Yes, youth football is less predictable.Ed wrote: ↑Wed Mar 15, 2023 16:03For someone who follows European Youth League so closely, your expectations are not so well aligned, Dragonite. Last round you had 3 out of 8 and now in the quarters already only 1 of 3.
Maybe you care to explain: is Youth football simply less predictable and more prone to surprises ?
EDIT: 1 out of 4 in the quarter finals.
Example: Last season Milan finished bottom of its group without a single win. Atlético advanced from that group and reached the semifinals. This season they played again in the quarters and this time Milan prevailed.
Also when players start to impress for the youth team, it's likely that they'll be promoted to the senior team, and then they won't be available for the youth team anymore (after playing thrice for the senior team in that season).
There's also the fact that it's only 90 minutes in one leg and then immediately penalty kicks. Two of my misses last round and another here were penalty shootout decisions. Perhaps with a home and away format with extra-time the outcomes would be different.
And finally, in the last stages the sample is just too small and all the teams are high quality. It's much more predictable in the early stages with bigger samples and when there are weaker teams still involved.
