UEFA Champions League 2020/21 Season | Discussion Thread

[Firebat]

Bayern and PSG again the 2 top favourites for me. But PSG are a lot stronger than last year, so I'd say its 50-50 (whereas last year I would've put Bayern beating PSG at 70-30)

I'm slightly inclined to put Man City in that bracket, but their UCL knockout performances have been so poor under Pep, even while they have been destroying EPL teams every weekend.

 

[ChTab]

Bayern and PSG again the 2 top favourites for me. But PSG are a lot stronger than last year, so I'd say its 50-50 (whereas last year I would've put Bayern beating PSG at 70-30)

I'm slightly inclined to put Man City in that bracket, but their UCL knockout performances have been so poor under Pep, even while they have been destroying EPL teams every weekend.

TBH I think this the golden chance for City to win the CL.

 

[Saj]

Chelsea and Bayern looking very good for the last 8 at the moment.

 

[Saj]

Chelsea moved into the quarter-finals of the Champions League for the first time in seven years with a 3-0 aggregate win over Atletico Madrid.

Having established a slender first-leg lead, Emerson Palmieri's late strike sealed the win after Hakim Ziyech had earlier put the hosts firmly in control with a low effort after good work from Kai Havertz and Timo Werner.

Until then their dominance in possession had not translated into chances in front of goal and in a nervy opening, they also appeared fortunate to survive a penalty appeal after visiting winger Yannick Carrasco was pulled back by Blues captain Cesar Azpilicueta.

But Italian official Daniele Orsato waved away the claim and the incident was not examined by VAR.

Atletico knocked Liverpool out of the competition in dramatic fashion at the same stage last term, but the La Liga leaders rarely looked capable of recovering after Ziyech's goal.

Instead Chelsea, who remain unbeaten in 13 games since Thomas Tuchel took charge, had opportunities to extend their lead before Emerson's stoppage-time effort and deservedly progressed against an Atletico side that had Stefan Savic sent off late on for elbowing Antonio Rudiger.

The Blues join fellow English clubs Liverpool and Manchester City in the draw for the quarter and semi-finals on Friday at 11:00 GMT.

 

[Saj]

Robert Lewandowski was on the scoresheet again as Bayern Munich cruised into the quarter-finals of the Champions League with a win over Lazio.

The striker coolly slotted home a first-half penalty after Leon Goretzka was pushed by Francesco Acerbi.

Substitute Eric Maxim Choupo-Moting made it 2-0 in the second half with a chipped finish from close range.

Lazio got one back through Marco Parolo late on, but Bayern sailed through 6-2 on aggregate.

Lewandowski, who was replaced by Choupo-Moting with over 20 minutes remaining, had earlier hit the post with an excellent long-range effort in another threatening performance.

Bayern will find out their quarter-final opponents in Friday's draw.

 

[Saj]

8 teams left

 

[OMB]

Champions League quarter-final draw

Manchester City v Borussia Dortmund
Porto v Chelsea
Bayern Munich v PSG
Real Madrid v Liverpool


==


Semi-final draw

QF 3 v QF 1, Bayern or PSG v Man City or Dortmund

QF 4 v QF 2, Real or Liverpool v Porto or Chelsea

Winner of SF 1 v Winner of SF 2 is the final ‘draw’

 

[SpiritOf1903]

Liverpool have a real chance... The Sultans of Istanbul

 

[KingKhanWC]

Liverpool have a real chance... The Sultans of Istanbul

If we get there I will be going to Istanbul, with or without a ticket!

Great draw for us. I wanted Real Madrid so we can inflict revenge upon them. They are still a very good side but LFC will be fired up for this one. We can rip through their defence like a knife through butter but they can also score from any situation.

Good draws for City and Chelsea too. All 3 English clubs should make the Semis.

 

[Hasan123]

PSG vs Bayern looks the tie of the round.

 

[MenInG]

A new Champions League format, featuring a 10-match first phase from 2024, is expected to be agreed by Uefa on Wednesday.

The proposal, which has been under discussion for almost two years, will be finalised on Tuesday and then signed off by Uefa's executive committee.

Under the new format, the current group phase will be scrapped.

In its place, the number of qualifiers will be expanded from 32 to 36, with space for two 'wild card' entries.

The wild cards will be reserved for clubs with the highest Uefa co-efficient - points used to rank clubs based on past European success - who have not qualified for the competition through their league position.

If the format was being used now, based on the current table it would mean Liverpool would gain a Champions League spot despite being seventh in the Premier League.

