I wish we could've brought on Gaetano. Hopefully we can put the tie to bed and score 2 quick in the first half so we can get Gaetano good minutes in the 2nd half.
So favourites to qualify for next stage after the first leg are the following (Bolded teams are who I feel our competition for the tournament will be): Sevilla, Valencia, Villareal, Fenerbahce, Dinamo Zagreb, Arsenal, Frankfurt, Salzburg, Genk, Inter, Bayer Leverkusen, Benfica, Chelsea, Real Betis, Dyynamo Kiev. So I think it'll be us, Sevilla, Chelsea, Benfica, Arsenal and Inter as clear favourites. There will still be teams who I feel we can beat off after the first leg like this one with Zurich, such as Zagreb, Salzburg, and Genk.
We are the best team in this competition.We have to win this.Chelsea are in trouble and they are still in for 4th spot race in EPL(arsenal too). Sevilla... just go away from us
In past several seasons, we always went out against some lesser known team from a lower league. Even if we reach the final, we still have to overcome our mentality issue of bottling up when it counts. ( see Liverpool game ). Regardless, I wish we will win this contest but I will be cautiously optimistic.
Well, this was no challenge for us, but I guess that's a good thing, although we would all prefer more emotional games. Mertens's timing on that last pass was great, I hope he can still roam wild for a while.
I want Chelsea, D. Zagreb or Villareal next round. Hopefully Arsenal, Sevilla, Inter, Benfica and Leverkusen can draw each other. Please no Ukranian or Russian winter games
Chelsea (ENG), Arsenal (ENG), Napoli (ITA), Sevilla (ESP), Zenit (RUS), Benfica (POR), Dynamo Kyiv (UKR), Rennes (FRA), Krasnodar (RUS) , Slavia Prague (CZE), Inter Milan (ITA), Villarreal (ESP), Valencia (ESP), Eintracht Frankfurt (GER), Red Bull Salzburg (AUT), Dinamo Zagreb (CRO) The only teams I want to avoid are Sevilla and Valencia. Spanish teams are dangerous
I hope we draw them. Rather we see where we stand now than in a final. I don’t rate them. If we lose to them we are pathetic.
We got Red Bull Salzburg. At least Austria is pretty close, we shouldn't have much difficulties if we put effort into the game. There could be a final 8 of: Napoli, Inter, Arsenal, Chelsea, Sevilla, Valencia, Zenit, and Benfica. Pretty decent teams but again I feel we're the strongest team left in this competition.
Yes, with the departure of Hamsik the other guys seem to be motivated to earn his place. The opponent was not on our level though, so we'll see more clearly later. I agree that we played with good teamwork and unselfishly, and I want to see that in the future, for some of our players had often lacked in this respect.
We play Salzburg on Thursday at the San Paolo. I want to see Meret Malcuit-Chiriches-Koulibaly-Rui Ounas-Allan-Diawara-Verdi Mertens-Milik
So far today: Frankfurt 0-0 Inter (In Frankfurt) D. Zagreb 1-0 Benfica (In Zagreb) Sevilla 2-2 Salvia Praha (In Seville) Rennes 3-1 Arsenal (In Rennes) Zenit 1-3 Villareal (In Zenit)
Late, but I'm finding my streams here: https://www.reddit.com/r/redsoccer/comments/ayfz5q/2000_gmt_napoli_vs_salzburg/
Hysaj and Mario Rui are just garbage. I still cannot warm up to Maksimovic and Callejon. They should be squad players. Overall not a good performance. Ancelotti never plays Diawara, Verdi or Younes. To be honest he rotates less and less.