Napoli weren’t pressing as much as they normally do but they were defending extremely well. They did park the bus often enough at times and we did look much better in the second half after a woeful first halfIt's funny because part of that was self-inflicted, the high press worked too well and that's why napoli spent so much time defending so deep
Napoli played against type though, and in the end it showed as barcelona were barely dangerous, sure, but they had 2 huge opportunities as a result of individual mistakes of napoli's defenders(mario rui - who is quite simply inadequate at this level - on the goal, and ospina letting umtiti anticipate him from a corner), while napoli themselves couldn't muster much attack beyond the goal and the huge callejon chance(which was a result of them pressing barcelona's build up for once)
Champions League Round of 16 (18th Feb - 8th Aug)
- Thread starter Samid
- Start date
In a final? Yeah, we'd beat them.
Over 2 legs, i think atletico have the best shot, followed by juventus, psg and bayern
Sterling benched.
He hadn't been playing the last few games due to an injury anyway
Gundogan and Rodri starting?
2-0 Madrid
2-0 Madrid
Fernandinho on the bench 
The bench look better than the starting line up.
Eh... it's not too weird. Fernandinho's lost a bit of form recently, and Sterling is coming off of injury. Jesus has been better than Aguero recently.
My only flag is the Rodri and Gundogan starting together thing.
Them two along with Otamendi is where I think they'll fall down.
I'd always prefer Aguero as well.
Actually I take this back, Gundogan is good on penalties
Pep constantly overthinks things in Europe.
Madrid will let them have the ball and smack them on transitions.
If City feck up tonight theres no excuse for Pep. He constantly handicaps his sides in these games
Madrid will let them have the ball and smack them on transitions.
If City feck up tonight theres no excuse for Pep. He constantly handicaps his sides in these games
Apparently Bernardo will be the false 9.
Theres no excuse for that, its a tactical change.
It's a cliche that has no bearing tonight honestly, looking at the selection.
Yaaaaaas!!!
Where are you getting this from?
Would of started Aguero over Jesus apart from that think it’s a decent team, but Jesus will miss two sitters and Real will win.
Jesus on the left Bernardo false 9, Gundo, Rodri in midfield. Comfy night for Madrid.
I read Liews article about the match in the Guardian and learned in the comments section that Bayern the last decade has been the 8th best club in Europe at best and currently would get a beating by either Atleti, PSG or Juve, not to mention the real favorites.
I take back my previous retraction @cyberman
This is my dream lineup selections
Which means they'll tonk us i guess
Which means they'll tonk us i guess
Looks like B.Silva as the false no.9 like when City played against United in the first leg of the league cup. Presumably because they think Real Madrid will play with the diamond, therefore they want to have numbers in midfield
It's not simplistic dude. Real Madrid have won every single CL under Zidane. Give the man some respect.
Atletico Madrid showed up a Liverpool side that's running away with the EPL.
I'd say favorites are Real Madrid but not by a lot.
Lyon v Juventus line-ups
Lyon: Lopes, Marcelo, Denayer, Marcal, Dubois, Bruno Guimaraes, Tousart, Cornet, Toko Ekambi, Aouar, Dembele.
Subs: Andersen, Terrier, Traore, Thiago Mendes, Tete, Caqueret, Tatarusanu.
Juventus: Szczesny, Danilo, de Ligt, Bonucci, Alex Sandro, Bentancur, Pjanic, Rabiot, Cuadrado, Dybala, Ronaldo.
Subs: De Sciglio, Ramsey, Matuidi, Higuain, Rugani, Bernardeschi, Buffon.
Referee: Jesus Gil Manzano (Spain)
Lyon: Lopes, Marcelo, Denayer, Marcal, Dubois, Bruno Guimaraes, Tousart, Cornet, Toko Ekambi, Aouar, Dembele.
Subs: Andersen, Terrier, Traore, Thiago Mendes, Tete, Caqueret, Tatarusanu.
Juventus: Szczesny, Danilo, de Ligt, Bonucci, Alex Sandro, Bentancur, Pjanic, Rabiot, Cuadrado, Dybala, Ronaldo.
Subs: De Sciglio, Ramsey, Matuidi, Higuain, Rugani, Bernardeschi, Buffon.
Referee: Jesus Gil Manzano (Spain)
Agueo benched?
Sarri trying Cuadrado in the douglas costa role. Interesting. Seems like he's found his preferred lineup
Yes. And to add to my initial comment, I presume the reason Sterling was overlooked for the inside forward role in favour of Jesus is down to Sterling not scoring in his last 4 games (I deliberately didn't include Fulham and Everton)
Yup CL away game where we'll likely need a goal so Pep is gonna be clever and play no out and out striker whilst we pass Madrid to death in a 1 or 2-0 defeat
He's still recovering from injury (and woefully out of form).
Let's make it 5-0 and we have a deal
Love to see Ederson have an amazing performance tonight with Crouch and Rio praising him with pencil neck sitting in the middle.
Not the smartest move from Sterling but guessing he was set up 
He damaged his hamstring against Spurs, and has been in poor form. The most notable example being him being scoreless in his last 5 games (thought it would be disingenuous to include the games of Fulham and Everton, as he came on in stoppage in one of those, and played less than 40 minutes in the other.) In contrast, Jesus has been productive since December
Regarding the formation, with the league cup game against City we also had Maguire out with Jones who had barely played in and Pereira in midfield, was a comedy first half line up with a Pereira own goal as well.
City crybabies Makes love the ban even more
Makes love the ban even moreReal Madrid fans like... why boo this part?
I'm fine with Jesus being in for what its worth, even if Sterling wasn't injured but injury is more the reason he's not playing than form. He'll start the second leg 100%.
What happens if City win the Champions league but the ban still stands?