2024-25 UEFA Champions League

Mr.Crinklewood

https://twitter.com/CBSSportsGolazo/status/1861500604490690944

…..

Deeper Blue

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122889534#Comment_122889534

Hopefully they don't win another game this season

NIMAN

Couldn't happen to a nicer shower....

klose

Peps face after the game is mad, cuts on his nose and lip? Scratches all over his head too.

sligeach

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122890438#Comment_122890438

He was reflecting his team, with self inflicted wounds. 😉

NIMAN

Who was he fighting with?

The Moist Buddha

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122890583#Comment_122890583

Dougie Lampkin, the motorcyclist

Suvarnabhumi

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122890583#Comment_122890583

Fodens mam.

jacool

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122890583#Comment_122890583

I heard Alex Ferguson kicked a boot across the dressing room, but that can't be true.

tayto lover

No comments on Arsenal's brilliant 1 - 5 away win. Excellent display.

The Moist Buddha

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122891222#Comment_122891222

good on them 👍

ronjo

I was at the Slovan Bratislava v Milan game last night.

Was great fun…… Slovan gave away a calamity of a goal to make it 3-1 and then scored a cracker to get back to 3-2 but had an hilarious red card in injury time. Some dope got 2 yellows in about 10 seconds for arguing with ref over a free kick.

sligeach

Liverpool deserve the lead. It's been all Liverpool in the second half and Courtois had denied Bradley with a header moments earlier.

It should be 2-0, McAllister with another great chance.

Ottoman_1000

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122893906#Comment_122893906

Bradly is going to be a super player. You have to wonder what happened in the background with him on the international front. Apparently he would have been interested in a switch, born and breed Catholic and all that. But no approach was made from the FAI.

sligeach

Real Madrid with a penalty. They don't deserve anything, Kellegher hasn't had to make a single save.

Well done, he's saved it from Mbappe. Brilliant!

DellyBelly

Liverpool looking very good...only question I have is why they continue with Nunez...he's a very poor striker...especially considering the price they paid for him

CalamariFritti

That referee is very very good tonight. Not just getting decisions right but moreso the reading of the level of the game and the sort of engagement and physicality he accepts and lets the game run with. Its an excellent refereeing performance and it enables the players to play this quality match we're seeing.

Headshot

Joe Harte on commentary is absolute awful, bloody hell

sligeach

I've never rated Salah as a penalty taker, and that was dreadful. Not even on target. Will they rue that miss?

IrishOwl...

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122894034#Comment_122894034

Excellent side when they're on it like tonight. But I think Nunez will cost them. If they had someone properly world class up top I'd fancy them to win this competition. Let alone the Premier League.

They should be out of sight here...

sligeach

2-0 now to Liverpool. Gakpo with an excellent header.

NIMAN

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122894038#Comment_122894038

FFantastic .

He didn't buy a single dive all night, let strong challenges go. Don't see that often and it does make the game flow better.

theoneeyedman

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122894104#Comment_122894104

Who do we define as a World Class #9 nowadays. The traditional #9 is no longer a thing really, few of any of the top teams have a top class #9, maybe Haaland.

The emergence of hybrid wingers and false 9s have replaced them. Nunez is not without his faults, but he does a good job for Liverpool on most days.

DellyBelly

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122894104#Comment_122894104

Won't make a difference tonight for sure but yeah Nunez just isn't good enough for this team but for some reason they still persist with him

sligeach

Diaz took that ball down well, but his second touch wasn't great which allowed Courtois to save.

eigrod

Brilliant performance. What a team. What a manager.

IrishOwl...

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122894184#Comment_122894184

Let me rephrase that. They don't need a Haaland type up front to make them world beaters, as they have goals everywhere in the team.

But they do need a better all round No.9 in there, Nunez is too erratic in lots of the things he does for my liking. If he exists a prime Roberto Firminho would be ideal for them.

