, maybe they are cooking new players for the teams.

[rahmad2nd]

Bayern Munich have to face a team that necessarily is strong to enter the final game. A witnessed teams like Inter and Chelsea which were less favourite in the previous years that went through the final eliminating stronger opponents and made it to the finals.
Bayern Munich will face eventually Manchester City or Real Madrid or Inter or another good team later after winning against Lazio which are in bad forms. I think Bayern Munich shouldn't wish to face an easy team, they have to eliminate every rival they face to win the title. This year, many teams dropped in performance, including them, so they might pick this opportunity once they improve themselves.

To be sure, I don't want to speculate too far for Bayern Munich. basically, let's just wait until Bayern Munich visits Lazio's headquarters. or, in the second leg at the Allianz Arena. but theoretically, it looks like Bayern can beat Lazio in the knockout rounds. whether it's an away match or a home match, on paper Bayern are much more favored than their opposing team, their chances of qualifying for the next round also have a fairly high probability. after that, which team will be their opponent. if it's Madrid or City, these two teams are tough obstacles for Bayern Munich even though Tuchel actually has quite competitive players. moreover, in January it is certain that Bayern will be hunting for several players to make their team stronger as a whole. however, City and Madrid remain very tough competitors. if lucky, Bayern can meet other teams first. thus, their chances of advancing to the next phase are quite wide open. even so, Bayern Munich is quite ready to face Manchester City and Real Madrid. however, to overthrow these two teams. not a very easy job for Tuchel.  Likewise with City, the team they are playing against is not too tough at their class level. likewise with Real Madrid, who will visit RB Leipzig's headquarters in the first leg. however, the results may be different from what we think. apart from that, there are several clubs that will also fight as hard as possible even though they are not nominated as the strongest competitors. so all the teams competing in the round of 16 will try to do their best work. there is no other choice but to wait for this knockout round to be held.

[nurilham]

Every team has weakness, if Bayern Munich face Manchester City in the Champions like league I don't think they will win Manchester City that easily. When you said we can find a weakness I Bayern Munich team I just laugh. I like the champions league because big teams will eventually meet each other and I know Bayern Munich will want to avoid Manchester City till they meet in the finals.

Indeed, no team is perfect. Each team must have their weaknesses, but some teams may have a better way to deal with their weakness. It is the role of the coach to know how to deal with the weaknesses, that's why it is very important to have a smart and experienced coach. To win the UCL title, it is a must to have a coach who has a good record. It proves that the coach understands how to deal with their weaknesses and brings out the team's best strength.

Sure, it won't be an easy match if Bayern Munich will play against Man City. Moreover, if Man City can play with their full teams, Man City even may have a better chance to win the match. Guardiola has a lot experience in UCL matches both as a player and a coach. So, no doubt if Bayern Munich will be difficult to beat them. Yes, Bayern Munich must always expect to meet Man City in the final round only.

[temple]

For this reason, nothing is impossible in football, sometimes we are sure the bet in the club is much stronger but in fact lost quite easily. This is sometimes in the prediction based on the statistics of the strength of the team. Regarding Real Sociedad and PSG PU. Statistically, actually PSG should have things that are much stronger both of them compete quite significantly and tightly. And it's true, whoever the winner is, they deserve for this, because sometimes the match at UCL is quite different in the euphoria. Either Mbappe will stay on PSG after the transfer market or not, this will definitely give a significant effect on PSG itself.

I think that the level of the competition can also set free a lot of mental elements that otherwise may not contribute as much to the game of a team. Real Sociedad may not be one of the strongest teams in La Liga at the moment, but they are certainly not one of the weakest teams either. If they have most of their important players available for the games against PSG, I think that the game could go either way (or the two games in aggregate for that matter). PSG should have some advantage over them, but even if you say that PSG is a 60% favorite, there is still a lot of room left for Real Sociedad to be successful against them in the Champions League.

[Wiwo]

PSV always get the points when playing at home (UEFA CLQ, UCL).
From their last 5 games at home (UEFA CLQ, UCL), they won 3 times with 2 draws.

Because PSV playing at home, Dortmund will be the underdog in terms of the odds.
PSV might get 3 points from this match, they will not play defense because draw or lose = problems when they visit Dortmund later.

I don't trust the bookmakers, they can be very wrong if you don't think for yourselves and follow your intuitions. PVS I followed to an extent during the games played in the group stage they didn't do well like they're being hyped honestly. Borrussia Dortmund also didn't do so well but you see this game? They're not losing this round to PSV.

Bayern Munich are also hot sides in this Competition, they have another experience coach but I don't think they can still win the Champions League with this kind of players.

Manchester City has also declined... You don't need be told. Pep Guardiola is only playing mind games with his mouth. His squad has heavily declined like they were last season.

So with all the analysis of the current position and standing of the clubs in this season,  which among them can lift the champion League Cup in this season since the defending champion Manchester City has declined so badly that it is clear that there may be difficulties in them meeting up to coming top of the league again.

