Champions League Semi Finals (24th April - 2nd May)

Samid

He's no Bilal Ilyas Jhandir
Joined
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Tuesday 24th April 2018
Liverpool - Roma

Wednesday 25th April 2018
Bayern - Real Madrid

Tuesday 1st May 2018
Real Madrid - Bayern

Wednesday 2nd May 2018
Roma - Liverpool
 
If Roma succeed in getting an away goal I will fancy them to have another great game on their pitch in the away leg.

And regarding the other fixture, gonna be mad prediction but I see Madrid winning both home and away.
 
Roma bayern please, followed by both Liverpool and Madrid collapsing in the league and playing Europa league next season
 
Think Bayern will put Madrid out. Would have beat them last season if not for some disgraceful refereeing.

Roma Pool is quite hard to call. Roma will probably try and go toe to toe with them, be interesting to see how it goes.
 
Biggish Teams Liverpool have beaten this season:
City, Arsenal, Porto

Biggish Teams Roma have beaten this season:
Barcelona, Chelsea, Shakhtar, Napoli, Lazio, Milan

My flawless extrapolation of the above information leads me to conclude that Roma will emerge victorious.
 
What is incredible is Roma has not conceded a goal in Rome. That is vital. From Hazard, Griezman, Suarez, Messi, all not scoring in Olympico is very telling. If Roma can get an away goal and make the difference of the goals less than 2. Roma will qualify. Liverpool will collapse during 180 minutes.
But all in all a very evenly poised game.
 
Lazio are top 4 in Italy right now, that's pretty good. I only added Shakhtar because I had to add Porto to Liverpool's list to pad it out a bit, since it was looking a bit sparse.
 

Shaktar are class, arguably the most underrated side in Europe. Gave City and Napoli very good games and were pretty unlucky not to go through against Roma.
 
Spiersey said:
Think Bayern will put Madrid out. Would have beat them last season if not for some disgraceful refereeing.

Roma Pool is quite hard to call. Roma will probably try and go toe to toe with them, be interesting to see how it goes.
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If not for some disgraceful refereeing Vidal would have seen the red card twice before being sent off, Bayern's goal in the Bernabeu would have been called offside, and there would've been no penalty in München, so don't keep on spreading the myth please.

Having said that, Bayern have a terrific squad and a very competent coach and Madrid have weaknesses now they didn't use to have in the past, so I also think they are favorites for this.
 
I fancy Madrid to beat Bayern, Bayern have had Besiktas and Sevilla in the knockout stages compared with Juve and PSG for Madrid. I just feel this Bayern side haven't been tested yet, and imo Madrid outplayed Bayern in both legs last season and it's hard not to see a repeat of that. Of course the teams aren't too far apart from each other so anything could happen, but I think Madrid will have more quality over two legs.

Also think Liverpool will beat Roma, but I haven't really watched Roma this season so hopefully they're better than I'm expecting them to be (especially with an aggressive style that could play into Pool's counter-attacking strengths).
 
I’m worried Liverpool will blow them away in the first leg. In the final they could easily beat Bayern or Real in a one of game. In fact I’d make them favourites.
 
Pool beat Roma and Real beat Bayern
Then Real beat Pool 5-0 in the finals and then we can show them 5 when they show us 5
 
I think I'm going to buy a Roma shirt, just because they look ace, and I'll have something to keep me happy if we lose :D

Should be two great games. Looking forward to both. We NEEEEED to take a lead to Rome.
 
User 72192 said:
very true, the refereeing back then was absolutely disgraceful. Almost a completely healthy squad on Bayern's side might also turn out to be vital compared to recent seasons. Iirc in all quarterfinals/semifinals for the past 4 years Bayern had a significantly weakened side. Having said that, I still fancy Real to advance, mainly because of the relatively weak defense of Munich. Don't see how they'll be able to deal with the referee plus CR7. Make no mistake, Bayen's offensive quality is top notch, but nothing comparable to Ronaldo. It's something like 60:40 imo.
Roma will beat Liverpool, I'm pretty certain about that. Pool won't be able to profit from the underdog factor mentally and playstyle wise. They'll have to dictate the game, Roma won't even try.
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Both Lewy and Müller are really on song. Since Sevilla Lewy played 133 minutes with 5 goals - Müller 170 minutes with 4 goals and 3 assists... The Bayern players are not just healthy - they are in a great shape in difference to the last season. And have a lot self confidence. James is running as much as Schweinsteiger did in his best years. The defenders are all fit. Martinez is back in midfield and shields the defense - that makes it possible that the other 2 midfielders can play more offensively and more vertical.

Sevilla for me is not a blueprint for anything. Yes, they had difficulties the first 30 minutes when Sevilla pressed very high - but Vidal went into the match already injured and Bernat after his injuries is just not really in form. After the substitutes and after Sevilla ran out of the first steam Bayern never got out of control or out of first gear. In the second match even if the lineup looked very offensive they never threw many players forward as Sevilla was two goals behind. I guess the result in Barcelona (and the one that was shown of the match in Madrid) had an influence, too.

The big question is who of Thiago, Robben and James will play. Right now it looks like James and Robben because Thiago played 90 minutes in both of the last matches and that strengthens the wing.

But you never know. This matches are so much about the form of the day, the referee, luck...
 
