no neymar no mbappé and real still gets destroyed

tough scene

Wow, Hector Herrera equalizes for Atlético. Mexicans are killing it. Edson Álvarez scored in his Ajax debut yesterday.

Zidane rode Ancelotti's team until the wheel fell off, RIP

This Edson mex looked amazing

Well PSG are basically on to the knockout phase. This could be a record for lowest # of meaningful matches in a season if they get tossed in the R16 again.

Expected PSG to be clearly better, but still surprised they were that good. Gueye/Verratti were immense.

Also surprised by just how shockingly bad RM were. They looked like they didn't have a plan at all.

They haven't had a plan since CR7 left. They're just winging it every single game.

Man when di Maria is on top of his game he can still absolutely wreck the opposition highhandedly.

Courtois is horrible, and it still absolutely baffles me why Madrid decided to buy him.

Oh, good. I don't even have to post new stuff anymore, I can just go back and quote what I posted a year and a half ago. Zidane was never and will never be a football coach, he's just (or was) a very respected figure in the locker room and that's it. Bad transfers, no tactics whatsoever, no automatisms, nothing. Everything is predictable about this team.

curious what ppls thoughts are on Frankfurt vs arsenal.

I liked Frankfurt but man did they look like trash at augsburg last weekend.

then again arsenal was pretty shitty vs watford last week too.

this thread is reserved for the prestigious competition that is the uefa champions league mate. take your lidl league stuff elsewhere.

Pardon Chop's inferiority complex, he is enjoying the last days of summer with the eternal runner up lads who put the pressure on...

Both teams to score is the play. I'd expect rotation bonanza from Emery.

But to discuss the great game in detail you should visit this thread: https://forumserver.twoplustwo.com/4...81/index2.html

oh whoops my bad. thanks.

Zidane has participated in 3 Champions Leagues as a coach and won all 3. You'd think he'd get some credit for that.

But of course the super-smart Madrits fans take this result in a meaningless group stage games as proof that they were always right that Zidane is terrible. Hard to be wrong when you don't have to make sense.

I think it's more then just this one game they are using to criticize. Madrid has not looked good in most of their games so far this year.

The Belgian assets turn to **** as soon as they reach Madrid. Real test for Hazard's GOATness imo (no pun intended)

Then again he's 3 for 3 in the Champions League as a coach. They've played 5 games this season.

lolmanagers

the weird thing is it's gone entirely from "he's a genius" to "he's an idiot" very quickly without stopping for a second to think maybe he just doesnt matter all that much

at least internationally. i think the spanish madrid fans always mostly considered him very lucky tbf

Anyone thinking Zidane wins 3 b2b UCLs by luck or Ronaldo or having the best team or riding Ancelotti's wave doesn't have a clue about football. It really is that simple.

Zidane set his team up correctly in the most important games for 3 years straight (and the few where he didn't, he made adjustments which turned the games around). That takes managerial skill. In 17-18 subs decided nearly all their KO games. Asensio goal vs Bayern leg 1, Vazquez won the penalty vs Juve and ofc Bale in the final.

If Guardiola made the subs that would go on to decide the semi final and final he would be praised as the messiah (if the pundits could even utter the words for how far down their throats his dick would be).

Zidane is not a perfect manager, but his record in the most difficult and prestigious tournament in the world is untouchable. And he did also beat Barcelona in the league in a season where Messi scored 37 goals and MSN was still a thing (Suarez scored 29, too, and Ronaldo "only" scored 25).
He is a great manager and that is undeniable. The question which is yet to be answered is how good he is at developing these new players he's got and building a new team. But that's way too early to say yet.

Real is going strong in the playoffs right now they are chilling

Ronaldo’s last shot would have been epic.

right

No sane manager good enough to get a job at Madrid wants to work for Florentino. So its Zidane or Mourinho.

UCL in 2 hours POGbump