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OT: UEFA Champions League 2022

RU848789

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Down to the final eight - anyone watching? Liverpool struggled a bit today with Benfica, but still won 3-1 in Lisbon and they look to advance to the semis easily with the next game at Anfield. City and Atletico Madrid played a slogfest in Manchester, where AM just packed it in, but eventually City scored a gorgeous goal on a cheeky nutmeg pass from Foden to a breaking De Bruyne, who slotted it home for the only goal of the match. City will need to be careful, as AM could easily tie this one up and force PKs in the 2nd leg in Madrid.



Tomorrow we have Chelsea vs. Real Madrid and Bayern Munich vs. Villareal. I've always been partial to EPL teams, apart from Barcelona (have just always loved watching Messi and the precision passing they used to have), so will be mildly rooting for Chelsea (Pulisic; also was a big Drogba fan back in the day) and Liverpool (big Klopp fan and like many of their players); never liked City much for some reason.
 
Surprised how disappointing PSG was. Messi not the same player, misses precision passing from Inesta and Xavi. Poch can’t get them to a champions league title. Poch was always better with young hungry players, not “Stars”. Not a good fit imho.
 
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Surprised how disappointing PSG was. Messi not the same player, misses precision passing from Inesta and Xavi. Poch can’t get them to a champions league title. Poch was always better with young hungry players, not “Stars”. Not a good fit imho.
Yeah, expectations were high with Messi, Neymar and Mbappe (and more)...
 
I'm a big Liverpool fan, actually flying an LFC flag from my house right now lol. Was always a casual fan - my Grandmother was born and raised in Liverpool, she moved to the US as a teenager during WWII... Became more interested with the hiring of Klopp, and have gotten really into it these past few years - but this team is so easy to root for, besides all the winning they play a great style. Having always gravitated towards defense, VVD is my favorite player, but I of course love our front three as well.

Our game this afternoon wasn't pretty for a good amount of the second half, but we made the necessary changes and Diaz finished it off with the amazing goal. This LFC team may be one of the best teams of all time IMO. Crazy to think that a 3-1 UCL win is almost viewed as a disappointment, just because we were up 2-0 early and have been dominating opponents to the point where it just looks ho-hum. Further, while expectations are very high among LFC fans to the point things are becoming expected, it also still feels like this team doesn't get all the respect it deserves among some of the media (Jamie Carragher excluded). Like VVD said in his pregame press conference "don't take this team for granted".

YNWA
 
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Surprised how disappointing PSG was. Messi not the same player, misses precision passing from Inesta and Xavi. Poch can’t get them to a champions league title. Poch was always better with young hungry players, not “Stars”. Not a good fit imho.
Can't play his high press with 3 fwds who won't press.
 
Can't play his high press with 3 fwds who won't press.
Exactly. I have seen a match a few years ago that Messi never once crossed midfield to play defense for an entire half unless it was a set piece.

Poch was never a good fit.
 
Exactly. I have seen a match a few years ago that Messi never once crossed midfield to play defense for an entire half unless it was a set piece.

Poch was never a good fit.
Ancelotti is a better fit for PSG than he is with the current RM. He's a good ego manager rather than some strategic/football philosophy genius that can build a system for a club from youth levels to the senior squad
 
Chelsea imploding against Real Madrid, as Benzema just scored 2 goals within about 3-4 minutes of each other midway through the first half, both on headers, as he was completely unmarked - how can a defense not mark a scorer of his caliber within about 10-12 yards? Perfectly placed headers, though, which not everyone would have scored on.
 
After Chelsea closed to 2-1 (and after Benzema missed a golden chance for a third), Chelsea's Mendy completely yakked on a long ball hit to him, hitting it way too softly and Benzema stepped in and scored an easy goal. Terrible goaltending. Followed by Courtois making a stupendous save on a rocket from Azpilicueta. Switch goalies and it's probably 2-2 right now instead of 3-1.

