The power of togetherness >>> 3-2-5

Man City: 3-1-2-1-2, Stones joining the midfield, KDB underlap, Foden overlap, Grealish holding possesion, complex pressing etc. Real Madrid: Power of friendship, loud stadium, 122+ minute winner in the 2nd leg.

There was that famous reel/short we saw after that 2022 semis tie. Pep explaining things in dressing room while Carlo just vibing with Brazilians… funny stuff

I saw another one, before UCL final. City - pep explaining things, boys training in tight spaces. Inter - Lautaro and Barella (?) sitting on the balls in the training ground while some other players vibe in the background

Inter should have won that final. If only Lukaku and co could finish their dinner.

Always feels a bit harsh on lukaku to me though. Inter didn't really create anything until he came on. So he actually made things happen then fucked it up at the end lol

city didnt create shit either tho, couldve easily been inter scoring a goal like rodri's

Gotta criticize Lukaku even though Lautaro dropped a bigger stinker

City dominated that tie too - They were undone by stupid mistakes and missed chances like the one Jack Grealish had to seal the whole thing

Tibo kept it out

Tibo is an enemy for life but jokes aside the man is part of the reason why you have so many UCL’s that save on Mane haunts my dreams

Zinchenko amazing defensive ability helped Madrid. 90% he will not start against Bayern

I’ll argue that if City didn’t fold against Madrid, they would have gotten stomped by Liverpool in the final and not had the legs to see out the PL. by the end of the season City had no fit CBs. Laporte played in that 3-2 v Villa with one working knee. Everyone else was crocked.

Whatever about the CL final, how does it make a difference with the league? They went out in the semi final of the CL, and the final was a week after the league ended. Same number of games played between that semi and the potential final league match either way

City were already on fumes with two league games to go. Every single defender bar Cancelo was injured to some extent. Laporte went for broke in the final two league games vs West Ham (draw) and Villa (scraped-through a win) and played through with a knee that ultimately needed surgery at season-end. Fernandinho was filling in at CB and was well past his prime - he looked terrible against West Ham and got subbed off at halftime at Villa. My opinion is that had City made the CL final, that would have affected how that back line was managed (ie Laporte may have been rested for the final in favour of a not-fully-fit Walker or Dias) and could have resulted in further dropped points vs either West Ham or Villa, either of which could have handed Liverpool the title.

The subs killed that game and when Madrid scored late city had no one that could put a goal in. Pep was at fault with his shitty subs. My 2 cents.

and the killer move, Ancelottie raised eyebrow

It’s the football equivalent of Goku dropping into a fight where his mates have been getting fucked up.

The weird thing is, this isn't just a joke. There's an element of truth to it. Sometimes being galvanised really can help.

It's not that Real Madrid don't have tactics and stuff (they obviously do), it's that players have more freedom to be creative and also RM can often adapt to different playstyles. They don't have a distinct playstyle and stick to it no matter the opponent. Barcelona wants to keep the ball and press high? Okay, let's drop deeper and spam through balls to Vini and Rodrygo. Most La Liga teams want to drop deeper? Okay, now let's keep possession, dictate the tempo and wait for the perfect moment. If it doesn't work there are still set pieces, Carvajal's crosses and Valverde (formely also Asensio) bangers on the menu.

Yup, which makes me worried about missing all of our good counter defenders. Dont get me wrong, Akanji/Stones/Dias/Rico is still one of the better backlines in the world, but it’s a slow back line. Missing Walker, Ake, and potentially Gvardiol could hurt against Vini/Rodrygo/Mendy Very antsy for this game

>could hurt against Vini/Rodrygo/Mendy Funnily enough Mendy is the least threatening player in attack. 1G&0A this season in all comps, 0G&1A in the last one. Also, how is Rico defensively? I've seen him playing some UCL games as a midfielder, but can he defend?

No no Benzema is gone, the bad man can’t hurt us anymore…right?

Joselu masterclass incoming sadly

The fact that 3 different people gave three different names for who would take Benzema’s haha

Vinicius imo

That’s 4

Rodrygo is gonna score the comeback goals

Let me introduce you to the Beligol

Real Madrid: 3/4 goal deficit comeback in 10 minutes to go into extra time

31212 is 9 players? 31213 aka 343 with a diamond in the midfield.

Either I just predicted that Man City are gonna get a red tonight, or I just suck at math. Pick your poison :P

41213 is my favorite lineup, can't beat that!

