UEFA Champions League 2024/25 Season

[Jody.Drummer]

Real Madrid's injury list is piling up, and it's a damn problem. We're talking about a club with galactic expectations, playing in every competition imaginable. You can't run these guys into the ground. Ancelotti knows how to handle things. Managing this squad is only for the master. Mbappe's got the world on his shoulders, you can't burn him out before Christmas. The medical team needs to step up, too. This isn't just about fitness, it's about preventing these breakdowns

Nobody likes seeing their team on the back foot. But Real Madrid is built on resilience. They'll find a way. Ancelotti needs to be smart, the players need to be disciplined, and we, the fans, need to be patient

All clubs must have anticipated something like this, but what Real Madrid felt in my opinion was quite unlucky, because they felt something like this when the league had just started and also in their game they had not been able to fully find their best game, as evidenced by the 2 draws they felt from the 4 matches they had played.
As a coach, Ancelotti would definitely be very dizzy finding that many of his players were injured. He had to implement the second plan that he should have had from the start. The coach must have many plans, both regarding game strategy, the composition of players to be fielded (rotation), to players who can play in various positions. Last season, Ancelotti had rotated the positions of the players and it was quite successful and now he has to do more than that.

[Palakka]

Source: https://twitter.com/FabrizioRomano/status/1832029979556655133?t=0wPmU0edTer0ZW-tyi0KKA&s=19

At the beginning of this season, Real Madrid was really unlucky because the list of injuries to their players continued to grow, even though they still had some players they could rely on, but Carlo Anceloti still had to rearrange his strategy, especially since this season they would be busier than previous seasons. The players would experience fatigue and, perhaps, at worst, injury, so the coach had to be smart in rotating players so that they could continue to fight until the end.

Before the end of the summer transfer window, Real Madrid manager was asked if he was going to make any surprise signing but on two occasions, the Italian manager said he has complete squad and isn't gonna be making any further addition this summer but just one week after the end of the summer transfer window, but think the injury cases at the club is probably making him regret that decision. The good thing for Real Madrid is they have a very experienced manager in Carlo Ancelotti and I believe he'll be able to manage the team despite the current injury concerns.

It seems that this season Madrid will find few of its players on the bench considering the number of their players who are injured, the international break is a nightmare for Madrid at the moment even though they have prepared to return to the top of the standings and also face a busy schedule, what is happening to Madrid at the moment actually reminds me with Madrid rejection of FIFA and UEFA policies which were previously considered very detrimental to the club, busy schedule from national team which has to play, of course  will have a negative impact on the club, the injuries that have befallen Madrid at the moment will obviously disrupt their performance ahead of the match week 5 and also the Champions League is  played, I think what is happening to the Madrid squad at the moment is certainly beyond Ancelotti expectations who has indeed closed the possibility of an earlier transfer of players,  But even so, we can't blame Ancelotti because after all Madrid is still possible to try to rotate the injured player with some academy players later.

[bitgolden]

Last season he also experienced the same condition where there were several important players who were injured so they had to bring in several substitutes. But talking about the form of the game Real Madrid managed to give their best by winning several titles as targeted by Ancelotti. Currently the form of the game that has not been seen is more consistent and I think Ancelotti needs to see the position that is the problem so that he can improve it slowly.

Now their strength is also so complete where the front line is getting better than before but in terms of collective play it has not been seen perfectly. I am sure that slowly Ancelotti will be able to overcome the problem and they will return to their best form and may need time to perfect the problem.

Ancelotti plays a very simple game, he is not like Pep Guardiola, and because of that he will not have that much hard time adjusting any player at any position. Even with injuries, if you just take any player in the squad that can replace the injured ones, and put them in the game, they will automatically play the way they should be, there is no steep learning curve for the players.

In contrast, at Pep system you would have to train a lot and play a few games to get adjusted to how to play his system, it's both tiki-take like he used at Barcelona, but now he plays a bit more from the middle instead of from the wings compared to old days, and he is trying to not do gegenpress too much like he used to as well. Ancelotti has none of that, he just defends, and then passes out to fast wingers and strikers, that's it, end of story. They should be fine.

[emrecemsan]

That injury list is like a joke. Real Madrid is really unlucky with injuries for a long time.    They had the same problem in the previous season as well. That's why Ancelotti should have signed an extra defender this summer.

