Champions League Thread

[magiczlatan 15]

You really think PSG will get all those players? lol

Btw this is not aimed at you (who I am quoting), but some of these PSG fans are so deluded that it's getting annoying.

Lucas made one greatrun from the defence, not passing to anyone(!!!) in the process and ended up with nothing at all really. That is the best thing he has done in his career. Compare that to what Hazard and Oscar, for example, have done in their careers.

I'm very serious; PSG will have at least 150 millions euros per season to buy new players over the next 4 years.

I have no idea why that Italian guy got carried away with Lucas. The latter does not know how to strike a soccer ball, although

he is one of the most talented young players I've ever seen. As I said earlier, He won't even start.

[Dwight Schrute 114]

To get back on topic, I think Lucas is a good player. Lots of pace and dribbling ability, but he's not world class. He's not up to the level of players like Hazard, Reus, Robben, Ribery..etc let alone Messi and Ronaldo.

All things being equal, Lucas Moura reminds me of Cristiano when he arrived in Man U. Always trying to make the most beautiful dribbling, not the most efficient. Always trying to score the goal of the century as soon as he as the ball, always shoting as soon as he can. Once he sees he has 10 teammates around him, he will be a very good player.

You do realize Willian plays in the Premier League while both Lavezzi and Lucas play in the Ligue 1. Premier League >> Ligue 1. Better defenders in the premier league which makes it harder to score, assist and dribble.

It's not that simple IMO. It is not about knowing which league is the best one (EPL of course). Since I watch both leagues ( I understand why you don't, being French is the only thing that can make you watch this league ), there is basically one fundamental difference between the Ligue 1 and the EPL when it comes to tactics: in France, the aim is to conceid one less goal than the other team, in England, the aim is to score one more goal.

I am not saying that Lucas and Lavezzi are better, but in Ligue 1, scoring is not that easy since:

1) Most of the time, your coach's priority is a clean-sheet, not scoring (which is not the case in Paris)

2) Most of the time, the other team's priority is a clean sheet, not scoring

Quarter-finals in Champions League is the biggest achievement in your club's miserable history and it will stay like that.

Now get out of here and enjoy your last weeks in Champions League. After that you can go back to that second-hand league of yours and watch "the Almighty Paris" winning against Evian and Ajaccio haha.

I think I'd behave the same if I'd watch my team troll the likes of Evian, Ajaccio and Sochaux week-in, week-out. Brainwashing: level Qatar. Thank God I'm not following that Mickey Mouse league.

Ok, you hate us, you find us miserable, Ligue 1 is the worst competition in the world, ... We get it. What's the point of being that aggressive?

Should I be a moron, I would say that you look like you forget that your home league is Liga I, not Premier league, that your biggest clubs are Steaua and Rapid Bucharest, not Man U, Liverpool or Chelsea. But, as I am not a moron, I won't.

[Mohammed Seif 1,451]

Well, I'm not used to reading posts written by foreigners on French forums. Your club is more popular outside England than I thought.

Anyway, I somewhat agree with what you wrote. However, PSG did very well against the "Mickey Mouse" clubs. Every time PSG played a team for the first time in the champions league this season, they battered the opposition. Olympiakos 1-4, Benfica 3-0, Anderlecht 0-5, Leverkusen 0-5.

It's been so easy that they always pass the ball around to save up energy. Ball possession is very important in football. Very

few teams can keep the ball as often as PSG.

I'm so surprised that Chelsea could win 2 major trophies despite the fact that your ball possession % was not high.

It is not about the ball possession mate. It is about how you execute your game. Many different systems out there, high ball possession is just one of them

[Mohammed Seif 1,451]

All things being equal, Lucas Moura reminds me of Cristiano when he arrived in Man U. Always trying to make the most beautiful dribbling, not the most efficient. Always trying to score the goal of the century as soon as he as the ball, alwing shoting as soon as he can. Once he sees he has 10 teammates around him, he will be a very good player.

