Champions League Quarter Finals 2020/21 - Apr 6/7 & 13/14

VivaRonaldo85

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A second leg 3-1 down to Real Madrid and you'd have made them favourites? That's bold.
Didn’t they beat Barcelona 4-0 a couple of years ago after being 3-0 down after the first leg. They won’t have any energy in the ground this time so think it’s an uphill task fortunately.
 

GhastlyHun

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Süle is out for next week, Goretzka might be. This keeps getting better :lol: :(
 

Zaphod2319

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Annoying how Liverpool and a Chelsea don’t even need to be particularly good to produce deep CL runs. Feel like this doesn’t happen with the other English sides
I keep hearing too many Man Utd fans repeating this idea to think it is just a few fans that holds this idea. Is this a coping mechanism to deal with the fact that Man Utd has not been dominate recently? To make up for the fact that a once dominate club can no longer win trophies? To compensate for the fact that they got bounced out of the CL like a lower tier French team?

Chelsea is a good team. We unfortunately had a young manager that was not very tactfully savvy for most of the season. Tuchel came in and immediately put the pieces where they needed to be. It is going to take a little time to get the attack where it needs to be. No easy task to adjust this while still winning games. We don't go from mid table, where Frank had us, to top 4 in less than a month with a bad team. We have been winning or not taking losses with 1-0 scores because we are a good team. The WBA game was what it was, we got caught after an international break with tired players. It is kind of a curse of having such good players that so many not only make their national teams, but play almost all the minutes over three games in a very short amount of time. It happens. Good teams have bad games.

Porto played well yesterday and we still walk away with a 2 point advantage. Good teams get these kind of results from opponents that are playing at the top of their game. I don't know why Man Utd keep bottling semi final results and getting bounced from competitions like a team that does not know how to handle pressure games? That doesn't mean I think they are a bad team, or that they somehow play bad and just get lucky? It is crazy sometimes the things I read on Arsenalmania, but it is strange to read the same kind of delusion on this site. Most of my Man Utd friends in real life and the ones here are rather level headed.
 
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Blackwidow

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Süle is out for next week, Goretzka might be. This keeps getting better :lol: :(
Löw starting Goretzka, Kimmich, Sane and Gnabry in all three matches knowing what Bayern has ahead the next two weeks (2nd and 3rd of Bundesliga, 2x PSG (and there were decent players he could have played instead) still pisses me off.

Bayern's biggest problem is the bench. Neuer, Kimmich, Müller and Lewy are irreplaceables - it will always be a problem against top opponents when one of them misses - but in other parts three or four changes can be made without losing much qualities. Beyond that it is a problem. This Covid season with nearly no preparation, the late buys after the season started, no extra winter preparation and the packed schedule bring the problem that the new players aren't very useful. Except maybe from Sane who came early and is now in many matches very valuable (but having both dribblers available and not the more goal orientated Gnabry was a factor yesterday, too) and Choupo-Moteng.

I do not know if they are able to turn it around. But if it ends like that I prefer to lose in that way 100% more than to give the matches away like with Liverpool 2 years ago.
 

Dave Smith

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My thoughts on the QF round:

1) Dortmund got screwed on a level last seen since Chelsea v Barca 09. With VAR to hand that Bellingham decision was absolutely scandalous. Essentially cost Dortmund 1.5 goals in one hit.

2) Bayern are not out of it. Fully see them getting three goals plus next week. Just need to not defend so bad.

3) Chelsea surely have to be through. However, playing both legs at the same ground and using away goals is a nonsense.

4) Liverpool are in a lot of trouble. Will need at least 4 imo as Real are going to score at least once.
 

Daysleeper

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The only team who needed to show adaptability and flexibility last night was PSG, who knew they were inferior and had to sit back and counter. Bayern absolutely swarmed them. They had 31 shots and their XG saw them ‘beat’ PSG by 3 goals. Bayern must play this ultra high line because as you would have seen as well, aside from sporadic occasions, they win the ball back remarkably high up the pitch through sustainable but energetic high-pressing. That’s why they scored 100 Bundesliga goals last season and 79 this so far, and why they consistently hammer teams in the CL. If the game goes the same way in Paris, Bayern will turn this around. As many people have pointed out, last nights win by PSG was up there on the flukey scales with Barcelona beating Chelsea in 2009.

