Barstool’s Champions League Preview – The “PSG vs Manchester Disjointed” Edition
Yesterday is what Champions League is all about.
A lot of Madrid fans will try to argue their beloveds didn’t bottle it. Listen, if you win the first leg on the road and head home heavy betting favorites… then lose – sorry, ya bottled it. But the fact is that game wasn’t even about Madrid. The club is in the midst of a down year. We all knew this was going to be the case coming in after Zidane dropped the mic and Ronny headed for easier domestic pastures last summer. Florentino Perez is going to spend a couple bill – with a B – and the team will look at a lot better next season. Money has a strange way of fixing problems like that.
Rather, yesterday was more about Ajax. I knew coming into the game that they had the talent to beat this year’s Madrid, but wasn’t sure if perhaps the combination of big stage and dark magic would prove too much for the young bucks. The answer:
So congrats to the Dutchies on an incredibly impressive win, and pray for whatever team gets matched up against them next round.
Enough about old stuff though. Let’s turn our attention to the games coming up today, but before we do sit back, relax and let some soothing sounds get your mind right:
***********************
CHAMPIONS LEAGUE
Scores from yesterday and the schedule for the rest of this and next week:
***
PSG [-220]
United [+525]
Draw [+350]
Of the 45 teams that have lost at home 0-2 in the first leg, anybody wanna guess how many have gone on to advance?
Then again nobody capitulates quite like the French – heyoooooo!
For the record, that was not actually meant to be a low-hanging World War II joke…. and rather a “PSG blew a 4-0 lead” joke.
But if the shoe fits…
ANYWHO, I’m going to be brutally honest with any United fans in the house. I thought long and hard about this trying to come up with some rays of hope for you to hang onto… and the truth is there are not many.
United has played muuuuuuuuch better ever since Ole Gunnar showed up and if were coming into this game at full strength that would be one thing. Alas, they aint – not even close. The list of guys who are unavailable includes Anthony Martial, Ander Herrera, Nemanja Matic, Juan Mata, Jesse Lingard and of course Paul Pogba, who picked up a “controversial” red card right at the end of the first leg.
That puts United in a tough spot. If we really dig hard for reason they could come out on top the first one is the absences of Neymar and Edinson Cavani, as well as Thomas Meunier. So I guess that’s something, right? But really your best hope is the fact that the Red Devils come into this game with ZERO expectations and very little pressure. Lose? Yeah, that was expected. Get blown out? That sucks, but what’re you gonna do when you are missing half your first-choice team. So they should come out loose and care-free.
Will it be enough? No, probably not. Being loose and care-free is fun until Kylian Mbappe is running full speed at you at which point your b-hole is anything but loose and care-free.
PSG to win 2-0.
**
Porto [-125]
Roma [+300]
Draw [+275]
What a difference a goal made for Porto. They were staring down the barrel of a 0-2 loss right up until a late strike by substitute Adrian Lopez meant they are heading home down only 1-2 with a road goal in hand. It sure as hell wasn’t pretty, but the Portuguese went from being in a really tough spot to not a bad spot at all in the blink of an eye.
Roma are fresh off getting their asses handed to them by local rival Lazio this weekend, which is a tough way to get ready for an all-important Champions League return leg. Then again, Porto just lost as home to rivals Benfica on Saturday. So neither team can claim to come into the game with a ton of momentum.
Neither team is carrying much in the way of injuries, though the possible absence of Roma defender Kostas Manolas could sting a bit.
In the end, when the chips are down I’m falling back on the first rule of Champions League betting: never ever doubt the Portuguese… and that is especially true for Porto at home where they won all three group stage matches this year.
Porto to win 2-1… and to eventually advance on penalties.
*****************************************
Lots more action to come tomorrow… kidding. It’s just Europa.
We all float down here!
(Though, let’s be serious, winning the aformentioned competition should be an even higher priority for teams like Arsenal and Chelsea now that United remembered how to play soccer)
Either way, back with another blog on Friday for the big weekend ahead.
Holler,
Samuel Army