It's not that simple IMO. It is not about knowing which league the best one (EPL of course). Since I watch both leagues ( I understand why you don't, being French is the only thing that can make you watch this league ), there is basically one fundamental difference between the Ligue 1 and the EPL when it comes to tactics: in France, the aim is to conceid one less goal than the other team, in England, the aim is to score one more goal.

I am not saying that Lucas and Lavezzi are better, but in Ligue 1, scoring is not that easy since:

1) Most of the time, your coach's priority is a clean-sheet, not scoring (which is not the case in Paris)

2) Most of the time, the other team's priority is a clean sheet, not scoring

Ok, you hate us, you find us miserable, Ligue 1 is the worst competition in the world, ... We get it. What's the point of being that aggressive?

Should I be a moron, I would say that you look like you forget that your home league is Liga I, not Premier league, that your biggest clubs are Steaua and Rapid Bucharest, not Man U, Liverpool or Chelsea. But, as I am not a moron, I won't.

I think you got the wrong country. Actually wrong continent

[magiczlatan 15]

It is not about the ball possession mate. It is about how you execute your game. Many different systems out there, high ball possession is just one of them

It's a moot point. I really think that ball possession is the key to success.

http://www.whoscored.com/Regions/250/Tournaments/12/Europe-UEFA-Champions-League

Here you can see that bayern boasts a whopping 69.2% posession, followed by Barca and PSG.

Maybe I love this style of play too much, lol. Long live to the tiki-taka!

But I know that Chelsea's strategy is formidable even though the neutrals don't like it.

[Mohammed Seif 1,451]

It's a moot point. I really think that ball possession is the key to success.

http://www.whoscored.com/Regions/250/Tournaments/12/Europe-UEFA-Champions-League

Here you can see that bayern boasts a whopping 69.2% posession, followed by Barca and PSG.

Maybe I love this style of play too much, lol. Long live to the tiki-taka!

I perfectly understand your point, but again, it is just about the system, Dortmund, RM and ( even last year's Bayern) were never about possession. Don't get me wrong, personally I like the tiki taka, but if it was about that, then teams like Chelsea, Inter Milan and others wouldn't have defeated Barca. There is no such thing as a perfect system. You should know that. It is about how you execute your own and exploit the weakness in your opponents' games. Mourinho always had the venom for the tiki taka

[Yeboii 1,844]

I'm very serious; PSG will have at least 150 millions euros per season to buy new players over the next 4 years.

I have no idea why that Italian guy got carried away with Lucas. The latter does not know how to strike a soccer ball, although

he is one of the most talented young players I've ever seen. As I said earlier, He won't even start.

I am sure PSG has the money, but you are targeting great players that can become one of the best. If they have any ambition they will not go to PSG.

[samzilla 517]

I just heard about this new rule change...team with the most possession wins apparently. Goals are now only used as a tiebreaker at the end of the season if necessary.

[magiczlatan 15]

I am sure PSG has the money, but you are targeting great players that can become one of the best. If they have any ambition they will not go to PSG.

It's already a miracle that they can afford to recruit good players. I can't even imagine the tens of millions of euros that the French government rakes in from PSG. I can tell you that the french teams have a huge handicap in this sector.

I can tell you that money is everything in football. Why did Falcao move to Monaco?

There's no income tax; he earns stupid money (1.2 million a month, ouch!)

I agree with you that the best players do not want to play in the French league. That's why we are forced to pay big wages to attract them, which is only possible by billionaire.

Unfortunately, the FPP could be an obstacle.

[Bir_CFC 3,455]

Jeez, instead of bickering back and forth. Let's have a scout report on PSG. Since loads of PSG fans joined, let's have a scout report on what your team will be most likely and how do you reckon Blanc will set em up tactically? I'm sure I'm not the only one who hasn't seen PSG outside of a few CL ties this year.

[Dwight Schrute 114]

The most likely formation:

Sirigu

Van der Wiel - Alex - Thiago S - Maxwell

Thiago Motta

Veratti Matuidi

Cavani Lavezzi

Ibrahimovic

Usual formation, I do not think that Blanc might change something. If some of you watched the match, Marquinhos played last friday but he is an usual substitute.