citytillidie

Match Day 5 Results
AC Sparta Praha (CZE) 0 V 6 Atlético de Madrid (ESP)
ŠK Slovan Bratislava (SVK) 2 V 3 AC Milan (ITA)
Bayer 04 Leverkusen (GER) 5 V 0 FC Salzburg (AUT)
BSC Young Boys (SUI) 1 V 6 Atalanta BC (ITA)
FC Barcelona (ESP) 3 V 0 Stade Brestois 29 (FRA)
FC Bayern München (GER) 1 V 0 Paris Saint-Germain (FRA)
FC Internazionale Milano (ITA) 1 V 0 RB Leipzig (GER)
Manchester City FC (ENG) 3 V 3 Feyenoord (NED)
Sporting Clube de Portugal (POR) 1 V 5 Arsenal FC (ENG)
FK Crvena zvezda (SRB) 5 V 1 VfB Stuttgart (GER)
SK Sturm Graz (AUT) 1 V 0 Girona FC (ESP)
AS Monaco (FRA) 2 V 3 SL Benfica (POR)
Aston Villa FC (ENG) 0 V 0 Juventus (ITA)
Bologna FC 1909 (ITA) 1 V 2 LOSC Lille (FRA)
Celtic FC (SCO) 1 V 1 Club Brugge KV (BEL)
GNK Dinamo (CRO) 0 V 3 Borussia Dortmund (GER)
Liverpool FC (ENG) 2 V 0 Real Madrid C.F. (ESP)
PSV Eindhoven (NED) 3 V 2 FC Shakhtar Donetsk (UKR)

citytillidie

Table

IrishOwl...

Also Liverpool are f**king insane with this keeper rigmarole. This new lad coming in the summer would want to be the 2nd coming of Lev Yahsin to move Kelleher on!!

If it was me, I'd be cashing in on Allison come June and offering Kelleher a new contract.

theoneeyedman

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122894284#Comment_122894284

I won't argue that there are better strikers in world football then Darwin, but he's a good squad player.

The thing about peak Firmino is he doesn't grow in trees-he was a superb player, a super all around player, but he very often wants recognized as such.

~Rebel~

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122894196#Comment_122894196

his finishing is erratic alright (though usually on target these days), but he runs his balls off, presses high and hard, hares back defending, has vastly improved his link up play and gets plenty of assists too.

NIMAN

Some finish in the PSV Shaktar game.

Psv losing 2 nil in 87th minute. Win 3 2 .

Infoseeker1975

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122894317#Comment_122894317

He was for sale in the summer; only Forest made an offer which was 7 million plus a really poor keeper from their side. When you look at Chelsea & the billions they spend, Kelleher would massively improve them, besides Raya I would not really want any other keeper if I had a choice….just plain weird that no one wants him

NIMAN

That Madrid team is serious trouble. They offered nothing up top tonight. Mbappe looks a shadow of his former self. Where did his pace go? He can't outrun anyone now.

Their injury list is big and getting bigger. Do they have any money to buy a couple of players in January?

Ottoman_1000

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122894399#Comment_122894399

That stood out to me too. So used to seeing him absolutely leave full backs for dead. But I don't he beat Bradley once tonight. He just looked ordinary...

NIMAN

Talking of Bradley, what a player. Some future ahead of him.

Had mbappe in his back pocket, and was even an attacking threat in the 2nd half as well.

Talisman

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122894399#Comment_122894399

Mbappe looks like a lost child. The footage of his interaction with Bellingham in the tunnel at half time was saddening.

https://twitter.com/killeures/status/1861935755779579924

El Gato De Negocios

Is Mbappe burned out?

I saw something the other day comparing Bellingham and Beckham at the age JB is now.

Becks had played around 54 games at that age.

JB over 200.

A similar stat below.

Owen and Rooney were cooked by the time they reached 30. Becks and the other 2 finished mid 30s which would be average.

klose

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122895380#Comment_122895380

Pearler from Perez this

The same lad that wanted his massive euro league with huge travelling distances etc, like he gives a fcuk about player welfare.

Raheem sterling is another example, 29 and massively on the wane from starting playing regular first team football at a very young age.

https://twitter.com/madridxtra/status/1860633795508003222?s=46

TitianGerm

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122895380#Comment_122895380

I don't think Rooney ever looked after himself well. Owen was never going to last after all the injuries and being rushed back after a knee operation (maybe it was hamstring?).

Bellingham strikes me as a lad who looks after himself like Ronaldo or Salah so he should have longevity.

Talisman

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122895468#Comment_122895468

Bellingham burns himself out every season. When it gets to the crunch matches in the final weeks he's a shadow of the energizer bunny that he can be. It repeatedly happened at Dortmund and cost them the league title in his final season. It happened again last season at Madrid and was evident in his performances at the Euros in the summer.

Owen constantly ignored medical advice while at Liverpool. He used to return early from hamstring injuries because he wanted to make the England squad. When Houllier had him sent to a specialist in the U.S. to rectify an issue which required surgery, Owen found an alternative that promised a shorter recovery time.

munchkin_utd

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122895451#Comment_122895451

The man who proposed a Euro league with 18 group games and then quarter finals etc is complaining that the champions league went from 6 group games to 8, all of which havent been played yet, and his players are supposedly knackered because of too many fixtures in the champions league

If he came back this time next year after the massive increase of 2 extra champions league games, and after a summer club world cup, maybe he could have a point, but at the moment its just BS.

