40 minutes ago, andy said:

 

I am completely with you, I agree the draw is favorable but this is the CL,  any odd sh*t can happen, dodgy ref for example.  

As if this could ever happen 🙂

But, this is the Champion's League.  You KNOW City will go all Spursy, it just a matter of whether it will be in the quarter-final or the semi.  They'll blow one of them.  My gut feeling is it will be the semi.

Well that's about as good as it could have been I guess !

 

Porto, and then Liverpool or Read Madrid in the SF, if we get past Porto ...  basically avoiding the two top teams on paper (Bayern Munich and City ) until the final .... result !

Edited March 19, 20215 yr by Sexyfootball

Winning the Champions League was one of the reasons Hazard choose us.  Could it be the same situation when there’s a bidding war for Haaland in the summer? When it’s written in the stars it’s written in the stars.

Post draw has anyone else found themselves with a slightly more optimistic outlook on life, their chest a little puffed up, walking taller and with a little bit of a swagger in their step? that’s what hope does for you that’s what football can do for you.......... let’s relish the opportunity and KTBFFH and ride the wave!!

2 hours ago, Hessleboink said:

Is the semi-final over two legs or just one this year? Tuchel said only 4 games left?

 

Anyway, on current form I'd say we're favourites to reach the final, then would be big underdogs against any of City, PSG, Bayern? Will be interesting to see how we get on at the Etihad between now and then.

 

 

I don't fully understand why everyone rates and afraid of PSG that much. Yes, they have two great players one of which half a year is  mostly injured, but other than that it's mostly an average team. Just because they beat an average Barcelona team doesn't make them favorites.  Bayern likely will dispose them like a used napkin. 

Portugal have been took off the red list (hotel quarentine) so unlike with Benfica and Arsenal we can go to the Dragao and they can come here.

Porto are not a team to be underestimated and I dont want to get ahead of myself here and talk about semis and finals but...

that draw couldn't  of been any kinder to us. I can see liverpool doing a job on real madrid but we might of bottled it. We will not bottle it against Liverpool and we avoid all of Man city, Bayern and PSG until the final all teams we would likely come unstuck against unless it was a final. I would love to beat Bayern in the final again to me that has got to be the most likely pairing in the final.

19 minutes ago, BlueAardvarkrule said:

Post draw has anyone else found themselves with a slightly more optimistic outlook on life, their chest a little puffed up, walking taller and with a little bit of a swagger in their step? that’s what hope does for you that’s what football can do for you.......... let’s relish the opportunity and KTBFFH and ride the wave!!

I didn't even have to wait for the draw. I felt like that after the Tottenham result last night.

18 minutes ago, rocker_joker said:

I don't fully understand why everyone rates and afraid of PSG that much. Yes, they have two great players one of which half a year is  mostly injured, but other than that it's mostly an average team. Just because they beat an average Barcelona team doesn't make them favorites.  Bayern likely will dispose them like a used napkin. 

Recent history, ok we we got the best of them in 2004 and scraped through on away goals in 2014 but they are a different beast these days since 2014 we have gone out on away goals, both games being draws and then we lost both legs in our most recent draw against them

15 minutes ago, rocker_joker said:

I don't fully understand why everyone rates and afraid of PSG that much. Yes, they have two great players one of which half a year is  mostly injured, but other than that it's mostly an average team. Just because they beat an average Barcelona team doesn't make them favorites.  Bayern likely will dispose them like a used napkin. 

Maybe because Bayern didn't expose them like a used napkin in last years final while running at full steam themselves (which they aren't anymore) while PSG had to cope without Verratti, an out of form Neymar and an fresh-from-injury Mbappé, little squad depth (unlike now) and on top of that just came from a months long pause while Bayern had probably the very best starting situtation for the turney in Lisboa from all participating teams?

PSG always has the potential to put goals past any team. That potential is not often reached, but they do have a dangerous team.

Not taking anything for granted but, things have started to get really exciting. Some really good games for mutuals. Assuming we can make it past Porto we will get a good chance to see the other contenders compete in what I would assume to be fairly even contests. 

Between Liverpool and Real I'm conflicted between who I would rather face if we can beat Porto.

On the one hand Liverpool have been very defensively weak in the prem but this is a different competition and with the way they can rise to the occasion it could be fascinating to see which version turns up. Add in the possibility of their defense slowly reintegrating they may be the more formidable of the two teams.

Real couldn't win the ucl for years until CR7 came along and our boy don Carlo. Since CR7 has left they haven't looked anywhere close to convincing anyone of their ucl title credentials. Were we to face them it could be similar to the Coutinho vs Liverpool situation in which Hazard left us and we knock his team out and win the very title he left us to attain.

A lot of subplots to this, we have 7 ucl titles between the 8 managers, 6 of the 8 coaches have contested a ucl final and 5/8 of the teams have won the ucl. This is perhaps one of the most open competitions in recent years, ironically without imho the 2 greatest players of all time ( Messi and C. Ronaldo).

A handful of players are now motivated to prove they are the best player on the planet for this season with the 2 goats out. In a season in which the Euros can/will play a factor on who wins the ballon d' or. A top tier performance in ucl will be essential for all the players aspirations.

Contenders

Lewandowski 

Neymar

Mbappe

Salah

Haaland 

2 hours ago, rocker_joker said:

I don't fully understand why everyone rates and afraid of PSG that much. Yes, they have two great players one of which half a year is  mostly injured, but other than that it's mostly an average team. Just because they beat an average Barcelona team doesn't make them favorites.  Bayern likely will dispose them like a used napkin. 

