The war has already started by approaching Neymar lately as a possible target for Madrid. For me it’s the game of round of 16, both teams are playing their season here, both coaches too...

Madrid : Only competition that they can compete for after Copa del Rey loss and the gap in la liga which unless a miracle will be lost too.
Zidane is playing his job here, you can end up trophiless but not with this kind of result or display. To be maintained he should get a winning streak in the league and at least a semifinal position in CL.

Unai Emery has never been totally trusted by PSG fans and journalists despite his EL results with Sevilla. He was praised vs Barca in first leg then highly criticized In La remuntada. At Paris, something is sure, you can win all domestic competitions there is only one that would looks like for owners and opinion as a real success : it’s the big ears cup. They have never reached semifinals and they would be shocked if they don’t qualify to quarters... Neymar and Mbappe were bought for CL, and so Lassana Diarra to reinforce midlefield.

A game where everyone can loose big while winner is just advancing to next round, biggest pressured game and a must WATCH.

What’s your first leg predictions ?

Marcello Lippi once said this and it stuck in my head ever since...

This is why so many people connected to Juventus have dominated the game in recent years where in the time of big money they still value the old ways of making a team and don't bow down to star players.

They did a mistake in transfermarket, after FFP was abused massively and were onthe spotlight, they couldn’t buy a cdm to replace Motta aging and Matuidi move to Juve, Kryshowiack flopped so they had nobody. Reason why we heard Fellaini rumors and reason why they brought Lass for free. They can’t buy expensive and they got two holes in the lineup. CDM and LB : Kurzawa and Berchiche are not CL final stage caliber too. You add GK and Dani Alves replacement and you have next transfermarket project for their sportive director. Monaco refused to give them Fabinho who can play in many positions for this reason specially at 25 mil.

But, but, they have a great strikeforce, not enough to win CL but to win a home game, it’s not impossible.
Reminds me of Barca of Enrique, but that Barca had the X factor to win CL unbalanced :)

Whoever thought it appropriate to delete the best part of my post, a direct response to the always respectable Golazo1..

You should be deeply, deeply ashamed of yourself.

- kiddin' obviously...at least partly :).

Kind of hard to make out from all the blabber and gibberish, and I could be mistaken but I swear I think I heard someone say that.. it's "more important to win a man of the match performance than scoring the goals that win games and trophies."

What crazy things you'll hear people say, in trying to justify the ridiculous and the unjustifiable, huh?

Especially considering we are talking about a game with the main focus of scoring goals, where winner and loser is decided by simply comparing who scored more of them. A game that could, euphemistically, be called.. "who scored more?"

@Amer, what I erased was a personal attack which has no place here. Feel free to think what you please but please don't go around ranting about someone having mental issues. Keep discussion football related only, unless the topic is specifically about that. If you want to discuss further we can do so privately.

@Amerr What bothers me the most is that people that always try to play down someone like Ronaldo have no idea what it actually takes to score a goal, or not even that but to simply devote themselves into something and work hard every day for years in order to simply, win.

Winners will always see that in other winners no matter what it is and because of that I'm happy that Ronaldo has been proving the haters wrong for 10-15 years now and at 32 years old he's still going strong, you can't stop the unstoppable...

golazo he's 33 actually

@Emobot make no mistake about it, PSG CAN buy success. They just need to get smarter with their money and sign players in their defense and midfield, and get a better coach as well. That said, it's a 3-1 deficit and with 2-0 at home they'll go through, so I'll save all the talk about PSG not being good enough once the dust settles :p They still got plenty of life to get by Madrid having scored an away goal and closing it out in their home ground. We know those three up front can go off in any match.

@tiki

Good points. They got carried away and lost on more important transfers that should have strengthened areas where they lost players. and I will again say that Emery has made lots of tactical mistakes. For example, Has Silva become so bad that he needed to drop him to have a stronger backline or was he trying to create more dynamic defense to play highline? I am confused

This give you an Idea who UEFA wants to see qualify,

last year every one saw how referee helped Barça to qualify against PSG,
envery one remember also Ibrahimovic sent off against Chelsea for imaginary tackle against Oscar,

wonder why UEFA does'nt want PSG to progress, if it is not about UEFA it must be about spanish giants corrupting referees.
Not saying if PSG lost it was ref fault, but referee has a huge contribution in the final result regarding the impact of his decisions.

I really dislike when they remind us about Oscar incident. He exaggerated true and referee should have given yellow only but later that dumb arse tried to fix his mistake by letting PSG do whaatever sht they want and get away with it. So relax the Fock out , you guys went through at end but still crying about it.

PSG are far from out. They are playing in their turf which they are usually good at. With their attack and Reals poor defending they are far from out. You guys are talking as if PSG are already out.

After all, they did beat Barcelona 4 0 last year, and they’ve only gotten stronger

Was that the most expensive game of soccer ever played?

Golazo
Ohh well we don’t know what it takes to score a goal, as we never played football... I’m from Le Mans, played with Drogba brothers in CFA 2 division before stopping and going for studies... I know which one isn’t difficult to tap in or to make an accurate cross/pass.... played football 4 days a week from 4 to 17 yo, some of my friends are in ligue 2, they know how to tap in so relax. Lower divisions are more physical for a reason, it’s not the rarest thing in Football. Maybe you should practice football a little, maybe you will have a sportsman point of view rather than cheerleaders...

