Champions League

[serghei]

Agree about Pool and Bayern. Dortmund and City lack the fortitude at Camp Nou IMO. Of course, it doesn't matter which of these 4 we play if the return leg is the away one. That's a guaranteed choke with these seniors.

You can't always count on the magic on Camp Nou, while year after year you show no progress and you are only deteriorating as a team.

Really depends who gets through. Can definitely see PSG, Liverpool, Juve advancing despite losing first leg. Spurs too, but we’d beat them comfortably.

I think PSG are going out. Leipzig is a really dangerous team. We haven't played a KO round away game of the quality Leipzig played in England the other week in about 3-4 years.

 

[mc_lovin]

I'd say we're probably 6th or 7th favorite of the 8 teams that will probably play in the quarters.

Bayern, Atletico/Liverpool, City, Leipzig, Dortmund, Barcelona, Juventus/Lyon, Atalanta.

It's close between first three.

I would have a very good feeling against Dortmund, we completely outclassed them at Camp Nou. Their forward line is great, but other than that we are far better. Atletico is not better than us as well, it would be close, low scoring games decided by a few moments. Classic 50/50. No idea about Leipzig, but I dont think they are in any way above us.

City/Bayern and potentially Liverpool (hopefully not) are the strongest left (and better than us), but they have their weaknesses as well. Citys defense is tragic and Bayern is kind of bipolar: unplayable on their day or pretty shit.

 

[Vilarrubi]

I think PSG are going out. Leipzig is a really dangerous team. We haven't played a KO round away game of the quality Leipzig played in England the other week in about 3-4 years.

Must confess I’ve never seen Leipzig (or Werner). Not even 10 seconds of them, so I’ll take your word for it. I just expect Spurs to score away, which would make it interesting. Should really watch CL highlights but generally only watch Barca, Leeds (sometimes) and the odd big game from PL, CL or La Liga.

 

[serghei]

I would have a very good feeling against Dortmund, we completely outclassed them at Camp Nou. Their forward line is great, but other than that we are far better. Atletico is not better than us as well, it would be close, low scoring games decided by a few moments. Classic 50/50. No idea about Leipzig, but I dont think they are in any way above us.

City/Bayern and potentially Liverpool (hopefully not) are the strongest left (and better than us), but they have their weaknesses as well. Citys defense is tragic and Bayern is kind of bipolar: unplayable on their day or pretty shit.

We outclassed them on Camp Nou, they outclassed us in Dortmund.

Atletico would knock us out from CL no doubt. They just blocked Liverpool, the best attacking team on the planet to 0 shots on target. What do you think they'd do to our slow lethargic attack?

 

[mc_lovin]

We outclassed them on Camp Nou, they outclassed us in Dortmund.

Atletico would knock us out from CL no doubt. They just blocked Liverpool, the best attacking team on the planet to 0 shots on target. What do you think they'd do to our slow lethargic attack?

We would take out any tempo with our midfield ;P Negative football vs negative football. They are hardly fearsome offensively. As I said, decided by moments, but I wouldnt pick a favourite.

 

[serghei]

We would take out any tempo with oiur midfield ;P Negative football vs negative football. They are hardly fearsome offensively. As I said, decided by moments, but I wouldnt pick a favourite.

No we wouldn't man. I used to think so, but we're just too slow and too weak physically and mentally to be able to cope with these fast, aggressive and mean teams out there.

The only chance we have is that teams usually shit themselves on Camp Nou, but that's bound to stop at some point. If I'm being absolutely over the moon optimistic I'd have us at 4th favorite after City, Bayern, and Liverpool/Atletico. In front of PSG, german teams and Juve.

If we draw Bayern or City next I think even the Camp Nou invincibility record is in jeopardy. Especially Bayern.

 

[KingLeo10]

No we wouldn't man. I used to think so, but we're just too slow and too weak physically and mentally to be able to cope with these fast, aggressive and mean teams out there.

The only chance we have is that teams usually shit themselves on Camp Nou, but that's bound to stop at some point. If I'm being absolutely over the moon optimistic I'd have us at 4th favorite after City, Bayern, and Liverpool/Atletico. In front of PSG, german teams and Juve.

If we draw Bayern or City next I think even the Camp Nou invincibility record is in jeopardy. Especially Bayern.

We have 2 major changes from last season in Griez and FDJ. Messi is playing at a lower level and Suarez is out but IMO for CL Griez might prove to be more clutch.

