Champions League Playoffs: Excitement & Key Matches

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00:00So tell me, Nick, are you ready for this new playoff phase of the Champions League?

00:06Yeah, some people hate it, some people love it, some people think it's a little too drawn out.

00:10I happen to find it absolutely amazingly exciting. I mean, you see, first of all, teams from the same

00:18league, from the same country going head to head. We might see Milano against Inter. I mean, that's

00:22so cool to see in this stage. I don't think it's drawn out. I don't think it's boring. I think it's

00:28absolutely exciting. And I think teams like Man City, who just squeezed through at the last

00:34minute, pinched their way in there, perfectly exemplify that.

00:38So Nick, tell me, where were you this morning when the draw happened, the names of the teams

00:44dropped? Share with the audience of Latin Nation Football Club what's happening, what games are

00:50going to unfold? It was a long morning for me. I woke up, from the moment I woke up, I was super

00:56excited to see where we're going to go in the next stage of this tournament. I went straight to

00:59the heart of Belgrade to kind of feel the atmosphere in a local pub there. I went outside, I brought

01:06you all the latest to come from the drawings. Hola, que tal amigos? Nick Z here, reporting from

01:12a very frigid Belgrado, Serbia. Now, here in Europe, the weather forecast may be looking

01:16bleak, but things are about to heat up on the pitch as the UEFA Champions League first round

01:20comes to a close. Speaking of Belgrade, Cervantes Vesda, you might know them as Red Star, they

01:24finished 29th place, so no hope for them. They're out, but still plenty of amazing European football

01:29to look forward to. So to start things off, let's just go to the top eight who automatically

01:34qualified for the round of 16. That is Liverpool on top, almost a flawless performance for Liverpool,

01:40except for that last match. Similar story with Barca in second place, Arsenal finishing strong

01:45in third, followed by Inter Milano, Atletico Madrid, Leverkusen, Lille and Aston Villa squeezing by

01:53in the top eight. So after a thrilling first round here, who's going head to head in the

01:57knockout stage? Now, keep in mind, the knockout phase of the playoffs are played over the course

02:01of the next two weeks. We got Paris versus Brest, Bruges versus Atalanta, Man City drawing against

02:07Real Madrid. They can't complain. They should just be happy that they're at the party, to be honest.

02:11Juve going head to head with PSV, Monaco and Benfica, Sporting versus Dortmund, Celtic versus

02:17Bayern and Feyenoord, who's been showing out throughout the tournament, going head to head

02:21against AC Milano. Now, guys, with this new format, we've seen that literally anything can

02:25happen. And if this next round is anything like the first, there's going to be plenty of amazing

02:30matches and plenty of goals. Nick, thank you very much. That was a thorough report. And now tell me,

02:36what are the games that you are the most excited about? I, for sure, kind of a very sweet feeling

02:43about this Real Madrid-Manchester City that in any other year, it could be a final. But now we

02:49have it in a very, very early exit for one of these two giants of the Champions League.

02:56No, that's true. And these are two teams that have kind of underwhelmed. And now if we were

03:00in, say, the previous format, we might not even see either of them in advancing at all. So look,

03:07I've kind of been seeing this as the glass half full, not half empty in terms of, hey, at least

03:12we'll see an epic clash somewhere at the beginning of the next round instead of at the final. But

03:17that doesn't mean that there won't be more excitement to come. I'm happy that Man City

03:21actually squeezed through. They're hungry. They want this. They're pissed from their,

03:26let's say, rough start that they had in the first round. And they're hungry. And it's really

03:30exciting to see how far that redemption in their minds is going to take them. And so for that

03:35reason, I'm actually excited about it. But I can see why it might be disappointing if you're a City

03:41fan or if you're a Madrid fan, a Real Madrid fan, because it's like, uh-oh, my team might be,

03:46you know, leaving really soon in an epic clash that I was hoping to kind of see later on. But

03:50that's what happens when you finish kind of lower down in this new format in the opening stage.

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