Champions League Round of 16 (12th Feb - 13th Mar)

[Siorac]

Think he's probably just trying to wind you up.

There are the current odds to win the CL. Barring maybe a slight English bias as its an English website (sky), I'd say they are about right. I'd back the first 4 to beat the second 4 in a tie but wouldn't write off any team now and I wouldn't say Man Utd are the worst team out of that second lot of 4 either.

Manchester City 5/2
Barcelona 3/1
Juventus 4/1
Liverpool 5/1
Manchester Utd 9/1
Tottenham 14/1
Ajax 22/1
Porto 50/1

Yeah, those look about right.

 

[Daysleeper]

Is this a serious post? Would you root for Real or PSG in a final?

PSG of course, how could you ask me such a thing?

 

[noodlehair]

Barcelona look the best team by a distance to me. Then City and Juventus are ahead of every one else.

Then the rest I think anyone could beat anyone, though you'd obviously prefer Porto to someone like Liverpool.

Best hope for the rest of us is Juve or City draw Barcelona in the quarters.

 

[Daysleeper]

Barcelona look the best team by a distance to me. Then City and Juventus are ahead of every one else.

Then the rest I think anyone could beat anyone, though you'd obviously prefer Porto to someone like Liverpool.

Best hope for the rest of us is Juve or City draw Barcelona in the quarters.

We have some bad defensive issues and lack speed on the counter attacks. We also go through phases where we lose control for like 25 minutes. No team is going to be perfect over two legs, but we left it pretty late before putting Lyon away although the scoreline was fair since Barca dominated over two legs.

I just fear a City/Liverpool type team who can press and punish Barca on the counter. The margins are so thin in CL that one bad 20 minute spell and it could be all over.

 

[.mica]

If you think it cant get worse, Schalke always delivers. After the 7:0 loss against City, their Fans had to fly back with the Airplane of their biggest rival BVB

https://www.wa.de/sport/schalke-04/...zzKuK0gRwIhh5-gK68Q-sfOf1N4zosx-g1baelsA4l8ac

Unbelievable. Iam still laughing.

 

[Daysleeper]

Did anyone else know this year UEFA is doing BOTH the QF and Semi finals draw tomorrow at the same time? Like teams will be in brackets now for CL?

https://www.uefa.com/uefachampionsleague/season=2019/draws/round=2000982/

Crazy, I preferred the old way.

 

[Johnny Love]

Barcelona look the best team by a distance to me. Then City and Juventus are ahead of every one else.

Then the rest I think anyone could beat anyone, though you'd obviously prefer Porto to someone like Liverpool.

Best hope for the rest of us is Juve or City draw Barcelona in the quarters.

To me Barca look the weakest out of all the favorites. At 2-1 I'm sure some fans had flashes of Roma last year . Not clinical enough and have a hard time defending the counter, a better team will make them pay. If they draw Ajax or Porto they have a good chance of advancing, anybody else and I would not be surprised they get bounced out again in the quarters much like the last 3 years.

 

[noodlehair]

To me Barca look the weakest out of all the favorites. At 2-1 I'm sure some fans had flashes of Roma last year . Not clinical enough and have a hard time defending the counter, a better team will make them pay. If they draw Ajax or Porto they have a good chance of advancing, anybody else and I would not be surprised they get bounced out again in the quarters much like the last 3 years.

The problem with Barcelona is they're too comfortable on the ball for City or Liverpool's pressing game to work. They'd get in behind and then you have Messi and co going against your defence which will never end well. City I think on a good day would beat anyone except them and maybe Juventus.

The rest are relying on luck as much as their own strengths.

 

[Johnny Love]

The problem with Barcelona is they're too comfortable on the ball for City or Liverpool's pressing game to work. They'd get in behind and then you have Messi and co going against your defence which will never end well. City I think on a good day would beat anyone except them and maybe Juventus.

The rest are relying on luck as much as their own strengths.

Maybe, but I would agree more if we were talking about the some of the older Barca teams. Those teams I agree, you could absolutely not press them because they would instantly make you pay with the midfield and attack they had. Barca of the last few seasons are vulnerable imo. Slower and more static midfield, attack creates chances but much less clinical than previous years, defense is more suspect. I mean Roma pressed the hell out of the them in the 2nd leg last year and they could not cope with it at all.

 

[Daysleeper]

Maybe, but I would agree more if we were talking about the some of the older Barca teams. Those teams I agree, you could absolutely not press them because they would instantly make you pay with the midfield and attack they had. Barca of the last few seasons are vulnerable imo. Slower and more static midfield, attack creates chances but much less clinical than previous years, defense is more suspect. I mean Roma pressed the hell out of the them in the 2nd leg last year and they could not cope with it at all.

This is the best midfield Barca have had since 2012. Xavi/Iniesta were aging after that season onward.

Arthur has been a god send, and Vidal is a wonderful sub off the bench. Rakitic and Busquets are great together. The only midfiled that can rival Barca's right now is Man City's.

I do agree that Barca are too slow with their own counter attacks and can get caught out from defending counters, but I also think Man City could get shredded by Barca if they aren't careful. Same with Liverpool who would get destroyed in the midfield.