Pulisic started and was pulled after about 60 minutes of not much...
 
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Yeah, expectations were high with Messi, Neymar and Mbappe (and more)...
Funny thing is the other day, following the WC draw, they were talking about Messi and how he is arguably playing his BEST "country" futbol ever right now.
 
The big surprise is Villareal up 1-0 84 minutes in against Bayern - haven't been watching that one...
Haven't really watched Bayern at all, but I'm Polish so I'm a Lewandowski fan. Hoping for a Bayern - LFC semi, but thats looking much more difficult now...
 
Chelsea did create some chances, but they also made some awful mistakes. I wish Pulisic would hit the weight room - gets pushed around too easily out there.

I do wonder a little if Benzema was better than we thought and Ronaldo maybe was a tad overrated. And Modric is always great.
 
Surprised how disappointing PSG was. Messi not the same player, misses precision passing from Inesta and Xavi. Poch can’t get them to a champions league title. Poch was always better with young hungry players, not “Stars”. Not a good fit imho.
Messi was the best player in the world for years after Xavi and Iniesta retired. That take was wrong 10 years ago and it's still wrong now.
 
Messi was the best player in the world for years after Xavi and Iniesta retired. That take was wrong 10 years ago and it's still wrong now.
Iniesta retired 10 years ago? That’s news to me and the entire futbol world.
 
Chelsea did create some chances, but they also made some awful mistakes. I wish Pulisic would hit the weight room - gets pushed around too easily out there.

I do wonder a little if Benzema was better than we thought and Ronaldo maybe was a tad overrated. And Modric is always great.
Casemiro pushes everyone around. Wouldn't worry about that re: pulisic. The worrisome part is him not figuring out how to get involved in the game, especially since he was in his preferred position on the left.

Benz was always good... anyone who watched RM back in the day could see that, but the number of goals scored by RM with CR7 vs after CR7 tells the story of what CR7's impact is. And, even at his old age, he's basically carrying Manchester united.
 
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Iniesta retired 10 years ago? That’s news to me and the entire futbol world.
I meant the take was wrong when he was playing. The popular narrative was "Messi is only good with Xavi/Iniesta, wait until they both retire!" Then they both retired and Messi was still the best player in the world.
 
Hala Madrid!

It doesn't get better that 2020s, in form, Benzema and Thibaut Cortouis.
 
I meant the take was wrong when he was playing. The popular narrative was "Messi is only good with Xavi/Iniesta, wait until they both retire!" Then they both retired and Messi was still the best player in the world.
Never said he wasn’t the best player in the world, but after Iniesta left Barca Messi has won the FIFA player of the year once. Look at his league goal total for this year. Look at his Argentina championship titles. For me he is the third greatest ever, but no one should diminish the contributions of Xavi and Iniesta to his success. Two of the best and willing passers of all time.

Just my opinion
 
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Never said he wasn’t the best player in the world, but after Iniesta left Barca Messi has won the FIFA player of the year once. Look at his league goal total for this year. Look at his Argentina championship titles. For me he is the third greatest ever, but no one should diminish the contributions of Xavi and Iniesta to his success. Two of the best and willing passers of all time.

Just my opinion
third greatest ever? who are the other two?
 
Pele and Maradona, but if you had to ask.
 
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Pele and Maradona, but if you had to ask.
i am not old enough to have watched Pele play, only highlight reels on YT. And only old enough to catch Old, Fat, and Coked Out Maradona at the end of his career on top of his highlight reel. From what I have seen of Maradona, and all of the European footy that i've watched in the past 20 years, Messi is a better player, imo. However, that's just my opinion. The game has changed significantly over the decades that these players' careers have spanned, so it's hard to judge one against the other. Different skillsets were more valued than others in the different eras.
 
Stays 2-1 at the half. City clearly had the better of the play and deserve the lead. Klopp needs to make adjustments, City high press giving them real problems.
 
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