like most people, im pleasantly surprised about this result and dortmund, the underdog yet somewhat bigger team in this competition, going to the final, but also appalled at the same time by this fact; although this was also supposed to be a mismatch, it must be said that this was a mickey run. the worst team on the other side of the bracket, arsenal, would deal with psg imo. still, that is something more relevant for the format of the competition rather than on an individual team level - any team that gets to a ucl final in big 2024 is pretty good still, and psg and barcelona arent terrible. im waiting for the final matchup to write a proper prediction there, but for now i cannot stop myself from going on a rant about psg. this was your moment to make another ucl final due to the easy run. fine, last 2 years you got madrid and bayern in the r16 or something. (although they weren't great by any means either). now was your easier, final chance 1) with mbappe, and 2) in this ucl format.
i mention these because, for one, i can only imagine the format from next year being even harder for psg to thrive in. how long will it take now for psg to win the ucl? swiss means, if psg gets good results initially, they are matched up against other good teams in that stage. there will be less easy opponents (relatively), if any. in turn, at the end of swiss, it's hard to imagine psg topping the group ahead of other ucl powerhouses. they'll probably make like top 8 still and have a decent r16, but going forward in the bracket it's not a great seeding. as for the point about mbappe - the dream is over, and in the worst way possible, against a team you were supposed to beat. going to real madrid to win the ucl is like winning with the best car in F1 after always losing with the 2nd best one - definitely a sour taste for me as a fan, at least. i must say, with how high people's expectations of the guy are on twitter, his club career already cannot be nearly as good as cr7 & messi's imo.
so that dream or ambition for him to be a potential future goat is over. hes younger than cr7 was in 2014, so anything can happen, but how often does a team dominate the ucl as real did between 2014-2018? mbappe's prime as a pacey winger, his main strength, is over within the next couple years - people are already pointing out that his level's dropped since 2022. regardless, he cannot be the versatile focal point as cr7 was, nor can he be the groundbreaking talent that messi was. this goes hand in hand with my next analysis which is psg's weaknesses. as far as mbappe goes, he cannot head, he doesnt score from distance, he cannot dribble in tight spaces, he cannot come up with great passes/crosses. lacking all of these traits, which you might notice ive taken from cr7 & messi, actually make him rather limited - this tie, for one, exposed him further as merely a pace merchant fit only for counterattacks. psg as a whole lacks a bit in creation, and probably a lot of that is on the coach.
playing such indirect football, a lot of side passes and uninspired decisions that don't take advantage of the players' individual qualities. on psg... oh boy... where do i start. in 2017 it would've been reasonable to say the takeover was recent, and there hadn't been enough time to build the team's structure. it's been 13 years now though. when are we going to see the first psg dynasty such as what city did with pep or even the coaches before that that they trusted way more than psg trusts its coaches? to me, as i always say, it boils down to coaching; sadly the top dogs at psg don't know ball, and much like many of the less-than-intelligent teens on twitter judging teams based on their names on paper, the owners have focused on that rather than trying to see what the better teams are doing behind the scenes. because, to me, when i watch city or madrid these days in high stakes matches, it is clear that they have coaches for everything.
there is a goalkeeper coach, defender coaches etc etc. these teams' players work together on every level, individually and collectively. when psg comes to play, it doesn't seem like the work of a team, but rather a collection of individuals with some vague pointers and basic tactics from the manager. you think donnarumma would be so indecisive on corners, for example, if he played for madrid? that individual issue would've been sorted out ages ago by coaching, not to mention that collective coaching could help reduce such situations as well by having defenders cover for him better. real madrid, the most pretentious team in the world, keeps ancelotti longer even when he doesnt win, than psg keeps its managers - as such, how do you intend to build a dynasty, a structure, a way? it's kind of ironic, because psg has had decent coaches including ancelotti and now enrique, a ucl winner, but they're simply too greedy and want results asap - another way in which they don't know ball.
so my advice is this. don't be greedy, look at how other teams are building: trust managers, and don't undervalue the importance of coaching individually and collectively. don't be shallow and think simply having superstars means they will work together - a mistake many fans make. don't be arrogant and try in any way possible to favor your superstars, build around french players or anything like that - it simply doesn't work (e.g. trusting dembele and barcola is probably a worse choice than looking for other options) or can turn out very costly (e.g. mbappe's contract). know that you are building for the future, and so small apparent sacrifices in the present could turn out beneficial. rant over.
