05 May 2021 23:04:37
Maybe it's my age, but nowadays the standard of teams getting to the later stages and final of the Champions League seem very average. Apart from City who are a very good side the rest are very average. I remember the great Madrid, Barca, Juve, Bayern and our own great team battling out, but they were the best teams in their leagues at the time and always have great players all over the pitch. Current teams are now relying on one or two talents to win games and hope the rest can do the work for them. The standard seems much poorer now.


1.) 06 May 2021
06 May 2021 08:08:44
Madrid, Barcelona are skint hence why they wanted the ESL, some names in their teams I've never heard of, Juve always the nearly men PSG known bottlers, is Bayern the ones who remained strong, they'll be disappointed in not reaching the final tho saying that I can't even recall who knocked them out such is my interests in the CL this year.


2.) 06 May 2021
06 May 2021 09:01:36
Redcon, haven't Madrid and Barcelona been relying on Ronaldo and Messi respectively to win games for the last 10 years.
After these two players have dominated the game for so long it is only natural that everyone else will seem average until the next generation step forward.
Will we ever see the levels that Ronaldo and Messi achieved, probably not for many a year.


3.) 06 May 2021
06 May 2021 10:17:48
I think its just one of those cycles. Real and Barcelona for the past 10 years have be lifted by having arguably the two best players ever playing for them.

Messi and Ronaldo are now declining, and the next generation are yet to hit those heights.

Juventus seem to have become complacent after so many years of not being challenged in Serie A. They don't know what they are doing or how to improve, they are stuck between cycles. They mixed with a winning formula in an attempt to win the UCL and it hasn't worked.

Bayern Munich look ready to become the dominant force over the next few years for me. Kimmich is unreal, Gnarby, Coman and Sane up front look dangerous. They have some great options in defence, they just need to find the right system. Lewandowski and Newer will need replacing in the next year or so, but they have the money to bring in the best. Plus in Nagelsmann they have arguably the best young manager in the world. Last year they won the Bundesliga, the UCL, the DFB-Pokal cup, the UEFA Super cup and the World Club Cup. So they have been pretty good up to now.

PSG have two of the best talents in the world in Mbappe and Marquinhos. They also have the worlds best actor in Neymar.

I think this year has been odd, no fans in stadiums and so much football crammed in to such a short period of time it hasn't really be a year for entertaining football. Just grit your teeth and get through it.

Footballers bring the skills, but fans bring the passion. Once we get fans back into stadiums the passion for football will return.


4.) 06 May 2021
06 May 2021 17:58:17
And yet almost all of them cake walk their leagues year after year. Shows you where this poisonous free reign neoliberal running of football gets you. It allegedly favours ‘competition’ but ends up resulting in anything but. Perhaps if the money was spread evenly and there was proper financial control the latter stages of the champions league would be consistently competitive, rather than this rubbish.


5.) 06 May 2021
06 May 2021 18:38:15
So are all the teams left in the UCL crap? Or are they all of a similar competitive level thus they cancel themselves out in matches. Sort of like an unstoppable force meets an immovable object.

For me this is the biggest underestimation that the ESL club's made.

You ask any fan of any of the top sides which was their most important match of the season they will likely say the game against the their biggest rival.

Yet if you ask them which was the most entertaining game, well then it will likely be a big win against one of the "smaller" clubs.

Which 90 minutes did you enjoy watching most this season, our 2-0 win at the Etihad, or our 9-0 thrashing of Southampton?

In a ESL you would likely see tight, tactical, low scoring games every week for the most part. 1-0, 2-1, 0-0.

While the games against the top sides draw the most media attention, and receive the most intrigue. They are also often the dullest matches as well.

The reason fans are interested in the matches against the top side is because they don't happen very often. However, if it was every week then they would soon lose their appeal. Especially when most weeks the games are lacking in entertainment.