UCL Draw Thread

[AswinR 96]

is it only me whoes positive of the draw?!! ... i think this was the best of the 3... whateve RM and Bayern weakness are they have a very positive advantages in attack....

watch the match against milan and AM ... we have a pretty good chance....

they do good pressing i agree.... but we havent seen them play against teams like bayern and chelsea or mancity....

players like oscar and hazard and willian do pretty good in beating markers.....that means they will have double overlapping style marking....then midfield gets thrown open...

remember our pressing against liverpool at home... they are more used to physically pressing players from spanish league!!

we are used to physical pressing!! not that we have come on top everytime but we are used to it!

ppl talk AM is our nemises in tactics.... i think its the other way .... diego simeone has over the years created a team based on his philosphy of strong pressing and yes we got owned at supercup but the team then was a few days old!! hazard had just come in so had oscar.....no drogs no terry...luiz was in defence

AND now we have mourinho.....hiw many times have you seen him get outplayed in tactics?!!.....

real madrid are an out and out attacking team ....lot of you saying we will have lots of pockets to attack but have you seen their attack!!!

bayern not that attacking and vulnerable at the back but again really good players with good momentum....

these are the kind of teams you should meet only once and with an effective gameplan overcamed.... never give them to analize and come back at us... perfect for finals

atletico are the best option.....we can really do this...just worried about luiz and willian yellow cards

and just read above AM are cup team..... what the hell are we?!! we are the best cup team in europe!!

this is our speciality...some play tika taka...some score for fun...some walk together...some keep passing the ball infront of goal....we...we win trophies

[iseah100 5,612]

All this talk of ethics is tiring.

1. Activate Costa's release clause a couple of days before the first leg if they won't honour the contract they signed with us

2. Sue them for the 8 million they should have paid us after the tie is over, and use it towards paying Costa's fee; a court of law shouldn't care about UEFA's regulations in a contract dispute

3. At the end of the season recall Courtois

That's if we want to be jerks about the whole thing.

You people are dicks.

[Vybz Kartel 1,613]

The scary thing is our yellow card situation, this is gonna be our toughest test of the season with a weak squad hope we pass it.

[iceman 329]

actually, it's our second serious contender in this season. a little nervous about it

[lionsden 4,689]

People are fixated and obsessed with the wrong issue. I'm more worried about the headache AM high intensity and relentless pressing will cause rather than Courtois involvement. We have shown time and again the inability to cope with teams that press us high up the pitch as most of our players lack the technical ability and intelligence to maneuver their way out of such situations. even Barca couldn't handle it. Courtois is the absolute least of my worries.

[Vybz Kartel 1,613]

I have been doing some scouting, so far I have noticed they press high up the pitch and there weak spot is the right back so hopefully Hazard is fit to exploit that space, ramires shld not play as he wastes position, would play mikel as he does well keepin the ball

[Vybz Kartel 1,613]

Atletico's defenders look like they will give us chances, we just have to be clinical with our chances, their mid is crazy thts were we might win or lose the game

[Pacquiao 1,834]

People are fixated and obsessed with the wrong issue. I'm more worried about the headache AM high intensity and relentless pressing will cause rather than Courtois involvement. We have shown time and again the inability to cope with teams that press us high up the pitch as most of our players lack the technical ability and intelligence to maneuver their way out of such situations. even Barca couldn't handle it. Courtois is the absolute least of my worries.

Which is why I can see Demba starting against them, as the easiest way to avoid their pressing game is to go route 1 up to demba and have Schurrle/Oscar, Willian, Hazard running onto the knockdowns.

[lionsden 4,689]

Which is why I can see Demba starting against them, as the easiest way to avoid their pressing game is to go route 1 up to demba and have Schurrle/Oscar, Willian, Hazard running onto the knockdowns.

Prime Drogba was tailor made for this game.

[MrExcalibur100 7,124]

Atletico Madrid (like us) are very good at pressing the opposition's attacking players high up the pitch. I imagine that we will play a 4-2-3-1 with Schurrle, Oscar or Willian behind the striker. (Assuming Hazard is injured) None of those guys are very comfortable when they are pressed. Like someone said, we might need to start Demba and go direct in order to by-pass their pressing, but that's Jose's job and Mourinho has already dismissed this way of thinking as "reactive" not "proactive".

Safe to say, Matic is a HUGE miss in this game because of his ability to play sharp, accurate vertical passes and to play-make from deep. If we aren't going route one, and we start Eto'o/Torres, then Oscar needs to drop deep and try to dictate tempo. He won't get a lot of joy higher up the pitch. I also have a hard time also seeing where a goal will come from for us in the away tie. Without Matic and Salah, we aren't playing to our full potential, but still we persevere.

