23/24 UCL Knockout Stage

Omg if we bottle this semi we should sell Carlo and sack the team. Never been such an easy (on paper) finalist in years

If I talk I’m in big trouble

Real to win half the next decades CL n almost all of the La Ligas, starting with this one if they get past Bayern, congrats XD

Well deserved loss.  Enrique, once again, played an attack that hadn't played together since December.  That's the last time that Mbappe/Ramos/Dembele started a game.  Barcola was on fire but didn't start.

Dembele didn't gain form by playing winger... but by playing more inside.  So he plays him at winger where he has zero final product.

Mbappe hadn't played left wing since early March (Real Sociedad first leg).  What's more, Mendes hadn't played with Mbappe on the wing all season.  Ok... so let's go with that.  But since PSG is used to playing on the right with Hakimi/Dembele, there were no balls on the left anyhow.  And when there were, Ruiz isn't good enough to support it anyhow.

The last 30 mins, when Barcola was brought in the game, PSG played a forward line that they had at least played in a game recently... and which was their best.  Hit the bar 5 times this match which is just bad luck.

This is on Enrique though.  Trying to be a genius.  His way and not the way that best fits the players per usual.  But even if you are stubborn and arrogant... at least play a team in positions they've been successful with recently.  Not something new now.

Last part... when players only play 60 mins a week, they will lose sharpness. I know Enrique says that he has no regulars and all 23 are regulars. But come on. This is not the time of year. Also, you don't do that to your strikers and attacking players, who need the sharpness. Hence everyone was a little off... simply because they don't play enough, they keep changing positions when they do, and they have no cohesion since lineup/tactics keep changing.

They did hit the bar, though

Dortmund

Moral of the story: Enrique is a fraud

And finally, the narrative will remain that Mbappe wasted his youth at Paris Saint Germain...

May 15 time Champions League winners Real Madrid save him.  

Thimmy wrote:It makes me feel old to see how slow Reus has become over the years

It does indeed. He came on late and still couldnt keep up, sad to see him physically finished.

I need this der klassiker in the final more than anything. Tuhel needs to save football, peculiar as it may sound, may the force be with him.

If Mbappe is to come to Madrid, I hope he knows that sort of "performance" he displayed in both legs would have him be overly criticized by every one that is pro-Madrid, anti-Madrid and just about anyone that can type and/or talk.

And while I understand all what Sports wrote and I'm sure it is fairly accurate, Kylian needs to do better than that. Way better. That being said, sincere credit to Dortmund as they were so good defensively and like Thimmy, I felt every year of my 37 years on this planet seeing Reus run so slow. Sigh, time waits on no man indeed.

Also, as a Madrid fan, seeing Xavi, Pep AND Lucho suffer in the same CL campaign has been the most beautiful hate watching I've experienced in years. Maybe ever. Thank you, thank you so much.

Shame PSG lost as Ive wanted a French team in the final but it's also PSG so fuck them. I guess it was more about Mbappe than anything but thankfully he leaves that dire team now.

Its nice that Dortmund are in the final for it somehow justifies Milans' performances against them as this reinforces how Dortmund has been by far the best team in Europe and this won't change even if they lose ahead.

2013 final is on the horizon but I do not care for this Bayern let alone Tuchel and will be supporting RM in the final honestly as I just don't see much incentive for me in Dortmund winning it for I rather see Carlo getting his 5th UCL than this silly "save football" routine which is just boring.

Such teams winning isn't saving any football if anything footballing royalty winning and continuing pedigree tradition is miles better. People just love underdogs for obvious reasons.

I do See Bayern winning tomorrow but hopefully im wrong.

Doc wrote:If Mbappe is to come to Madrid, I hope he knows that sort of "performance" he displayed in both legs would have him be overly criticized by every one that is pro-Madrid, anti-Madrid and just about anyone that can type and/or talk.

