Champions League Archives - False9Analysis

Posted on May 25, 2018 August 9, 2018

Can Liverpool beat Real Madrid ? || Liverpool Vs Real Madrid || Champions League Final 2018

We are almost there. Yes, I am talking about Champions League Final 2018 which will be in the capital of Ukraine (Kyiv). Many of us must be wondering ‘Can Liverpool beat Real Madrid ?’ to deny them their third consecutive champions league title.

The answer is easy “They Can“, but Real Question is “Will They”?

Let’s not look at ifs and buts. We should check out their expected line up and will try to analyze what both teams can do to win the champions league.

Liverpool vs Real Madrid Expected Line up

This is the expected line up on Saturday.

For Real Bale might start given his recent form in La Liga, but Benzema also scored in the semi-final against Bayern. So it’s difficult to predict.

Overall we expect all the players that we have mentioned to be in there.

Tactical Analysis

Marcelo vs Mo Salah-

As always Marcelo is going to exploit the attacking space when Real Madrid has the ball. It will be a tough test for Trent Alexander Arnold to defend against him. Marcelo probably the best left back in the world right now.

He is skillful and wonderful at crossing the ball. He has shown glimpses of his skills in the semi-final against Bayern when he executed that roll over with Rabona ground pass. He scores goals also with his fantastic left foot.

But the key battle is when they lose possession higher up the field and Mo Salah has free space to run into. He will be up against best CB in the world in the name of Ramos.

First Marcelo needs to deal with Mo Salah to nullify his threat going forward. It will be interesting to see how this battle pans out.

When Liverpool has the ball Marcelo will be in the right position. At that time he has to deal with Mo Salah’s pace to stop him.

But I wonder Mo Salah will be taking CF position more often than not as Firmino plays false 9 dropping deep.

We Know both teams are not going to park the bus so they will be having plenty of free space to exploit.

Firmino Vs Ramos –

Ramos would be having dilemma when Marcelo goes higher up the field. He has to deal with Firmino and Salah. Of course, he would be getting help from Casemiro and Varane.

When Firmino drops deep then he might drag Ramos out of his position and provide Salah dangerous space to run into to score goals.

The same thing can be applied to Sadio Mane as Madrid might be focusing on Salah. Mane can take advantage of this. In the end, it is champions league final so Madrid won’t be underestimating any Liverpool player at all.

Role of Casemiro is very important to Madrid’s defense and Firmino’s playing style. He has to perform as he had performed in last year’s final. He needs to take care of his ball control because sometimes he looks vulnerable on that front.

Ronaldo vs Lovren/Van Dijk-

Biggest player of this occasion to grace the game. He has been phenomenal in this competition over the years breaking all sorts of records.

He plays more of a central role, waits for crosses to come in from Marcelo and Carvajal for headers.

Depending on the position, it will be testing times for Van Dijk and Lovren. Ronaldo will be looking to exploit Lovren’s defensive weakness.

Having said that Liverpool can not overlook Isco’s magical passes between the lines as they can open up any defense in split seconds.

Midfield Battle-

Though I am a Liverpool fan, I have to admit that Real Madrid’s midfield is the scariest in the world.

I mean look at Modric, Kroos, Isco and defensive holding midfielder as Casemiro.

They are hard to tackle and press as they work so well with each other with accurate passing between them.

Isco creates attacking threat all the time when he interlinks play. Modric with his range of passing has been magical at times. Most efficient and underrated is Toni Kroos as he controls the game so well.

I wonder if Liverpool would be able to press them aggressively or not. These players are least prone to make mistakes such as loosing ball in the dangerous area other than Casermiro.

On the other side, Liverpool has Milner, Henderson and Gini Winaldum. All three are great at pressing the opposition. Gini Winaldum is physically strong and can take out ball from an opponent. These players are the engine of the Liverpool team.

This is the area where the game will be won or lost by both teams. These midfield three are essential to set the platform for Liverpool’s deadly front three. They will be up against best midfield in the world. It will be fascinating to witness how this battle unfolds.

Counter Attacking +Pressing + Heavy Metal Vs Efficiency + Deadly striking + Experience –

Yes, you read it right. It’s gonna be a blockbuster of the Champions League final. When you have two exciting teams playing the game of football.

Liverpool with Pace, Counterattack, Pressing and Heavy metal attitude will be a challenging giant in the competition with experience, efficiency, and deadly striking.

When you combine all that, you are certain you will be seeing lots of goals.

We hope that both teams should go at each other and provide everyone the best experience with their scintillating and breathtaking football.