He just said that he was satisfied with the number of options he had in the area. I wonder what he is thinking about this now. I assume Carvajal will be Rüdiger's mate there temporarily. I hope this temporary time won't be too long. Otherwise I think Real Madrid would have even bigger problems in the Champions League. Even against smaller teams I mean. Teams with good counter-attack skills can catch them off their guard.

[Ndabagi01]

That injury list is like a joke. Real Madrid is really unlucky with injuries for a long time.    They had the same problem in the previous season as well. That's why Ancelotti should have signed an extra defender this summer.

He just said that he was satisfied with the number of options he had in the area. I wonder what he is thinking about this now. I assume Carvajal will be Rüdiger's mate there temporarily. I hope this temporary time won't be too long. Otherwise I think Real Madrid would have even bigger problems in the Champions League. Even against smaller teams I mean. Teams with good counter-attack skills can catch them off their guard.

The defense of every team is one of their strongest attributes in a match. If they’re lacking a good and strong defense, no matter how good they’re able to convert chances and score goals in the frontline, they will always concede goals and may cancel out the initial goals they’ve scored. Counter attack are a very strong vengeance on teams without good defense, they always fall back on their knees because the goals they scored cannot be protected by them till the end of the match because of the loophole in the defensive line. Real Madrid are a very competent team in the champions league, we may see their strength and what they’re capable of doing but when there is something of doubts, it may as well bring failure to them, so they should try and fix the problem in the defense also because of the effects it may have on them in the future in the champions league competitions.

[GiftedMAN]

The problem is that Mbappe hasn't arrived at Real Madrid for a long time so he may need some time to adjust himself to Real Madrid. Real Madrid already had quality players in the strike positions, but when Mbappe joined Real Madrid, Real Madrid had to make some changes to their attacking line-up. That's why Real Madrid's performance seems a bit random now, but it goes without saying that they will return to normal performance in a short time. The new season of Champions League is probably not started yet and I believe Real Madrid will perform very well when the Champions League matches start.

Even before mbappes arrival, the expectations where already so high that upon his arrival, some fans want to see trophies already (LOL) of which he actually did, his debut got them a trophy but again they needed to slow down a bit on the expectations because he's human and cannot at the same time meet up with all of that just already, it has to be a whole season long to finally pass a verdict on his entire performance so far or even at least till mid season then we could begin to feel if he's not been awesome or brilliant enough. Thw strike position that was filed with players already before mbappes arrival were mainly substituted strikers who aren't originally strikers but mbappe is a striker naturally and that's the big difference. Currently Madrid isn't got an absolute pattern just yet, but they have got a whole bulk of time to get that fixed.

High expectations for Mbappe I think are reasonable because Mbappe has very qualified qualities so that many people predict that Real Madrid's strength will increase after Mbappe's arrival, regardless of Real Madrid's performance not developing at the beginning of this season, I think everything still needs a process and at the beginning of the season we cannot measure the true strength of the team.

Real Madrid is the team that has won the most CL, in terms of quality they are also quite good so they are favored and the fans have high expectations not only because of Mbappe's arrival, it is like that every season, and I think that's normal.

I think the high expectations that is placed on Mbappé is the reasons why most people become disappointed when the Real Madrid team find it difficult to win their first league match, Mbappe may have all the good qualities as a professional player and a good goal scorer but it still takes a player with an extra ordinary talent and luck to adapt quickly to the performance of a new team when one is transferred from one team that he is familiar with to a different team and that was the reason behind the poor performance of Mbappe it even affected the Real Madrid team because the coach is trying to adjust his tactics to align with the presence of the new striker Mbappe.

Real Madrid is the king of the champions League as they have repeatedly won the competition back to back more that any other team, as expected the arrival of Mbappe will boost the confidence and strength of the team and as we all know Mbappe is experienced in the champions league so we expect the Real Madrid team to be among the finalist this season.

[hahay]

That injury list is like a joke. Real Madrid is really unlucky with injuries for a long time.    They had the same problem in the previous season as well. That's why Ancelotti should have signed an extra defender this summer.

