Champions League — quarter-finals and semi-finals draw

giorno

boob novice
Joined
Jul 20, 2016
Messages
26,635
Supports
Real Madrid
Death, taxes, and Barcelona unraveling at the first adversity in a big game :drool:
 

LilienFan

New Member
Newbie
Joined
Jan 6, 2024
Messages
195
Supports
Darmstadt
Wasn´t Dortmund vs. Bayern the ´UCL final, the last time it took place at Wembley?:eek:
 

GhastlyHun

Full Member
Joined
Dec 19, 2015
Messages
12,799
Location
Bavaria
Supports
Bayern München
Wasn´t Dortmund vs. Bayern the ´UCL final, the last time it took place at Wembley?:eek:
Indeed.

I'm again not at all optimistic for tonight. While we have home advantage and a 'clean slate' due to the draw in the first game, our squad is even thinner due to injuries (Coman out, Sané not entirely fit but will probably play anyway) and Davies being suspended. No room for error.
 

Mainoonited

Full Member
Joined
Nov 27, 2023
Messages
212
Watching the Champions league matches last night made me sad. Such a high level of quality and football on display. We're a million miles from that.

I remember the anticipation at this time of the season, year on year the expectation that we'd win something, the thrill of the challenge.

In the last 10 years most of our seasons have ended with me just wishing i was over.
 

Acrobat7

Full Member
Joined
May 13, 2013
Messages
5,298
Supports
Bayern Munich
Indeed.

I'm again not at all optimistic for tonight. While we have home advantage and a 'clean slate' due to the draw in the first game, our squad is even thinner due to injuries (Coman out, Sané not entirely fit but will probably play anyway) and Davies being suspended. No room for error.
I expect Guerreiro to play LW to help out Mazraoui vs. Saka. Otherwise Arsenal will feast on their right side. Like you, I'm not very hopeful. The injury situation and the far too thin squad may prove critical, despite the good result from the first leg.
 

RoyH1

Full Member
Joined
Jul 22, 2014
Messages
5,989
Location
DKNY
Bayern and City to go through tonight.

Arsenal might have a young talented side, but they simply have no pedigree in this competition and not enough leaders to pull through when thing gets tough. Bayern have nothing else but this competition now and a lot of experience in the squad.

In the other game, I don't expect Madrid to get quite the trashing they got last year in the Emptyhad, but without Courtois, Militao (has only played 10 minutes after a long injury) and Tchouameni I don't think they'll be able to pull off the defensive heroics needed for getting past Pep's expensively assembled robot army.
 

carvajal

Full Member
Joined
Jan 20, 2015
Messages
11,093
Location
Spain
Supports
Real Madrid
Looking forward to the game. Getting rid of the Barça-Atleti semifinal has given me a lot of peace.
It's impossible to do worse than last year. I hope they are better physically and don't go out to play so scared.
Let's see how Nacho and Lunin do.
And then, if everything goes well, which is difficult, a nice semifinal with Bayern to see M̶u̶s̶i̶a̶l̶a̶ Davies in action.
 

Pughnichi

Full Member
Joined
Nov 27, 2016
Messages
1,620
I always find something quite enjoyable about watching Barca squirm. Was loving it last night seeing multiple red cards and yellows being dished out. Bunch of shithosue merchants…forever diving, time wasting etc when it suits. They dont like being on the receiving end of it. It’s fun to watch play out.

Ultimately I think I’m still getting over their dominant era when we couldn’t land a glove
 

adexkola

Doesn't understand sportswashing.
Joined
Mar 17, 2008
Messages
48,453
Location
The CL is a glorified FA Cup set to music
Supports
orderly disembarking on planes
I always find something quite enjoyable about watching Barca squirm. Was loving it last night seeing multiple red cards and yellows being dished out. Bunch of shithosue merchants…forever diving, time wasting etc when it suits. They dont like being on the receiving end of it. It’s fun to watch play out.

Ultimately I think I’m still getting over their dominant era when we couldn’t land a glove
Rare moment of honesty

You're not alone, there are others :D
 

Zehner

Football Statistics Dork
Joined
Mar 29, 2018
Messages
8,115
Location
Germany
Supports
Bayer 04 Leverkusen
The semis will be interesting. I believe Dortmund can thank Araujo he ensured the stronger team got eliminated with his foul. They have better chances of overcoming PSG.
 

