The Open Thread/Daily Merengue is a place where you can discuss anything and everything related to football. Feel free to discuss the topics presented here, or start your very own discussions! The Open thread will be posted every day by one of the mods you’d totally treat to a cinema night: Valyrian Steel, NeRObutBlanco, Kung_Fu_Zizou (AKA KFZ), Juninho and, of course… yours truly.
UCL Draw
The UCL R16, quarter-final and semi-final draw is scheduled for today at 12:00 CET.
Every team will know their possible path to the final and also the order of games of all upcoming phases. The bracket:
There are 4 bowls, containing 2 teams each. The draw starts with teams ranked 7th (Lille) and 8th (Aston Villa) and finishes with the bowl with teams that finished at 1st (Liverpool) and 2nd (Barcelona). The ball taken first goes to the silver side of the bracket, which is our side.
This means our R16 opponent is located in the second bowl and it is the first ball taken from it.
In any case, our possible opponents are (draw between opponents in brackets):
- R16: (Atleti or Leverkusen)
- QF: Winner of PSV vs (Arsenal or Inter)
- SF: Winner of [Paris vs (Liverpool or Barcelona)] vs [Brugge vs (Lille or Aston Villa)]
Real vs City tactical analysis
It is only for the first half, but I like it.
REAL MADRID 3:1 MANCHESTER CITY
First Half Tactical Analysis & Match Report
Manchester City were dazzled by the brilliance of Real Madrid, whose star-studded display swept them out of the Champions League, as the reigning champions marched confidently toward retaining their… pic.twitter.com/9KSLc7XQyT
— Fahd (@fahdahmed987) February 20, 2025
Considering ?
The favorites
Bellingham
It’s so nice to see Jude playing…how press resistant he is. Freak!
This stuff always goes unnoticed for Bellingham.
Bellingham always tends to start the attacking play from deep, between the lines, out wide.
Also look how Khusanov can’t take the ball away from him. pic.twitter.com/d1jnUT2bMg
— RD (@Rand_RMFC) February 20, 2025