Madrid played equally as mediocre in many other seasons in the past decade or more but they had a knack of somehow winning through VERY soft ref decisions, and having the likes of Ronaldo to score completely against the run of play to nick a win.

breezy1985

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122895699#Comment_122895699

Ya but whatever they were pretending to the press that Euro league would have replaced their domestic league or at least turned it into a cup style B team tournament for the Euro league teams.

What Perez wants is less games but all of them against top drawer premium price stadium fillers.

pavb2

I don’t usually comment on refs as most decisions can’t be reversed but we had a shocking ref at Villa Park not so much the last minute disallowed goal but the lack of consistency we had two booked in the first 12 minutes, you can’t quantify it but it does change the dynamics of the game.

Keeping positive 5 played, 3 wins, a loss and a draw we should get to the knockout rounds.

8-10

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122894382#Comment_122894382

Few days late to this but what a result that was.

PSV are on a ridiculous home run of about 50 games undefeated in all competitions, last lost a home game over 2 years ago and that includes last season's Champions League campaign where they played Arsenal, Dortmund, Sevilla and Lens and went out at the Last 16 stage but still weren't beaten at home, and Sporting Lisbon, Girona and now Shakhtar this year plus invincible at home domestically

Their next Champions League home game is against Liverpool, Slot will know them well and likely a draw would be a good result by then anyway

citytillidie

Match Day 6
Tuesday 10th December
17:45 Kick-offs
Girona FC (ESP) V Liverpool FC (ENG) - Live on Premier Sports Ireland / TNT Sports 1
GNK Dinamo (CRO) V Celtic FC (SCO) - Live on Virgin Media Two / TNT Sports 2

20:00 Kick-offs
RB Leipzig (GER) V Aston Villa FC (ENG) - Live on Virgin Media Two / Amazon
Bayer 04 Leverkusen (GER) V FC Internazionale Milano (ITA) - Live on TNT Sports 2
Atalanta BC (ITA) V Real Madrid C.F. (ESP) - Live on TNT Sports 1
Club Brugge KV (BEL) V Sporting Clube de Portugal (POR) - Live on TNT Sports
FC Shakhtar Donetsk (UKR) V FC Bayern München (GER) - Live on TNT Sports
FC Salzburg (AUT) V Paris Saint-Germain (FRA) - Live on TNT Sports
Stade Brestois 29 (FRA) V PSV Eindhoven (NED) - Live on TNT Sports

Wednesday 11th December
17:45 Kick-offs
Atlético de Madrid (ESP) V ŠK Slovan Bratislava (SVK) - Live on Virgin Media Two / TNT Sports 3
LOSC Lille (FRA) V SK Sturm Graz (AUT) - Live on TNT Sports 4

20:00 Kick-offs
AC Milan (ITA) V FK Crvena zvezda (SRB) - Live on TNT Sports 5
Arsenal FC (ENG) V AS Monaco (FRA) - Live on Virgin Media Two / TNT Sports 1
Borussia Dortmund (GER) V FC Barcelona (ESP) - Live on TNT Sports 4
Feyenoord (NED) V AC Sparta Praha (CZE) - Live on TNT Sports 8
Juventus (ITA) V Manchester City FC (ENG) - Live on RTE Two / TNT Sports 2
SL Benfica (POR) V Bologna FC 1909 (ITA) - Live on TNT Sports 6
VfB Stuttgart (GER) V BSC Young Boys (SUI) - Live on TNT Sports 7

8-10

Girona should give us a good game today. Its the pot 4 team and we'll go pretty much full strength so on paper looks easy but they desperately need a win to stay in the competition and they'll be well up for it at home and they've a bunch of ex-PL players who'll want to prove it's still their level including 2 ex-Man United players, ex-Chelsea player, 2x ex-Everton players who'll relish this, and 2x ex-Spurs players including their goalkeeper who once had a man of the match performance at Anfield - one of those ridiculous backup keeper performances that always seems to happen against us, and also a Senagalese player called Pape Dame Ba which is too close to Demba Ba for my liking

Looking forward to the early kick off too, seems like ages since we've had one. Straight to the pub after work

theoneeyedman

I know the options are limited, but zero sense in playing a strong team in this game, it's a dead rubber.

citytillidie

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122943175#Comment_122943175

Its not really, and with the Everton game now to fit in, its best to get into the top 8 and get that sorted ASAP. Then you can rest the players in January