SonOfFergie

New Member
Newbie
Joined
Aug 25, 2023
Messages
82
Watching the Champions league matches last night made me sad. Such a high level of quality and football on display. We're a million miles from that.

I remember the anticipation at this time of the season, year on year the expectation that we'd win something, the thrill of the challenge.

In the last 10 years most of our seasons have ended with me just wishing i was over.
My impression was opposite. Generally quality has declined. Art of defending has declined. Poor finishing. To have on one hand on such level players the level of Raphinha even playing never mind scoring goals, on the other hand allowing Correa getting such chances (and wasting them in line with his level). Also some matches are a borefest (City for example are efficient but they bore you to death).
 

stefan92

Full Member
Joined
Feb 9, 2021
Messages
6,451
Supports
Hannover 96
My impression was opposite. Generally quality has declined. Art of defending has declined. Poor finishing. To have on one hand on such level players the level of Raphinha even playing never mind scoring goals, on the other hand allowing Correa getting such chances (and wasting them in line with his level). Also some matches are a borefest (City for example are efficient but they bore you to death).
Well yesterday nothing was boring.
 

duffer

Sensible and not a complete jerk like most oppo's
Scout
Joined
Jun 24, 2004
Messages
50,419
Location
Chelsea (the saviours of football) fan.
I don’t understand all the joy for BVB winning. It’s bad for Utd, it sucks because Sancho and really sucks just because it’s Dortmund. I certainly don’t love to see it.
The best thing for Man United would be Sancho playing every game and scoring the winning goal in the final.

Ten Hag's pride isn't worth the millions you would get in terms in an increase transfer fee.
 

BorisManUtd

Full Member
Joined
Nov 4, 2013
Messages
3,861
Watching the Champions league matches last night made me sad. Such a high level of quality and football on display. We're a million miles from that.

I remember the anticipation at this time of the season, year on year the expectation that we'd win something, the thrill of the challenge.

In the last 10 years most of our seasons have ended with me just wishing i was over.
Yeah, we've been irrelevant in Champions League since 2011 final. Only exception being 2012/13 when Nani's red card knocked us out. 2019 PSG win was largely a fluke and other seasons we just got knocked out to Sevilla and Atletico at OT in last 16. We're Europa League team and have been for a decade now.

But on topic: think it would've been Inter in the final again if they didn't miss some big chances in 2nd leg against Atletico. And possibly it would've been a repeat of last year final with Inter and City in it.

On games tonight: I feel like Bayern have 55% chances to go through to Arsenal's 45%, mostly because they have bigger experience in these type of games and are home side. City 60-65% to Madrid's 35-40%. You'd expect them to go through in the end but not with 4-0 again. Will be interesting and a shame both games are at the same time.
 

erikcred

Full Member
Joined
May 6, 2022
Messages
1,733
My impression was opposite. Generally quality has declined. Art of defending has declined. Poor finishing. To have on one hand on such level players the level of Raphinha even playing never mind scoring goals, on the other hand allowing Correa getting such chances (and wasting them in line with his level). Also some matches are a borefest (City for example are efficient but they bore you to death).
I know, right. These Gen Z players and their goal scoring. Can you tell us more about how great things were in your day?
 

Lay

Correctly predicted Italy to win Euro 2020
Joined
Jan 29, 2013
Messages
20,042
Location
England
I don’t understand all the joy for BVB winning. It’s bad for Utd, it sucks because Sancho and really sucks just because it’s Dortmund. I certainly don’t love to see it.
Surely it's good because hopefully it increases Sancho's value
 

Escobar

Shameless Musketeer
Joined
Jun 8, 2004
Messages
30,217
Location
La-La-Land
Watching great teams play great football in the CL is amazing, but also painful when you realize how far we have fallen
 

kaiser1

Full Member
Joined
Mar 26, 2018
Messages
2,049
Supports
Bayern Munich
I expect Guerreiro to play LW to help out Mazraoui vs. Saka. Otherwise Arsenal will feast on their right side. Like you, I'm not very hopeful. The injury situation and the far too thin squad may prove critical, despite the good result from the first leg.
I can understand the reason Tuchel will line up like that given our injury woes. Losing Gnabry our best scorer after Kane is the bigger blow
 

