Also just to be clear, I’m not saying we’re the best team in Europe right now. Bayern, Arsenal, PSG probably look more complete. And if we end up facing Arsenal in the semis, they’d be favourites.
But writing us off completely? That never made sense to me.
Take the squad itself.
At GK, Joan García has just been… solid. Like no drama, no panic, just reliable. And he’s comfortable on the ball too, which is massive for how we play. Sure he feels nervy at times like in the first half against Newcastle and like in Wanda in the Copal del rey but he still is very solid and very important to this squad.
Defense was shaky at the start, not even gonna argue that. But it’s clearly getting better.
Gerard Maldini coming in has been such a big boost. Every time he starts, we don’t lose. That’s not something you just ignore. And him with Cubarsí just feels right, both of them are calm, good on the ball, and actually help us build instead of just clearing it.
Fullbacks are a bit of a mess with injuries right now, but Cancelo has been doing his thing. And the fact that someone like Xavi Espart can come in and not look out of place says a lot.
We’re not suddenly elite defensively, but we’re definitely not the same mess from earlier in the season.
Midfield is where we’re stacked. Pedri, when fit, is unreal. Like I don’t even think that’s a hot take anymore. He controls games so effortlessly. Then you add Frenkie, and once he’s fully back, that’s a midfield that can go toe to toe with pretty much anyone on their day. Bernal’s been popping up with goals, which is something we’ve needed. Fermín and Olmo both bring that direct threat. And Gavi slowly coming back just adds even more energy, especially late in games. There’s just… a lot there.
And the attack…
Lamine Yamal is just stupidly good. I don’t even know how else to describe it anymore. Raphinha finally looks like he’s finding his rhythm again, and his overall game has improved a lot, not just attacking but pressing too. Lewy… people keep doubting him but if he hits form now, we all know what he’s capable of. He’s done it for years.And honestly, with all of this, Ferran doesn’t even feel that necessary right now. Uff and not to mention Rashford and Bardghji although latter is having a hard time in having some minutes over Yamal.
So yeah, I’m not saying we’re perfect or that we’re guaranteed anything. But a team with this much depth, this much technical quality, and players who are clearly improving while still being called “in transition”…I just don’t get how people were so comfortable writing us off that early.
Feels like people went with the easiest narrative instead of actually watching what’s happening.
Curious what others think, especially with a possible Arsenal matchup coming up. Are we actually being underrated or is this just me being biased
by No-Poem-3806
14 Comments
We don’t win or lose in the echo chambers.
Or we don’t win with the names on paper.
We win when we don’t let a 37 year old CB get the best of our defender in the last second of a semi final.
I’d see constant attack and criticism by the rest of the world and win on the pitch rather than having the best team ever only to lose in a stupid game.
Who is writing us off? I haven’t heard anyone do that. All the pundits have us as one of the favourites. Most of them say we will lose to Arsenal in the semi, and they are right to say so. Bookmakers are putting us third or fourth in probability calculations. That’s not writing us off, that’s the opposite!
We won’t give força barça we are going to win it this year and next
People who were literally abusing arbeloa online consider madrid the favourites now. Fans in general have short memory these days. The only thing I know, that you can never write us off in the ucl. On our day, we can beat the shit out of the top teams.
Flick’s style only works when players are playing at their very best, which isn’t possible when games are spaced 3 days apart. Bcoz of this inconsistency, if someone is writing us off, they’re not talking complete nonsense. We’ve literally seen this inconsistency in action throughout this season.
Personally, I think us winning UCL this year is not a very plausible outcome. We had much better chances last year and we still went out against inter due to very preventable defensive mistakes. But still, there’s a shimmer of hope. If Flick can somehow manage to inspire these players into playing at their best in every single game from now on, we can have a fair shot at the UCL.
Anulo Mufa.
Last season we topped the league stages and Was everyone’s favourite to an extent but we fell short –
Ucl is about luck and effort- im sure we’ll go far if we stick to playing at our best.
Honestly, being the underdog helps. Our amazing players have something to prove for, we as fans should keep trusting them. Who cares what the pundits think?
Futbol is very much a team sport that is fickle on the best of days. On paper our squad is phenomenal, but on paper so is everyone else’s squad. It comes down to tiny errors in the match that build up into a definite our team played worse than theirs. When it’s two titans going head to head it often isn’t a we lose every time scenario. The scenario is based on the team that had less small errors and a touch of luck to find the net. Sometimes a player wakes up and finds that zone where their vision expands and they can taste the colors on the field. Sometimes a player wakes up and just feels slow. It’s hard to tell how it will play out with until the match has started which is the blessing and curse of being a manager. So anyone saying anything other than I hope they win or I think they’ll lose and giving evidence for either side is full of shit because no one truly knows how a player will feel or play until the ball is on the pitch.
No one is arguing about the quality, but tbf we r not favorates to win this year. I have hope against atletico but after that its anyones game. Arsenal , bayern have more balanced squad this year, but in knockout stages all that takes is good mentality. We can beat even mighty bayern on our good day. But that doesn’t mean our team is set for next year..new signings should be made for cf (priority 1) and established cb(priority 2). Even though we reach semi , it will be a good year for me. But if boys go all the way i wouldn’t be surprised, as i said on a good day we can beat any team in the world
Bruh, we are Quarterlona for a reason… Don’t forget we’ve lost 4-0 vs Atletico away. With those kind of performances there’s no chance we’re winning the UCL man!!! Our defense is bollocks, our strikers are ghosts, what else do you expect??
People write Barca off because of their defence. Literally one the worst defences in CL. Every team gets 3-5 clear chances of goal every game, and while you can compensaet by scoring more vs lower teams, when you play Arsenal / Bayern / PSG / Liverpool maybe you wont score more then them.
Our defense is the major issue.
The Our GK, Forward except for the striker, midfield with De Jong/Pedri can stand with any elite team. But we allow a lot of useless teams to create plenty chances that any serious team will convert and that will hurt us.
We are in the perfect position, not too many eyes on us. Not too many critics and our fans support us hugely in our stadium.
Need to calmly execute each matchday.
You know what ?? I like it that way, because the favorite team never wins the UCL, let us do the work with no stress or extra pressure, match by match, we re closer