Champions League QF First Leg Post Match Reaction

[Johnboy]

No Missing

No Errors

[Marshy@Atletico]

Atletico Madrid 2 Barcelona 2

GG Livi

Barca games appear to be common with last seasons cup draws and then meeting in the champions league quarter finals this season. This season Atletico appeared to go into the game as slight faves according to the league table although some would say Barca are in a false position at present.


The game started poorly with a booking for Romagnoli who now misses the home game against PSG. Barca started strongly, Atletico grew into the game until both sides were playing the long ball. Barca enjoyed the physical battle and typically it was former Atletico hero Saint Maximin who opened the scoring. The game stayed at 0-1 until the 78th minute when the leveller came from a Sancho lob 1-1. 82 minutes and this time Sancho was the provider as Frimpong smashed home to make it 2-1. Atletico reverted to 5-defenders and brought on fresh legs and it looked promising with counter v passing but Kyle Walker had other ideas scoring a great goal near the end to make it a final score of 2-2.

Manager Simon Marsh commented "Its not a bad result overall. We shaded the game 15-12 so a draw was a fair reflection but we will travel to Barca still with a chance of making the semi-finals of the Champions League. That was crazy talk 3 seasons ago when we were punching just to qualify for the group stages".

In other news on loan Soumane continues his progress at Monaco improving his tackling.
B_Soumare 24 fra 1 14 18 4 26 1 10 741 85

[Derek]

Roma 2 4 Madrid

Odd game with Madrid scoring 4 2nd half goals to effectively end the tie. Despite scoring 2 we didn't create enough chances here and deserved nothing.

Madrid's C being effective at both creating chances and nulling our toothless attack.

We'll have a good go in the 2nd leg but its advantage Madrid.

gg Steve

[Ian]

Aston Villa 0 - 0 PSG

The away side had the better of things from a tactical point of view but cautious line ups from both teams made sure that this game failed to entertain. With their superior squad strength and home advantage for the next leg PSG will be favourites but we will travel there with no fear.

[JB@Norwich]

Arsenal 1-1 Bayern
Without 2 key players we had to setup to not get dicked and be out before the home leg. We matched arsenal and played half decent. Happy with the scoreline and Xavi getting his first goal for us

GG Dazza

[Steve@Chelsea]

Roma 2 - 4 Real Madrid

Real Madrid outscore Roma 4-2, executing precise tactics to counter the fake galaticos and overcome an early deficit.

The match remained uneventful until an explosive second-half with four goals from Madrid and one from Roma.

While I would not claim it to be a masterclass like some would, Real Madrid takes a solid two-goal advantage into the second leg, with caution for potential comebacks.

The mission isn't over until it's truly finished; preparation and focus remain key for the upcoming second leg.

[Darren]

Arsenal 1 - 1 Bayern Munich

A draw to take over to Germany for the second leg isn't the worst result in the world. We played alright, room for improvement but to come back from a goal down is positive. We know they will be a tough nut to crack at their place but we have shown that we can pull results out the back in this competition when we need to and we will need another big one in the second leg.

Back to league action next game as we face Burnley away.

Played Jonbo

[Livi@Liverpool]

Atletico 2 Barcelona 2

A closely fought, tough encounter between the sides as is always the case these days it seems. Looks like we both expected one another to play counter attacking but neither did.

Atletico mixed things up and we changed to a passing approach after going 1-0 up but they hit us with a couple of goals late on before we switched back to long ball to grab a deserved equaliser.

Looking at the stats their keeper was the slightly busier of the 2 so I'm not sure I agree that Atletico shaded it - other than maybe shots hitting the corner flag

Joking aside a proper game between 2 well matched sides and I'm sure the return fixture will be exactly the same. Definitely still all to play for.

In other news Pedri was not impressed at being dropped with 16 rated Wendell getting a surprise start instead. A deal which will see the young Spaniard leave for pastures new is believed to be gathering pace.

Played Marshy

[Ed@PSG]

Aston Villa 0 PSG 0
I dont particularly like playing the Counter tactic, but we got our tactics spot on here. It was vital that we didnt lose this game. We now have a home leg to decide the tie, with extra time also played at our ground. We had 9 shots, of which 5 were on target, would would typically yield us a goal, so i am a little disappointed not to actually win the tie. Yet another game where our GK only faced 2 shots, so continues to drop back against his peers. No stand out performers at all. Hopefully we can perform better at home with our more attacking tactics.