Also, your cited example of Pep is also...untrue, for lack of a better word. Pep has only been knocked out relatively early in the CL at City because he has adapted and been flexible. Starting with 3 at the back against Pool in 2018, rotating and playing with a 5 at the back against Lyon etc. Even against Dortmund, City we’re average, and we can even explain that by Pep wanting to try Bernardo Silva upfront and start with only one natural winger in Mahrez, leaving Sterling on the bench. Not the best example there.
I’d say chelsea beating Barca in 2012 was a much bigger fluke
 

do.ob

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Annoying how Liverpool and a Chelsea don’t even need to be particularly good to produce deep CL runs. Feel like this doesn’t happen with the other English sides
I don't think Klopp sees cup competitions as an ego thing. Maybe that's a difference.
 

WeePat

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My thoughts on the QF round:

1) Dortmund got screwed on a level last seen since Chelsea v Barca 09. With VAR to hand that Bellingham decision was absolutely scandalous. Essentially cost Dortmund 1.5 goals in one hit.

2) Bayern are not out of it. Fully see them getting three goals plus next week. Just need to not defend so bad.

3) Chelsea surely have to be through. However, playing both legs at the same ground and using away goals is a nonsense.

4) Liverpool are in a lot of trouble. Will need at least 4 imo as Real are going to score at least once.
It made less sense when we had one team being forced to play their home game in a neutral venue while the other team gets to play it in their actual home ground like we saw in the previous round. It felt like one team had a distinct advantage. I don't have such a huge problem with it if both games are played out in a neutral venue, even if it is a little weird.
 
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ZolaWasMagic

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Is that why he sent of Abidal and reduced Barcelona to ten men when Anelka decided to trip himself?
is that also why he rejected 3 obvious pens. It was a BS ref display, and thats not a debate. Push on Malouda. The Pique handball was an incredibly poor decision, the handball block from Ballack at 1-1. The Abidal pull on Drogba was a penalty too IMO, just less stonewall. It was robbery.
 

Ladron de redcafe

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is that also why he rejected 3 obvious pens. It was a BS ref display, and thats not a debate. Push on Malouda. The Pique handball was an incredibly poor decision, the handball block from Ballack at 1-1. The Abidal pull on Drogba was a penalty too IMO, just less stonewall. It was robbery.
That isn't the debate. You're claiming there was match fixing with no basis. If there were, he wouldn't have wrongly sent off a Barcelona penalty and gave Chelsea a man advantage.
 

tomaldinho1

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I keep hearing too many Man Utd fans repeating this idea to think it is just a few fans that holds this idea. Is this a coping mechanism to deal with the fact that Man Utd has not been dominate recently? To make up for the fact that a once dominate club can no longer win trophies? To compensate for the fact that they got bounced out of the CL like a lower tier French team?

Chelsea is a good team. We unfortunately had a young manager that was not very tactfully savvy for most of the season. Tuchel came in and immediately put the pieces where they needed to be. It is going to take a little time to get the attack where it needs to be. No easy task to adjust this while still winning games. We don't go from mid table, where Frank had us, to top 4 in less than a month with a bad team. We have been winning or not taking losses with 1-0 scores because we are a good team. The WBA game was what it was, we got caught after an international break with tired players. It is kind of a curse of having such good players that so many not only make their national teams, but play almost all the minutes over three games in a very short amount of time. It happens. Good teams have bad games.

Porto played well yesterday and we still walk away with a 2 point advantage. Good teams get these kind of results from opponents that are playing at the top of their game. I don't know why Man Utd keep bottling semi final results and getting bounced from competitions like a team that does not know how to handle pressure games? That doesn't mean I think they are a bad team, or that they somehow play bad and just get lucky? It is crazy sometimes the things I read on Arsenalmania, but it is strange to read the same kind of delusion on this site. Most of my Man Utd friends in real life and the ones here are rather level headed.
You'll find it's been a slow erosion of accountability with many of our fans sadly. United have zero excuse not to at least have made the knock out rounds - we went defensive and played 6 at the back against a team we beat 5-0 and then the papers talked about how Nagelsmann had put on a tactic masterclass but we might as well have thrown the game, it was genuinely as if Ole thought it was a two legged tie. I'm not even going to mention Istanbul. Please don't ask me about our cup performances last couple of season either.
 