And while I understand all what Sports wrote and I'm sure it is fairly accurate, Kylian needs to do better than that. Way better. That being said, sincere credit to Dortmund as they were so good defensively and like Thimmy, I felt every year of my 37 years on this planet seeing Reus run so slow. Sigh, time waits on no man indeed.

Also, as a Madrid fan, seeing Xavi, Pep AND Lucho suffer in the same CL campaign has been the most beautiful hate watching I've experienced in years. Maybe ever. Thank you, thank you so much.

See how Pep uses Haaland?  Same thing happened to Mbappe with Enrique.  He can't play outside his role... at all.  Just isn't allowed.  There's only one player that's allowed to roam and that's been Dembele since Mbappe told PSG he's leaving.  Before that, he was the roamer.  So if the ball doesn't find him, he can't go find the ball.  It's a bit insane.

Both these guys get rusty while playing the game... lose their edge over time.

Pep's roamer is DeBruyne or, when KDB isn't playing, Silva or Foden.

sportsczy wrote:Well deserved loss.  Enrique, once again, played an attack that hadn't played together since December.  That's the last time that Mbappe/Ramos/Dembele started a game.  Barcola was on fire but didn't start.

Dembele didn't gain form by playing winger... but by playing more inside.  So he plays him at winger where he has zero final product.

Mbappe hadn't played left wing since early March (Real Sociedad first leg).  What's more, Mendes hadn't played with Mbappe on the wing all season.  Ok... so let's go with that.  But since PSG is used to playing on the right with Hakimi/Dembele, there were no balls on the left anyhow.  And when there were, Ruiz isn't good enough to support it anyhow.

The last 30 mins, when Barcola was brought in the game, PSG played a forward line that they had at least played in a game recently... and which was their best.  Hit the bar 5 times this match which is just bad luck.

This is on Enrique though.  Trying to be a genius.  His way and not the way that best fits the players per usual.  But even if you are stubborn and arrogant... at least play a team in positions they've been successful with recently.  Not something new now.

Last part... when players only play 60 mins a week, they will lose sharpness. I know Enrique says that he has no regulars and all 23 are regulars. But come on. This is not the time of year. Also, you don't do that to your strikers and attacking players, who need the sharpness. Hence everyone was a little off... simply because they don't play enough, they keep changing positions when they do, and they have no cohesion since lineup/tactics keep changing.

A lot of was response to the first leg though, which Barcola had a terrible game, Dembele was more central n was bad also, Mbappe central n didnt work,
etc., so can understand his decisions for this leg...

But bottom line though is he shouldnt be out done by freakin Dortmund After having all season to experiment n play around, at the end he still just fields this pretty standard team n got beat by a well organised Dortmund, but couldnt come up with anything. Luck was a big factor but its no excuse.

The team has some improvements to be made, likes of Fabian Ruiz isnt good enough n thats been clear for a long time. Dortmund just minimized the balls into Vitinha for long periods n PSG struggle to create, wasnt until later on Dortmund tired Vitinha n generally the team started packing on all those shots onto the bars Also PSG better think of having someone else apart from Dembele to be the key man for obvious reasons, otherwise they will continue to fail in the CL.

Interesting to see ppl praising Vitinha n rating him finally, its obvious hes a top midfielder by now. Wonder if one of the top clubs will go after him sometime in his career... similar case to Mbappe, think wanna see him go rather than staying in France tbh... even if Real get him perhaps, would definitely be replacement for Kroos/Modric n Real would be a perfect team?

We cant hoard every midfielder on earth We are already heavy in midfield as it is and Arda is being trained to take over from Modric. As it is right now we already have 2 sure starters in midfield if we don't count Kroos for 3 positions. If we go back to 433 there won't be any spots left in midfield for anyone aspiring to be a starter as Bellingham will move down. I have liked Vitinha very much in this CL, not sure how good he is at the defensive side but he is great on the ball. Should probably join Barca or Liverpool who need midfielders but he is in a golden prison now and not getting out till his contract is up.