PSG extremely harmless, only shots from distance or useless crosses into the penalty area that were no problem for Dortmund.
Never thought Dortmund would not concede a single goal in 2 games.
@jacobasil Dream on my friend: this Bayern team is the weakest Bayern in the past 50 years and more, while this Real Madrid is much better than the one winning Champion League final games by Sergio Ramos lone goals. I have no clue how Bayern managed to pull of a 2-2 against Real Madrid! But Bayern won't get lucky second time around!
@neumi17 I did not see the game. Then it was all Ancelotti's fault! If he plays the team too defensively, then goals will not follow because he destroys the confidence of his team. I based my assumption on the simple fact that Real Madrid is a much better team currently!
Not a huge surprise here Dortmund may not be great but they are a solid team. Defense wins tournaments and it would take an exceptional final from Real/Bayern to outplay them. I don't know Dortmund well enough to back them to win but we can't rule them out, it's a 50/50 IMO. If they can mark Mbappe out of the game they can mark Vini too. I'd imagine they personally know Jude very well too. I think Bayern would make a more entertaining final as Real would probably be a stale scrappy 1-1 sort of game.
@tkr Real has better coach, who spots weak points in opponents on a given day. Vini is not alone top player as Mbappe here. There is also better midfield and options from the bench. Real easy 2-0. The pace and combinational play will make havoc out of Hummels and co. Wing-backs are also mediocre in Dortmund.
@koziol.mutant I can never bet on a team that has Dembele in it. He may score a nice goal now and then but you can count on him to miss the ones that matter. And the team will pay for that.
Schlotterbeck is quite the talent though, wouldn't be surprised if some bigger team signs him over the summer. 24 only and basically flawless over both legs.
Hahahaha! Luis Enrique, the clueless coach on the sideline! And Soler still sitting on the bench! Amazing the contraselection that's happening on the coaching realm as well!
I have never seen a team advance so easily into the finals such as Dortmund. The final will expose them badly though, just like Leipzig exposed them about a week ago!
PSG getting exposed hard. Did say, Barca was the better team in the last round, and if not for the red card they most likely would gone through. This football is simply not elite level, despite the strenght of their squad. Also Donnaruma vs crosses is still ridiculously bad, no team should have him as their 1st choice if they want to challenge for titles.
Luis Enrique should get full "credit" here for PSG not having a clue about how to play against an extremely weak Dortmund team only relying on his defense. Asensio and Soler should definitely come in at the beginning of the second half for no name midfielders Ruiz and Vitinha (I still have no idea how these players ended up in PSG??? The Portugues agents must have made the deal of the century when selling such mediocre players for so much money!). Also, Hakimi should come up as a left winger and PSG should play a 3 men defense in the second half. This way they could advance ot the next stage without overtime. However, knowing Luis Enrique, the most he can achieve a 1-0, so the game will go to overtime, then to penalties.
Odds pre match for goals were ridiculous. Even Under 4.5 was priced almost @1.50. 1st half under 0.5 @4.00 under 1.5 @.1.95. I just don't know why though. It's the same unimaginative sh.t we seen last week, slow build up, pass it out to the wingers, and they cross to either no one in the box, or at best a single target who is generally not even good with their head. I am surprised that this sh.t is not exposed even domestically, this is just so easy to defend against. Are the average French teams this bad at defending?
@DanInter The biggest minuses on this PSG team are Vitinha, Zaire, and Ruiz. And, of course, the mastermind Luis Enrique who did not make any changes at the beginning of the 2nd half to exacerbate his errors in this game!
@Zoltan After they knocked out ManCity they were always the favourites. The hardest to call Final would be Bayern vs BvB, but despite their rollercoaster season, you probably still would favour Bayern if they actually make it through.
PSG is the most terrible mismanaged teams I have ever seen: no creative midfield at all, only these Portuguese defensive players who have no clue about launching an attack or how to speed up the game against the Dortmund bus. I mean come on, Leipzig has already proved how weak this Dortmund team is when they dispatched of Dortmund easily with 4 goals scored. Yet here, PSG with the likes of Mbappe, Dembele and Gonzalo Ramos (who was the best goal scorer of the Portugues league last season) just struggles. Louis Enrique has zero understanding of the game when he does not play Ascensio, who is the only creative midfielder on this PSG team.