He just said that he was satisfied with the number of options he had in the area. I wonder what he is thinking about this now. I assume Carvajal will be Rüdiger's mate there temporarily. I hope this temporary time won't be too long. Otherwise I think Real Madrid would have even bigger problems in the Champions League. Even against smaller teams I mean. Teams with good counter-attack skills can catch them off their guard.

With many of Real Madrid's main players injured and a poor start to the season in La Liga, it could be a factor in the team's difficult task to play well in the Champions League. Moreover, with the new format and the more demanding schedule, despite Ancelotti's efforts to keep the team consistent by maximizing the rotation of players, but it still seems that Real Madrid this season does not have as good a chance as the previous season in the Champions League.

Thus, the opportunity to fail will be something that might be worried for Mbappe too because joining Real Madrid is at least to make Mbappe easy to get the Champions League trophy. But anyway, the reality remains a difficult task considering many of the main players were injured earlier this season. But, ofcourse, they can also recover so perhaps Real Madrid will still be able to rise, and will still be a serious threat to other teams.

[imamusma]

That injury list is like a joke. Real Madrid is really unlucky with injuries for a long time.    They had the same problem in the previous season as well. That's why Ancelotti should have signed an extra defender this summer.

He just said that he was satisfied with the number of options he had in the area. I wonder what he is thinking about this now. I assume Carvajal will be Rüdiger's mate there temporarily. I hope this temporary time won't be too long. Otherwise I think Real Madrid would have even bigger problems in the Champions League. Even against smaller teams I mean. Teams with good counter-attack skills can catch them off their guard.

This storm of injuries is beyond prediction, Real Madrid lost most of its defenders, Ancelotti is certainly very dizzy with this situation.

1. David Alaba

2. Dani Ceballos

3. Jude Bellingham

4. Eduardo Camavinga

5. Jesus Vallejo

6. Aurelien Tchouameni

7. Eder Militao

8. Ferland Mendy

With different recovery periods, the absence of a number of these players has the potential to disrupt Real Madrid's performance in the future, on the one hand this looks very worrying.

Source: - https://www.transfermarkt.com/real-madrid/sperrenundverletzungen/verein/418
            - https://www.espn.com/soccer/story/_/id/41138323/real-madrid-militao-brazil-camp-injury

[Unknown01]

This storm of injuries is beyond prediction, Real Madrid lost most of its defenders, Ancelotti is certainly very dizzy with this situation.

1. David Alaba

2. Dani Ceballos

3. Jude Bellingham

4. Eduardo Camavinga

5. Jesus Vallejo

6. Aurelien Tchouameni

7. Eder Militao

8. Ferland Mendy

With different recovery periods, the absence of a number of these players has the potential to disrupt Real Madrid's performance in the future, on the one hand this looks very worrying.

Source: - https://www.transfermarkt.com/real-madrid/sperrenundverletzungen/verein/418
            - https://www.espn.com/soccer/story/_/id/41138323/real-madrid-militao-brazil-camp-injury

Many of the names you list have been missing for a long time and Real have played very good football without these players. Alaba, for example, has been missing for more than half a year and Camavinga has been missing since the start of the season.

Bellingham and Militao will probably be ready to play again in 1-2 weeks according to Real's team doctors and these are the ones who have only recently been injured and could have a negative impact. The other players listed have been missing for some time or are easily replaceable.

[len01]

That injury list is like a joke. Real Madrid is really unlucky with injuries for a long time.    They had the same problem in the previous season as well. That's why Ancelotti should have signed an extra defender this summer.

He just said that he was satisfied with the number of options he had in the area. I wonder what he is thinking about this now. I assume Carvajal will be Rüdiger's mate there temporarily. I hope this temporary time won't be too long. Otherwise I think Real Madrid would have even bigger problems in the Champions League. Even against smaller teams I mean. Teams with good counter-attack skills can catch them off their guard.

With many of Real Madrid's main players injured and a poor start to the season in La Liga, it could be a factor in the team's difficult task to play well in the Champions League. Moreover, with the new format and the more demanding schedule, despite Ancelotti's efforts to keep the team consistent by maximizing the rotation of players, but it still seems that Real Madrid this season does not have as good a chance as the previous season in the Champions League.

Thus, the opportunity to fail will be something that might be worried for Mbappe too because joining Real Madrid is at least to make Mbappe easy to get the Champions League trophy. But anyway, the reality remains a difficult task considering many of the main players were injured earlier this season. But, ofcourse, they can also recover so perhaps Real Madrid will still be able to rise, and will still be a serious threat to other teams.

