Champions League: Manchester City vs Real Madrid

@Kwek00 I hope it gets right into their heads.

(Liverpool fan here.) 😉

@RodionRomanovitch I have a weak spot for Kevin de Bruyne. But when it comes to the teams... I hope the best one wins. But I do cheer for K'vin.

This game is also going to be more intresting then what we are going to get tomorrow. Because I don't think Liverpool is quick enough to disable a sturdy well organised defense. They do really well against teams that play a bit more of an open game... but tomorrow is going to be really tough imo. And as a vieuwer, we'll won't see a lot of spectacle unless Liverpool scores an early 2-0, then Real has to play too. Because 1-0 is okay for them.

@Kwek00 City are an entirely different proposition without de Bruyne. (Look what we did to them in the FA Cup semi). Fantastic player and a truly nice guy , unlike the rest of the twats who play for them.

You don't think we're quick enough to get in behind them with Salah and Diaz ?

They might be able to keep it tight for a while but over two legs they're not going to score more goals than us. We're better at both ends of the pitch.

@RodionRomanovitch My prediction is that villareal is going to play a low block. That's also what hey did last years in the Europa league. It's a bit of the equivalent of what Athletico does, altough Villareal doesn't do the 5-5 that Athletico did against City, they ussually have at least someone in the front. And against those low blocks, explosive runners that can get "behind the defense" and run towards the goal, don't happen that often. Because the defense is in a much lower position. Goals like you see Salah make, Mbapé is good at or Vinicius did yesterday... chances of that happening, really low, exactly because Vilareal will be really low. They'll play conservative.

So what ussually breaks these defenses appart are people that run a lot, that do good infiltrations, and someone that can hold a ball pass it towards a player inside the low block, someone that can quickly [i](without hestiation)[/i] pass towards the guy that does the infiltration. And then I'm looking at K'vin, because that's how City got passed Athletico. A guy that can receive and pass a ball with great accuracy in a split seconds towards a running infiltrator. And from the few games that I saw from Liverpool this year, that just hasn't been Liverpools strength. But please prove me wrong tonight because if they are the better team they deserve to win. But if Villareal can play their game, and they can keep those quick infiltrations from happening, then you'll see a slow burn where Liverpool [i](just like any other team that wants to play football but is denied by a team that wants to defend in a low block)[/i] will get frustrated. And if they are tired at the end, and it's 0-0, Villareal will have some quick counterpunches and they are really deadly when they come out quick.

@Kwek00 ' someone that can hold a ball pass it towards inside the low block and can quickly (without hestiation) pass towards the guy that does the infiltration'

Ever hear of Thiago Alcantara ? 😉

@RodionRomanovitch I've not seen Liverpools entire games these years. I'm just saying that when I watched them play, and they were playing against a defensive team... that I didn't see that quality in action. But proof me wrong tonight 🤷‍♂️

1/4th final: Bayern 1 - 1 Villareal
1/4th final: Villareal 1 - 0 Bayern

1/8th final: Juventus 0 - 3 Villareal
1/8th final: Villareal 1 - 1 Juventus

So I don't really expect much goals tonight.
In the Europa League last year, they played a very similair game. It's amazing that in the groupsfase the only team that won against them twice, is the same team that lost against them in the Europa League finals last year.

@Kwek00 It'll be a good game whatever. We'll have to do another match watch thing here.

Here's what Villareal's Etienne Capoue has to say about Liverpool and Anfield ;

"Anfield is hell, you have to say it how it is. It’s hell.

“It’s the worst stadium I’ve been to in England. Whether it’s the atmosphere, the way they play… For 90 minutes, you live in hell.

"They never stop, they rush you all the time, they only want to score goals, and even when they score, they carry on. They want to knock you out.

"They don’t care what or who is in front of them. They just want to kill everyone and that’s it.”

👍🙂

@RodionRomanovitch That's nice that he said that... But I'm not sure how you value trainers words before a game though. Because when I watch a trainer that doesn't give a tactical analysis and just talks about their opponents before a game... I always feel that I'm watching a politician that tries to uphold some kind of image.

Maybe it's because I'm a Belgian... and our teams don't really have the funds and attract the quality to perform really well in current day modern football international leagues. Sure, there can be a miracle from time to time, but if any of them makes it through the groupstages, that's ussually already a miracle. And all those trainers that play against our mediocre (or just bad teams in comparisson to what they drafted to play against) ... they are always flattering and saying that it's going to be tough game. Which is kinda ridiculous when they go home with 0-4 results and totally whiped the floor with the Belgian team that they are playing against and was labelled the under of the underdogs before the game started. 😅

@Kwek00 He's actually one of their midfielders , Unai Emery (ex-Arsenal is the coach.) But I do get your point nevertheless.

@RodionRomanovitch Congratz, they did a good job.

@Kwek00 Cheers !