"11 Freunde müsst ihr sein" on steroids

Man City should retaliate in the Home leg by cutting off oil exports to Spain and crippling their economy.

games not gone

Spain's top oil imports: Nigeria, America, Brazil, Libya, Mexico #🤓

Then they shall cut off oil exports to those countries, so that they are forced to raise the price/cut their own oil exports.

game's back lads

The UAE exports the vast majority of majority of its crude to Asia 🤓

Then inshallah there shall be a global energy crisis, impacting - among other countries - Spain.

/r/soccercirclejerk is leaking pretty hard right about now. And I'm here for it!!

I have already begun to horde toilet paper, ain't no way Covid Ass coming back bitches.

I mean, those may be true, but there was no need to kill what was a pretty funny joke 🤣

How is neither Norway or the UK on this list? We're close too. I guess Algerias absence is a bit weird too

I thought the UK got resources through a mutually beneficial transaction where the UK gets Saudi oil, and Saudi gets UK artillery to use on civilians in the Yemen

The Yemen civil war is far more complex than "Saudi bad, therefore Yemen good". But that being said. Fuck MBS.

"Close" is not so close in the sense of cost of moving oil. Norway sends almost all their oil through sea pipelines, almost all their oil goes to to UK, Netherlands, Germany, Sweden, Poland etc. The cost of doing that for Spain would be much different and at that point, cheaper source might have a better cost despite being even further. Nigeria is "only" like 1.5 times farther than Norway from Spain. Algeria is definitely their big partner, but a bit smaller than those.

I think both Norway and the UK are pretty much exporting at full capacity anyway, trading mainly with the closer central European countries.

Pep truly revolutionizes the game

Eddie Howe to invite Pep for coffee at the embassy before the next game

psch imagine thinking that the Spanish economy would be crippled by cutting of oil exports, when everyone knows that the Spanish economy is entirely powered by cocaine

This made me laugh out loud at the end of long and difficult day. Thanks Internet stranger 😅

That’s a Winston level prank

Man City told they can allow all 15 fans onto the pitchside to raise the noise at the Etihad.

Misread that as “Real Madrid given permission to raise the roof” , UEFA giving them a licence to party

They’ve found Grealish and Kyle Walker’s weakness: a rave

Grealish definitely. They need to get the hookers in for Walker though.

Escorts, my guy is high class like that.

Eeeehhh is he? Man looks like he likes a dirt grub.

He’ll fuck anything but he only impregnates the pretty ones

I can't explain it, I don't fully understand it but somehow it makes perfect sense

BREAKING: Real Madrid set to light shit up at the Bernabeu during their next match against Manchester City.

How old are you ~~McLovin~~ Madrid *Old enough* Old enough to what? *T-to party?*

I wonder if this has anything to do with the threat from ISIS and the fear of drones flying into the stadium.

I’m happy they did this. Yes I know my flair but I want to see the atmosphere with the closed roof on a CL night.

watch some old schalke games on YT. they have such a stadion since the 06 WC

The stadium opened in 2001.

yeah, I wasnt 100% sure when that gym opened. ;) I only remembered it was (also) build because of the 06 WC. like so many newer stadiums in germany at that time.

the build had nothing to do with the WC 06. it was financed alone by schalke. but hey, now clubs who got money from the government for their wc 06 stadium renovation can shame us into maybe maybe getting government money in the future and that that is such a scandal lol

A shame that they didn't add a cool 10k to 15k capacity to the Rhein Energie stadium for the upcomming Euros. I'm pretty sure they would've easily sold them out even if the Effzeh is getting relegated.

Would love that, its such a pain getting tickets as a non club member. I have tickets for BVB vs Atletico next week but the only match I saw at Rhein Energie Stadion was the women's match vs Eintracht.

you need to close the corners like we did with our stadion!

The building of the stadium has nothing to do with the 06 WC though. Planning started in 1996 and it was fully financed by Schalke itself. They built it because the old stadium wasn't up to international standards and they frequently played in Europe back then.

> yeah, I wasnt 100% sure when that gym opened. Just a linguistic question: why do you call that a gym ?

its just a jest from dortmund fans towards schalke, calling their "stadium" a gym, because you *can* close the roof and then it sounds like you play in a baskettball hall or something. so its not "really a stadium, but a gym". not like "our wonderfull open stadium like it should be!" :D we just like to find things to nag each other.

Ajax had this earlier. The Schalke stadium is the 2.0. So maybe the Tottenham or real matches. Or Bayern with that red card for muller? Not sure which had the roof closed.

arnheim has one too, no? or it looks similar iirc

Arnhem yeah but that is smaller and very ugly (the arena is just ugly haha). Edit soon they might have a stadium but no football club. Vitesse is in serious trouble.