As a Liverpool supporter, I want Liverpool to win but Real is a very strong team and it is going to be a hell of the task to beat the Zidane’s team in the Champions League Final 2018.

To Read more about the build-up and match preview check out following links

Lets us know your Score prediction in the comment section below.

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Check out other champions league blogs at False9Analysis (Champions League Blogs)

Champions League 2nd Leg Preview || Can Roma and Bayern comeback ?

We are one match away to know who will be in champions league final. This week’s second leg clash starts with Real vs Bayern at Santiago Bernabeu and ends with Roma vs Liverpool at Stadio Olimpico in Rome.

Real Madrid vs Bayern Munich –

Real Madrid have won their away game by 2-1 and that makes them favorites to go in the final for third consecutive time. Bayern have to score minimum of 2 goals, provided Madrid doesn’t score, but it will be very hard to restrict Real Madrid at home.

Ronaldo has scored heavily in this fixture over the years and will be hoping to get few goals as he missed being on score sheet in the first leg.

Bayern Munich has to put in extra ordinary performance at Bernabeu. Specially Lewandowski needs to be lethal and clinical. James Rodriguez would like to contribute in this cause as we hope.

If Bayern knocks Madrid then it would be an upset for Madrid given that their pedigree in this competition is so high.

My prediction is 3-2 to Real Madrid in the second leg so they are going to Kiev.

Roma vs Liverpool –

Last time these two teams met, they produced 7 goal thriller. I wonder what will happen this time. Roma were given some hope by Lovren in the first leg.

They need an early goal to make this tie interesting and nervy for Liverpool. Man City got that early goal but Liverpool somehow managed to nullify those threats and came up with an away goal.

We need to look at few things here

Barcelona were not good in first leg also but managed to win, so Roma deserved to win with the way they played both legs.
Man City were unlucky not to get a goal in the second leg, but Liverpool somehow managed to get goals.
Liverpool kept a clean sheet at Home against City so they had that advantage.
If Liverpool seat back then it makes them vulnerable, so it depends on how they approach the game.

So it’s all ifs and buts, but at the end of the day the team who is going to hold their nerve under pressure will get through.

It’s a big night for both clubs as they would not have thought this during the season that they can go in the champions league final.

I hope Liverpool gets 2 goals to proceed further but it’s football and amazing things happen in football.

Let’s enjoy these two clashes and hope we will get to see some exciting football as we saw in the first leg.

Posted on April 14, 2018 August 10, 2018

Champions League Semi Final Draw Reaction

Great Draw ! that was my reaction as it happened today during champions league draw. Everybody expected Mancity vs Barca but Roma and Liverpool showed that they can beat anyone if they play at the highest level.

Bayern vs Real –

They both met last season in the quarter finals and Real won that battle. Though there were dubious decision made in that tie. Having said all that Real Madrid are still favorites to go in the final as they have got know-how and experienced squad to handle those situations over the last 3-4 years in the champions league.

On the other hand Bayern Munchen are well rested and they also have quality players at their disposal to cause enough damage to Los Blancos in the names of Robben and Ribery. But they were not tested much till now in this year’s campaign and that might hurt them at this stage.

Certainly it’s a tasty tie and players from both teams will be looking to fight it out for that Final’s spot.

Liverpool vs Roma –

Who would have thought that these two teams will meet each other in the semi final. Certainly Mo Salah wouldn’t have thought this. As he meets his former club where he had 2 brilliant seasons.

The way Liverpool are playing in the champions league is amazing and it is very hard to contain their front three. First leg is at Anfield and it will give Liverpool great advantage to get that lead going into the second leg as they did against City.

But Roma did manage to overturn 3-0 deficit against Barca. So it would be mistake to underestimate Roma at this stage.Both teams have players with lot of character and fans full of passion. It will be one hell of an atmosphere in this clash.

We will talk more about it day before the game as we will be having more information related to their form and players availability.

We will come back with another blog which will be related to weekend premier league matches. Till then enjoy the game.

Posted on April 13, 2018 August 10, 2018

Champions League Review || Expect the unexpected

I had a feeling that something special is going to happen during this champions league quarter-final second leg round. I was expecting comeback from Sevilla but boy did Roma proved me wrong.

Roma Vs Barca –

What a night they had in Rome. “Rome was not built in a day” ! Tremendous result in heir campaign. We knew that Barca were pragmatic this season and were getting the results but Roma fully deserved that victory over them.

Messi and Suarez were not effective. On the other hand Edin Dzeko was superb. He just fought for his life and brought Roma back in the game and Manolas to finish it off.

