Well, I'll be damned! Beautiful goal and a great pass by Kessie. Can't believe we are still in it! Also can't believe how good Pool is.
wasn't just the first game. you guys had a few "unfavourable" decisions over the first bunch of games.
He isn't a ref, he's a thief. I'm sure Atletico paid him in some cryptocurrency. So, without him, we'd have won that game, I have no doubt, and we'd be sitting pretty in second place with 7 points, now, versus 5 for Porto and 1 for Atletico. But I thought that beating Atletico today was very satisfactory because now I hate them and if we can keep them from advancing I'm already a bit satisfied with it. We again outplayed them, in their huge stadium full of rabid fans, and it's interesting that the young guy Messias Junior, the rags to riches story (he was delivering pizza when he was discovered) was the one who scored. Now, the thing is, Liverpool has already clinched first place. So it is not excluded that they'll rest players against us. Say, by miracle we win that game... we'd advance if Porto and Atletico draw their game. Incredible, but we haven't been eliminated yet. Now, the thing is, if we don't advance in the CL then I'd prefer to be in fourth place, actually, because dropping to Europa League doesn't advance our cause. We'd just have more games and more injury opportunities. I'd prefer to see a focus on Serie A, and let Juve and Inter and maybe Atalanta depending on how they do, keep playing in Europe while we play fewer games and have less wear and tear; it increases our chances for the Scudetto. The only factor that makes me be ambivalent about it, is that I want to see those imbeciles from Atletico Madrid in fourth, leaving the competition with their tail between their legs. I'll never forgive them for the thievery they pulled off against us.
I think Rossonero meant the first game against Atletico, which was clearly stolen from us by a corrupt ref, to the point that UEFA suspended him. Nobody shows blatant bias like that (including, preventing a PK decision in stoppage time from going to VAR which no ref in his right mind would have done - and it wasn't a PK) if he's not being paid. You can be sure that he got some cryptocurrency big payment from Atletico. The first game, against Liverpool, we lost honorably. We could have scored a third goal if not for an offside by a hair, but by a hair or not, it was indeed a legitimate offside. I don't have complaints about that game. Our very young team, the youngest by average age in the Champions League, going to a crowded stadium to play against one of the best teams in the world, and we lost by a minimum score of 3-2, with two away goals, and we almost scored a third one, that's pretty honorable. Most of our players had never played for an European tournament before, so they started nervously, like deer in the headlights, got disorganized and conceded an early goal, but then they did improve and were able to frighten Liverpool a bit... not so bad. Several Liverpool players had more CL games under their belts than our entire team combined. I did not watch our first game against Porto. I hear that we played terribly in the first one. I don't know if there were questionable refereeing decisions in that one. For me, the decisive thing was the thievery we were victims of in the first Atletico game, which robbed us of any possible momentum after a honorable showing at Liverpool. Had we won that game as we should have (if not for the corrupt ref), maybe we'd have played better at Porto.
Regarding the Champions League, another factor is that we are in a group of death. In pretty much almost any other group, our quality would have qualified us for the next phase. We have sufficient quality to get there in normal circumstances, but getting Liverpool, Porto, and the thieving Atletico + their paid ref, was bad luck.
I keep hearing and reading that competing in the EL is not good but isn't there money to be made being in that tournament?
Hopefully, we finish in the top four and try again next season. Maybe an easier group but that's hard with our low coefficient..
Has Zlatan Ibrahimović played his last game in the Champions League? He may be ok for the Serie A but he is clearly not fast enough for this competition and he will be 41 next year this time.
I'm not quite sure about that. The old UEFA Cup was very prestigious. It also brought in revenue for clubs. I mean the EL may not bring in CL money but it still brings in money regardless. I think the teams should get more but its still better than nothing.
Not if playing in those games means you have to rotate your squad and risk dropping points in the league. EL money is pennies on the dollar compared to CL money. If playing those extra EL games means dropping from 2nd to 3rd in the league, or heaven forbid 4th to 5th and missing next year's CL, you'll definitely regret it when FIGC is writing checks at the end of the season. On top of the impact on the players, preparing for those EL games has a cost in terms of preparation for the matches, training time, travel, etc.
What about the money generated form ticket sales, sponsorships and TV revenue? Doesn't that amount to anything?