This is a fair comment. I haven't seen them play much. These games are often tight though, and having two world class finishers makes them favourites in my eyes. 

Edited March 19, 20215 yr by Hessleboink

What a great opportunity to get to the semis. Real or Liverpool are beatable I think. While Real are a big name, they are very hit and miss. 

Looking at it I can't imagine Chelsea getting a much better draw.  Porto, Real Madrid, and Liverpool all look beatable.  

3 hours ago, yorkleyblue said:

As if this could ever happen 🙂

But, this is the Champion's League.  You KNOW City will go all Spursy, it just a matter of whether it will be in the quarter-final or the semi.  They'll blow one of them.  My gut feeling is it will be the semi.

Surely the Spurs thing to do would have be to lose to Dortmund when they will go into the tie as favorites to progress 😉

51 minutes ago, Hessleboink said:

This is a fair comment. I haven't seen them play much. These games are often tight though, and having two world class finishers makes them favourites in my eyes. 

I can't say I know a ton about them, but looking at them in the group stage they lost at home to Manchester U and away to RB Leipzig.  I wouldn't call them weak but they don't look unbeatable either.

Bayern however does look unbeatable.  They are just killing everyone. 

7 hours ago, Argo said:

While I agree they shouldn't be underestimated Juve don't currently have a much better squad than us and certainly not manager.

Agree on the manager part. But Ronaldo and Dybala alone put them on another plane to us. Their mistake has been in the managerial choices recently. If they had have taken Conte back they'd be winning the league.

A great QF and SF draw, but also look at the league fixtures around the Porto games.

42 minutes ago, Spiller86 said:

Agree on the manager part. But Ronaldo and Dybala alone put them on another plane to us. Their mistake has been in the managerial choices recently. If they had have taken Conte back they'd be winning the league.

Ronaldo is still a very good player, but not what he once was and Dybala is a talented player, but not a world beater. He's scored 3 goals this season in Serie A and CL combined. And who else is in there that puts them on "another plane"? That Juve squad is good but far from great and definetely not on another level than ours. I'd say they are comparable. Coupled with their inexperienced manager they are far from a team to be feared this season.

Having said that, I still don't think Porto are going to be easy. They seemed pretty good defensively against Juve and with our struggles upfront I expect two tight and cagey matches. But then again this is the last 8 of the Champions League and there are no easy games anymore. And we definetely could have gotten a harder opponent.

We are really the favorites against Porto there is no doubt about it, they will try to press us and to score from our mistakes and from counter attacks so that much can be predicted already. Even so, all that means nothing at this point, Porto reached this stage because they are a good and IMO an unpredictable team and we did struggle against teams that willingly took the role as the underdog against us this season as well...

The Porto keeper Marchesin used to play in Mexico, he's basically the replacement for Casillas. He's Argentinian so you can imagine that he's got a strong mentality...

They have Pepe that defended really well against Juventus...

But the player we should really shut down is called Sérgio Oliveira, he's the central midfielder that loves to switch the ball to the opposite flank but he's also their top scorer this season...

They are a tough team and let's not forget that they managed to play a draw against Man City during the group phase, their biggest defeat this season is actually the 3:1 loss vs Man City away so they have been a stable team.

Hadn't crossed my mind until I saw his name in one of the comments above. Now that it has, and the possibility us reaching the Champions League final in a long old while seems a realistic possibility, does anyone else wish Hazard could've gotten there with us, or with this team even? I think we all universally loved him, and i'd have liked to have seen him get the chance to have a big big final with us. 

Anyway, a bit of a deviation from the topic!

Edited March 19, 20215 yr by Hessleboink

10 hours ago, Hessleboink said:

Hadn't crossed my mind until I saw his name in one of the comments above. Now that it has, and the possibility us reaching the Champions League final in a long old while seems a realistic possibility, does anyone else wish Hazard could've gotten there with us, or with this team even? I think we all universally loved him, and i'd have liked to have seen him get the chance to have a big big final with us. 

Anyway, a bit of a deviation from the topic!

Can’t blame Hazard for wanting to join Madrid, it’s his lifelong dream. I’m pretty sure he’s realising now that grass isn’t always greener on the other side.

Edited March 20, 20215 yr by dansubrosa

The potential here is very exciting.

Don't think the club could have asked for a more favourable draw. Now it's up to the players to deliver.

12 hours ago, Gol15 said:

We are really the favorites against Porto there is no doubt about it, they will try to press us and to score from our mistakes and from counter attacks so that much can be predicted already. Even so, all that means nothing at this point, Porto reached this stage because they are a good and IMO an unpredictable team and we did struggle against teams that willingly took the role as the underdog against us this season as well...

The Porto keeper Marchesin used to play in Mexico, he's basically the replacement for Casillas. He's Argentinian so you can imagine that he's got a strong mentality...

They have Pepe that defended really well against Juventus...

But the player we should really shut down is called Sérgio Oliveira, he's the central midfielder that loves to switch the ball to the opposite flank but he's also their top scorer this season...

They are a tough team and let's not forget that they managed to play a draw against Man City during the group phase, their biggest defeat this season is actually the 3:1 loss vs Man City away so they have been a stable team.

To be honest after all the euphoria and dopamine rush from the draw yesterday I have come back to earth and actually feel pessimistic about this game. I think we do better as the under dog but we wont have that role against Porto. Thankfully Tuchel has smelt this and tried to put a damper on it.

    We will need Kante to be at his best to pocket Sérgio Oliveira and i think Giroud might be needed to battle Pepe. I just pray we have no injuries during this international break