23/24 UCL Knockout Stage

What strange draws. Not only did all of the top teams draw against each other, but the two weakest ones among them also drew against each other.

It’s Ceferin’s way of giving us more best vs best games!

Ya but you want those games in the SF and finals not quarters

El Gunner wrote:Bill out here projecting, saying things are rigged when his club's entire existence is built off rigging wins

This and then more this.  

Frankly, I don't see any rigging in these draws.  It used to happen.  But I haven't felt it since they came out and made the "not allowed matchups" public in the 90s.  For example, when two countries are at war or have a big conflict, the clubs aren't allowed to draw each other besides the final of course (and it's on neutral ground).

There is exactly zero reason that UEFA would want Madrid v City this early in the competition.  That's a blockbuster final.  Same with Bayern and Arsenal being on the same side.

You could now see a Dortmund v City final, would be terrible from a ratings standpoint.  

If you're going to cry wolf, at least explain why it would benefit the organizers to rig it this way...

The rigging happened by extending the competition and making it almost impossible for the big teams to not qualify for the elimination rounds.  World cup did the same.  But as far as what happens in the elimination rounds, that's all chance. The rigging happens in the refereeing btw.

ioilersrock448 wrote:Only interesting matchup is BVB vs PSV

I can only speak for myself, but even if Real Madrid don’t advance through to the final, Dortmund vs Man City would be a refreshing change from the usual match up. I don’t fancy Dortmund’s chances of winning at all in their current state, but witnessing them beating Man City would make me truly excited.

Gee, Sports, I think I found how to get under your skin.I did say at outset, I don’t believe in all these conspiracies and if you recall I made same comment about Euros,I think the one before last when all favourites ended up on same side of draw. I don’t think it’s corruption but a shame that these dream matches happen so early

I hate UEFA and FIFA... as corrupt as they get.  The referees are the ones they influence.  You can see it in games.  For example, they wanted Villareal to go through and not Marseille because of the issue with the OM fans.  I can understand that because they are extreme trouble. But you cannot cheat to get your way.
So they didn't overturn a BLATANTLY offsides goal in the 2nd leg and just adapted the refereeing to help their agenda.

FIFA does it with Argentina too.  Messi is their poster child.  So they literally give every questionable call to Argentina in world cups. I mean Messi won the player of the tournament in 2014... so there's the proof right there.

It's a bit insane.

Thimmy wrote:

ioilersrock448 wrote:Only interesting matchup is BVB vs PSV

I can only speak for myself, but even if Real Madrid don’t advance through to the final, Dortmund vs Man City would be a refreshing change from the usual match up. I don’t fancy Dortmund’s chances of winning at all in their current state, but witnessing them beating Man City would make me truly excited.

With Sancho scoring the winning goal in the final then taking his shirt off and showing the message fek off baldie painted on his chest. Could be stuff of dreams.

Glory wrote:

Thimmy wrote:

ioilersrock448 wrote:Only interesting matchup is BVB vs PSV

I can only speak for myself, but even if Real Madrid don’t advance through to the final, Dortmund vs Man City would be a refreshing change from the usual match up. I don’t fancy Dortmund’s chances of winning at all in their current state, but witnessing them beating Man City would make me truly excited.

With Sancho scoring the winning goal in the final then taking his shirt off and showing the message fek off baldie painted on his chest.    Could be stuff of dreams.

I have followed Dortmund a bit since Sancho’s return, and he hasn’t played well. He made his debut full of confidence and panache, but then he regressed to his Man United form.

The media seems to hype him up every time he has a decent performance, like when he scored his first goal at home turf recently, but he no longer benefits from being able to roam freely in the final third, and he’s looked rather unimpressive whenever I’ve watched them.

Dortmund are 5th in the league and are currently down against Eintracht Frankfurt thanks to a goal by friggin Mario Götze.

Gotze is only 31 lol. Feels like he's been around since the dawn of football time.

sportsczy wrote:Gotze is only 31 lol. Feels like he's been around since the dawn of football time.

Oh wow. Yeah, I had assumed that he would at least be in his mid-30s by now.

https://www.espn.co.uk/football/story/_/id/39902042/real-madrid-bernabeu-roof-shut-man-city

Real using all that can be in their favour in addition to the usual ref favs

Cant wait, definitely gonna stay up for this. Wonder if Pep will go for Doku or Grealish whos suddenly back in the picture lately... no Walker is a huge miss vs Vini, with Lewis looking like filling in lately which is worrying?

How does using the stadium's roof gives us a favor?

Pedram wrote:How does using the stadium's roof gives us a favor?

It's in the article: to have a louder atmosphere during the game under a closed roof

Obviously a non-factor, and I can't believe they wrote an entire article about this.

Yea i imagine the closed roof would amplify noises a few decibels higher but it's certainly not enough to give us a meaningful advantage.

And City has faced teams with louder away fans than Madrid, pretty sure they can handle the atmosphere.

https://www.espn.co.uk/football/story/_/id/39905951/represent-barcelona-style-more-xavi

Lol Luis Enrique trolling Xavi hard ahead of our clash...

BREAKING: Real Madrid's lineup against Manchester City in UCL leaked an hour before the game. pic.twitter.com/hj9sSxuGc2

— Troll Football (parody) (@Troll_Futballl) April 9, 2024

Kovacic n Grealish gets the nod... back 4 prolly n loaded midfield...Pep playing for the away draw as usual?

For Bayern Dier n De Ligt plays ahead of Upamecano, who would have thought

Not starting KDB, what is Pep cooking

Pedram wrote:Not starting KDB, what is Pep cooking

resting him for tougher matchups

Myesyats wrote:

Pedram wrote:Not starting KDB, what is Pep cooking

resting him for tougher matchups

Diarrhea

Pretty obvious Pep always wants control in CL away legs, so give up De Bruyne for Kovacic n play keep ball. Hate it, but hope the star players on both teams decides otherwise n score goals. Bring him on vs tired defense later on n get the goals especially. Both defense dont feel great so I think it should happen COME ON MAN C~!

Real voodoo black magic at work again? 2 deflected shots in already XD Seriously though... Real are so good grr.... imagine them going all the way again, even b4 Mbappe joins XD

No Walker to stop them easy counters n Real's front 2 having fun

Real sp often just dispossessing Man C midfielders with ease, even Silva, wtf is going on