As discussed before, Blanc wants Paris' game to be based on high ball possession. Sometimes (often), Ibrahimovic plays quite low on the field, as a #10. Lavezzi and Cavani may switch during the game, but obviously, as Cavani is not a real winger, his talent is quite wasted (but he remains an incredible player). As I said before, I am a little worried with Ibrahimovic since he is often in troubles during big european games.

Regarding midfielders, Thiago Motta is the defensive midfielder. IMO, he is one of the most important player. He was often injured last year and he is mainly the reason why (IMO) Paris' game has improved so far. And let's be honnest, he can sometimes be a b***h on the field. Then Veratti and Matuidi are the two other central midfielders, they are in charge of "boosting" the offensive game. They are quite different, as Matuidi is not a great player technically speaking but he has a great ability to perforate the defense. Veratti has great technical skills, passing skills (like Thiago Motta) and a great ability to play under opponents' pressure, which can lead him to take a lot of risks when dribbling in his own penalty area ... He also makes a lot of faults and can get nervous quite easily.

Regarding defenders, right-back is Van der Wiel. He is very attacking and defensively, he is far from being great ... Given he will be in charge of Hazard, he is the one who scares me the most. He might be the weakest point of Paris (they've been triying to hire Dani Alves for months). On the other side, Maxwell is never great, but he is never bad ... In the centre, there is nothing to say about Thiago Silva, he is great. As said before, he will wear a mask because of his face injury and I am afraid he might not be 100% in aerian duels ... And Alex is good, a little bit slow sometimes but you must know him as well as we do.

Dangerous free-kicks are all shooted by Ibrahimovic. Corners on the left are mainly shooted by Lavezzi, and, as a left footer, Thiago Motta kicks those on the right.

I let other Parisians add what I might have forgotten or correct me if they don't agree.

[Barbara 15,149]

Willan is an average winger and nothing more, Lucas is better than Willan

some stats

Lavezzi goals 8 assits 2 total successful dribbles 24 turnovers 48

Lucas goals 3 assists 10 total successful dribbles 87 turnovers 52

Willan goals 2 assist 3 total successful dribbles 44 turnovers 38

let a Brazilian settle this for you

Lucas Moura is a flop. He isn't better than any of the many midfielders we have in Brazil, reason why he isn't - rightfully so - going to the WC in his own country.

I hope you have enjoyed your stay.

That aside, the French football fans (at least in this board, Chelsea fans or not) are my fave fans to discuss in forums. They're really special, have a great understanding of the game and very, very polite. You're all welcome here

[lionsden 4,689]

I think I'd behave the same if I'd watch my team troll the likes of Evian, Ajaccio and Sochaux week-in, week-out. Brainwashing: level Qatar. Thank God I'm not following that Mickey Mouse league.

Yeh those teams are so much worse than Cardiff, palace, Fulham. All the teams in the EPL are world class

[BloodIsBlue 291]

Ok, you hate us, you find us miserable, Ligue 1 is the worst competition in the world, ... We get it. What's the point of being that aggressive?

Nobody hates you buddy. You should that you two PSG guys aren't anywhere near as bad the Galatasaray guys from the other week, at least you guys are talking about football very objectively (even if we disagree).

To be honest though I don't take too kindly to any of the new rich teams, I know the fans are the same guys that have given our club a hard time over the last decade. So many clubs are doing the same thing we did by getting lucky with a wealthy investor and none of the supporters have the slightest clue how much hate we've received over the years. If it wasn't for Abramovich and Chelsea pioneering the whole thing the clubs that did it after us would not have known what to do so soon, and they wouldn't have the social protection of walking behind the wake of all the abuse we Chelsea fans endure. Chelsea fans can be like a dog that's been abused a lot, its as friendly as the other dogs just take special care not to tease it (I too am guilty of this).