Teams that give Barca space will be great for Barca to play their own game. Teams Barca would struggle against the most would Juventus or teams that would sit very deep for most of the match.

I think CL is wide open, and while Barca could've been more clinical against Lyon, they also did a fantastic job of creating chances. Eventually those additional chances will fall through and Barca will get the 5-1 like you saw the other night. City looked away at Schalke, but good at home, Liverpool are really good but can be exposed in midfield, Juventus lack firepower outside of Ronaldo, and the rest Barca should be able to beat comfortably.

But I think City are the favorites but it is very wide open this year. I'm not entirely sold on Barca defensively, but if they can keep generating chances that is their best bet.

The awful tactics against Roma did them in last year. Similar to Atletico's cowardly tactics against Juventus in the second leg.

 

[FigmentOfYerImagination]

I'm not sure who'll have the biggest chance to advance as I havn't been paying much attention to international competitions. My prior-to-the-draw expectations. But given my lack of viewing their matches, I might be way off though.

Ajax
Honestly, they don't give a crap who they're playing right now, so I'd say they stand a decent chance against any team that can motivate them to give it their all. The dirtier the opponent plays in terms of fouls and the more defensive they play the lower the chances I'd give Ajax.

Mostly because Dutch league players get frustrated and provoked relatively easily when faced with getting kicked and dives. Hence I'd be more concerned about facing say Porto or Juventus, than I'd be with a team that likes to play ball. Ajax' 'youth' teams shown in the past they could dance with ManC and Barca and this team is a bit more mature mentally than the one facing Man Utd in the finals of the Europa League.

The KNVB is openly helping Ajax with the league schedule to get the players sufficient rest and allow to prepare for the matches, so there's that too I suppose.

Barcelona
I would say Barcelona stands a decent chance given its comfortable lead in the domestic competition and being able to rest their players and concentrate on the CL - except that they play Atletico on the 6th of april. Then again, leading so much might make them more complacent, especially if they beat Atletico. For them, the second leg is probably easier to prepare for. Either way, I'd see them reach the finals before anyone else.

Juventus
Fluked a bit and really unpredictable tbh, their results haven't been consistent at all and they've lost quite a few matches this CL already, including to Young Boys. I'd not rate them as the top contenders.

Liverpool
Can't say I've been impressed by them. Exceptionally accurate long ball by Virgil van Dijk, but... that's just a long ball forward. Not really impressed with Liverpool's capacity to create and use chances this CL. Frankly I doubt they'll go another round regardless of opponent.

ManC
I'd say one of the big contenders this season. Scores a lot and hard to beat, but can be beaten on a bad day. Would imagine they're going to the next round, unless they meet Barca, then all bets are off.

Man Utd
Speaking of fluking. Also quite inconsistent results, lost quite a few matches in the CL so far. Not a big amount of goals made or against in most these matches being won or lost on a one goal difference. I'd give them a 50-50 chance to move to any next round, regardless of opponent.

Porto
I'd never trust a Portuguese to play completely fair and thus get under their opponent's skin (bit of prejudice here in that regard given experiences with other Portuguese teams), which is actually a great quality for cup fighting tbh if you can create mental unrest with your opponents. I'm just not sure about their quality as I havn't seen them play, but they seem to score 1 to 3 goals every match. Possibly been a bit lucky with the strength of opposition so far though, so curious how that'll go.

Tottenham Hotspur
Eh. Ajax defense. :P Pretty stable positive results overall against varying opponents. Slightly above average chance of moving to the next round I'd say.

 

[The Brown Bull]

Based on what? This place loves to overrated hipster clubs like Atletico and Dortmund.

Well let’s see, based on a feeling I have in my left foot I suppose.
Based on football ability!

 

[B&Wandmore]

Not a different interpretation on a foul? Well not every foul is a penalty at the very least, and not every contact is a foul. If that was a clear cut penalty than they can scrap up the VAR and refs can give penalties for every dive or contact in the box.

i think you are missing the point and are not familiar on how VAR works and when it is supposed to be employed. If you push a player running at full speed that is enough to make him loose balance and that was a clear penalty, not even Atletico's players and coach had the gut to complaint about it even after the match but you clearly know better

 

[Kostov]

i think you are missing the point and are not familiar on how VAR works and when it is supposed to be employed. If you push a player running at full speed that is enough to make him loose balance and that was a clear penalty, not even Atletico's players and coach had the gut to complaint about it even after the match but you clearly know better

It's fine genius, we all know how VAR is supposed to work, it's not the point, even yourself say the same thing. It's not that he was pushed, he was barely touched, if there was a contact worthy of a penalty it would have with the legs colliding. Atletico players not complaining means feck all, not that they are saints but it might have been the moment and it felt that they gave up. At the end of the day not every team is full of winning pricks like Juventus, with its captain leading the charge of being the biggest cnut. You will meet your end, sooner than you think.

 

[Bearded One]

My guts tell me that we will surprise quite a number and beat barca over two legs. For the most part we tend to do very well when we play as underdogs.

I'm predicting a semi finals having the following teams:

Juventus
City
Man United
Liverpool

Finals:

Juventus vs Man United