I would use Jorginho's continent-style smarts in the CL ties. Maybe double him up with Party or Rice.

Claudius That second goal had shades of Ronaldo 9.

As soon as that early goal went in you could see City were deflated and then a few mins later Stones goes off injured and you could see they were gone mentally. Mbappe, Vini Jr, Rodrygo and Bellingham all looked class, looks like Carlo is finding the right balance with them.

Claudius Mbappe looked superhuman yesterday

A few were making comments about him earlier this season, always thought he just needed to find fitness and get used to the team and now he is starting to find his feet. 28 goals in 38 games this season and he still probably not at his absolute peak yet. Yesterday he was looking right close to his best and is peaking at the right time of the season. Some were suggesting that he couldn't work with Vini Jr or with Vini Jr playing the way he was, Mbappe wasn't needed. Mbappe imo is on another level compared to Vini Jr

Thought that Rodrygo was phenomenal as well yesterday. The touch he had on that cross field ball in the same passage of play as the second Mbappe goal had me gasping and pointing at the TV like DiCaprio in Once Upon a Time in Hollywood. Shame that he likely won't ever leave his buddies at Madrid because he would be incredible on our left wing.

samthegooner Rodrygo is an insane player. The ease with which they carved up City on that second goal hihglighted the awesome talent they have a their disposal. All 4 of their galacticos touched the ball on that play, and it was impossible for City to keep up.

If we had Havertz and Saka, I would love to see how we match up with them - it would be such a good clash of styles with probably the best defense in the world against the best attack and an extremely well drilled and control based setup against a very free form setup.

Without Havertz for sure, it would definitely be an uphill battle but I definitely feel like we would put up more of a fight than City did or at least focus on reducing the amount of transitions we needed to defend.

Claudius who are the four galacticos? Vini, Mbappe, Bellingham and who? Rodrygo?

He's a very good player. The 3 I listed before him are insane players. I don't feel comfortable placing Rodrygo in their class. Because he isn't.

daredevil Nah our defense is fine. They have had uncharacteristically poor moments this season but they are individually and collectively among the top 1% in world football. I can confidently say we have a better defence than Barca, Bayern, Madrid etc

What we lack compared to say, Madrid defensively is the experience in dealing with difficult moments in high pressured matches. However that will come with experience.

I don't remember Isak destroying us on the break. Our defenders just had a hard time dealing with him but we don't see that often. The likes of Haaland (a player with pace and power) would testify how horrible it is to play against them.

Oh and by the way, I was just saying I prefer facing Madrid to Barca because they can be got at, they'll still be favourites against us though. Mbappe hardly defends, Vinicius sometimes does, Bellingham works hard but is obsessed with scoring and being the hero ala Stevie Me (which can leave their midfield exposed etc). There's a better balance in the Barca team between attacking and defending and they seem very equipped to deal with the big teams - see the spankings they dished out to Bayern and Madrid this season.

flobaba I think he's an unbelievable footballer but that won't be reflected in stats as long as he's playing out of position. Move Vinicius to the right and I doubt his numbers will be better than Rodrygo's.

Rodrygo definitely belongs in the "insane player" category.

QuincyAbeyie Absolutely, He's the most aesthetically pleasing footballer in the world today, The guy is magic.

This is a proper hat trick. All three of these goals require high skill. That first goal is mind blowing. It’s like an Ibra goal, followed by a Vini goal, and then a Saka goal.

Ancelotti's eyebrow is wild.

Claudius anyone that wrote this guy off doesn’t know football.

Bloke is won a WC at 19 and has unbelievable pedigree. That performance in the 2022 WC final is one of the best individual displays I’ve ever seen.

We're on the wrong side of the draw. Hopefully Atletico knock Real out.

Semi-finals: 29/30 April & 6/7 May 2025. Arsenal vs Liverpool in the league 10th of May.

How come we're playing the second leg away? Given we finished 3rd in the group stage, I thought we'd be afforded a home tie in the second leg.

TambourineMan

Rather face Real than Atletico.

Don Pacifico ah, both the QF and SF fixture orders are determined by a draw and we came out of the bowl first for the QF.

TambourineMan ah right, thanks!

Yeah count me in the camp that would rather play Real than Atletico. This is Champions League and I want to see the entertaining fixtures. An Atletico-Arsenal tie with our depleted attack would be a slog and I'm not sure it would be any easier to progress in. Hope we can get by PSV so we can see what we can do.

daredevil you think Real will run riot against us but Atletico will run even more riot against us, or are you talking about entertainment rather than the best chance of advancing?

I'd rather lose to Real than lose to Atleti.

Well, all of this talk is great, but its not a guarantee that we get past PSV considering our current attacking predicament.

USArsenal

This may be a hot take but I actually think we stand a better chance of winning against Real than Atletico, provided we actually advance against PSV. Atletico is basically a supercharged version of the type of team we have struggled so much against in the last two years: mid-to-low block teams that restrict the middle of the pitch and give us no room to breathe on the attack.

Real's attack is terrifying but they don't always control games and definitely give up chances on their end. They want to play a high tempo transitional game where their freelancing attackers can flourish and I feel like we can negate a lot of that with control and our excellent defensive structure and discipline.

samthegooner only way we can beat Real is if Saka is back. No chance with our current front line.

Biggest concern is Arteta’s poor European KO record - it’s atrocious.

USArsenal I thought I was going crazy and had misread what our next game was. These guys took their eye off the ball already, looking for glamour tie. Smh

flobaba normal to be excited by prospect of Real Madrid. Would love to be there if that game were to happen

PSV is going to be very tough. Definitely think it will take everything we have to get past them. Need to just hold them in that first away tie.

I'm pretty nervous about PSV. Talking about Real vs Atletico is just a deflection tactic to avoid stress.

daredevil God I remember that game, early Emirates days. Battered them and somehow managed to draw the game, sounds like a familiar story

We were so fun to watch, so fluid and easy on the eye!

JazzG didn't we beat them 4-0 at one point with Gilberto scoring in the first 10 seconds or something?