RashyForPM

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I’d say chelsea beating Barca in 2012 was a much bigger fluke
Fair enough. Just like Chelsea could have beat Barca by 5 in 2012 and Bayern could have done the same to PSG last night, you lot probably should have smashed Chelsea too. Everything went for them that day.
 

Daysleeper

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Fair enough. Just like Chelsea could have beat Barca by 5 in 2012 and Bayern could have done the same to PSG last night, you lot probably should have smashed Chelsea too. Everything went for them that day.
oh yeah and I agree, on paper Bayern should’ve smashed psg yesterday. Clinical finishing was all the difference!
 

Daysleeper

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Made up for that last minute Iniesta goal, that’s for sure.
Oh yeah, I mean you guys must’ve loved revenge for that one haha

I also felt we got a fortunate result in the first leg against you lot last time we faced off but camp nou in the second leg was a different story. Willian was a headache for us at the time.
 

Boavista

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You'll find it's been a slow erosion of accountability with many of our fans sadly. United have zero excuse not to at least have made the knock out rounds - we went defensive and played 6 at the back against a team we beat 5-0 and then the papers talked about how Nagelsmann had put on a tactic masterclass but we might as well have thrown the game, it was genuinely as if Ole thought it was a two legged tie. I'm not even going to mention Istanbul. Please don't ask me about our cup performances last couple of season either.
That lineup did give the impression as if Ole thought it was a two legged tie! But wouldn't you say that 5-0 win itself was a fairly defensive setup? The only actual attacking players in that lineup were Greenwood and Martial. United scored early on so didn't need to attack much, and Leipzig in turn were absolutely toothless but somewhat dominant in possession nonetheless, while United mostly sat back and countered. At least I was surprised to see them taking that defensive/counterattacking approach to that extent.

Of course it worked out beautifully, but most of the goals came when more attacking players were subbed in with Rashford and Bruno , and Leipzig decided to give up defending entirely in pursuit of a goal for some reason.
What I'm trying to say maybe Ole changed the formation and all, but it didn't seem that much more defensive in intention.
 

RashyForPM

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oh yeah and I agree, on paper Bayern should’ve smashed psg yesterday. Clinical finishing was all the difference!
Forgot to include Navas in my post as well. He is one of the best keepers of the past decade and is genuinely almost never even mentioned.
 

tomaldinho1

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That lineup did give the impression as if Ole thought it was a two legged tie! But wouldn't you say that 5-0 win itself was a fairly defensive setup? The only actual attacking players in that lineup were Greenwood and Martial. United scored early on so didn't need to attack much, and Leipzig in turn were absolutely toothless but somewhat dominant in possession nonetheless, while United mostly sat back and countered. At least I was surprised to see them taking that defensive/counterattacking approach to that extent.

Of course it worked out beautifully, but most of the goals came when more attacking players were subbed in with Rashford and Bruno , and Leipzig decided to give up defending entirely in pursuit of a goal for some reason.
What I'm trying to say maybe Ole changed the formation and all, but it didn't seem that much more defensive in intention.
Yes, we are a defence first team but we are very different when playing 5 at the back to 4 at the back. We battered them playing our usual style - the style we know best and that we use most weeks. Why did we then change and treat them as if they'd morphed into PSG (I assume that is why we went with 5 at the back as it had worked well there)? It was a truly weird call and would be like our next game at Leeds turning up and playing 5 at the back.
 

Paula

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Lewandowski, gnabry, goretzka, tolisso, süle, Costa and maybe Boateng and hernandez are injured for the next game.
A second striker is missing so badly without gnabry and lewandowski.
 
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Leeuw

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Forgot to include Navas in my post as well. He is one of the best keepers of the past decade and is genuinely almost never even mentioned.
I've you had changed Navas and neueur the result would have been 7-1. The first was the best man on the pitch and the second the worst.
 

