The Fußball Chatter

The UEFA Champions League makes its return as the first round of group games taking place on the 6th and 7th of September. This season's Champions League is going to be very different. Due to the World Cup taking place in November, all group games will be held from the 6th-7th of September to the 1st-2nd of November. Within the space of just two months, congesting the fixture list. Here is a preview of all eight groups and where they will likely finish by November. GROUP A: AJAX, LIVERPOOL, NAPOLI & RANGERS Group A would be interesting given all four teams' changes during the off-season. Ajax retained their Eredivisie title but many of their key players and manager Erik ten Hag have all left the Johan Cruyff Arena. Now, they have Alfred Schreuder as their new manager and had their biggest transfer spree ever . Despite experiencing these situations occasionally, the heavy turnover plus the change of manager could hamper their chances of making out of the group but Ajax wil...

The UEFA Champions League is back for another exciting season as the heavyweights of European football battle it out to become Champions of Europe with the Final taking place on the 28th of May at the Krestovsky Stadium in Saint Petersburg, Russia. This Champions League season will be the first after UEFA scrapped the away goal rule in the summer, meaning games in the knockout stages that remain level will go into extra time. The season also sees the return of football supporters in stadiums after last season when fans did not attend games due to the pandemic. With big business done during the transfer window, expectations are quite high for this season. So, here are the eight groups in the competition and which teams have higher chances of going through to the knockout stages. GROUP A: MANCHESTER CITY, PSG, RB LEIPZIG & CLUB BRUGGE Pep Guardiola managed to get Manchester City to their first-ever appearance in the Champions League Final. However, they left empty-handed losing 1-0 t...

The UEFA Champions League is now in the quarterfinals stage with the path to the Final in Istanbul clear for the eight teams remaining. As we are now in the final end of the season, it is now crunch time for these teams and we will see who will be crowned Champions of Europe. Here's the thoughts of the quarterfinals match-ups.  Real Madrid v Liverpool  A recap of the 2018 Final which saw Madrid win it, this is probably the most 50-50 of any of the other quarterfinal games as both teams have strengths but very noticeable flaws. Despite their struggles this season, Madrid are still in the race to win La Liga again and have improved after a indifferent start to the season, which almost saw them eliminated from the group stages, including a strong performance against Atalanta in the Round of 16. Liverpool look to have gone through their worst of not just this season but under Klopp's time at Anfield with six home defeats in a row, dropping them drop to sixth in the Premier Le...

  Porto Shock Juventus Juventus were knocked out of the Champions League in the Round of 16 for a second straight season to Portuguese side FC Porto, who went through 4-4 on aggregate on away goals, despite losing 3-2 in Turin. The Bianconeri knew that a 1-0 win or a win by two goals will be enough to go to the quarterfinals. Things did not go to plan from the beginning for Juventus as Porto were awarded a penalty in the 19th minute after a poor challenge from Merih Demiral on Mehdi Taremi in Juventus' penalty box. Sergio Oliveira scored from the spot to give Porto the lead on the night, with a two-goal aggregate lead. The Old Lady bombarded the Porto defence with Juan Cuadrado whipping crosses from the right-hand. Juventus equalized thanks to Federico Chiesa, who scored in the first leg, to get the Italian champions back in the game. Porto would find it difficult to do for the rest of the game when they went down to ten men after Taremi went off for kicking the ball after the whis...

The draw for the knockout stages of the UEFA Champions League took place on Monday with the Round of 16 games taking place in February 2021. Here's a reaction from the draw plus who's likely to go through from these match-ups. Borussia Mönchengladbach v Manchester City  Borussia Mönchengladbach shocked many in qualifying for the knockout stages of the Champions League, getting points off Real Madrid and Inter Milan. However, their reward will be facing Manchester City in the Round of 16. The Germans will have it difficult to do against Pep Guardiola's team despite going to the Etihad in the second leg. As for Manchester City, this is a favourable draw but will be cautious of Gladbach's aggressive pressing play, which was brought in by their manager Marco Rose. Despite their struggles in the Premier League this season, they walked through their Champions League groups, conceding just one goal. Manchester City should have enough to go through and advance into the quarterf...

  Liverpool run riot at Bergamo Liverpool, after winning their first two games in the Champions League, travelled to Bergamo to face Serie A side Atalanta in a clash that would be decisive for both teams and their clashes to go through. With players unavailable for both sides due to injury, the game looked pretty with some fancying Gasperini's side to take the win over Jurgen Klopp. Liverpool eventually won the game, and it was not even close. The Reds spanked Atalanta 5-0 with goals from Mohamed Salah, Sadio Mane, and a hat-trick from Diogo Jota, who came in for Roberto Firmino. Jurgen Klopp's side exploited so much space that came from Atalanta, taking 15 shots with 12 on target. Despite that, Atalanta still managed to find some chances with Duvan Zapata having the best chance for the Bergamo side whose shot hit the post. However, Liverpool took much control of the game and left Italy with their best performance of the season so far. This puts them top of Group D with nine po...

  The 2020/21 Champions League season is about to commence quite soon. The playoffs have been completed, and the draw for the group stages took place on Thursday, October 1st as the Road to the Final in Istanbul begins. The UEFA Player Awards also took place as Bayern Munich striker Robert Lewandowski won the UEFA Best Player Award plus the Best Forward award for his exploits last season, scoring over 50 goals in all competition. Becoming the top goal scorer in the Champions League. Joshua Kimmich won the Best Defender award, Kevin De Bruyne won the Best Midfielder award, Hansi Flick won the Best Coach award while Didier Drogba won the UEFA President award.  Nevertheless, the eight groups have been sorted so here's a preview of all the eight groups, and to see what are more likely to advance to the knockout stages.  Group A: Bayern Munich, Atlético Madrid, RB Salzburg & Lokomotiv Moscow Bayern Munich won the Champions League last season winning every game they played,...