UEFA Champions League 2026/27 Season

[Cyber_warrior]

I think it is possible that mentally, PSG players are better at penalty shootouts. They won the Champions League trophy last season, and when they faced a deadlock against Arsenal, they eventually managed to equalize. That makes me think the players' mentality is better than Arsenal's players in penalty shootouts.

I agree with your point on this, penalty shootouts, tacticality and attack are the best features of psg but for arsenal they have only defense as their ultimate game play, they are not good at goal scoring and penality shootouts compared to psg. Now that arsenal are in form they need to start working on themselves because if they don't improve they might not have the same opportunity again for the long time.

Well after that shootout I said to myself that arsenal did not prepare for penalty, which is feel should be part of their plan since they were planning to play like underdog in they game. They really did well in defending and messed it all up at the shootout, for me I was not expecting Gabriel to take a shoot that ealry, maybe after the first five. Well it all in the past now and a good sportsman will be preparing for another campaign already.
Arsenal have shown that they have what it takes to challenge at the highest level now they just need to build on that and try to be more challenging when they are in that position anytime again.

[pewboy]

Ball possession doesn't speak much. What gave PSG their chance of getting a penalty was the chances the created with their attacking force. A team can have possession and end up not creating chance that will give them advantage. If Arsenal were careful enough with their marking tactics they would have won with a clean sheet even when the ball possession wasn't in their favour. Attack is what matters most not even ball possession.

Of course, the more you push forward, the more you push, sooner or later pressing into the opponent's defense or you make a hole or they simply make a mistake and get a foul.
In my opinion, this happens when you put a lot of pressure on the defense, like any good self-respecting attack, i dare say.

[bitLeap]

Having much of the ball is not that important if you are not making proper use of it, because in that finals PSG where by far the dominance team in possession, but they struggle to break into the defense of arsenal in the whole 120minutes, so the possession statistics were useless, because if not for the penalty that they won and eventually scored in the process, arsenal would have shut them out even though they had 75% of the ball comparing to arsenal 25%. So what am trying to say is that if you can't make proper use of it, then it's useless.

Effective ball possession is enhanced by scoring goals, but if you only have possession and struggle to penetrate the opponent's defense, it's nothing special and can still be considered a failure. In football, the key is to score goals and win. Even if your team has limited possession but manages to capitalize on several chances and score, that's better than having possession without scoring.

[Accardo]

Of course, the more you push forward, the more you push, sooner or later pressing into the opponent's defense or you make a hole or they simply make a mistake and get a foul.
In my opinion, this happens when you put a lot of pressure on the defense, like any good self-respecting attack, i dare say.

The Penalty foul aside, Arsenal wouldn't have defeated PSG, the odds was against them from all angle, PSG was sure of scoring Arsenal in the second half, the only thing is that the goal came through a penalty. That is why spectators would assume that the Paris side was lucky.

[Webutxo]

Of course, the more you push forward, the more you push, sooner or later pressing into the opponent's defense or you make a hole or they simply make a mistake and get a foul.
In my opinion, this happens when you put a lot of pressure on the defense, like any good self-respecting attack, i dare say.

The Penalty foul aside, Arsenal wouldn't have defeated PSG, the odds was against them from all angle, PSG was sure of scoring Arsenal in the second half, the only thing is that the goal came through a penalty. That is why spectators would assume that the Paris side was lucky.

Never say never please, when Arsenal scored the first goal, didn't you see how cold the stadium became? The pressure when to PSG and that was Arsenal plan from the beginning, to distrupt PSG and weaken them but one mistake from Arsenal changes everything. If PSG was that grounded from the beginning of that match, don't you think the would have added another goal after the penalty but they went on to extra time and never score any goal again.

The conclusion of that game is that anyone could have made mistake in the penalty, even the greatest players makes mistake during penalty and that was what happen to Eze and Gabriel. I bet if they are told to go back in time, they would have preferred to scored in normal time than wait until the match reach the penalty time. Sometimes, what you see in the final match is more of luck than even the performance players out together.

[sotelorene]

Having much of the ball is not that important if you are not making proper use of it, because in that finals PSG where by far the dominance team in possession, but they struggle to break into the defense of arsenal in the whole 120minutes, so the possession statistics were useless, because if not for the penalty that they won and eventually scored in the process, arsenal would have shut them out even though they had 75% of the ball comparing to arsenal 25%. So what am trying to say is that if you can't make proper use of it, then it's useless.