Looks like at least 65% possession for PSG. Plus the fact they need to score so will be doing at least 2 Dortmund players to get carded. Maybe a card for a PSG defender covering the counter attack. Plus a goal scorer for PSG. Personally think it will be a 2 nil home win.
@stuckonautomatic 1st leg they were just average BUT it will be a very intimidating atmosphere at the Parc des Princes stadium where PSG will control most of the game IMHO.
like most people, im pleasantly surprised about this result and dortmund, the underdog yet somewhat bigger team in this competition, going to the final, but also appalled at the same time by this fact; although this was also supposed to be a mismatch, it must be said that this was a mickey run. the worst team on the other side of the bracket, arsenal, would deal with psg imo. still, that is something more relevant for the format of the competition rather than on an individual team level - any team that gets to a ucl final in big 2024 is pretty good still, and psg and barcelona arent terrible. im waiting for the final matchup to write a proper prediction there, but for now i cannot stop myself from going on a rant about psg. this was your moment to make another ucl final due to the easy run. fine, last 2 years you got madrid and bayern in the r16 or something. (although they weren't great by any means either). now was your easier, final chance 1) with mbappe, and 2) in this ucl format.
i mention these because, for one, i can only imagine the format from next year being even harder for psg to thrive in. how long will it take now for psg to win the ucl? swiss means, if psg gets good results initially, they are matched up against other good teams in that stage. there will be less easy opponents (relatively), if any. in turn, at the end of swiss, it's hard to imagine psg topping the group ahead of other ucl powerhouses. they'll probably make like top 8 still and have a decent r16, but going forward in the bracket it's not a great seeding. as for the point about mbappe - the dream is over, and in the worst way possible, against a team you were supposed to beat. going to real madrid to win the ucl is like winning with the best car in F1 after always losing with the 2nd best one - definitely a sour taste for me as a fan, at least. i must say, with how high people's expectations of the guy are on twitter, his club career already cannot be nearly as good as cr7 & messi's imo.
so that dream or ambition for him to be a potential future goat is over. hes younger than cr7 was in 2014, so anything can happen, but how often does a team dominate the ucl as real did between 2014-2018? mbappe's prime as a pacey winger, his main strength, is over within the next couple years - people are already pointing out that his level's dropped since 2022. regardless, he cannot be the versatile focal point as cr7 was, nor can he be the groundbreaking talent that messi was. this goes hand in hand with my next analysis which is psg's weaknesses. as far as mbappe goes, he cannot head, he doesnt score from distance, he cannot dribble in tight spaces, he cannot come up with great passes/crosses. lacking all of these traits, which you might notice ive taken from cr7 & messi, actually make him rather limited - this tie, for one, exposed him further as merely a pace merchant fit only for counterattacks. psg as a whole lacks a bit in creation, and probably a lot of that is on the coach.
playing such indirect football, a lot of side passes and uninspired decisions that don't take advantage of the players' individual qualities. on psg... oh boy... where do i start. in 2017 it would've been reasonable to say the takeover was recent, and there hadn't been enough time to build the team's structure. it's been 13 years now though. when are we going to see the first psg dynasty such as what city did with pep or even the coaches before that that they trusted way more than psg trusts its coaches? to me, as i always say, it boils down to coaching; sadly the top dogs at psg don't know ball, and much like many of the less-than-intelligent teens on twitter judging teams based on their names on paper, the owners have focused on that rather than trying to see what the better teams are doing behind the scenes. because, to me, when i watch city or madrid these days in high stakes matches, it is clear that they have coaches for everything.
there is a goalkeeper coach, defender coaches etc etc. these teams' players work together on every level, individually and collectively. when psg comes to play, it doesn't seem like the work of a team, but rather a collection of individuals with some vague pointers and basic tactics from the manager. you think donnarumma would be so indecisive on corners, for example, if he played for madrid? that individual issue would've been sorted out ages ago by coaching, not to mention that collective coaching could help reduce such situations as well by having defenders cover for him better. real madrid, the most pretentious team in the world, keeps ancelotti longer even when he doesnt win, than psg keeps its managers - as such, how do you intend to build a dynasty, a structure, a way? it's kind of ironic, because psg has had decent coaches including ancelotti and now enrique, a ucl winner, but they're simply too greedy and want results asap - another way in which they don't know ball.
so my advice is this. don't be greedy, look at how other teams are building: trust managers, and don't undervalue the importance of coaching individually and collectively. don't be shallow and think simply having superstars means they will work together - a mistake many fans make. don't be arrogant and try in any way possible to favor your superstars, build around french players or anything like that - it simply doesn't work (e.g. trusting dembele and barcola is probably a worse choice than looking for other options) or can turn out very costly (e.g. mbappe's contract). know that you are building for the future, and so small apparent sacrifices in the present could turn out beneficial. rant over.
