Confused. Are you talking about this year's CL semis? Inter played Barcelona. Or am I too European to understand the joke?
Can't totally agree that it's a sad day. It's good to see someone new win for once. Yes, they're state owned and have an enormous payroll. The story of them being some kind of underdogs is ridiculous. But their football was quite attractive and doing without "Galacticos" and an average age around 24 is impressive. They spent a lot but did it well. Dembele might be the Ballon D Or winner and Doue is going to be fighting it out with Yamal for best young player in the world. I've also had a lot of respect for Luis Enrique. Looks like Liverpool might be struggling to sign Wirz. Leverkusen apparently want €150 million.
By far not the whole story, but I get your point. No discount, just because their wish came true and they won't have to sell to Bayern. I guess Liverpool will try some player swap offer next to keep the sum at 130 million.
Next up: Nations League Finals. Not the most prestigious title, but top class contestants with Germany/Portugal on Wednesday and Spain/France on Thursday.
But how much is that affected by the Club World Cup? Can't be many regulars available. At the least, there's football on worth watching.
Not at all. Final is on Sunday, Club World Cup starts on June 15th. All nations have their best squad nominated, so especially the Spain/France match should be real good.
Horrendous defensive performance and in-game adjustments. Hope Nagelsmann draws the right conclusions, Road to World Cup begins soon.
Yeah, Qualification is just a formality. Already thinking ahead, we'll probably land in Pot 2 again and in order to reach at least the semis for the first time since 2014 everybody will have to step up. Now let's see if Spain versus France will live up to the hype.
I guess? Looks like European domination will be back in 2026. France and Spain huge favorites as of now, incredible depth.
Right now, I'd pen France, Spain, and Argentina as the prime favorites. England, Germany, Portugal in the next tier. I'll be curious to see what Ancelotti does with Brazil. The talent is there. Can he get them back to what they should be? I didn't watch the game today but now I wish I had. 5-4? That's nuts.
Not sure of Argentina or Portugal, they're both in a legends trap. Don't think Messi or Ronaldo can still make an impact, the latter was already a liability in the 2024 EURO. A lot can happen in a year but I'm sure both will start the first game.
They're deeper than those 2, though. Messi hasn't been involved in a lot of their qualifying and they're running away with COMNEBOL, already having qualified with 4 games to play. I think Portugal is in the same place Belgium was in 2018. Should be a favorite, with or without CR7. They have the talent and the depth to make a run...but they're coached by Roberto Martinez. It'll be interesting to see what Timmy Tickels (Teuchel) does with England.
That's why I think both Argentina and Portugal would be better off without their legends. England really is a dark horse, after making the final last year without actually knowing why or how.
Portugal wins it in penalties. Was pretty sure Spain had this. World Cup next year with the new format will be unpredictable.
Transfer news: Wirtz to Liverpool is a done deal, €150M incl. addons. If they come into effect, this would be the third highest signing after Neymar and Mbappé to PSG. Sucks to not have Musiala and Wirtz at Bayern, but I wish him all the best, we'll need him in shape for the World Cup next year. Furthermore, Leroy Sané has decide to sabotage his career a little more. He will join Galatasary on a free transfer and cash-in on €15M net to play in an irrelevant league. So glad he's finally gone.