Effective ball possession is enhanced by scoring goals, but if you only have possession and struggle to penetrate the opponent's defense, it's nothing special and can still be considered a failure. In football, the key is to score goals and win. Even if your team has limited possession but manages to capitalize on several chances and score, that's better than having possession without scoring.

You are absolutely correct because at the end what really matters is the people that won because no one will come and  be asking who possesses more in the game because it is really pointless and needless to have 100 percent possession without winning. Paris saint germain possession would have been a waste if they did not score in that finals, but i think Arsenal would have won the finals if it was Barcelona because the kind of pressure paris saint germain exerted on Arsenal i do not think Barcelona would have done that and they don't mind taking red card.

[Dunamisx]

Effective ball possession is enhanced by scoring goals, but if you only have possession and struggle to penetrate the opponent's defense, it's nothing special and can still be considered a failure. In football, the key is to score goals and win. Even if your team has limited possession but manages to capitalize on several chances and score, that's better than having possession without scoring.

In football, it is not about how you struggle to play or strategize your moves, but what comes out of all the necessary formation that has been set in place that you are able to secure a goal for your team, it is good to have a good position because it shows that you are in charge as at that moment and it is also important that not only the position is needed here, but having the ability to penetrate as it has been mentioned so as to score a goal.

Taking the just concluded UEFA champions League from the battle between PSG and Arsenal has Arsenal was known to be defensive while PSG was making full attacking, but PSG lack one thing, which is the ability to penetrate, so in football there are many things to consider when it comes to playing your tactics and also being able to end up achieving your desire desperation or goal using that same approach.

[davis196]

Football is a game of mistakes and goals, not ball possession and other statistical data. Sometimes a team can have 70% ball possession and still lose the game. Ball possession allows the dominating team to create more goal opportunities and to prevent the opponent from creating goal opportunities. This is the theoretical part, but reality hits different. If that Georgian player with the complex name was blocked before entering inside the penalty area the result probably would've remained 1-0 for Arsenal and the defensive strategy of Mikel Arteta would've been successful.
One mistake changes everything. Arsenal's players weren't ready for the penalty shootout on a psychological level.

[Byebyebtc]

I wouldn’t say Mbappé was a barrier preventing PSG from winning the Champions League. PSG consistently made deep runs in the knockout stages, reaching both the final and the semi-finals. They just lacked that little bit of edge to go all the way, and that's not something you can pin on a single player. Besides, PSG have been dominating Ligue 1 for years, which shows the club is in great shape, so there's no way Mbappé alone was holding the team back from achieving success.

From the few matches and highlights I got to watch about PSG when mbappe was in the team, I can tell you that his performance was poor as a striker he got assist he wasted especially when Messi was always in the team.
And you demand alot from your striker if you want to get to win a trophy, so I do believe he played a major role in limiting PSG from getting a champions league trophy, especially in a team where Neymar and Messi was present, it's definitely worth winning the champions league

[cande86]

Ball possession is also very important if used well,
PSG had ball possession trough out the match that made them have chances to get a penalty, ball possession also makes the opponent have a lower probability of getting a win

it must be said that Arsenal, despite having had little possession of the ball, managed to do well despite everything, and take Paris Saint-Germain to penalties, i believe that this is also part of the tactics of the gunners who concentrated on defending then in the last part of the match, however they were really good.

[Lida93]

I think it is possible that mentally, PSG players are better at penalty shootouts. They won the Champions League trophy last season, and when they faced a deadlock against Arsenal, they eventually managed to equalize. That makes me think the players' mentality is better than Arsenal's players in penalty shootouts.

I agree with your point on this, penalty shootouts, tacticality and attack are the best features of psg but for arsenal they have only defense as their ultimate game play, they are not good at goal scoring and penality shootouts compared to psg. Now that arsenal are in form they need to start working on themselves because if they don't improve they might not have the same opportunity again for the long time.

Penalty shootout is an entirely a different ball game when it comes to football matches, it has a different mental approach but saying the PSG side is more mentally superior or better than the Arsenal is somewhat absurd because there is no team in the world that can boast of penalty shootout prowess, there is no team on earth that we can say are very good with penalties, we can discuss other qualities of different teams but not penalty shootout.

[Accardo]

Never say never please, when Arsenal scored the first goal, didn't you see how cold the stadium became? The pressure when to PSG and that was Arsenal plan from the beginning, to distrupt PSG and weaken them but one mistake from Arsenal changes everything. If PSG was that grounded from the beginning of that match, don't you think the would have added another goal after the penalty but they went on to extra time and never score any goal again.