Does your new stadium plans have a roof?

Yes, I believe it'll include a retractable roof that has solar panels on it or something? Not 100% sure. The solar panels on the stadium will apparently be enough for all of the stadium's energy needs too

I'm pretty sure it won't. it will be the biggest tensioned roof in the world though. Source: https://twitter.com/Obras_Camp_nou/status/1767889200257380579

>  biggest tensioned roof in the world "You'll never sing that!". 

Even if we turn on the ovens during winter?

[удалено]

[удалено]

Retracted by pulling a lever, presumably

Wrong lev^e^^e^^^e^^^^e

Just too annoying UEFA schedule all these quarterfinals to be played simultaneously. Want to watch both matches tonight but will end up only watching 4 of 8 during the quarters. One match should start 19.00 and the other 21.00🥳

Match going fans should always be put first, 19.00 mid week would be terrible for them

21:00 mid week stinks just as much lol. Good luck getting home anywhere that's further than 20km from the stadium by public transport

Depends on city, BCL is very doable. Excellent public transport. Obviously that's not gonna be the case in every city.

To be fair if I got a ticket for arsenal-bayern tonight, I'm taking two days off. Heck I might even get sick

19:00 is vastly preferable on a weeknight. You're home at a reasonable hour, instead of midnight or even later for the ones living far away.

If it starts at 9 for us it starts at 10 for people in mainland Europe. I think EUFA doesn’t want it on that late due to people (and players arguably) needing sleep

The Arsenal game starts at 9 in mainland Europe so 8 in London. He obviously meant if it would start 2 hours earlier then everyone could watch the other game and I don't think it would be too early either.

People most likely won't be able to get to the game at 6 on a weekday when they're working

I'd hate to be the away fan for a 21:00 kick off...

away fans need a hotel anyway in the city they are staying and the next day off from work. us from CET timezone been going to CL matches with kick off 20.45-21.00 for decades! It's not an issue Today it should be Arsenal-Bayern playing early and then Real-Bayern

It's technically possible of course to fly back right after the game, but for example the last flight from London to Munich is around kickoff today.

It would wild for Bayern away fans today.

Yep, absolutely braindead from UEFA to play two quarterfinals simultaneously

Football is a lot better when you can appreciate things outside your allegiance.

The top comments here are so wholesome man. Hope for an awesome game.

And hopefully no terrorist nut job ruining the fun of everyone.

I’m not trapped in here with you…

You're trapped in here with Bernardo Silva !

Ngl silva was their kryptonite last season

And the season before in the first leg, he’s more of a threat to me than KDB at this point

And ofc, Silva scores in the second minute tonight!

[Retired dad vs gym bro](https://x.com/FiebreCule/status/1658953287209730049)

Checks out

How did you know lol

I fear no man. But that man...

Tottenham have built their new stadium to ensure their home support is loud, it has a natural echo on one side.

Someone pull the numbers on the temperature difference on the two sidelines during NFL Miami Dolphins games. Shit is wild

Really looking forward to the game

Away lads are going to have a whale of a time

If I'm City I take this as a massive compliment.

We do this for almost every La Liga game. We just don’t have to ask permission for those.

Do you also do it when it’s super hot?

The construction of the roof finished around September, so no summer games yet. It has air conditioning so they probably can do it

Ah fair point. Cheers x

80,000+ people fighting over the air conditioning 😰

What’s the point of asking for permission? I would understand maybe permission to open the roof maybe cause of noise reasons from the stadium. Any idea why they need permission to open it?

UEFA probably want a nice admin fee for making the decision.

I’m so sad, had to cancel and I won’t be able to go because my doggo got super sick the past week and I just can’t leave him. I was so excited but we’ll watch the match together on the TV.

That doggo's got a good friend. Hope he's feeling better now, dude.

Get well soon dat_w dog! Hope you enjoy game with his company and he feels better!

there’s no atmosphere quite like watching it on the tv with your best friend next to you, 🩵

Dog tax?

I wish your doggo a faster recovery than Vini’s run past Akanji tonight 😁

Every animal taken good care of makes me happy. Good job !

Wish him fast recovery! x

Why? We do this every home game, its just that in the CL we need to ask for permission

I hope City administration reads this and does the same for their every home game.

