The Ongoing Serie A, La Liga, All English Football, Champions League Thread - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - Part 55

[chamber-music]

Willian is close to signing to Arsenal.

I rate Willian highly. He is a good creative player and has a strong work ethic.

Not super enthusiastic that we are becoming a dumping ground for any thirty something Chelsea players that wants to stay in London (Cech, Luiz and now probably Willian).

Feel bad for Brentford, but I kind of associate Fulham with the Prem at this point, so nice to have them back.

Fulham are starting to feel like a YoYo club like West Brom and Norwich. It will be interesting to see if they can sustain their premier league status this go around.

 

[Bobber]

Willian is close to signing to Arsenal.

I rate Willian highly. He is a good creative player and has a strong work ethic.

He may turn out great, cus he surely has the ability to put in some absolutely incredible performances.
As a Chelsea fan, though, my experience is an incredibly inconsistent player who's never put in the numbers one would expect from a man of his talent.

 

[chamber-music]

I'm not too worried about Willian's consistency since I don't think he will be in our starting eleven most weeks. I can see him as a squad player or impact sub.

 

[Loden Greatstorm]

Juventus still can't win the Champions League.

 

[DarthSkywalker]

Varane was so bad today.

 

[Zantera]

To be fair Real Madrid did not lose this CL fixture yesterday, they lost it when they lost 2-1 at home to City. Did anyone really expect them to win at least 2-0 away to go through?

 

[Iceman]

City probably have a shot at winning this given their recent form.

 

[Zantera]

City probably have a shot at winning this given their recent form.

If I don't misremember they did struggle with Lyon in the group stage - was it this season or the last one? Could possibly be room for an upset. But yeah otherwise I feel like if there's any year City should win CL it's this one, the competition just doesn't feel the strongest this year.

 

[Iceman]

If I don't misremember they did struggle with Lyon in the group stage - was it this season or the last one? Could possibly be room for an upset. But yeah otherwise I feel like if there's any year City should win CL it's this one, the competition just doesn't feel the strongest this year.

I can’t remember actually, feels like a long time ago now! It’s possible to trip up against anyone at this stage, especially in a one off knockout game with no home leg to bank on. But at least the draw isn’t as stacked as it has been in the past with some of the traditional heavyweights weaker than usual. City also have more momentum and form than most. This is certainly their best chance in a long time.

 

[B]

Didn't get a chance to see any of the football last night live, just caught the highlights on Youtube.

The penalty Juventus got after Depay's handball, at least from the 1 angle they showed it in the replay, looked complete & utter bull****. From the looks of things Lyon were fortunate, as all of the good chances shown seemed to fall for Juventus.

Varane had a disaster game practically handing the tie to City on a plate. You can't afford to make 1 error like that in a game that was finely poised let alone 2. On both occasions he tried to be too cute & casual with the ball, sometimes regardless of what your manager is trying to instil in you, sometimes lumping the ball high in the air into the opposition half is the right decision.

 

[B]

Maurizio Sarri: Juventus head coach sacked after Champions League exit

 

[DarthSkywalker]

Juventus appoint Andrea Pirlo to replace Maurizio Sarri

 

[DarthSkywalker]

Messi!

 

[Iceman]

Bayern beat Chelsea 4-1 for a 7-1 aggregate victory. They are certainly one to watch and will come up against Barcelona (who beat Napoli 3-1 for a 4-2 aggregate win) in the quarter-finals.

 

[Iceman]

Messi!

He's still got it.

 

[DarthSkywalker]

He's still got it.

I was eating lunch at the time. It went everywhere.

 

[DarthSkywalker]

2 virus cases at Atletico ahead of UCL match

 

[B]

2 virus cases at Atletico ahead of UCL match

Same thing happened in Scotland resulting in the whole game being postponed. It had to be postponed because they only found out on Thursday I believe & the game was due to take place on the Saturday, with potentially 8 members of the first team who were in contact with 1 another.

Coronavirus: Aberdeen's match at St Johnstone postponed after positive tests

 

[Iceman]

Oh damn. The PL season seemed to get by without this. Who knows what might happen next season.

 

[B]

Shows how much I've been paying attention recently, I only just discovered that the remaining Europa League & Champions League games will be played at neutral venue's in Germany/Portugal & will be a 1 off instant elimination game like you're standard cup.

Whoever wins the Europa League & Champions League titles this year should have an asterisk next to their name.

 

[Iceman]

Borussia Dortmund insist Jadon Sancho will not leave this summer

 

[Iceman]

Shows how much I've been paying attention recently, I only just discovered that the remaining Europa League & Champions League games will be played at neutral venue's in Germany/Portugal & will be a 1 off instant elimination game like you're standard cup.

Whoever wins the Europa League & Champions League titles this year should have an asterisk next to their name.

True, although everyone’s in the same boat so I still see it as fair. But yes, worth having a footnote given how different this tournament is to the norm.

 

[Iceman]

The German Health Minister has said that there will be no return of soccer fans to stadiums. Not sure on the timescale of that.

 

[B]

Borussia Dortmund insist Jadon Sancho will not leave this summer

I had read somewhere Dortmund issued United with an deadline of 10th August to agree a fee otherwise he wouldn't be sold. Personally, I'd move onto another transfer target & be done with it. This has already dragged on for long enough & it seems evident that the 2 clubs valuation of the player are too far apart.

I think the fee being quoted for him sounds ridiculous for a player still with everything to prove & based on the fact we've ended the season with a nice dynamic up front of Rashford, Martial & Greenwood.. we shouldn't be feeling desperate enough to overpay for any forwards at present.

There are plenty of other players that could improve us in other areas, but knowing Ed Woodward much like with several previous deals he'll dig his heels in & then when we are struggling & effectively well out of any potential title challenge, he'll return in January with his tail between his legs to pay what he was told.

 

[Zantera]

Kudos to Dortmund if they are sticking to their guns. They basically told us what they wanted weeks ago and said "pay it before this date or its no deal" and we tried to haggle over the price and here we are.

In classic MU-fashion though it feels like we can only go after transfer targets 1 at the time unlike most other clubs at our level who can pursue multiple targets at the same time.