PSG with 30 shots and only 5 on goal.
PSG extremely harmless, only shots from distance or useless crosses into the penalty area that were no problem for Dortmund. Never thought Dortmund would not concede a single goal in 2 games.
wait another upset tomorrow and we will see german final again!
@jacobasil You wish! Real Madrid have the trophy in the bag.
@jacobasil Dream on my friend: this Bayern team is the weakest Bayern in the past 50 years and more, while this Real Madrid is much better than the one winning Champion League final games by Sergio Ramos lone goals. I have no clue how Bayern managed to pull of a 2-2 against Real Madrid! But Bayern won't get lucky second time around!
@Zoltan Are serious ? Real pulled off a very lucky 2-2 with only 2 chances in the entire game. Bayern should have won easily their first match.
@neumi17 Bayern did its best match againts real, and real did one of the worst this year yet the score is 2:2, that tells you enough doesn't it ?
@neumi17 I did not see the game. Then it was all Ancelotti's fault! If he plays the team too defensively, then goals will not follow because he destroys the confidence of his team. I based my assumption on the simple fact that Real Madrid is a much better team currently!
@Zoltan "I have no clue" Well if that's the case why should we believe you this time?
The crossbar turned against PSG for the semis
@SJP14 Yet they were totally harmless otherwise. No real chances in the game for them.
Not a huge surprise here Dortmund may not be great but they are a solid team. Defense wins tournaments and it would take an exceptional final from Real/Bayern to outplay them. I don't know Dortmund well enough to back them to win but we can't rule them out, it's a 50/50 IMO. If they can mark Mbappe out of the game they can mark Vini too. I'd imagine they personally know Jude very well too. I think Bayern would make a more entertaining final as Real would probably be a stale scrappy 1-1 sort of game.
@tkr Real has better coach, who spots weak points in opponents on a given day. Vini is not alone top player as Mbappe here. There is also better midfield and options from the bench. Real easy 2-0. The pace and combinational play will make havoc out of Hummels and co. Wing-backs are also mediocre in Dortmund.
@koziol.mutant Bayern will be in final
@koziol.mutant First Real has to reach th final ... It's a 50/50 game tomorrow. Tuchel has an excellent record vs Ancelotti.
haha karma comes to PSG really fast, such a losers
I got it wrong big time but i cannot win all the time.Well done to those who backed dortmund.
you can't win with mug Barcola on the pitch and Ramos who has not played so much the whole season. Tititaka is dead hopefully.
@koziol.mutant I can never bet on a team that has Dembele in it. He may score a nice goal now and then but you can count on him to miss the ones that matter. And the team will pay for that.
Schlotterbeck is quite the talent though, wouldn't be surprised if some bigger team signs him over the summer. 24 only and basically flawless over both legs.
Hahahaha! Luis Enrique, the clueless coach on the sideline! And Soler still sitting on the bench! Amazing the contraselection that's happening on the coaching realm as well!
I have never seen a team advance so easily into the finals such as Dortmund. The final will expose them badly though, just like Leipzig exposed them about a week ago!
@Zoltan Real will show some mercy like 2-0 in Final
@Zoltan Yes, both teams from the other semi-final will wipe the floor with them.
@Sputnik Let's see
PSG can’t even score
How many times are PSG going to hit the post before they score?
@SJP14 As many as the bookies wanted.
PSG getting exposed hard. Did say, Barca was the better team in the last round, and if not for the red card they most likely would gone through. This football is simply not elite level, despite the strenght of their squad. Also Donnaruma vs crosses is still ridiculously bad, no team should have him as their 1st choice if they want to challenge for titles.