@Marcus I can’t say that exactly...
The switch from 4-3-3 to 4-4-2 sent negative message to players who stopped going forward and leaded ZIdane to go all in.
But Thiago Silva has mental problem, he flops underpressure for no apparent reason, vs Germany 1-7, vs Barca 6-1 and maybe Unai felt he wasn’t ready to deliver.
For Locelso, he had 2 choices : Recovering Lass, or Lo Celso, he went for the 2nd choice but we don’t know if the first option would have been better both were risky.
In the role of CDM, Rabiot can do it but he hates this role, each time he was forced to play that role, he underperformed. Emery dealt with his lack of depth as he could imo.

Real madrid will go through because PSG coach isn't good enough

Rai: As unbecoming of respectability and a certain civility what I had said may have been, I think in some cases when it's deserved - it may be necessary. Considering the individual that it was directed at. A person that has, and will, use every post and every opportunity to do the same to a certain fan-base he dislikes. The only difference is that he does it in very very low doses, so that it goes under the radar. It is allowed to happen and continue.

However, it happens constantly. Asking any regular member of the community, and they will tell you that kind of behavior has almost become synonymous with his name.

Yet, it is my post that gets removed, eventhough I try to act in best possible way. My behavior and attitude are an aspect of myself that I'm proud of because I try to behave in a way that could influence others to act in a respectable way as well. I don't know how successful it is with strangers or collegues, but I do see it with my nephews for instance.

But in any case, you're the mod. I suppose.. you know best.

Goleft: Yes, I certainly agree. A lot of it has to do with the view media has, since day one, building on their characters to be extreme opposites since they're rivals. It's just a better story. Fits in with all our preconceived notions. CR7 is attractive, so he must be proud. He must be conceited, huge ego, only cares about himself, and etc etc. While Messi looks like a kid you'd see at Walmart. He's an every-man. So naturally he's painted as being humble, selfless, caring about others, not about individual honors, and etc etc.

There has been cracks over time about this, an example would be when Ibra said Messi is a 'little dictator', along with every video that surfaces of Ronaldo training, or simply living at home. You could tell that he's nothing like what media makes him out to be.
Anyway, that is why CR is pushed down while Messi being raised on the shoulders. But who deserves the accolades more? Messi has arguably more talent. He never had to work, not even half as much as Ronaldo, to get where he is. He was surrounded by the best-ever Spanish and Barcelona teams. Yet, Ronaldo has outshined him.

Those who hate Ronaldo or try to minimize his accomplishments.. have no idea what it means to succeed against all odds, against mother nature and talent. I pity them.

@Amer: if raimondo hadn't deleted that part of the comment, I would too. Like all other who are in the topic of insulting Ronaldo or Messi with personal attack. That post of was not a simple banter, but personal attack.

Btw, can you go easy on giving life lesson every time you go on a topic?

Back to the thread, Real fully deserved it, Zidan simply outsmarted the other. It's true that refs tend to give Spanish clubs some favor calls, it's just because they attack more and has more tricky styles, and in those calls of this games, lots were 50/50, even if you watch it again.

And why on earth should we care if Ronaldo play bad and score goals? Or if Messi is a better player in this thread? That's him, he can suck the whole game and pops 2 goals in the last 5 mins and earn them points, that makes him a killer. Can we not drag Ronaldo debates in every topic? You guys like him, or hate him, dig up the old thread and talk about it please.

Excellent and exciting game all round. The penalty was an easy call, Lo ceslo put his arm around kroos, and kroos played smart got the penalty, no need to be a hero and hold down the foul, any experienced player will easily go down to win an obvious penalty.

Neymar was outstanding, but his decision making was woeful. He was playing for himself more than the team, it was more of Neymar vs Real than PSG vs Real in his mind. He has got everything to be the best player, but nothing to be a leader. That's what Messi and Ronaldo have. He ripped our defense like it was nothing, but could've made passes that lead to goals in multiple occasions. He is 26 not 21, he should stop with the showboating and focus on getting the ball on the back of the net.

MOTM was obviously Marcelo, he was all over the pitch and got the goal he deserved. Real's midfield outplayed PSG midfield and both Mbappe and cavani were off. Casemiro and Varane were brilliant holding down Cavani and Mbappe. Experience won, Zidane knew what he had to do as soon as Emery changed tactics midway.

Still long way to go, it can go either way, PSG can easily win 2-0 and qualify, Madrid just needs to fix their defense cause if Betis manages to score 3, then PSG can double that.

@tuan: I did not, nor do I deny anything said about the deleted part. Yes, it was a personal attack. Yes, it was not banter. All that has already been agreed upon.

If you had read my comment and actually understood the point I was trying to make, you'd see that it's anything but a "life lesson". I am merely providing a reason for why I thought it was necessary to post such a comment. How the person it was directed at has personally offended me one way or another every time I post here. It is a foregone conclusion, that if I decide to enter a discussion - it will happen.

Further, though It may not have been clear to you it was sort of an apology, making certain it will not repeat.

--

Why do Messi/Ronaldo discussions bother you? It is one of the most widely discussed topic for the last decade. Not just here, but practically anywhere where football is talked about. I would suggest getting used to it. Those discussions will be here, even when they're retired.. probably more fiercely, too

Good to see you still here, Tuan. Has United's fantastic purchases lately given way to more acute hopes and dreams yet? :)

@Amer, I do not pretend to know what's best. I simply think discussion should steer towards the topic and avoid attacks. Tiki, while sometimes annoying and stubborn in his belief, he mostly tries to argue football with his opinions and thoughts. Debate it with facts and your opinions and if that doesn't get through, then leave he conversation at that. Sometimes you guys actually debate the right way and its a great read.

By the way, your post was not removed. I simply erased the part I thought was inappropriate to the discussion. Left the rest as you wrote it. And don't worry, I will pay close attention and offer the same treatment to Tiki and any other member here. Now please, let's ge back to the football discussion.