Reformed tournament would be 'devastating' for English clubs
There has been opposition to the plans, in particular from the European Leagues organisation, who said it would create a "de facto closed shop".

However, Uefa officials and representatives from the European Club Association have backed the new arrangement, which former Manchester United keeper and current Ajax chief executive Edwin van der Sar is credited with suggesting.

Under the new format, each team will play 10 matches against opponents varying in strength, with the results forming an overall league table.

Those in the highest eight positions will move on to the knockout phase, with those from ninth to 24th going into a play-off round.

The new format will cause a problem for the English game and in particular the EFL Cup as the additional fixtures will need the mid-week slots usually allocated to the secondary cup competition.

Crystal Palace chairman Steve Parish previously said the 36-team Champions League would have "a devastating effect" on the English game.

What could it mean for English football? - analysis
It is 99% certain these proposals will be ratified, which will give those responsible for running English football a problem.

Firstly, the new format will require 19 match rounds, rather than the current 13, although as the current last-16 schedule has games spread across four weeks, only four additional midweeks may be required.

In a non-coronavirus affected English calendar, the only way of achieving that between the beginning of September and Christmas is to use the dates reserved for the third, fourth and fifth rounds of the EFL Cup, and the midweek slot the Premier League claims around the end of November and beginning of December.

If the EFL Cup is to be preserved, one option would be to follow the example of this season, when the first four rounds were played before the group stage of European competition began - in a 'normal' year, that would be August.

However, at least one English club will be involved in European qualifiers, which this season led to Tottenham having to play on Tuesday and Thursday in the same week, which Jose Mourinho was furious about.

Another option would be to scrap FA Cup replays and reduce the EFL Cup semi-finals to one game for each of the two ties to create space in the calendar.

A third would be to allow Premier League teams also in Europe to select under-23 teams for the EFL Cup, although even that could be met with opposition from Uefa, who claim primacy over midweeks for television purposes - and have 55 countries to fund with their broadcast contracts - and would not want any overlap.

The nuclear option would be to abandon the EFL Cup completely, an argument which has been made by some for a while now.

But that would rob the Football League of its greatest money maker, generating cash which is distributed across all three of its leagues.

EFL chairman Rick Parry has been aware of this looming problem for a while now, which is why he was so keen to embrace the controversial Project Big Picture proposals last year.

The Premier League are working on their own strategic review now - but Uefa's impending decision will frame the conclusions and how they are implemented.

 

[Saj]

Liverpool will need to produce another huge European display at Anfield if they are to reach the last four of the Champions League after suffering a crushing quarter-final first-leg loss to Real Madrid.

The Reds were largely second best throughout an entertaining game in Spain against a Real side missing its first-choice centre-back pairing, but packed with impressive attacking talent.

Much of the damage was done in the first half, begun when Vinicius Junior took down a brilliant long-range pass from Toni Kroos on his chest before firing the opener past Alisson.

Marco Asensio doubled the lead, taking advantage of a lose header from Trent Alexander-Arnold to chip the ball over Alisson and then tap into an empty net.

Liverpool came out fighting after the break, pulling a goal back through Mohamed Salah's close-range finish off the crossbar to spark their best 20-minute spell of the contest.

But they were stung when Vinicius Junior found the net via a first-time shot following a fine attacking move with 25 minutes to go.

 

[Saj]

Phil Foden's last-gasp strike gave Manchester City a crucial slender advantage in their Champions League quarter-final first leg against Borussia Dortmund at Etihad Stadium.

City's hopes of reaching the semi-final looked to be in the balance when Marco Reus gave Dortmund what looked like a priceless away goal with a cool finish from Erling Haaland's pass six minutes from time.

Kevin De Bruyne, who had given City the lead with a crisp finish after 19 minutes, played his part once more in the final minute of normal time when his fine cross was touched back by Ilkay Gundogan for Foden to stroke a finish past Marwin Hitz.

It was a bitter blow for an enterprising Dortmund side, who will leave Manchester nursing a burning sense of injustice directed towards Romanian official Ovidiu Hategan after he controversially ruled out Jude Bellingham's second-half goal with City leading 1-0.

Bellingham beat Ederson to a through ball but after it appeared City's keeper kicked the teenager, the referee blew for a foul against Borussia with the England star racing towards an empty net - not even allowing the intervention of VAR which would have surely awarded a goal.

City, who had a first-half penalty award overturned by VAR, showed commendable strength of character and great determination to react to the blow of Reus' goal to score the winner and are now in pole position before the return leg in Germany.