Yea we're set for midfield, actually we need to offload some deadweights like Ceballos so that players like Guler can get more playing time.

Lol, Ceballos isn’t deadwood and certainly isn’t preventing Güler from getting playing time, as he isn’t getting playing time at all. That’s why he is leaving, likely to Atleti as with the talent the team has in midfield, he doesn’t get playing time.

Güler is in a real dilemma. From a positional play whether it be as a winger or an AM or as a CM.

As a winger, he has to compete with Rodrygo, Dias and next year Endick.

As an AM he is competing against Bellingham and Dias.

And as a CM, he is competing against Valverde, Camavinga and Kroos.

It will be interesting how Carlo handles this next season, as has been stated before there isn’t enough playing minutes to keep all this talent happy! We can expect some very good talent to depart after next season!

we’ll need a controller in midfield after kroos and modric leave, I like Joao Neves from Benfica a lot. 2004 born, crazy technician

Not throwing shade at anyone but I do have to say, I think comparing young pretenders, especially if they are advanced attacking midfielders of the "mediapunta" archetype, to Luka Modric is one of the most tasteless, clueless, things one can do imo.   Jesus. Personally makes me have somewhat ill feelings to the players being compared , hence why I never liked Odegaard. I remember reading famed Spanish Football analysts brand Odegaard as "Modric's successor" when he was impressing with Real Sociedad at the first half of 19/20 and when I saw the footage, heat maps, and passing comparisons in relation to 34 year old Modric... It just embarrassingly reinforced what I thought was obvious since late 2014 when we first signed him.

Modric might be like 5ft 8in but he has probably had one of the most gifted, privileged, and idiosyncratic set of physical qualities of all time, with a fittingly complete set of mental and technical profiles to boot. Guler has given no indication of being suited for anything other than playing in comparatively limited and more narrow in scope, last third of the pitch attacking midfielder zones and roles.

Brahim as an AM type of player at least has particular qualities like his turning ability and handling of the ball in tight spaces,  dribbling, two-footedness, and acceleration that can make him into a dynamic and versatile pseudo forward.

Guler falls more into the Ozil, Isco, James, Odegaard no mans land (relative to our squad and starting line up) type of territory imo.

Hope he makes me eat lots of crows and that at the least he becomes elite at whatever he'll end up being but he does not personally enthuse me.

MTO, you obviously didn’t watch him in last two liga games. He made incredible moves in tight spaces. To me, he has a lot of same qualities as Bellingham and as such I see him as backup to Bellingham, IF Carlo stays with 4-3-1- 2 formation.

Dias, I say his qualities are as a winger. He will be behind Rodrygo and possibly Endick, plus if it’s a 4-3-3, Güler in the mix as well.

I think they are best to loan someone, but thus far, it appears not to be the case.

So Gnabry in for Muller n De Ligt for Kim... no Upamecano interestingly... n Gnabry has had a strange career downturn up n down for a while now its strange... lets see if he can step up? So much at stake... we all know winner of this match will prolly win the CL, GO BAYERN GO GO GO~!

We need a der klassiker final with Jadon Sancho scoring the winning goal and dunking on Ten Hag even more. Do it for firenze and for all futbol.

I obviously hope Real Madrid win it all again, but if they don't, I'll be really happy that it's Dortmund who lifts the trophy this time, and not PSG, City or any other team that's regularly featured in the final 4.

Dortmund has always been a charming, feeder club, similarly to Ajax. They've had more than their fair share of talented players, but those players always move elsewhere.

This may be Dortmund's least talented team in the last decade, and most football fans probably can't name their manager or 3/4 of their starters, but aside from being 5th in the Bundesliga, they've managed to humble Bayern already this season, and winning the Champions League would be an epic conclusion to the season of a team that shouldn't have any business competing for anything. Even their most talented players are well beyond their best years. It seems like an eternity ago that Hummels was deemed surplus to requirements at Bayern