Allison was not tested the way he should have been. To sum things up it was the “Perfect Game” for Roma. Karma is a bitch ! What goes around that comes around for Barca as they did last season to PSG.

ManCity Vs Liverpool –

As we expected City started the game with barrage of attacks and they got a dream start with a goal within just 2 min. Although there was a case of foul on Van Dijk but VVD should have cleared that away.

Though I support Liverpool but Man City should have got that second goal by Sane. It could have shifted the momentum of the game. Having said that Liverpool came back in the second half very well as Mo Salah finished it off. Cool as a cucumber. He did it again for Liverpool.

Firmino just rubbed salt in the wounds of Mancity players later with great pressing by him against Otamendi and netting past his compatriot. City should have started with Kun Aguero and Kompany in this big game but in hindsight we can always say that. Over the two legs Liverpool did well to knock them off.

Real Madrid Vs Juventus –

Given the lead of 3 goals everybody thought it is very unlikely that Madrid would squander this one. As we saw great fight back from Juve but it’s fair to say that Real did not defend that well for 2 Mandžukić’s goal and K.Navas committed a blunder to help Matuidi to score a simple goal.

Dybala’s ommision turned out blessing in disguise as Mario came back in starting XI and even commentator said before the game that his aerial ability might cause damage. Credit must be given to amazing crosses that he received from Khedira and D.Costa, but Boy! that was a great header.

Real came back in the last-minute and guess who ? Yes it’s Cristiano Ronaldo. As he always delivers in the champions league and specially in later stages. The leap that he got to place the ball into the path of Lucas Vazquez was amazing. Many fans thought that it was a wrong decision and ref also made a bad call sending Buffon off.

If you see replay and think rationally it was clear that Bentia pushed him from the back and obstruct by placing foot ahead of his chest. It shows that it was a penalty. Credit must be given to ref Michael Oliver having made that great decision in such a huge game. Reaction of Buffon every football fan can understand because we do love him, but at the end of the day this game is above everyone no matter what your status is and if you are bumping into referee aggressively then it’s hard to argue against.

Bayern vs Sevilla –

I expected Bayern to score few goals but they did not. I was hoping Sevilla to cause an upset. Game was boring and both did not create enough chances. It was about getting in to the semi final for Bayern. It’s not their fault that they had weaker opposition.

They were able to rest few players and as they have sealed league title they can focus on champions league better than other teams.

What a crazy week of football this was !!

We will come back again with the reaction from champions league semi final draw that is going to happen on Friday 4pm IST. Till then keep following this space false9analysis.com.

Posted on April 10, 2018 August 10, 2018

Can Pep do it ? || Champions League quarter final leg 2 preview

So it’s been some week for all football fans around the world. We witnessed City’s defensive weakness against Liverpool and Manchester United. Can Pep do it ?

Having said that it’s not over until it’s over. Manchester City have enough attacking potential to exploit any defense. If anyone can, Pep can ?

Let’s go back to early season encounter between these two. City scored 5 goals past Liverpool.City is as lethal as they were at the start but for Liverpool many things have changed.

Defense – with big Virgil they have got the solidity and composure. Plus it’s helping Karius in a big way. Robertson is machine on that left side offensively and defensively too
Midfield – Ox’s addition to midfield has brought some creativity though we know Coutinho’s loss is huge.
Atmosphere – As I said in my previous blog that Liverpool fans create some magical atmosphere that gives players extra push to get the best out of them on a European night.

It’s about getting it right to go through semis.

Big miss for Liverpool will be Henderson with his leadership ability because in big games that’s the important thing. For Liverpool some body have to step up to fill in his shoes. Who’s better than Milner ?

City would be happy with Kun Aguero coming in to the squad. He has been brilliant for them since he arrived and world-class striker to speak. Pep failed tactically in first leg so he would definitely start Sterling tonight.

If City scores early then it might create doubt in minds of LFC players. If Liverpool scores early then City might collapse because they will have to score 5 past Liverpool and then it will open up nicely for Liverpool’s attacking trio as City will try to attack heavily and may commit mistakes.

I do not want get ahead of myself and predict because some games you can not predict. That’s the beauty of it and I am going to enjoy every second of this mouth-watering clash.

Safe to say other big guns such as Barca, Real and Bayern Muchen will be safely go through semis as they have got great results. I personally think that if Sevilla can cause upset it would be a quite story.

I hope we will see scintillating stuff in this second leg, but the question is Can Pep do it ?