Sometimes we just worry too much before seeing the performance. I understand anyone who is worried about Madrid performance in the UCL right now who must have injury problems. But we also have to remember that Ancelotti has a very complete squad and on the one hand in the attack line we don't need to worry because I'm sure Mbappe and Vinic can work together to maintain their position in the standings. Ancelotti only needs a little time to have a way to strengthen the defense line which is currently a concern for most fans. Madrid still has second string players and this can be used if they really don't have any other alternatives.

[rahmad2nd]

~~

Real Madrid's injury list is piling up, and it's a damn problem. We're talking about a club with galactic expectations, playing in every competition imaginable. You can't run these guys into the ground. Ancelotti knows how to handle things. Managing this squad is only for the master. Mbappe's got the world on his shoulders, you can't burn him out before Christmas. The medical team needs to step up, too. This isn't just about fitness, it's about preventing these breakdowns

Nobody likes seeing their team on the back foot. But Real Madrid is built on resilience. They'll find a way. Ancelotti needs to be smart, the players need to be disciplined, and we, the fans, need to be patient

Based on my assessment, the most vulnerable is Real Madrid's defense line. with a tight schedule, the players will be drained of energy in every competition. moreover, Real Madrid did not bring in a defender in this summer's transfer window. at least, before the players recover from their injuries, Ancelotti must be smart in rotating his players, especially the defense line. as for some of Madrid's midfielders, they will recover at least faster than the others. Camavinga's presence will be highly anticipated after he recovers from his injury, because he can fill in or be rotated into a wing-back. while Bellingham, he is still absent at least until the end of this month. "if referring to the screenshot above". well, Don Carlo will actually work around the situation that occurs in his team's squad. maybe we will see Ancelotti rotate some of his players, or maybe he will change the pattern that he applies for the upcoming matches. anyway, this competition will start soon and I'm really looking forward to it.

[coinlocket$]

1 week away,

Big diference with the past.

the 1st turn will be played in 3 days

Tuesday 17th September
BSC Young Boys Bern 17:45 Aston Villa
Juventus 17:45 PSV Eindhoven
AC Milan 20:00 Liverpool
Bayern Munich 20:00 Dinamo Zagreb
Real Madrid 20:00 Stuttgart
Sporting Lisbon 20:00 Lille

Wednesday 18th September
Bologna 17:45 Shakhtar Donetsk
Sparta Prague 17:45 Red Bull Salzburg
Celtic 20:00 SK Slovan Bratislava
Club Brugge 20:00 Borussia Dortmund
Manchester City 20:00 Inter Milan
Paris Saint-Germain 20:00 Girona

Thursday 19th September
Crvena Zvezda 17:45 Benfica
Feyenoord 17:45 Bayer Leverkusen
Atalanta 20:00 Arsenal
Atletico Madrid 20:00 RB Leipzig
Brest 20:00 Sturm Graz
Monaco 20:00 Barcelona

Source_ https://www.skysports.com/champions-league-fixtures

They are using a lot of the idea of the "dead" superleague, but this is on copied poorly.

[Egii Nna]

Real Madrid's injury list is piling up, and it's a damn problem. We're talking about a club with galactic expectations, playing in every competition imaginable. You can't run these guys into the ground. Ancelotti knows how to handle things. Managing this squad is only for the master. Mbappe's got the world on his shoulders, you can't burn him out before Christmas. The medical team needs to step up, too. This isn't just about fitness, it's about preventing these breakdowns

Nobody likes seeing their team on the back foot. But Real Madrid is built on resilience. They'll find a way. Ancelotti needs to be smart, the players need to be disciplined, and we, the fans, need to be patient

All clubs must have anticipated something like this, but what Real Madrid felt in my opinion was quite unlucky, because they felt something like this when the league had just started and also in their game they had not been able to fully find their best game, as evidenced by the 2 draws they felt from the 4 matches they had played.
As a coach, Ancelotti would definitely be very dizzy finding that many of his players were injured. He had to implement the second plan that he should have had from the start. The coach must have many plans, both regarding game strategy, the composition of players to be fielded (rotation), to players who can play in various positions. Last season, Ancelotti had rotated the positions of the players and it was quite successful and now he has to do more than that.