 

[Hasan123]

[MENTION=131701]Mamoon[/MENTION] remember when [MENTION=79064]MMHS[/MENTION] was telling us how much better Klopp is than Zidane. Lol Zidane outdid Klopp tactically.

 

[ARK Rafay]

Liverpool got owned by the Kroos, Modric, Casemiro Trio.

Can't believe people were saying how Thiago is going to control the game. Pity that the coach didn't even fancy starting him.

 

[OMB]

Sad for Liverpool. I was expecting some resurgence

 

[MenInG]

 

[PakLFC]

Can not defend like that against Real Madrid. They were all over us in the first half then we got the equaliser giving us hope before they got the crucial third. A 2-0 win at home is not beyond us yet we must be aware of their counter attack as well. Thiago has disappointed where as Firmino i feel is ending his stay at Anfield. VVD has been missed like no ones business.

 

[ARK Rafay]

PSG v Bayern - Best game of this season so far.

Mbappe showed his class once again. The 2nd leg is gonna be more intense now.

 

[ARK Rafay]

Can not defend like that against Real Madrid. They were all over us in the first half then we got the equaliser giving us hope before they got the crucial third. A 2-0 win at home is not beyond us yet we must be aware of their counter attack as well. Thiago has disappointed where as Firmino i feel is ending his stay at Anfield. VVD has been missed like no ones business.

One area where I thought Liverpool could exploit was the left flank down against Lucas Vazquez. But Mane was disappointing to say the least.

2nd leg is not gonna be easy for Liverpool at Home, specially with no crowd. I expect Real Madrid to qualify.

 

[Saj]

Kylian Mbappe scored twice as Paris St-Germain produced a superb away performance to beat title holders Bayern Munich in a thrilling Champions League quarter-final first leg.

This was a meeting between last year's finalists and they both contributed in a hugely entertaining game that in itself would have been worthy of being the final of the competition.

Mbappe took just three minutes to make his mark as he was fed by Neymar and the striker thumped a drive through Manuel Neuer's legs.

Marquinhos doubled the lead for the French champions midway through the first half with a neat finish from a great ball by Neymar before ex-PSG striker Eric Maxim Choupo-Moting headed home to halve the deficit.

Neuer made amends for his earlier mistake by denying Neymar from point-blank range early in the second half, before Keylor Navas kept out strikes from David Alaba and Benjamin Pavard at the other end.

But Bayern Munich kept up the pressure and deservedly levelled on the hour mark when Thomas Muller guided a header into the back of the net from Joshua Kimmich's free kick.

However, Mbappe had the final say as he swept a low strike through Jerome Boateng's legs late on to give PSG a third crucial away goal heading into the second leg.

 

[Saj]

Chelsea bounced back from a testing few days to earn a commanding first-leg quarter-final away win over Porto in the Champions League.

Mason Mount's clever turn and finish in the first half helped bring some welcome relief to Blues manager Thomas Tuchel after his side's heavy defeat to West Brom on Saturday, which was followed by a training ground incident between team-mates Kepa Arrizabalaga and Antonio Rudiger.

Ben Chilwell added a late second after a mistake by Corona, moments after substitute Christian Pulisic had hit the bar.

Having conceded five goals against West Brom, Chelsea produced a dogged defensive performance to earn a seventh clean sheet in nine European games this season.

Skipper Cesar Azpilicueta's vital block denied Corona before Edouard Mendy kept out Pepe's header.

With both legs of this tie in Spain at Sevilla's Ramon Sanchez Pizjuan Stadium because of coronavirus travel restrictions between Portugal and the UK, this was Porto's 'home' game, meaning Chelsea's two away goals put them in pole position before next Tuesday's second leg.

 

[PakLFC]

One area where I thought Liverpool could exploit was the left flank down against Lucas Vazquez. But Mane was disappointing to say the least.

2nd leg is not gonna be easy for Liverpool at Home, specially with no crowd. I expect Real Madrid to qualify.

Yeah Real are favourites now no doubt about it. To have a chance we need to score first even then I feel Real will score too. More then Mane it was our defence that let us down. Goodness knows what Trent was trying to when they scored their second.

 

[Mamoon]

[MENTION=131701]Mamoon[/MENTION] remember when [MENTION=79064]MMHS[/MENTION] was telling us how much better Klopp is than Zidane. Lol Zidane outdid Klopp tactically.

Klopp is Zidane’s bunny.

The debate between Klopp and Pep is over now - Pep is the better manager.

