Champions League Night, at Home. Beautiful.
We are playing Real Madrid at home in about 30 min in Champions League quarter finals. This is THE biggest game of the season, considering PL trophy is out of sight. Madrid is probably the toughest opponent you can get in Champions League over two legs. They will be 3-0 down on aggregate with 10 minutes on clock, and go on to win 4-3. With the likes of Mbappe, Rodrygo and Vinicious up front, and a midfield of Modric, Camavinga and Bellingham, they are one of the best attacking sides in the world and they have got a very good defence as well.
We, on the other hand, are going into the game with Merino as a CF. Jakub Kiwior in defence is another problem for me, as Gabriel M has picked up an injury and will be out for the rest of the season. We have a 17 year old at LB and a new CB partnership. That’s a bit concerning but you know, going into a game as under-dogs has it’s own benefits. The good thing is, Madrid will play an attacking game and we have been relatively good against the likes of Liverpool and City who tries to play their way. It’s the low blocks we suffer against.
And we are at home, so the crowd will be behind us. Boys have dreamt of this, to play against the best teams in the world, at the grandest stage, and I’m sure they are going to prove today that they deserve to be here. I don’t care about the second leg, we win today with 2 goal margin and we can play with 6 defenders in the away game.
Talking about the strategy Mikel would have put up …. well I don’t care. Lets go, play our game with freedom, give our 100% and see where it ends.
A very short one today, but I will be alive during the game today.
#COYG
it looks as if Saka has been working on his right foot in training, which pleases me greatly…if only we had a Striker to get on the end of his passes…I likewise want to see the only clinical finisher we have, Ethan, on the pitch…Courtois isn’t likely to give up any cheap goals, so we need our best shooter out there, instead of having both Rice and Merino, who serve the same purpose in the box…let’s not forget Real lost 4 CL matches this season, so we need to pot some goals so they have to get out of their comfort zone in the 2nd leg
That’s just the beginning. Incredible from Declan Rice.
Speechless but happy
big shot by Rice…he’s been chomping at the bit today…now take Merino off and get Ethan on the pitch
Roberta Carlos reincarnation
Done, Tony.
Agreed Viera!
That shot was quite Roberto Carlos-esque
let’s not invite too much pressure now that we’ve scored because we need more than a goal lead heading back to Spain
Thanks Amberish, cheers mate
Thanks Ambarish the Carlos comment was from Junior.
sometimes you can just see it in the eyes of a player that they’re feeling it and Rice certainly has that look…this by no means he should be a full-time AM, but he should be taking free kicks whenever he’s in the mood…Cheers Junior!!
it’s to our advantage that Modric is still sitting so deep when they’re in possession, as they don’t have another player in the midfield who can really unlock defences…I would suspect that they will be hunting high and low for a viable Modric replacement
Wow, some stunning saves on some atypically good attempts on goal by us!!
Roberto Rice one more please🙏
no need to wonder who will be taking this one
i suggest a wormburner
Real Madrid are playing like they got 2 keepers in goal. Kiwior not doing bad as a replacement for big Gabs lets see Rice do it again
Thank you senor Ricio
No idea how they’ll pick MOM!
you could give him a hundred more attempts and he would find it difficult to emulate what he’s done, but who the fuck cares…always feed the hot hand!!!
Rice is really not disappointing with his free kicks this game! So good to see