If you paid attention to the first goal by Havertz, you'd notice it was a deflective ball, never was it recorded a structural move of the Arsenal players, it deflected from the midfield, when Marquinhos wanted to clear the ball off the mid field, and the ball hit on Trossards shoulders or face, I guess, then landed on Havertz feet, an opportunity he can't miss out on, when all psg players was already in the front. PSG on the other hand, consists of players who would feel the effect of being a goal down in a final game, it's normal for those cold chills to spatter around their body and that of their fans, which they fought back and forth down to the second half to balance not only the game, but their tempo

Arsenal was good indeed, but you'd notice how well their defense was penetrated after the equalization, when Arsenal started attacking to score another leading goal. That was when the match balance, and on that ground, Arsenal wouldn't win PSG, had they came out to attack from the onset, PSG will net in more goals.

[SilverCryptoBullet]

If you paid attention to the first goal by Havertz, you'd notice it was a deflective ball, never was it recorded a structural move of the Arsenal players, it deflected from the midfield, when Marquinhos wanted to clear the ball off the mid field, and the ball hit on Trossards shoulders or face, I guess, then landed on Havertz feet, an opportunity he can't miss out on, when all psg players was already in the front.

Arsenal planed for counter attacks and they did it perfectly in that situation but Marquinhos actually made a severe mistake but it's not his first time. Through his career in PSG, in big matches in UEFA Champions League, Marquinhos made several mistakes that cost his team conceded goals. In big and knock out matches, such mistakes are terrible and such conceded goals can change results entirely.

I have never considered Marquinhos as a reliable central defender but somehow he has gotten a main position in PSG defense system in many years and also their captain. In World Cup 2026, Marquinhos can be a weakness in Brazil national team's defense system that can be exploited by strong competitors.

[SatoPrincess]

Erling Haaland's style of football will make it difficult for him to adapt to Real Madrid's playing pattern. He's a sharp and lethal striker, no doubt but he is more prolific when he's getting all the passes in the final third. Real Madrid style of play forces you as a striker to sit deep sometimes, create chances with your moves and score. Haaland doesn't move that way, he just wants to collect the ball and hit it home, that's why I don't think he'll succeed as a Madrid player.

Coupled with the selfish play between Mbappe and Vinicious, Haaland will have a hard time there, but with the right collaboration, which is almost impossible those two can't be doing the dirty jobs for Haaland like Semenyo do for him in city, Haaland will make more goals in a set up that allows Mbappe to swallow his pride and ego and pass games for him to finish, he hardly miss his super kicks.

You said a couple of posts ago that you believe Haaland will do well at Real Madrid alongside Mbappe and Vinicius. Now you’re saying the opposite, you’ve got to pick a side. IMO, for Haaland to succeed at Madrid, they would need to sell Mbappe or Vini, secondly Haaland will have learn to track back more often and tackle for balls. His days of being spoon-fed are over.

[Frankolala]

Having much of the ball is not that important if you are not making proper use of it, because in that finals PSG where by far the dominance team in possession, but they struggle to break into the defense of arsenal in the whole 120minutes, so the possession statistics were useless, because if not for the penalty that they won and eventually scored in the process, arsenal would have shut them out even though they had 75% of the ball comparing to arsenal 25%. So what am trying to say is that if you can't make proper use of it, then it's useless.

Effective ball possession is enhanced by scoring goals, but if you only have possession and struggle to penetrate the opponent's defense, it's nothing special and can still be considered a failure. In football, the key is to score goals and win. Even if your team has limited possession but manages to capitalize on several chances and score, that's better than having possession without scoring.

The winner in football is being judged by how many goals that the teams scored each. The team with the highest goals win the game. No matter how poor is the team performance if that team can score more goals than the team winning possession, they will become the winner. Ball possession is good but not as good as a goal. Running round the field with the ball changes nothing in the scoreline.

[Razmirraz]

Snip.

From the few matches and highlights I got to watch about PSG when mbappe was in the team, I can tell you that his performance was poor as a striker he got assist he wasted especially when Messi was always in the team.
And you demand alot from your striker if you want to get to win a trophy, so I do believe he played a major role in limiting PSG from getting a champions league trophy, especially in a team where Neymar and Messi was present, it's definitely worth winning the champions league

Statistics show that Mbappé is PSG' all-time top scorer and the player with the highest goal contribution ratio in Europe. However, the failure of Mbappé, Messi, and Neymar to lead PSG to victory in the Champions League remains a debate that has not yet found a solution. At that time, almost all football fans thought that PSG star-studded squad would lead to prestigious trophies in Europe, but in reality, PSG actually reached the highest level when the trio moved to other clubs.
Perhaps due to the lack of tactical and defensive balance when the three played together, PSG always failed to compete with other teams, now with Luis Enrique, PSG is much stronger than before. The coach's ability also greatly influences the team's success. Perhaps if PSG had been managed by Luis Enrique at that time, he might have released one of the three players to maintain balance, which is in line with what Guardiola did when he released Ronaldinho to Milan.