Klopp has two phenomenal years at Liverpool but he is running out of ideas now and needs to revamp the squad and take some tough calls on players like TAA who has been badly exposed as a mediocre RB this season.

He has no pace and no agility, his defensive awareness is poor. He is basically a modern David Beckham. Brilliant passer and crosser and great from set-pieces, but he is not a full-back.

He needs to play in midfield with a proper, explosive RWB replacing him.

Liverpool fans are crying about his exclusion from the England squad but he doesn’t deserve to be there.

The likes of Thiago are also not suited to Klopp’s playing style. He would do great at City.

Keita is average and a waste of money. Henderson is a good leader but will never be a world class midfielder.

Salah also doesn’t want to stay anymore, and Firminho needs to be moved on as well.

Klopp/Liverpool have a lot of work to do if they don’t want to wait long for another league title.

 

[Mamoon]

Bayern’s high-line was exposed by Neymar & Mbappe.

They are the best attacking duo in the world at the moment, and if both stay fit, PSG will have a massive chance of finally winning the UCL this season.

 

[Hasan123]

Klopp is Zidane’s bunny.

The debate between Klopp and Pep is over now - Pep is the better manager.

Klopp has two phenomenal years at Liverpool but he is running out of ideas now and needs to revamp the squad and take some tough calls on players like TAA who has been badly exposed as a mediocre RB this season.

He has no pace and no agility, his defensive awareness is poor. He is basically a modern David Beckham. Brilliant passer and crosser and great from set-pieces, but he is not a full-back.

He needs to play in midfield with a proper, explosive RWB replacing him.

Liverpool fans are crying about his exclusion from the England squad but he doesn’t deserve to be there.

The likes of Thiago are also not suited to Klopp’s playing style. He would do great at City.

Keita is average and a waste of money. Henderson is a good leader but will never be a world class midfielder.

Salah also doesn’t want to stay anymore, and Firminho needs to be moved on as well.

Klopp/Liverpool have a lot of work to do if they don’t want to wait long for another league title.

A lot of their players are 28/29. So it will take a couple of seasons to replace all these players. Klopp usually only stays at a club for 7 years. Next year will be 7 years at Liverpool.

 

[PakLFC]

Correct me if I am wrong but Pep has spent far more then Jurgen.

 

[Hasan123]

Correct me if I am wrong but Pep has spent far more then Jurgen.

Jurgen Klopp success at Liverpool started when he spent 75 million on VVD and 70 million on Alison. That is more than Manchester City record signing.

To win the Premier League you need to spend money.

 

[PakLFC]

Jurgen Klopp success at Liverpool started when he spent 75 million on VVD and 70 million on Alison. That is more than Manchester City record signing.

To win the Premier League you need to spend money.

However, overall to date Pep has spent helluva lot more then JK, i believe. You can not mention specific signings to suit your agenda.

 

[Hasan123]

However, overall to date Pep has spent helluva lot more then JK, i believe. You can not mention specific signings to suit your agenda.

He spent more but you still have to get the best out of those signings. Liverpool have Chamberlin who cost 40 million on the bench,Keita who cost 60 million who Klopp can’t get the best out of, Jota is 40 million and doesn’t always start, and you signed that Greek Lb who Klopp doesn’t even use. So it’s not as simple as spending money, you have to get the best out of those players. Pep does and Klopp doesn’t always.

 

[PakLFC]

He spent more but you still have to get the best out of those signings. Liverpool have Chamberlin who cost 40 million on the bench,Keita who cost 60 million who Klopp can’t get the best out of, Jota is 40 million and doesn’t always start, and you signed that Greek Lb who Klopp doesn’t even use. So it’s not as simple as spending money, you have to get the best out of those players. Pep does and Klopp doesn’t always.

Enough said, thanks.

 

[ChTab]

So after 1st leg of the quarterfinals, it seems like Liverpool, Bayern & Porto are already out of the competition.

I know Liverpool came back after 3-0 defeat vs Barcelona away & trashed them at home but those were different times, Liverpool won't have the backing of Kop this time.

As far as Bayern are concerned I don't think they can beat P$G away without Lewandoski.

 

[MenInG]

A new 36-team Champions League format from 2024 is set for final approval by UEFA's executive committee on Monday.

A decision had initially been expected on March 31 but was delayed due to some clubs within the European Club Association seeking a greater say on commercial matters for the new competition.

However, meetings of the ECA board and of UEFA's club competitions committee on Friday have cleared the way for the new format to be rubber-stamped. It is understood the differences which led to the first delay have been set aside rather than resolved.

