Champions League 1/4 final and 1/2 final draw

I would take Benzema, Isco, Asensio and Varane.

Isco? :flushed:

Heā€™s a failure. 28 years old and has never been a clear starter for them.

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Game for us against Arsenal kicks off at 8pm now to be honest they get a 5 hour jump on us however we do on the second leg and they are playing in the El Clasico.

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Where do you start, itā€™s only normal that Real has a lot of players who other clubs would want.

A bit left field (not saying Iā€™d go for him), but Valverde is potentially a quality hard working/box-to-box midfielder for a Klopp side from past years.

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In his Real Madrid career his lowest level of appearances has been 23 which was last season.

Not too shabby considering the calibre of players theyā€™ve had there in positions he plays.

I do wonder why Benzema is relatively under appreciated or underrated. He is as dangerous a striker as youā€™ll find in world football, IMO, and his quality is to be respected. I donā€™t have a very high opinion in general of La Liga but I caught the match v Elche a week or 2 ago and altho the side was sluggish he was really good and dragged them to victory.

I see this matchup for us as fairly even. Iā€™m not over confident or under confident, I can see it going either way. If we were playing at full strength squad, I think we go through easily but everything being as it is I think itā€™s even.

I was personally hoping to get Chelsea. I think Porto is going to knock them out.

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Courtois, Ramos, Carvajal, Kroos, Varane, Casemiro, Benzema, Isco, Asensio, Marcelo, Hazard, Modric are all highly seasoned players with an enormous experience at top level, and to be fair, they are proven world-class players. Not to say that Iā€™d have them all in our team, as some of them are clearly nearing the end of their career, but hellā€¦ discard them at your own risk, theyā€™ll be as dangerous as ever.

Younger players like Rodrygo, Valverde, and others have the potential to get there. It will be hard for us anyway. I agree with Mascot and others that, had we been at full strength, weā€™d have possibly given them a right pummeling, but that will not be the case. As much as I love Phillips and Kabaks recent efforts, this is another caliber we are talking about here. And Hendo will be missing at all ends.

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Actually, I believe we really had them up until the dark art events. First 30 minutes they couldnā€™t keep up. Even after Salah was ā€œremovedā€, we managed to stay in the game and equalize, and then more Dark Arts or Karius, or both saw our demise.
Remove the Dark Arts from the game and I donā€™t think they would have survivedā€¦

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At the moment thereā€™s not a single player in the Real Madrid team Iā€™d take to replace any of our Starting XI.

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To replace Bobby, Salah, Mane and VVD?

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Who said anything about replacing.

Iā€™d have them at our clubā€¦ not necessarily starting.

But since you asked yes Iā€™d have Benzema over Bobby, Varane to partner VVD and Asensio and Isco competing for 2 of 3 spaces in our midfieldā€¦ yes why not.

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Of our current starting 11 or our strongest?

Iā€™d assume you mean our strongest?

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Varane I agree with.

Isco and Asensio have never had me 100% convinced. Not sure why, but there has always been some little nagging thought in the back of my head about both of them.

Benzema I would ahve taken a couple of years ago, but at this point, I think his best days are behind him and donā€™t really see him bringing anything to the club that other, younger players with more potential can also bring. Also, he was one of the french players that got busted for using an underage escort and for blackmailing a teammate - so questions about his character within the dressing room are fair.

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I was talking about from a footballing point of view.

I take your point about age but he is still class.

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Seriously guys, just open a matchday thread.

@ISMF would you please relocate this thread to #the-cruyff-turn category.

With Europe now seeing a huge covid wave is there any chance this will put a hold on the competition for a while? Not sure when they could reschedule matches for due to Euros in the Summer but it might mean we get more players back (or lose even more :frowning: )

Donā€™t think its wise teams travelling all over Europe at the moment. Same could be said with Internationals.

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Itā€™s not. Thatā€™s why they are doing it.

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Ok, well yeah because itā€™s not at all likely any one of them would come as bench player, I assumed you meant instead of what we have.
No question that most of Real Madridā€™s players are world class, but I still wouldnā€™t have anyone over one of our players in any position. Meaning, in usual/normal form.

Benzema over Bobby, well donā€™t get me wrong, Benzema is world class. Over Bobby in best form, still no, over current Bobby, well Iā€™d even take Benteke (ok just joking but you get the point).
Varane to replace a top fit Gomez, still no.
Isco and Asensio as rotation, hell yeah count me in, but I donā€™t see it possible.

Yes, obviously meant our strongest! :slight_smile:

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They are 6 points behind top now in third place which means the Barca game between our fixtures is vitally important for them. Barca sit 2nd 2 points ahead of Real. They will have to field a strong 11.

They will go strong first leg and hope to have us beat before the 2nd leg. But if they donā€™t theyā€™ll be shattered for the 2nd leg.

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First leg is pivotal

Mind you Barca probably thought that too but at the moment I donā€™t think this side would be capable or the miraculous comebackā€¦ the supporters make those nights possible for me.

So we need to not lose the first leg. Ideally get an away goal

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