But we never can tell and just any club can win the Champion League Cup and for sure we will celebrate the equally due to our understanding of how challenging this season has been for all the clubs and we can't really point out to what the reason for all this underperformance is and how to overcome them by the top choice clubs.

[Unknown01]

I think that the level of the competition can also set free a lot of mental elements that otherwise may not contribute as much to the game of a team. Real Sociedad may not be one of the strongest teams in La Liga at the moment, but they are certainly not one of the weakest teams either. If they have most of their important players available for the games against PSG, I think that the game could go either way (or the two games in aggregate for that matter). PSG should have some advantage over them, but even if you say that PSG is a 60% favorite, there is still a lot of room left for Real Sociedad to be successful against them in the Champions League.

To be honest, I don't see any chance for Real Sociedad to beat PSG. They simply lack the strength to take on the superstars of PSG.

In my opinion the following teams will reach the next round:

Real Madrid
Manchester City
PSG
Bayern
Dortmund
Inter
Arsenal
Barcelona

There are always surprises, this time Barca could possibly be one.

[ginsan]

Bayern Munich have to face a team that necessarily is strong to enter the final game. A witnessed teams like Inter and Chelsea which were less favourite in the previous years that went through the final eliminating stronger opponents and made it to the finals.
Bayern Munich will face eventually Manchester City or Real Madrid or Inter or another good team later after winning against Lazio which are in bad forms. I think Bayern Munich shouldn't wish to face an easy team, they have to eliminate every rival they face to win the title. This year, many teams dropped in performance, including them, so they might pick this opportunity once they improve themselves.

So, if we talk about Bayern Munich, of course they will have an easy opponent in the round of 16 because Lazio this season they have really lost their best form in the domestic league. So Bayern with their best strength will be able to beat Lazio in the round of 16. There will be two meetings in the matches they play and I am sure Bayern Munich can secure these two matches by winning. Bayern Munich this season has quite a big mission in the Champions League because they have improved quite well so that their strength is really strong for this season.

Of course, this season final cannot be predicted because any surprises could happen like last season. I think either Bayern Munich or Manchester City will compete with all their best strength to reach the final this season. And for potential strong entrants like Barcelona, ​​they cannot be considered weak because Barcelona has a lot of experience in the Champions League.

[shogun47]

Bayern Munich have to face a team that necessarily is strong to enter the final game. A witnessed teams like Inter and Chelsea which were less favourite in the previous years that went through the final eliminating stronger opponents and made it to the finals.
Bayern Munich will face eventually Manchester City or Real Madrid or Inter or another good team later after winning against Lazio which are in bad forms. I think Bayern Munich shouldn't wish to face an easy team, they have to eliminate every rival they face to win the title. This year, many teams dropped in performance, including them, so they might pick this opportunity once they improve themselves.

So, if we talk about Bayern Munich, of course they will have an easy opponent in the round of 16 because Lazio this season they have really lost their best form in the domestic league. So Bayern with their best strength will be able to beat Lazio in the round of 16. There will be two meetings in the matches they play and I am sure Bayern Munich can secure these two matches by winning. Bayern Munich this season has quite a big mission in the Champions League because they have improved quite well so that their strength is really strong for this season.

Of course, this season final cannot be predicted because any surprises could happen like last season. I think either Bayern Munich or Manchester City will compete with all their best strength to reach the final this season. And for potential strong entrants like Barcelona, ​​they cannot be considered weak because Barcelona has a lot of experience in the Champions League.

It would not be the first time that Bayern Munich gets knocked out by a huge underdog. It is 1.5 years ago when Bayern Munich was playing against Villareal and everyone thought that this would be the easiest game ever for the Bavarians. But they lost the first game in the quarterfinals 1-0 and then they tied the second leg although it was a home game. If I had to compare Lazio and Villareal, I would say that they are about similar strength and Bayern should be warned exactly because of the experience they have made with Villareal

[liuka]

It would not be the first time that Bayern Munich gets knocked out by a huge underdog. It is 1.5 years ago when Bayern Munich was playing against Villareal and everyone thought that this would be the easiest game ever for the Bavarians. But they lost the first game in the quarterfinals 1-0 and then they tied the second leg although it was a home game. If I had to compare Lazio and Villareal, I would say that they are about similar strength and Bayern should be warned exactly because of the experience they have made with Villareal

Of course, you have to be careful about this because the team that is not the favorite can cause big difficulties for the team that is the favorite. I think Lazio cannot be considered weak because they performed quite well in the Champions League and they also have some quality players in their team. At least Tuchel must be able to pressure his players to score early to bring down his opponent's mentality.
But Bayern Munich are unbeaten in the Champions League this season so I think they are quite consistent in every match they play. Harry Kane is quite dangerous in front of the opponent's goal because he is very good at finding gaps to score goals, so if Lazio is able to stop Harry Kane movements, maybe Lazio will be able to give us a surprise.

