Every year the top teams of Big 5 are eligible to compete in Champions League, but some of them suffered an early eliminating in the first stage or round of 16. In this season, Both Man United and PSG did not step further beyond the round of 16, but they are still securing the top 2 and top 1 places at each domestic league tables. there are a number of similar examples in the history of Champions League.
So why do some clubs play better in domestic leagues than in tournament?
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Experts of last DAILY TOPIC: Why does Salah play much better in Liverpool than in Chelsea?
Mohamed salah at Chelsea versus the Mohamed salah at Liverpool... firstly at Chelsea Salah didn't have the experience he has now at Liverpool.. he was the player that had great potential and was trying to find his feet in a big team at Chelsea at the time and also a hectic league like the EPL. another factor was the manager.. jose mourinho was a manager who didn't care about growing talents, he wanted raw talents at his hands. seeing that Salah was a growing talent for the future and has great potential, he thought that Salah would not be beneficial to a team who has great players already and opted to sell him, the same he did to de bruyne, who is not a world class talent. everyone mourinho sells had potential to become great. however the sale of salah to another club away from the EPL have him the chance to grow and develop into a player he was destined to be..
He went away from the EPL and grow with another club against strong opposition then make his return to the premier league. this time he didn't return to Chelsea but to Liverpool who suits his style of playing. jurgen klopp is an attacking minded manager and develops players who are already developing, this helped salah in many ways as he was in a perfect club, with a perfect manager who played perfect attacking football. Salah couldn't thrive at Chelsea because mourinho didn't trust him and the team played a bit defensive, at Liverpool he is striving because he has now grown and playing the style of football he likes.. he is now an elite player at Liverpool compared to a growing player at Chelsea.
@Omar Mhairat:first of all, klopp is great when it comes to improving talents, like what he's done with Dortmund, if you noticed, Salah used to a traditional winger, with klopp he always cuts inside, even sometimes you find him a striker next to Bobby, plus klopp's tactics help him a lot.
secondly, Bobby, mané, and salah play very well together with very good understanding,with Bobby playing as fauls 9, leaving the box for salah to cut into.finally, we have to praise the hard work that salah do in training, he knew his weaknesses and worked on it, like scoring with his weaker foot, or dribbling in tight areas, or even his finish.
Roshan141
32
2 main reasons 1: In the domestic league, the teams know almost all teams bery nicely and can plan against them. But in european they have to battle agaimst teams of different leagues against whom they often dont face. In domestic they had faced their opponents bt totally different from european competition. 2. Tough competition in european championship. Their are many teams from different leagues competing for a championship. And its not that you play good in ur league means its gonna be easy. Their are some pressureful situation which many teams cannot handle. And other teams are also working hard so ots really tough...
lakshaysapea22
27
The main reasons could be: 1. Tough European competition: The domestic competition is often much easier than European tournaments. As in case of PSG where they are by far the kings of ligue 1 but when it comes to champions league they struggle due to tough competition. 2. The play safe tactic : In the era where real Madrid and Barcelona are the most dominant force in Europe , it makes the most logical sense at times for clubs to play safe and prioritize their domestic competition. For eg. in case of premier league clubs ,who are more focussed on premier league than champions league. 3. Lack of preparation for big tournaments: As it happened in case of PSG . They lack of experience and preparation cost them the champions league. For a high profile team like PSG it could be sometimes difficult to prepare for a team like real Madrid due to lack of competition in their own league and thus they were caught napping against them.
Dodcampns
15
Because premier league fans don’t know what the champions league is and it’s some kind of holy grail to them, they really mostly care about the league trophy. While Madrid and Barca fans always wanna compete for the champions league title even though it normal for them to reach these late stages, It’s a difference in level really, and expectations. Another reasoning is could be the pressure the players feel while in a major tournament, some players can’t play well with it, while a team like Real Madrid for some reason are awful until they start to feel the pressure. Real is usually the first to concede a goal or almost concede than the pressure builds up and out of nowhere they score like 10. Same could be said with Barca and Man City. The league is a casual it’s not really anything major. You can come in second and feel all happy while you come second in a tournament and you feel the worse than anyone else who lost. It’s really the amount of pressure surrounding the whole subject.
rmcfc9
15
The domestic league is more familiar to clubs, and they are more used to the play in their own country. certain leagues usually have similar styles of play between their teams, and it is hard to prepare in just a few weeks while also trying to focus on domestic competitions. It is hard to understand what your opponent is going to do and all the distractions in modern football make it so hard to easily prepare quickly against great teams. Not only are opposite teams style different and hard to adapt to, but they are some of the best teams in the world. It is very hard to come up with a good winning strategy, but putting it into perfect action is even more difficult. Teams like man United parked the bus in domestic and foreign competition and look where that got them. They didn't have a good strategy and weren't prepared as they should have been. Domestic competitions are usually easier because you have a more reasonable sense about your opponent and how good they will be. You will have likely played domestic teams multiple times in the past and will be better prepared than when you play against a team in the champions league that you have faced once in the last 10 years. Foreign competitions are definitely more difficult strategy wise, but they truly show who can manage their seasons best. Domestic success can be important, but winning the most difficult competitions abroad are more impressive and give a true representation of the best in the world.
madcow
14
Here are my reasons. Pls take time to read and reply about my opinion. I am very open and would try to understand your view on the matter. 1. Champions league is the gather of teams from different parts of Europe which means their knowledge on each other is slightly more limited than usual. For example, teams in the strong teams in the premier league have higher chances of suceeding in the domestic cup such as the FA cup or Carabao cup because they know the other teams play very well. However, when they go to the champions league, they tend to know lesser. A team cannot exactly be deemed stronger as a 6th place in a certain league may be better than the 1st or 2nd place in other leagues. The strategies that is used may also not be the same in each league. In the end, the team with better knowledge about the opponent's team will certainly stand out as they exploit the opponent's mistake. 2. 'Behind-the-scenes' reasons. Obviously each teams have their own goals/target which they have set for themselves. Usually, big teams would try to go for as many silverware as possible. However, there are teams which maybe have different decisions. A team in the premier league, for example, may have never win this a tournament before such as the FA cup but have won once in other tournaments. They would then want to focus more on that very competition. Each team has different plans and therefore, (eventhough some fans may be sad about this) the team may lose the tournament so that they have more time and players for the one that they are focusing on. Managers would also then prioritise more impactful players on the competition that they are focusing on while putting their youngsters or trying a new strategy in those which they are not planning to do so. Well, this is my view on this topic at least and i hope you understand my view. If you don't, do clarify. I prefer not to sound out the more cliche reasons and this is a personal opinion. All the examples used are not reflective on any teams leagues or any associations. They are just merely references.
Major arsenal
10
Elimination soccer is a different beast to double round robin play like the leagues where u face the same opponent twice home and away. Its like running a marathon (domestic) compared to a 100 meter dash. Usain bolt is money for the 100 yard dash, but in a marathon (domestic league) he cant compare the same to the other runners. Real madrid for example specialize in CL for a few reasons, 1. They are real madrid and teams give them too much respect/play defensive. For example psg game first leg tied 1-1 they bring on extra defender, while madrid bring on two attacking mids, score twice at the end and win. 2. Elite talents(form is temporary class is permanent.) where as in domestic competition injuries and bad form play a much larger part, but CL is much more spread out. (Allowing more time for players to come back from injuries/ and not missing as much game time due to injuries.) 3. Reason is success breeds success, couldnt think of any other way to put it