Exactly that rotation of last year that Ancelotti did was successful for them, but we don’t know what he is trying to do in this situation where almost half of the players are on injury, but we all know that Ancelotti will always have a plan for that because we expect to see Real Madrid do more than they are doing now to be sincere. Real Madrid performance is not easy for them, and it will not be a good deal for them because in 4 games to win only 2 for the start of the season, it is not a good start for them as we have expected because I personally have more hope on them to go more than this in this season, but I know it will soon be well, and Ancelotti will set everything up with time.

[GxSTxV]

To remind you guys this season in champions league, we have a small change compared to the previous seasons, and here is a small explanation from an article

“This will be the first season under a new format, with 36 participating teams that in the league phase plays eight games each against different opponents, but all the teams are ranked in a joint group. This will increase the total number of matches played in the competition proper from 125 to 189.”
Source: wikipedia

Even though I’m sure about the teams we use to see in this competition will stay always present in the advanced phases, due to their high level compared to other league, when we compere between Spanish teams or Finland or Wales, even lower than that. However, it’s stays as a chance for some players to shine and make their road into better teams, knowing they will play against strong teams followed by a huge community of football fans.

[reefsea]

It seems that this season Madrid will find few of its players on the bench considering the number of their players who are injured, the international break is a nightmare for Madrid at the moment even though they have prepared to return to the top of the standings and also face a busy schedule, what is happening to Madrid at the moment actually reminds me with Madrid rejection of FIFA and UEFA policies which were previously considered very detrimental to the club, busy schedule from national team which has to play, of course  will have a negative impact on the club, the injuries that have befallen Madrid at the moment will obviously disrupt their performance ahead of the match week 5 and also the Champions League is  played, I think what is happening to the Madrid squad at the moment is certainly beyond Ancelotti expectations who has indeed closed the possibility of an earlier transfer of players,  But even so, we can't blame Ancelotti because after all Madrid is still possible to try to rotate the injured player with some academy players later.

Yes, it's a big loss for Real Madrid because they need to find wins and wins, but in other words, many players are injured which could affect their performance in the next few matches. Like Bellingham, who is reportedly ready to return to the team this month and I think that's good news because he is so needed by the team right now.

Indeed, Ancelotti is a coach who is full of experience in how to rotate players when he has to choose other players who are ready to make a lot of contributions when his main players are absent. I think there is a lot of work that Ancelotti has to think about, especially they have to be able to maintain their good performance in the domestic league and will also prepare their strength when playing in the Champions League. Injuries are indeed unwanted things, but this is where the coach's expertise is needed.

[fuguebtc]

snip

IMO, in terms of play, Manchester City is almost always consistent when playing in the UCL. If we flashback to the quarter-finals when these two teams met last season, in the two meetings Man City always dominated and controlled the course of the match. Unfortunately, at that time City had to be eliminated. This season City is still a strong team, they are one of the potential challengers in this competition to win the championship trophy. Same as Real Madrid, which has a very competitive team. It's just that Don Carlo did not strengthen the depth of his defenders. Personally, their defense can have an impact when meeting a strong opponent.

So is Real Madrid's midfielder, although in terms of players they are great midfielders. However, without Kroos for now it has quite an impact even though Madrid will be able to condition him. If I have to try to speculate based on personal assumptions, especially if these two teams are brought together again, whether it's in a crucial round phase. For now, I still say that Man City will be more dominant and control the course of the match when they meet Madrid. However, no matter which team wins, it is worth watching because it will definitely be exciting.  By the way, the competition hasn't even started yet and let's wait and see.

I agree - Manchester City is a really exciting team and they can control matches like no other. Real Madrid does not look good on paper right now, but they do turn into beasts every time they play in the UEFA Champions League , and that is something you can always bet on.

But the way Pep has developed the Manchester City team is insane, the team has every quality you can possibly look for. I think Pep's time at Manchester City is nearing an end, which leads to the fact that he might try to give this season a story like "one last time" - where he goes for all the glory, like a last ride.

We might see on the knockout stages of the UCL, where we see City facing Real Madrid once again, and this calls for a great show every single time. Pep's tactical masterclass against Carlo's insane magic of using individual brilliance and short moments of magic just does wonders to the game.