@DanInter what strenght? midfield is mediocre
@DanInter Well, they one the french title with him, didn't they..?:)
@sailorripley Very prestigous title, with a lot of challengers..
Hakimi = right winger
Luis Enrique should get full "credit" here for PSG not having a clue about how to play against an extremely weak Dortmund team only relying on his defense. Asensio and Soler should definitely come in at the beginning of the second half for no name midfielders Ruiz and Vitinha (I still have no idea how these players ended up in PSG??? The Portugues agents must have made the deal of the century when selling such mediocre players for so much money!). Also, Hakimi should come up as a left winger and PSG should play a 3 men defense in the second half. This way they could advance ot the next stage without overtime. However, knowing Luis Enrique, the most he can achieve a 1-0, so the game will go to overtime, then to penalties.
@Zoltan Vitinha was the best player in both legs and is the best player in PSG...
@Zoltan Vitinha is actually the best midfielder in PSG, which is laughable. He is like 50% of Bruno's ability.
@koziol.mutant I agree!
Odds pre match for goals were ridiculous. Even Under 4.5 was priced almost @1.50. 1st half under 0.5 @4.00 under 1.5 @.1.95. I just don't know why though. It's the same unimaginative sh.t we seen last week, slow build up, pass it out to the wingers, and they cross to either no one in the box, or at best a single target who is generally not even good with their head. I am surprised that this sh.t is not exposed even domestically, this is just so easy to defend against. Are the average French teams this bad at defending?
@DanInter The biggest minuses on this PSG team are Vitinha, Zaire, and Ruiz. And, of course, the mastermind Luis Enrique who did not make any changes at the beginning of the 2nd half to exacerbate his errors in this game!
@DanInter Don't worry though, Real will beat this Dortmund team easily! It will be an easy bet!
@Zoltan After they knocked out ManCity they were always the favourites. The hardest to call Final would be Bayern vs BvB, but despite their rollercoaster season, you probably still would favour Bayern if they actually make it through.
@Zoltan Which means that Real will beat Bayern as well....
PSG is the most terrible mismanaged teams I have ever seen: no creative midfield at all, only these Portuguese defensive players who have no clue about launching an attack or how to speed up the game against the Dortmund bus. I mean come on, Leipzig has already proved how weak this Dortmund team is when they dispatched of Dortmund easily with 4 goals scored. Yet here, PSG with the likes of Mbappe, Dembele and Gonzalo Ramos (who was the best goal scorer of the Portugues league last season) just struggles. Louis Enrique has zero understanding of the game when he does not play Ascensio, who is the only creative midfielder on this PSG team.
Dortmund to qualify all the way
I predict several corners. We expect Dortmund to defend strongly. 0-0 scoreline
Referee help for PSG - red card or penalty!
Looks like at least 65% possession for PSG. Plus the fact they need to score so will be doing at least 2 Dortmund players to get carded. Maybe a card for a PSG defender covering the counter attack. Plus a goal scorer for PSG. Personally think it will be a 2 nil home win.
@Bigsean76 stfu... hide your face in shame *tongue out*
@Aei Why? Are Borussia Dortmund protected by some higher entity or something?
Dortmund haven't scored any goal in their last 4 matches in away game against PSG. PSG 1-0 or 2-0
@chopstickboy Good that things finally changed
2-0 or 3-1
PSG will score at least 2 goals. I can not see how Dortmund will score more than once ...
@neumi17 Dortmund to qualify though....my opinion
PSG will have too much pace and attacking firepower for a Dortmund team who will play a '10 man defence' and try to 'park the bus'.
@Marbella Why didn't they use that firepower a week ago?
@stuckonautomatic Because there's no need to score an away goal anymore.
@Sputnik Lame excuse, as if they lost the first leg on purpose.
@stuckonautomatic so the sucker's can pay double price 4 the rematch, it's all Hollywood son.
@stuckonautomatic 1st leg they were just average BUT it will be a very intimidating atmosphere at the Parc des Princes stadium where PSG will control most of the game IMHO.
@Marbella PSG haven't scored many goals at home though. Only 8 goals in 5 home games out of open play ...
1-0 psg dortmund on pens
PSG out of the tournament
PSG is TRASH! Dortmund Double Chance (Win or Draw)
@Oversonly PSG is good team...Mbape to score 2! Go France!
@Oversonly yes they are
PSG 3-1
over 4.5 goals