(05-18-2018, 09:07 PM)JagsorDie Wrote:

(05-18-2018, 08:56 PM)DarloJAG84 Wrote: Oh absolutely.. but quite often the underdog will overachieve.. like Roma did against Barcelona. PSG have an incredible amount of money and have the funds to pay for a player like Neymar (plus his salary). They can make him the face of the team, sell his jerseys and make him the first player on the team sheet when the starting 11 is announced. That's a HUGE pull for a player like Neymar.

 I think PSG feel as though they should be competing higher in the UCL than they are, and that's because of their domestic success. For what it's worth, I'm not hating on PSG, not at all. I just feel as though they have some way to go in terms of squad additions to be mentioned in the same discussion as potential Champions League challengers.

I agree with this. But what defines UCL challengers? I mean the year Chelsea won they had no business being there, they should have lost to napoli or Barca and even disregarding those, they never should have beaten Bayern in their home stadium. You would think that one of these years Paris would make a deep run but they just have not. It's a long year, it seems like the underdog who normally makes a deep run is generally not top of their league because they focus mainly on UCL or something. Unless you are real and have a bench worthy of being starting 11 on any other roster. Sort of like liverpool, no one would say Liverpool is better than manc but one is top of league the other is competing for ucl cup.

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(05-18-2018, 08:56 PM)DarloJAG84 Wrote: Oh absolutely.. but quite often the underdog will overachieve.. like Roma did against Barcelona. PSG have an incredible amount of money and have the funds to pay for a player like Neymar (plus his salary). They can make him the face of the team, sell his jerseys and make him the first player on the team sheet when the starting 11 is announced. That's a HUGE pull for a player like Neymar.

 I think PSG feel as though they should be competing higher in the UCL than they are, and that's because of their domestic success. For what it's worth, I'm not hating on PSG, not at all. I just feel as though they have some way to go in terms of squad additions to be mentioned in the same discussion as potential Champions League challengers.

I agree with this. But what defines UCL challengers? I mean the year Chelsea won they had no business being there, they should have lost to napoli or Barca and even disregarding those, they never should have beaten Bayern in their home stadium. You would think that one of these years Paris would make a deep run but they just have not. It's a long year, it seems like the underdog who normally makes a deep run is generally not top of their league because they focus mainly on UCL or something. Unless you are real and have a bench worthy of being starting 11 on any other roster. Sort of like liverpool, no one would say Liverpool is better than manc but one is top of league the other is competing for ucl cup.

For me, a team who are legitimately thought of as a team who should be winning. Like I said before, sometimes the underdog will win. Of course.

Personally speaking, with the squad that PSG have, if they were in the UCL final.. or, indeed, won the thing, I would see that as a massive shock. I would not expect that at all.

I think style of football comes into the equation here. Bear with me on this one.. Liverpool can be devastating on the counter attack, or whilst attacking in general. However, with the Premier League being so competitive across the board, this leaves them open to concede goals. This is why I can't imagine the UCL final being a low scoring game. To reply to your point about Man City/Liverpool, I think Liverpool's squad and style of play is more suited to UCL success. I think Liverpool did their homework on Man City and punished their weaknesses. I also think it helped that Man City were going full speed for the Premier League title and wanted to break records there, personally. I think Man United have a better squad than Liverpool overall, but they came second in the Premier League and were knocked out of the UCL by Sevilla. Why? Because historically, Jose Mourinho's teams are set up to 'not lose' rather than to win, if that makes sense. Manchester United have a squad talented enough to go out and win games by scoring lots of goals, but that's not JM's approach, which is sad.

I think Liverpool v Real Madrid is a really well matched UCL final. Both teams have explosive attacks and can really be devastating on their day. Being British, I want Liverpool to win, but my head says Real will edge it.

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