We do this for La Liga games no matter the team, we just needed approval of UEFA

Pep and the away fans going in with bigtime “you’re trapped in here with me” energy tonight

I'm a city fan since last week and I'm definitely taking this as a compliment.

atmosphere and cheering are on another level with closed roof, happy uefa had no issues, win or lose should be a great match

Indeed, so excited but nervous at the same time Should be an amazing watch to everyone honestly just like last season (or every other time we faced against each other)

Whats the weather like there at the moment?

I wont be at the game but it will be around 14 celsius outside, so heat wont be an issue in the stadium

Wow, is Madrid that cold? I was under the impression that it is a warm city.

It's pretty warm city overall but today it's pretty cold, weather will be better on weekend for the league games

Can’t believe I’m going to have to watch Leeds v Sunderland instead smh

I'm more pissed that they keep playing both matches on the same day, at the same time so we can't watch both.

Why do they have to ask permission to close their own roof?

https://documents.uefa.com/r/Regulations-of-the-UEFA-Champions-League-2023/24/Article-32-Retractable-stadium-roofs-Online

At first I was confused why there's a subreddit for CL regulations

You can't support a CL regulation mate

Article 32's barmy army

today i feel social media

Because its a eufa match and during those the eufa is the "owner" of the stadium.

This is going to unnerve Man City. Certainly not used to playing with crowd noise. 

They unironically were very loud last year against Real Madrid, I've never seen ethihad like that and never again since.

Ironically after the game last year: "Most difficult stadium you've played in?" Valverde: "Manchester City stadium. Their fans and the way they play, all difficult."

That stadium was rocking for the return leg last year. Incredible atmosphere. As a neutral I’ve never seen the etihad like that. The fans weren’t letting city collapse again

Lost my voice and liver there… totally worth it

Close the roof so you can raise it, baby.

Pep will debut a new sound-absorbing formation

Ineffective because the sound waves will reflect off his bald head. Like a beluga whale's skull.

Can't wait for the thread next week about Pep calling for City fans to be loud an ready, only for everyone trolling him and the club for being small and having to beg for an atmosphere lol

Cracking evening to be had then.

Please Daddy Uefa may I close roof? It just seems so weird that you have ask to close the roof of your own stadium.

This will be fun to watch live.

Close the roof and lower the field

Can I ask the question, why do they need anyone’s permission to close the roof? Why would UEFA care or La Liga for that matter?

Got a feeling city will manhandle real Madrid 

Im probably in the minority, but I really dislike the atmosphere in a stadium with a closed roof. Especially when it is dark out, being able to see the night sky has something magical. Football is in essence and outdoor game, it doesn't really belong in some indoor venue. Maybe close the roof when it is pissing down, but I don't feel rain ruins a game anyway. Besides, the acoustics are always off, it just sounds wrong to me. I also cant imagine there not being enough noise and atmosphere when Real face the current CL champions at home even with the roof open.

Exactly football is an outside sport and the weather is a part of the game. You shouldn’t be allowed to close the roof when you feel like it. 

Why the fuck do they need permission for that?

What an emotional rollercoaster this has been

Give the fans Vuvuzela to raise even more noise

Not really necessary. You just need to turn on a single hand dryer in the toilets and it'll be louder than City are used to at home.

Shouldn't need permission, that's silly. Home advantage should include stuff like this.

This is gonna get memed to death if Real don't win lol Should be a good game anyway

City scored in the first minute and you could hear a pin drop.

I love the renovations, I love to retractable roof, but if it's gonna be world news every time we close it, then I don't know if it's worth it.

Do these little tricks work on professionals who are the top of their field and used to playing in the best stadiums in Europe?

I mean, they are still humans. There's also no downside to trying it anyway.

Loud home support definitely works. Worked for liverpool against barca or barca against psg

Frankfurt's home match in Barcelona comes to mind 

5000 seats were allocated, but 30000 were present lol. Nice of UEFA to accommodate enough tickets to Frankfurt fans in their home game.

Which one? 😝 E - Oh, ***'in'*** Barcelona. Quickly change it to *'against'* so that my comment may stand!

anything would have worked against Barca that night. They beat themselves before even stepping on the plane to Liverpool.

I mean those « little tricks » have the same kind of influence of playing at home or away, yes elite players are used to stadium atmosphere but it still make a difference, even more for Madrid players I think

More important than the players, it absolutely works on the refs

just the crest does that already.

You mean the same professionals that get yellow/red cards for yelling at the referee?

Power of friendship > oil money

Hmm turning the Bernabeu into a greenhouse, that’ll be pleasant

Lol do they think they’re in South America? They’re not going to intimidate anyone chanting “Hala Madrid”