The fact that the second leg is at the Bridge is a good advantage for us. Eden will be 100% back as well and Eto will be fully match fit. If we come through unfazed (not another stupid 3-1) then we will finish the job at home.

[Sidzeret 2,257]

.Not sure it is true..

Lukaku can play for chelsea if we can reach the final of CL..

Because squad for final is different and teams can add loanies with them...

Not sure what to make of this either.

[Mufassir08 2,400]

.Not sure it is true..

Lukaku can play for chelsea if we can reach the final of CL..

Because squad for final is different and teams can add loanies with them...

Not sure what to make of this either.

DAFUQ!!

Imagine if we beat Atletico and get Bayern in the final and it goes to penalties with Lukaku missing it once again ala super cup and Bayern winning it

[Namika 922]

Eden Hazard should reportedly be fit for the CL semi-final 1st leg vs Atletico after scans show there's no lasting damage to his calf. (Sun)

[Mohammed Seif 1,451]

People are fixated and obsessed with the wrong issue. I'm more worried about the headache AM high intensity and relentless pressing will cause rather than Courtois involvement. We have shown time and again the inability to cope with teams that press us high up the pitch as most of our players lack the technical ability and intelligence to maneuver their way out of such situations. even Barca couldn't handle it. Courtois is the absolute least of my worries.

It is definitely not an easy game. The battle in midfield will be crucial. The one who dominates this are is more likely to win the match. I don;t think our team lacks that intensity and technicality to match up with them. I think we are even as far as the players are concerned or the difference is not that great. But we do have the upper hand tactically. They will try to disrupt our system and we will do the same. The one who forces his system and tempo on the other is likely the one to win.

[nofacej 132]

You people are dicks.

I'm one person, and I'd much rather things were resolved peacefully, but I did find the ethics conversation tiring.

Personally I think the ideal scenario for us is that 8 million gets knocked off Costa's release clause at the end of the season.

Courtois gets experience, doesn't resent us for preventing him from playing, Atletico doesn't have to pay us anything, and we get the player we want.

On the topic of Atletico, they were the team I least wanted to draw of those available, but I think we still have a good chance of overcoming them.

I just hope we don't try to be the aggressors and that they do. We've definitely got the pace in our team to hurt them on the break, but I'm not sure we'd be able to break them down if they decide to sit back.

[Ollie 4,400]

This will be one hell of a tough tie but i'll be lying if i say i'm not thinking about the prospect of another UCL Final. To get to another final and to get there with Mourinho will be the most emotional day of my Chelsea life, especially if we win it. We have the players and with Eto'o, we have a striker that has been in this situation so many times and a winner of 4 UCL's already, scoring in 2 finals.

in 2012 we were with the best Bayern team, better than this years one. Jose's Real Madrid, the best Real Madrid team in the modern era imo and Pep's Barca team, the best team in the world. We have a much bigger chance winning it this year than we had then.

I'm hoping our experience will once again prove to be the difference between us going through. Atletico haven't experienced this in the Champions League before. We have players who have won it, been in many finals and Semi's and a manager who has been here countless times before who has also won it.

We may not be favourites but we sure as hell can win it and then who knows? In a one of game, anything can happen. We have got the best possible draw with the home leg second. Buzzing for this. I can't believe we're back again so soon. It's unbelievable,

[Chelsea Legend 11 4,062]

I don't see how Atletico is a easier mashup then Real. Football is not played on paper and it is not always about individual talents. If you look at Real on paper they should be on top of La liga first of all, but they come nowhere near close to Atletico in terms of mentality, Alti is a strong side mentally who will play hard and give it all obviously they get that from their manager who i rate so highly. Also Real are great bunch of individual talent but they also don't come close to Alti in terms of unity and cohesive as a team. Real loss at home against Barca perfectly displays why they will not win the league or the CL, they were obviously the better side against Barca but they bottled it with poor individual mistakes. That kinda mentality will not win you the CL with that kinda lack of composure

I am pretty certain that the CL winner will come out of this fixture.

Experience. Hardly anyone in that Atletico side have been this far in the competition, Real have been there so many times they have ICE in their veins. At this level in the competition its about knowing how to win these games and not being too cavalier and not being too timid. You need a manager whose been there and done it before as well as a squad who have experience at this level.

No question in my mind that Atletico are the weakest of the 4 teams and thats not because I don't rate them, they are playing unbelievable football this year; they have overachieved. For me though Final 4 will come down to experience and Chelsea, Real and Bayern all have that...

[Special Juan 27,424]

The bridge will be fucking rocking come that second leg……Atletico better make sure they are ready, because we will damn sure will be.