To be fair, if you've drawn us two years in a row, any draw will make you feel it's an easy draw.

Fancy brain I got.

Was there an easier draw on paper? **** happens tho...makes the #MonacoMiracle ever so much greater

I will be rooting for Arsenal ... for some reason i have a soft spot for Arsene.

Definitely rooting for the #MonacoMiracle also - watched the first leg and if Giroud doesn't miss as many chances as he did that night it could be a pretty good sweat.

Bet the house on koscielny last goal.scorer.

What % does the model give it. I assume it is safe to say that the MODEL has last goal scorer predictive capabilities.

I'll be rooting for Leverkusen. If the most skilled teams outplay them comfortably then so be it but I still wanna see it and generally I think we could have various incredibly entertaining, and not least fresh ties with them involved rather than Atletico, even if Atletico also have a good ratio of being involved in great games as long as it's against elite opponents and not ordinary ones.

I was listening to a danish coach who's been working at various levels for various Red Bull clubs and projects where he was basically being mentored by Helmut Groß who has also played a big part in forming Rangnick (Red Bull sporting director), Klopp and now Schmidt.

He was of course talking about how pressing is their most important tactical element.

How the pressing is extremely ball-oriented with the overwhelming focus on creating numerical advantages around the opponent ball-carrier and how their players are supposed to consistently be in front of or ahead of their opponent when pressing, actually attack in numbers off-ball in the defensive phase even getting behind the opponent with the ball facing enemy goal over anything that's conservative getting men behind the ball closer to your own goal.

Then you're gambling on winning the ball and those players who are already attacking off-ball before actually getting possession (!!!) are ready for forward passes and the up-tempo combinations that Leverkusen go for constantly in opponent final third.

I can't say it doesn't have anything to do with pressing zones (I'm sure angles/passing lanes are important) but it's definitely different from the recent main pressing influence in recent years Bielsa who ideally in full flow likes to press man most places on the pitch. The Leverkusen philosophy instead is overwhelmingly attacking/pressing the ball committing numbers unheard of to do just that.

I also thought it was cool how he basically confirmed my recent thinking of how your team's passing becomes a method to help your own counterpress by talking about how usual negative football-terms like poor turnover, bad loss of possession or giving the ball away too easily are totally banned and unspoken in this system, instead the only thing that can be poor is the counterpress (not the silly passing!).

lol u for being unsure...it does 100%

It will be tough for Leverkusen though and the referee will be huge.

Just like in the last game if Leverkusen are great and succeed despite Atletico banning all press-inducing passing, then Atletico's main defense against that swarming press directly on the ball will be try to and win freekicks on any kind of aggressive contact (and Leverkusen are extremely aggressive).

The referee bought into a lot of contact=fouls in the first leg, but at the same waited a long time despite one free kick after another before actually starting handing out cards, in Madrid he will be under huge pressure to show them more in this game, and of course more importantly Leverkusen had to dodge one dangerous Atletico set-piece after another.

Atletico are so good there that it's their main attacking weapon this season (zzz) and it's just hard to see Leverkusen dodging those bullets once more. Hopefully they'll be very dangerous themselves.

All #narrative brah

Atletico around 11/8 to qualify tonight, will be part of my Accum tonight

The under seems good for Monaco arsenal. Probably the line being driven by Monaco Miracle drivel. Monaco basically conceded like none in groups and have massive incentive to just play tight.

4+ tonight boyz... #MonacoMiracle

Also hope Bender can play with Castro in midfield.

Rolfes has looked just about done when I've seen him recently and Reinartz even if strong doesn't seem like a great fit on this year's team so central midfield looks thin.

The attacking midfield is awesome and Julian Brandt is a really talented alternative to those places. Some of his numbers are already very noticeable. I'm becoming a bigger and bigger Heung-Min Son fan and he's still somehow my lower ranked attacking midfielder/winger of their three stars.

Defense is fine with a number of serviceable fullbacks and central Papadopoulos is finally in the midst of healthy spell which is great to see and gives them depth.

#MonacoMiracle

Great post. Beautiful thing is being hyper attacking still suits bayer as one away goal reallllly hurts atletico. Bayer can give up 2 goals and still not give a **** if they can nick one. Gonna be an insane match.

#Atleti XI vs #B04 Moya, Juanfran, Gimenez, Miranda, Gamez, Suarez, Koke, Cani, Turan, Griezmann, Mandzukic

Surprised Cani's starting.

#B04 XI: Leno, Spahic, Hilbert, Wendell, Omer Toprak, Bender, Hakan Calhanoglu, Casto, Bellarabi, Son Heung-Min, Drmic

Sügaraids you are needed in the EPL thread to photoshop JoeDiego in a liverpool kit.

You guys are hyping Leverkusen pretty much - am looking even more forward to the match now. Will also be interesting to see Atletico, when they have to force a goal vs. a top team and can't just sit back and do their normal thing.

Btw Bjørn, was it in one of the Danish football podcasts?

Former Red Bull coach now coaching a Pharma Giant. Of course they are playing high intensity football.

Yeah beginning of the latest Politiken one. 4-5 mins in or so. The rest is not that interesting except for a funny die hard-optimist AGF fan.