[legendbtc]

I think that the level of the competition can also set free a lot of mental elements that otherwise may not contribute as much to the game of a team. Real Sociedad may not be one of the strongest teams in La Liga at the moment, but they are certainly not one of the weakest teams either. If they have most of their important players available for the games against PSG, I think that the game could go either way (or the two games in aggregate for that matter). PSG should have some advantage over them, but even if you say that PSG is a 60% favorite, there is still a lot of room left for Real Sociedad to be successful against them in the Champions League.

To be honest, I don't see any chance for Real Sociedad to beat PSG. They simply lack the strength to take on the superstars of PSG.

PSG has avoided most of Europe's elite clubs, including Bayern Munich, Manchester City, and Real Madrid. All are heavy opponents of the French champions, and if they meet these opponents, they can end their Champions League race early. They are lucky to only face Real Sociedad. Facing Real Sociedad is said to be "easy" in the 1/8 round of the Champions League, but Paris Saint-Germain still appears cautious and highly appreciates the opponent. No opponent is weak once entering Knock-out. Moreover, it is important to remember that Real Sociedad competes at the top of La Liga. This is an opponent that PSG needs to prepare carefully for. This year's PSG squad is not outstanding, as they only try to finish second in Group F.

[TelolettOm]

I think that the level of the competition can also set free a lot of mental elements that otherwise may not contribute as much to the game of a team. Real Sociedad may not be one of the strongest teams in La Liga at the moment, but they are certainly not one of the weakest teams either. If they have most of their important players available for the games against PSG, I think that the game could go either way (or the two games in aggregate for that matter). PSG should have some advantage over them, but even if you say that PSG is a 60% favorite, there is still a lot of room left for Real Sociedad to be successful against them in the Champions League.

Real Sociedad is one of the big teams in La Liga. They often finish the season in the top 6 of La Liga standings. I agree if we can't underestimate Real Sociedad because they have the capability to make a surprise. We know if the teams from La Liga isn't an easy team to be defeated. They often win international competitions like UCL and UEL. So, PSG must be careful to play against Real Sociedad in the upcoming match. Moreover, if Real Sociedad can play with full team. They have the potential to defeat PSG and qualify for the next round. However, I still trust PSG to win the match because they have more quality players.

[asriloni]

I think it is rather the exception than the rule that a team which is performing bad in the domestic league is one of the strongest teams in the Champions League. Yes I know that now some people will come up with examples, like Sevilla and how they won the Europa League last season when they were so bad in La Liga. But where is Sevilla now? They finished their Champions League group with 2 points out of 6 games and got destroyed in almost every game. There is a correlation between the overall performance of a team in the league and the other competitions, but yes there are exceptions of course.

Some teams have poor performance in domestic league but success with quit well performance in Champion League, difference with Sevilla performance in this season not only poor in La Liga but also failed and finish on bottom standings in Champion League group phase. But another teams Napoli have quit well performance in Champion League and success qualify to knock out round although with 2nd standings finish position but they have poor and inconsistency performance in domestic league.
I think domestic league and Champion League have difference atmosphere and some teams focus with quit well performance in Champion League but they have poor performance when playing in domestic league.

Napoli was playing in a pretty weak Champions League group and it was not surprising that an average performance would be enough for them to qualify for the knock out rounds in the Champions League. If you call their performance in the Champions League a quite good performance, I don't know but we do differ a lot in opinion here. Their performance was not that good, but good for them that there was no team which was really able to pose a threat to them. If they ended up in a more difficult group, they would have probably failed to qualify for the next round. This time it was a happy ending for them.

It's not really weak like you said above. Given that Napoli was competing against a team as strong as Real Madrid, it would be inappropriate to criticize their performance as weak. I have opposite opinion about that and it feels like napoli is declining after it has done all of matches in the group stage and qualify for the next stage. Napoli is not as good as last season but it can still compete to face barcelona soon. To put all of the players into the defensive line, the only thing that needs to be done by Mazzarri is to make the necessary adjustments. The club shall take counter attack as opportunity to beat barcelona.
Barcelona was a club that is focus into how to build more ball possession. If Napoli focuses on playing with a strong defensive strategy against Barcelona and utilizes effective parking of the bus, they can significantly increase their chances of beating them easily. Napoli's group considerably placed at the medium group.
It has real madrid as the main competitior and do you forget that if barcelona got easy group compared to the napoli? The way to beat barcelona to go through the fully defensive line like parking bus strategy.
It will be making barceloan frustrated with it. Barcelona is going to lose its concentration when the club was always trying to pressuring napoli.

[Bananington]

Arsenal

Arsenal need to improve their attack, and make sure to score as many goals as the opportunities as they create. If Arsenal gets a good striker in the transfer chance and get reinforcements in some other positions in the team, their chances of doing very well in the champions league round of 16 more than they did in the group stages will be higher. I see Roma coming to the champions league next season, I see Mourinho as someone with a plan, they look to be on that track already to achieve that with their current position on the table.