Arthur as a mainstay in the midfield and Setien (if he doesn't devolve into EV 2.0) and I give us a fair shot (50-50 or more) in the QFs against anyone but Pool. There are some very flawed teams out there, just as us.

 

[serghei]

We have 2 major changes from last season in Griez and FDJ. Messi is playing at a lower level and Suarez is out but IMO for CL Griez might prove to be more clutch.

Arthur as a mainstay in the midfield and Setien (if he doesn't devolve into EV 2.0) and I give us a fair shot (50-50 or more) in the QFs against anyone but Pool. There are some very flawed teams out there, just as us.

Don't think so. We lack speed up front big time. Messi's level is the killer. He's miles off what he showed last season.

Our best chance is if Setien improves our possession game so much compared to EV, that we manage to keep the ball and protect the bad defense we have. It sounds ugly, but keeping the ball is the best chance we have.

The best teams in CL are transition-beasts. All of them almost. If we suck that out of them, by not allowing them to recover the ball in good positions we have a shot. if we try to risk it too much, we'll lose the ball and will get butchered on the counters, because we lack the fitness and the energy to compete for the ball immediately after we lose it. We've improved this under Setien, but it's not good enough for the level of opposition we can meet from quarters up in CL.

We can't absorb pressure like EV tried to have us do, because we leak a lot of goals whenever pressed. Not to mention we are chaotic when we sit deep and defend. And we can't play end to end stuff because we are crap in transitions. What we can do is keep the ball and pass it a lot until we find safe openings, reducing the risks we have to take. For this we need good movement though. Which we also don't have.

 

[mc_lovin]

We are going in circles, I guess you are just much more aware of our weaknesses than Citys for example.

There is no fearsome team left if Liverpool gets Atletico'd. Pretty much all ties are 50/50 (bar Atalanta, Lyon). With an inspired Messi and a clicking midfield anything is possible*.



*That doesnt mean I expect us to win the CL, I would give us an 1 in 8 chance if we advance. But ranking favourites is useless when there are none.

 

[serghei]

We are going in circles, I guess you are just much more aware of our weaknesses than Citys for example.

There is no fearsome team left if Liverpool gets Atletico'd. Pretty much all ties are 50/50 (bar Atalanta, Lyon). With an inspired Messi and a clicking midfield anything is possible.

Yea, anything is possible. I'm talking about what is probable.

 

[FinBarcelonafan]

We have 2 major changes from last season in Griez and FDJ. Messi is playing at a lower level and Suarez is out but IMO for CL Griez might prove to be more clutch.

Arthur as a mainstay in the midfield and Setien (if he doesn't devolve into EV 2.0) and I give us a fair shot (50-50 or more) in the QFs against anyone but Pool. There are some very flawed teams out there, just as us.

Griezmann already proved to be more clutch than Suarez, in away games.

 

[Neymessi]

Why are people debating if city can still lose the tie? That are 2 away goals they just got with a 1 goal margin margin and next match at home.

They are pretty much through and if they aren't it will be a miracle and not something that can normally happen.

 

[El Gato]

They are pretty much through and if they aren't it will be a miracle and not something that can normally happen.

Looks like you watch a lot of RM away CL knockouts.

 

[TrueCule]

Looks like you watch a lot of RM away CL knockouts.

Real lack the firepower in attack to score goals. That's why I doubt that they're capable of scoring at least 2 goals at the Etihad. In addition , Real will play without Ramos which is a huge handicap for them. The last big match they played without him was the return leg against Juve which they lost 3:1. They looked poor with Varane leading the defence.

 

[El Gato]

Real lack the firepower in attack to score goals. That's why I doubt that they're capable of scoring at least 2 goals at the Etihad. On the other hand , Real will play without Ramos which is a huge handicap for them. The last big match they played without him was the return leg against Juve which they lost 3:1. They looked poor with Varane leading the defence.

They were fine for scoring against a better defense of Ajax in a more hostile ground and other than Asensio using the same forwards. Goals isn't the biggest problem, City can gift them to us as well easily enough as they've shown they're more than capable of crumbling under pressure. It's the defensive solidity and balance, Carvajal coping with Sterling and having some support from RCM and, more importantly, RW. Modrić showed he is old and did not have a good game. If however there is a capable RW player on that side, we have a good chance. Ramos might be an issue, but it might not. He causes more trouble than he helps in big pressure games since CR left.