City… luckiest team in history..

I agree with the OP.
There was a period before xmas when City were getting baled out week in week out by refs and VAR. Clearly this is because they are seen as the best team around and refs do this everywhere. PSG get loads of dodgy pens, Bayern too and dont get me started on Real Madrids spawny run to the UCL final.

I really dont rate City or Liv that much.
They are dominating in an era of transition in modern football. VAR is outlawing defending with so many soft pens. So the default plan appears to be the pressing game of Pep and Klopp.
Plus the fact that all these nicey nicey tiki taka types of young footballers coming thru cant score goals for toffee.
I have a feeling that the game is never going to see the likes of Messi or Ronaldo again.
Young footballers are millionaires before they make a first team appearance it seems these days. Why push yourself to be the absolute best when you can skate thru life earning a life changing sum for doing next to nothing?
Increasingly, I cant watch this modern game. Its garbage.

Completely agree.

Won a 38 game season, over 9 months, by playing every other team eligible to enter (home and away), through Sun, Wind, Rain, Hail, Cloud, More Rain, Snow, More Rain & Sun.

Lucky, lucky team.

and on a shoestring budget,unable to compete with richer teams for the best players.

Lucky to be state backed. Lucky that that's even allowed and that FFP is toothless both in England and Europe. Lucky with that ridiculous non-penalty v Everton.

Agreed, lucky team - and the more Pep gets them to train his way the luckier they get

Tbf, Citeh have got endless cash but other than KDB, what world class players have they got?

They haven't exactly cornered the market for all the top talent.

Can think of a luckier team .... Won two trophies on penalty shoot outs and had only to beat Benfica and Villareal to get to a Champions League final

Don't know about lucky but they are the most boring good team I've ever seen, it's because despite Pep's efforts to continually re-create the Barca tikka takka quick passing style these players can't do it, so we end up with gradual suffocation instead.

I reckon that football has changed, and not for the better, quite recently.... I watched the whole of the 2003 Championship play off final on saturday... there was more pace and more excitement, it was very noticeable compared to todays footie.

I know we still get some exciting matches now ... but in general, it's all a bit same/same and drab. Not just in this country.

The attacking team gets to the final 3rd and it just seems to go from one wing eventually to the opposite wing... looking for a breakthrough. Wingers don't seem to want to take the full back on .. get to the byline and cross it as much nowadays.

shouldve cashed out at 95k

then whack 45k on liverpool outright for CL

which wouldve left her with 50k/125k best or worst case scenario

but probably peer pressure of all her giddy mates chantin 'let it ride' didnt make her think straight

É… É… É… É… wrong thread

Wingers don't seem to want to take the full back on

I know a couple of full backs who do that so who needs wingers??

It's all about overloads and routines nowadays. No need to take the full-back on if you can outnumber him and avoid the risk of giving precious possession away. Vast majority of all Pep teams' games are boring no contests. Same with Liverpool too but not as much and at least they have some direct attackers up top.

Also with guys like Trent and Cancelo they can come inside and cross, don't have to beat the full-back at all. The attackers know where the ball is going before they kick it. Same with de Bruyne out wide, nearly always puts it across the 6 yard area. All routine from the training ground. Neither side has what you'd call wingers anyway, few teams do nowadays.

Was my point lurka. Robbo closest.

It's always a transition when Liverpool are doing well, copy & paste.

And probably the unlukiest when it comes to the champions league.

Everyone knows they are the best team in it, but luck plays a huge part in cup tournaments,just look how liverpool have picked up two this season on flukey penalty kicks.

They are the best team over 38 games in a league format. They are not the best team in the CL. Judge them on their actual performances in the CL. It's a different format and they lose every year to underdogs thru making schoolboy defensive and goalkeeping errors. They have a touch of the PSGs about them in that tournament, snatching defeat from the jaws of victory. Nothing unlucky about it.

City are way better than Real Madrid.

Created about 14 clear chances to 5.

You can say the same about Chelsea and PSG too but putting the ball in the net more times is more important in a cup comp.

14 clear chances to 5. Didn't take enough of them and created 2 of the easiest chances from the penalty spot for Real

"Champions league final" contested by sides finishing 2nd and 3rd in their Domestic leagues last year

hardly unusual

Well said, DOUBLED. See my separate thread re The Lions of Lisbon.

Ridiculous though ... should be the "we were nearly champions of our league"

Or perhaps the 4th placed team could boast about having finished 14 places above the relegation zone.

Blame UEFA. English clubs won it many times in it's old format. Many have without being champions in it's current format. Ain't changing back in a while imo. Move on.

Untied in the treble year hadn't won it the previous year.

Pool 2005 & 2019 hadn't either - plenty of examples.

And last season Chelsea won champions lge 1 week after only getting 4th place in 2nd half of last game, and on the back of a bad run

Just as well it's not only champions as the likes of City and PSG would prob win it every year too and have even more of a financial advantage. 

The name is silly but quite often the champions of a lot of countries aren't as good or aren't even the best team in their own country the next season.

You are guaranteed the best teams in it under the current format and it was necessary as a counter to a Super League, which would have happened well over a decade ago otherwise.