[Accardo]

You said a couple of posts ago that you believe Haaland will do well at Real Madrid alongside Mbappe and Vinicius. Now you’re saying the opposite, you’ve got to pick a side. IMO, for Haaland to succeed at Madrid, they would need to sell Mbappe or Vini, secondly Haaland will have learn to track back more often and tackle for balls. His days of being spoon-fed are over.

Go through the response again and notice nothing changed from what I said previously about Haaland doing well in Madrid, just to fit the context of the other user who mentioned that Real Madrid work differently in the sense that Haaland would have to work for his ball, which I countered by saying that he'd have a hard time doing that, as he's not a hustling striker, meaning he'd only do well in Madrid if Vini and Mbappe do the dirty jobs and pass to him without drippling too much. I hope you get it now.

[GiftedMAN]

Of course, the more you push forward, the more you push, sooner or later pressing into the opponent's defense or you make a hole or they simply make a mistake and get a foul.
In my opinion, this happens when you put a lot of pressure on the defense, like any good self-respecting attack, i dare say.

The Penalty foul aside, Arsenal wouldn't have defeated PSG, the odds was against them from all angle, PSG was sure of scoring Arsenal in the second half, the only thing is that the goal came through a penalty. That is why spectators would assume that the Paris side was lucky.

It seems you're undermining Arsenal despite their defensive records of the just concluded season. Paris Saint Germaine is a high scoring team, we saw how many goals they scored in each of their games in the knockout stages but couldn't manage to score from open play against Arsenal. If they had not gotten that penalty, I think the game would've finished in victory for the North London club.

[Agbam]

Erling Haaland's style of football will make it difficult for him to adapt to Real Madrid's playing pattern. He's a sharp and lethal striker, no doubt but he is more prolific when he's getting all the passes in the final third. Real Madrid style of play forces you as a striker to sit deep sometimes, create chances with your moves and score. Haaland doesn't move that way, he just wants to collect the ball and hit it home, that's why I don't think he'll succeed as a Madrid player.

I don't think so, in the football modern right now many top players easily adapting well exactly for Erling Haaland have to play with many difference team from Salzburg, Dortmund and previous club Manchester City. I think if reach agreement deal moving to Real Madrid he can adapt well with new tactical under Jose Mourinho but likely difficult agreement deal reach after Florentino Perez winning the election yesterday.

UEFA not releasing yet the schedule for Champion League playoff round match however have few slot left for the team will fight trough this way, I hope next season Champion League show us most interested matches and have other team qualify to higher round. Manchester United will play for the first time in Champion League after using new format and last participants old format have eliminated at group stage.

Erling Haaland is a prolific striker irrespective of the team he’s playing and his style of play has nothing to do with the team or if he’s getting all the balls in the final third. He’s a predator striker a proper no.9. Look at his numbers from his former clubs and for country it has nothing to do with who he’s playing with he delivers as is expected of him.

If he eventually goes to Madrid he’ll succeed but right now Madrid don’t need him, him going to Madrid will mean that either of Vinicius Jnr or Kylian Mbappe will have to leave. Madrid are not showing signs of parting with any of these boys. So that’s not a topic for discussion.
Erling Braut Haaland is ruthless finisher and an exceptional striker any day any where.

[Inwestour]

You said a couple of posts ago that you believe Haaland will do well at Real Madrid alongside Mbappe and Vinicius. Now you’re saying the opposite, you’ve got to pick a side. IMO, for Haaland to succeed at Madrid, they would need to sell Mbappe or Vini, secondly Haaland will have learn to track back more often and tackle for balls. His days of being spoon-fed are over.

I don't think City will want to let Haaland leave. Enzo Maresca will definitely want to keep the team that Guardiola built. He was not brought in to rebuild everything from. I think that, at least initially, the squad and the work that Guardiola has already done will be more than enough for him. As for Mbappé, there have been many rumors that he has poor relationships with several players in the Real Madrid dressing room. So, if Mourinho is unable to improve the relationships between the players, I suppose that Mbappé could even change club. Although, to be honest, I don't see any real signs pointing in that direction at the moment.