First Legs:
Liverpool 2 - 2 Roma
Bayern 3 - 1 Madrid

Second Legs:
Roma 4 - 2 Liverpool
Madrid 2 - 1 Bayern
 
So hard to call our game. Roma seem like the kind of side that could surprise us.

If we can win the first leg without conceding I think we’ll be favourites to make the final. An away goal for Roma tomorrow night might be crucial.

I’m sure their defenders will know all about Salah regardless of his form this season.
 
The absolute worse thing about playing Roma is we are going to underestimate them initially. Get caught and concede. What we do after conceding is anyone's guess but the underestimation is likely to happen.
 
Dumbstar said:
The absolute worse thing about playing Roma is we are going to underestimate them initially. Get caught and concede. What we do after conceding is anyone's guess but the underestimation is likely to happen.
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Klopp will surely make sure there is no complacency.

Roma has looked to take it to every team they've faced in the CL this season. Home & Away. And they are in very good form following that 3-0 win vs Barca. I'd say the more challenging thing for Liverpool will be the unpredictability of EDF. Which formation is he going to opt for? Does he go big upfront with Dzeko & Schick, does he play their more traditional 4-3-3, or does he try something completely new? It's hard to prepare for something like that. Roma is definitely going to come for the win tomorrow, but they also have respect for Liverpool, and wont be as reckless & open as City were.
 
fcbforever said:
Just...ignore him. He’s also raving about Vidal all the time, but Casemiro is an angel apparently. No matter how the games go, he will be fun to have around during matchtime I suppose
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Oh well, since a big part of the game's narrative seemed to be very focused on how Vidal saw the red card unfairly, I found convenient to remind some posters that he should've been sent off a couple of times before that, the first one in the fourth minute of the first half at the Bernabeu. There is not much need to say that Bayern would have considerably reduced their chances with ten men and 90 minutes yet to play, and that Casemiro would have had a much easier job in midfield. Other than that, I don't think I will waste much more time discussing with fans who choose to ignore all the relevant wrong decisions against one of the teams, while bitching about the others. You can fool yourselves if you like, just don't take the rest of us for fools too.
 
strongwalker said:
Wich of the two goals are we talking about, the penalty or the own goal? :lol::lol::lol:
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The one taking Bayern to extra time, the own goal, Lewandowski is offside there.
 
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Souness looks cocky and arrogant as feck in this. For all you kiddies who are too young to remember it is the 1984 European Cup Final in Rome against Roma.

roma-vs-liverpool.jpg


Good read this and also a good insight into what happened the following year against Juventus.

https://www.independent.co.uk/sport...s-a8317891.html?amp&__twitter_impression=true
 
Two very interesting games lined up for our viewing pleasure. I think, out of the 2 games, Bayern - Real is more difficult to call and could go either way! A 1 - 1 draw is where my money is going, with that man Ronaldo on the score sheet, as always.

Sorry to say it, but I think Liverpool will absolutely destroy Roma! I'm not buying into the current hype around the Roma team and their exploits against Barca, which although impressive, was more down to Barca's failings. Could really see this being painful along the lines of 5 - 0 with a Salah hat trick, unless he takes it easy on his old employers, in which case 3-0.

Either way, I think we're in for 2 fabulous games :drool:
 
Retrokicks said:
Two very interesting games lined up for our viewing pleasure. I think, out of the 2 games, Bayern - Real is more difficult to call and could go either way! A 1 - 1 draw is where my money is going, with that man Ronaldo on the score sheet, as always.

Sorry to say it, but I think Liverpool will absolutely destroy Roma! I'm not buying into the current hype around the Roma team and their exploits against Barca, which although impressive, was more down to Barca's failings. Could really see this being painful along the lines of 5 - 0 with a Salah hat trick, unless he takes it easy on his old employers, in which case 3-0.

Either way, I think we're in for 2 fabulous games :drool:
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Behave on the Liverpool and Roma shout. Maybe my arse has gone but its going to be close .
 
Unlike the City game I'm actually very excited for tomorrow night.
 
GatoLoco said:
The one taking Bayern to extra time, the own goal, Lewandowski is offside there.
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But Lewy was alone on the way to score the 2:0 before but was whistled back - but that was not offside...

I think that that the offside for that own goal was pretty difficult to see - whereas the offside calls later weren't. And whereas Vidal might have been the early culprit - and no referee gives a red card that early - Casemiro was nearer to a red card than Vidal was later on. And when he got the red card it was no foul.

But - for me that does not really matter as I believe we were lucky to be in the competition still at this time. Ancelotti overused several players and they weren't in the right form - and his squad selection was not right either. Vidal was played in every match in that weeks and as seen in the Confed Cup, too, he cannot go that load for full 90 minutes. Martinez red card in the first match was a result of that. A little bit stupid, yes, but he was brought into that situation as the midfielders weren't in position.
 
GatoLoco said:
The one taking Bayern to extra time, the own goal, Lewandowski is offside there.
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I said similar things at this time. No doubt Madrid benefited massively from ref errors in extra time but if we are applying the rules on both teams, the match shouldn't have even needed an extra time to start with. Bayern fans won't agree with that that's for sure.
 
I get the feeling that Roma will have prepared for what we have to throw at them far better than City did.

Nerves kicking in. :nervous:
 
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