You're getting these 'cocky' response because this year everyone if feeling confident, if this was last year we would have been much apprehensive. This year I feel like we can take on anybody and at the very least we won't get destroyed, next year should be even better. Me confidence personally comes from the fact that PSG haven't faced any of Europe's best defenses and we are arguably Europe's defensive juggernaut (in our current form and not our record over the season). All season long teams have wilted in frustration at the vice grips that come from our constant team-wide pressure. We won't role you over, if Blanc plays Motta, Matuidi and Veratti it will be a very safe Mourinho like approach and it won't be easy to break hrough. With Ibrahimovic and Cavani up front anything can happen but we have firepower too albeit our guns aren't as big.

[Ainsley Harriott 2,732]

Chelsea was owed by Corinthians and Juventus

C'mon sport

Why did we face Corinthians??

Oh...

Knocked out by Juventus?

LOL NO PROBLEM XD

Meanwile in Paris...

Cup winners' cup and an Intertoto cup... Really?

[didierforever 7,349]

and again

Lione-tottenham(top 5 in EPL) 5-3

LOL.

did you see what happened to marseille in CL this year.

[ZOS 580]

What's up mate

Cabaye won't play, he's not top 11

Nor Marquinhos

Hazard is gonna crush van der bitch

Torres won't be able to win a heads up

Verratti will make you crazy

Motta wil mock you

Matuidi will bite you

Eto'o is still a killer player

Ibra will destroy you

and Chelsea will go through

don't wast your breath bro, we've heard it all ... ask barca fans for some pointers

[NishC300 1,865]

Reading the last couple of pages. There have been some cancerous posts....

What has the strength of the League you play in got to do with any of this? PSG is a brilliant side and I must say if anything our reputation is the main reason we're being fancied ahead of them. Anyone saw how they hammered the 'Mickey Mouse' teams in the Group Stages (While we lost twice to Basel)?

They are a top class team even though I think because of our 'big game' strength etc.(which we saw in our heroic performance against Bayern/some of the League games this season such as at the Ethiad). We might edge them in a pretty close game.

EDIT: If the French Leagues are so terrible then why do PL teams buy so many players from them?

[petre.ispirescu 4,928]

Ok, you hate us, you find us miserable, Ligue 1 is the worst competition in the world, ... We get it. What's the point of being that aggressive?

Should I be a moron, I would say that you look like you forget that your home league is Liga I, not Premier league, that your biggest clubs are Steaua and Rapid Bucharest, not Man U, Liverpool or Chelsea. But, as I am not a moron, I won't.

I don't mean no disrespect, but you've taken this out of context. Just have a look at the posts before and you'll figure it out. It was meant for your buddy who was bragging about that Quarter-final against Barcelona, Paris having the best players in the world and all this shit.

And do I need to explain once again this "English team/English fans" thing? Only a guy like you, who supports a team with a National reputation, can think like that. Football is a universal language, Chelsea is supported all over the world, I don't really see what's wrong being a Romanian/German/Chilean fan supporting an English based club... Don't want to get involved in a useless discussion, but right now, Chelsea FC is far away from Paris in terms of world recognition.

And if you are really interested in why I don't support any club in Romania (and there are millions like me here) it is because you can't call yourself a football fan/human being and support a corupt to the bone football. There ain't no football here, it's all about fixing games, mafia controlling everything, politicians filling their accounts, a rotten football system, poor footballers, a very poor national team, no youth system, every 17-18 years old "footballer" in this country only thinks about fancy cars, what broad to fuck next, what's the newest hairstyle and I can go like that all day long.

Things have changed a bit in the last months as all the big sharks have been imprisoned. After years of investigations, the big sharks were all sentenced to prison. And when I talk about sharks, I talk about the most important people in Romanian football and some of the most influential Romanians. This are Steaua Bucharest's owner, Becali, Steaua's general manager, Stoica, ex-Barcelona captain, Gica Popescu, ex-Dinamo owner, Borcea, ex-Rapid owner, Copos and the two most influential agents in this country, Becali brothers (Chivu's agents, Chiriches, Stefan Radu and all the other important Romanian players). They have all been sentenced to at least three years in jail. There were others too, but they are not that influential. I can write an essay to you about the corruption here, but I think you now know why a level-headed Romanian won't watch a single game in this league.

[CHOULO19 24,332]

@Dwight Schrute, will Silva be fit for the first leg?