Rooney in Paris

Gerrard shirt..Anfield? You'll Never Live it Down
Scout
Joined
Mar 11, 2010
Messages
35,966
Location
In an elephant sanctuary
My impression was opposite. Generally quality has declined. Art of defending has declined. Poor finishing. To have on one hand on such level players the level of Raphinha even playing never mind scoring goals, on the other hand allowing Correa getting such chances (and wasting them in line with his level). Also some matches are a borefest (City for example are efficient but they bore you to death).
Well yesterday nothing was boring.
It wasn't boring for sure but I agree with SonOfFergie with regards to the quality. Last night, those weren't high quality games.
The best thing for Man United would be Sancho playing every game and scoring the winning goal in the final.

Ten Hag's pride isn't worth the millions you would get in terms in an increase transfer fee.
It also has nothing to do with Ten Hag's pride - even if Sancho scores in a final, it doesn't negate the shit he served up here and the decisions made by Ten Hag and the club.
 

duffer

Sensible and not a complete jerk like most oppo's
Scout
Joined
Jun 24, 2004
Messages
50,419
Location
Chelsea (the saviours of football) fan.
It also has nothing to do with Ten Hag's pride - even if Sancho scores in a final, it doesn't negate the shit he served up here and the decisions made by Ten Hag and the club.
I didn't say it would negate anything. Only that him doing incredibly well there is really good for Man United.
 

Alex99

Rehab's Pete Doherty
Joined
May 30, 2009
Messages
15,897
I don’t understand all the joy for BVB winning. It’s bad for Utd, it sucks because Sancho and really sucks just because it’s Dortmund. I certainly don’t love to see it.
Couldn't care less about Dortmund, but we want our loaned out players to not be complete shit because it increases their value when we look to sell them.

van de Beek is a lost cause, just like Martial was after his stint out at Sevilla.
 

Alex99

Rehab's Pete Doherty
Joined
May 30, 2009
Messages
15,897
I think yesterday would've been much more boring with the old away rule still there. So, it's a good change I guess.
I'm sure I heard earlier that there only needs to be 2 goals tonight to break the record of goals scored across the quarter final games.
 

al.gabiru

New Member
Newbie
Joined
Jul 4, 2014
Messages
86
Yesterday, it was logical when PSG eliminated Barcelona. Xavi even announced last month that he won't be the coach in 2024/25. Of course, the advantage of the first leg was great, but if we look at the consistency of the whole year, it was logical that PSG would qualify.

The logic today is for Arsenal to beat Bayern, they've had a much better year, but you never know.
 

Rojofiam

Full Member
Joined
May 11, 2017
Messages
3,422
Watching the Champions league matches last night made me sad. Such a high level of quality and football on display. We're a million miles from that.

I remember the anticipation at this time of the season, year on year the expectation that we'd win something, the thrill of the challenge.

In the last 10 years most of our seasons have ended with me just wishing i was over.
Just last season, we were a better team than this Dortmund or Atlético side. Possibly Barca as well. I'd say our 20/21 team is also more than good enough to make a CL quarter-final.

"Million miles away" is either very hyperbolic or you really overrate these teams
 

Telsim

Full Member
Joined
Nov 7, 2021
Messages
4,889
City will splatter Real like last year, thus winning the competition. Bayern will finish off Arsenal's season.
 

HTG

Full Member
Joined
Apr 27, 2011
Messages
5,997
Supports
Bayern
Travelling fans truly recognise the biggest club in Manchester. Not much history on thr other side
Do City even have a museum? If so, it’s probably some gigantic building with loads of glass with a single display of like three trophies, while Oasis is playing over some crappy but expensive speakers.
 

Lee565

Full Member
Joined
Mar 6, 2019
Messages
5,072
Last nights results were not good for City being stopped, Barcelona and atletico would be tougher opposition for City than dortmund and psg
 

Red Star One

Full Member
Joined
Jan 4, 2017
Messages
5,227
Location
Barcelona
Last nights results were not good for City being stopped, Barcelona and atletico would be tougher opposition for City than dortmund and psg
I think it was pretty certain that the winner will come from City’s bracket anyway, yesterday results don’t really change that