The expanded format is a cause of concern for the Premier League and many other European domestic competitions, while fans' groups wrote an open letter to ECA chairman Andrea Agnelli criticising it on Friday morning.

European football's governing body will also make a final decision on host venues for Euro 2020, with Bilbao, Dublin and Munich the three yet to be confirmed of the original 12.

The Champions League executive committee will vote on whether to do away with the current group system - where 32 teams are split into eight pools of four - and replace it with one 36-team league.

Each team plays 10 matches on a seeded basis - four more than in the current group phase - in a so-called 'Swiss model', previously described as "ideal" by Agnelli in part because it allows the flexibility to add even more matches in the future.

The new format takes the Champions League from 125 to 225 matches, which would create a huge headache for domestic schedulers. EFL chairman Rick Parry says it would be a "major threat" to the Carabao Cup and the Football Association also wrote to UEFA to express its concerns.

The encroachment of the competition into January - usually kept free for domestic club football - is understood to be another concern for the Premier League.

The league's top eight would qualify automatically for the last-16 knockout stage, with the teams finishing ninth and 24th playing off for the remaining eight places.

FIFA council member Alexey Sorokin, who leads the organising committee in Saint Petersburg, says the players do not deserve to play in front of empty stadiums at Euro 2020
The allocation of two of the extra four places to sides based on previous European performance has also proved controversial.

A team could still qualify for the Champions League based on 'historic co-efficient' as long as they did enough domestically to finish in a Europa League or Europa Conference League position.

This has led to integrity concerns at Premier League level, where a team finishing seventh could leapfrog teams in fifth and sixth into a more lucrative competition.

Discussions over commercial control of the competition are set to continue, and fans' groups linked to clubs across Europe with ECA board members - including Arsenal and Manchester United - signed an open letter attacking the Champions League reforms, describing them as "a blatant power grab".

"Instead of realising your supposed goal of 'building a successful, sustainable, and socially responsible football industry', you will only make the gap between the rich and the rest bigger, wreck domestic calendars, and expect fans to sacrifice yet more time and money," the letter read.

"All for the benefit of whom? A handful of already wealthy clubs, investment firms, and sovereign funds, none of which have the legitimacy to decide how football should be run. Even most ECA members stand to lose out from the proposed reforms.

"Such a blatant power grab would be indefensible at the best of times, but at the height of a global pandemic, it is nothing more than crisis profiteering - not to mention a stark contrast to the solidarity displayed by fans."

https://www.skysports.com/football/...ew-36-team-format-from-2024-onwards-on-monday

 

[MenInG]

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">With all the Super League stuff going on... can we please also speak about the new Champions League format? More and more and more games, is no one thinking about us players?<br>The new UCL format is just the lesser of the two evils in comparison to the Super League...</p>— Ilkay Gündogan (@IlkayGuendogan) <a href="https://twitter.com/IlkayGuendogan/status/1385293404100235272?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">April 22, 2021</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>

 

[MenInG]

Chelsea have returned more than 800 unsold tickets for the Champions League final with Manchester City in Porto.

The Blues were given 5,800 tickets by Uefa for Saturday's game and there was a high demand for 2,800 tickets which were sold with independent travel.

However, the unsold tickets were part of a charter package, which included subsidised flights at £200.

Chelsea Supporter Trust board member Dan Silver said: "Uefa's lack of care for fans has again come to the fore."

He added: "They came to be our friends over the European Super League but now they have turned their backs on us again.

"Uefa's insistence on having charter flights - initially linked to 90% of tickets, which the clubs pushed back on - spending only 24 hours in Portugal with added Covid testing and additional costs have made it very prohibitive.

"Selling tickets for up to 400 euros for a limited access final with unnecessary travel is outrageous when there were obvious solutions closer to home."

A capacity of 16,500 has been confirmed for the 50,000-capacity Dragao Stadium.

Uefa has been criticised for its pricing policy. Tickets start at 70 euros (£60.50) and rise to 400 euros (£346).

However, European football's governing body is facing some huge financial challenges.

It is estimated Uefa's pre-Covid reserves of 500m euros (£432.64m) will have shrunk to just over 100m euros (£86.53m) by 2023.

That financial impact is a direct result of the costs incurred in moving the European Championship back by a year - resulting in rebates to broadcasters and sponsors and refunds to ticket holders, plus the cost of Covid testing and mitigation measures for the rescheduled tournament.

It explains why Uefa was so keen to get both their prestige club finals played in front of fans and get commitments from Euro 2020 venues about supporter numbers.

https://www.bbc.com/sport/football/57254818