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Been waiting for this day for 7 days!! Cmon Arsenal!!

Napoli/Barca ended up quite even and interesting. Napoli had a better shape and pressed much better, though Barca had superior athletes in some positions and were less profligate. Gigi Simeone is surprisingly good apart from his finishing, though was too isolated in attacks sometimes. Barca's wing play was pretty ineffective and Raphina was pinned a bunch of times despite coming on as a sub. That could have probably improved if they just switched Gundo and Frenkie. Their back 3 also has little ball progression capabilities and could be exploited into turnovers. I could see Tuchel taking over this Barca and improving it without signings.

Brutal performance and Martinelli playing terrible gives them the ball for a brilliant goal .

2nd leg is going to be spooky lol . if we don't respond in the first half we are going home lmao

Yikes losing to Porto.

How did we lose that?

Great goal tbf, but looked like we were far too comfortable.

The_Brecht wrote:How did we lose that?

Great goal tbf, but looked like we were far too comfortable.

Maybe try and have a shot on goal...

SgtPepper wrote:Yeah but Inter should have killed the game off. Atleti are looking the thinnest now since I became a football fan; they are feeling the consequences of paying 120M on Felix now. Was fun to see a guy I totally forgot wasn't retired, Alexis, troll Simeone. With guys like Carrasco in KSA the only trickery Simeone could pull was to move their wingback to wide forward. Atleti will be home next game and it's the smallest advantage. I haven't seen Atleti turn over a deficit in a while so I think Inter will advance but honestly Inter's frontline underwhelmed me given how much they dominated in defense and midfield.

Agreed. Should have been at least 2-0...they still have a lot of work to do now.

SgtPepper wrote:Napoli/Barca ended up quite even and interesting. Napoli had a better shape and pressed much better, though Barca had superior athletes in some positions and were less profligate. Gigi Simeone is surprisingly good apart from his finishing, though was too isolated in attacks sometimes. Barca's wing play was pretty ineffective and Raphina was pinned a bunch of times despite coming on as a sub. That could have probably improved if they just switched Gundo and Frenkie. Their back 3 also has little ball progression capabilities and could be exploited into turnovers. I could see Tuchel taking over this Barca and improving it without signings.

I didn't get to watch yesterday's games, but am pleased that Napoli did not lose. According to the Italian papers, Kvara was subpar and the new coach was right to sub him out, while Osimhen was their best player -- as he should be. Maybe I will watch the game later when I have some time. Who do you expect to go through now?

I never thought I'd say this, but I sort of miss the away goal rule. It might be my imagination but it feels like teams really don't go for it away from home now. I'd like to see some kind of shots on goal comparison by away teams in CL knockout games in the 2 years before and after scrapping the away goal rule.

Baphomet wrote:I never thought I'd say this, but I sort of miss the away goal rule. It might be my imagination but it feels like teams really don't go for it away from home now. I'd like to see some kind of shots on goal comparison by away teams in CL knockout games in the 2 years before and after scrapping the away goal rule.

I loved it (although I'm sure there were instances were I cursed it lol). Was an incentive for people to exhibit the behaviors we want to see, i.e., **** go for it on the the road.

But you're smart and want to see the data.

^^^No idea, 3 weeks is too long and leg 2 is practically a new fixture. Barca will be at home and the press will say they are favorites; I probably agree with it slightly.

^^I don't think the low scores in this round have to do with the away goals rule. There are a bunch of really mismatched teams this round and it's clear teams like Madrid are rotating a bit gratuitously as a result. Anyways the athletic tactics podcast discussed this last season and thought the net goalscoring improved after the elimination of the away goals rule. I also think the updates in var and pk rules make it easier to get awarded pk goals in europe this season than before, and that is partially why clubs like Atleti are doing worse. I think even from a pure game theory perspective the game is better without it, as the away goals rule gives an advantage to teams that score early goals rather than win the match on gd. Without that rule the games in the cl flowed more naturally since most teams want to win before extra time or pk's.

anyone think Lazio have a chance to advance today?
I know Bayern have been subpar but I just can't imagine they don't advance past a Lazio team who hasn't beaten a team ahead of them in the Serie A standings since October.

Guendouzi is breezing past this bayern midfield , Lazio been slightly better to start imo

magik9113 wrote:anyone think Lazio have a chance to advance today?
I know Bayern have been subpar but I just can't imagine they don't advance past a Lazio team who hasn't beaten a team ahead of them in the Serie A standings since October.

First 15 minutes showing they have a chance. Scales tipping a bit towards Bayern now though. Don't think Lazio can win if Bayern make it 1-1 so they probably have to score the first goal here today

Lazio had a couple okay opportunities, but that goal before half time likely seals it for me.

That immobile chance was it , could have changed the outcome

another couple of boring matchups today. Looking forward to next week though

Great play by Bellingham and great movement from Vini. That should be the tie.

Maybe not! I turned the game on 30 seconds before Vini's goal. Good timing from me.

Leipzig were better over both legs but Openda with a hall of shame tie

magik9113 wrote:another couple of boring matchups today. Looking forward to next week though

Last 16 round is always like this. Maybe 1-2 interesting ties, but in general very predictable. Next year's format will not solve this issue entirely. Having 2 more teams from top leagues will help a little.

Bring back the second round group stage, otherwise, the real competition doesn't start until quarter finals