[Velvet78]

Milan - Liverpool and Manchester City - Inter games are the ones that attract my attention the most on the first match week.  

The first one reminds me of a very old rivalry.    Those great times for both sides... Milan had an amazing squad and Liverpool were also very strong. That Champions League finale is unforgettable. Now they face each other again. Because of not seeing Milan good enough, I think Liverpool will win this away game.

For the latter, I see a Manchester City win at Etihad like most people. Inter are really strong so I don't think they will lose by a big goal gap. But I still don't expect them to steal any point.

[KTChampions]

1 week away,

Big diference with the past.

the 1st turn will be played in 3 days

Tuesday 17th September
BSC Young Boys Bern 17:45 Aston Villa
Juventus 17:45 PSV Eindhoven
AC Milan 20:00 Liverpool
Bayern Munich 20:00 Dinamo Zagreb
Real Madrid 20:00 Stuttgart
Sporting Lisbon 20:00 Lille

Wednesday 18th September
Bologna 17:45 Shakhtar Donetsk
Sparta Prague 17:45 Red Bull Salzburg
Celtic 20:00 SK Slovan Bratislava
Club Brugge 20:00 Borussia Dortmund
Manchester City 20:00 Inter Milan
Paris Saint-Germain 20:00 Girona

Thursday 19th September
Crvena Zvezda 17:45 Benfica
Feyenoord 17:45 Bayer Leverkusen
Atalanta 20:00 Arsenal
Atletico Madrid 20:00 RB Leipzig
Brest 20:00 Sturm Graz
Monaco 20:00 Barcelona

Source_ https://www.skysports.com/champions-league-fixtures

They are using a lot of the idea of the "dead" superleague, but this is on copied poorly.

This is really a poor imitation of the Super League. Of all 18 games, only 3 (I highlighted them) can be called top games and in addition, you can find 3-4 games that are of interest. The rest will be interesting only to fans of the playing clubs. In total, out of 18 games, only 6-7 are watchable - and this is with the optimistic assumption that the new format will not kill the irreconcilability of the confrontations, since this is the group stage and the value of the games is very low. The only improvement is three matchdays instead of two, but that could also be a problem as the Europa League and Conference League will have no spectators at all.

[Weawant]

Sometimes we just worry too much before seeing the performance. I understand anyone who is worried about Madrid performance in the UCL right now who must have injury problems. But we also have to remember that Ancelotti has a very complete squad and on the one hand in the attack line we don't need to worry because I'm sure Mbappe and Vinic can work together to maintain their position in the standings. Ancelotti only needs a little time to have a way to strengthen the defense line which is currently a concern for most fans. Madrid still has second string players and this can be used if they really don't have any other alternatives.

The synergy between mbappe and vinicius is another thing that Ancelotti is yet to completely tackle a s fix and now he's got piles of injuries to handle, putting all together, he's got a whole lot to handle which is why most persons are already panicking about their champions league performance because I know that as human that he is, it's enough to put some pressure on him so he  may get some hitches on the way trying to get all of this fixed.  Talking about time, he needs some time to get things back afloat and he's got the time as currently he's got from now till almost mid season a d for champions league there's still few weeks ahead to kick off, I'm trusting him and aswell keeping a good level of optimism for Madrid.

[nelson4lov]

This is really a poor imitation of the Super League. Of all 18 games, only 3 (I highlighted them) can be called top games and in addition, you can find 3-4 games that are of interest. The rest will be interesting only to fans of the playing clubs. In total, out of 18 games, only 6-7 are watchable - and this is with the optimistic assumption that the new format will not kill the irreconcilability of the confrontations, since this is the group stage and the value of the games is very low. The only improvement is three matchdays instead of two, but that could also be a problem as the Europa League and Conference League will have no spectators at all.

The only good thing I've seen about this new UCL format so far is the fact that you can even get to see an early UCL final clash at this league phase. Liverpool will be playing some of the best teams in the champions league this season and majority of this would be in the league phase if at all they don't go on to qualify for the knockout rounds. Even that itself is a negative because smaller teams are stacked up against each other while the big teams face off to eliminate each other. It might be the case that we would have majority of the biggest teams out of the tournament before knockout stages.