Iker Quesadillas

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Didn’t they beat Barcelona 4-0 a couple of years ago after being 3-0 down after the first leg. They won’t have any energy in the ground this time so think it’s an uphill task fortunately.
Liverpool were unlucky to lose 3-0 in the first place and were a better club that season than Barcelona.
Right now they're not playing good football and thoroughly deserved losing 3-1. So that makes it more unlikely.
But hey, you never know. RM have a habit of almost, but not quite, squandering the advantages they gain in the first leg of their ties.
 

ericPSG

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Löw starting Goretzka, Kimmich, Sane and Gnabry in all three matches knowing what Bayern has ahead the next two weeks (2nd and 3rd of Bundesliga, 2x PSG (and there were decent players he could have played instead) still pisses me off.

Bayern's biggest problem is the bench. Neuer, Kimmich, Müller and Lewy are irreplaceables - it will always be a problem against top opponents when one of them misses - but in other parts three or four changes can be made without losing much qualities. Beyond that it is a problem. This Covid season with nearly no preparation, the late buys after the season started, no extra winter preparation and the packed schedule bring the problem that the new players aren't very useful. Except maybe from Sane who came early and is now in many matches very valuable (but having both dribblers available and not the more goal orientated Gnabry was a factor yesterday, too) and Choupo-Moteng.

I do not know if they are able to turn it around. But if it ends like that I prefer to lose in that way 100% more than to give the matches away like with Liverpool 2 years ago.
Psg are in the exact same position
They were in the champion’s league finals as well and had no preparation. And most of the stars had covid at the beginning of the season and the team has never been 100% physically as you can see in the ligue 1 title race...

Neymar only played 2 games since his last injury and is not in full rythme
Verratti, marquinhos, florenzi, bernat, icardi are probably missing the next game. That’s almost half the starting lineup...
And when you replace them with the like of danilo, diallo, dagba, bakker, kean that’s a huge gap (except for kean)
 

GhastlyHun

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Tonight we need to do something we're really bad at: not concede first, ideally not concede at all. Very unlikely. Still i know i will have hope and a nerve racking evening should we score first.
 

united_99

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Tonight we need to do something we're really bad at: not concede first, ideally not concede at all. Very unlikely. Still i know i will have hope and a nerve racking evening should we score first.
I would like our players to offer some advice on that, but I guess that wouldn’t be a great idea.
Anyway good luck for tonight!
 

Giggs' right foot

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I don't wanna hear any shit about Chelsea's performance tonight, I know none of you will be watching!
I will shit on Tuchel for only getting a draw against some wine farmers from Porto without having seen a second of the game, and you will like it!
 

P-Ro

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Kante, Rudiger, Zouma, Mendy and Ziyech began fasting yesterday. From what I know it generally takes a couple of days for the body to get used to this dramatic change. It's sunset in Sevilla 2 minutes before the game starts so there's a short window to get hydrated whilst the Champions League music is blaring.
 

Hansi Fick

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Kante, Rudiger, Zouma, Mendy and Ziyech began fasting yesterday. From what I know it generally takes a couple of days for the body to get used to this dramatic change. It's sunset in Sevilla 2 minutes before the game starts so there's a short window to get hydrated whilst the Champions League music is blaring.
Is that really a thing with professional athletes?
And is Mbappé Muslim? :angel:
 

Dave Smith

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Kante, Rudiger, Zouma, Mendy and Ziyech began fasting yesterday. From what I know it generally takes a couple of days for the body to get used to this dramatic change. It's sunset in Sevilla 2 minutes before the game starts so there's a short window to get hydrated whilst the Champions League music is blaring.
Are they all known to participate in fasting? They may declare as being Muslim, but that doesn't mean they 100% abide by all the rules.
 

tomaldinho1

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Kante, Rudiger, Zouma, Mendy and Ziyech began fasting yesterday. From what I know it generally takes a couple of days for the body to get used to this dramatic change. It's sunset in Sevilla 2 minutes before the game starts so there's a short window to get hydrated whilst the Champions League music is blaring.
I thought most Muslim professional footballer either didn't fast on game days or basically did a less intense version. I remember reading an article a couple of years back about Ozil and Ribery and Ozil just skips fasting if he's playing, whereas Ribery does his own version which is less intense. I'd imagine very few are totally strict from the above.