UEFA Champions League Thread [Archive]

[Famine]

It's got to be said - the only teams really in a strong position for the second leg are Ajax, Villarreal and AC Milan, and none of them are in a particularly strong position.

Arsenal won away at Real 1-0. Whoop-de-doo. Now they have to stop Real from scoring at all at Highbury or, if they do score, hope that they can at the very least match it. Not easy.

Same goes for Barcelona, though they are slightly more secure.

Any of the matches can still very easily swing the other way. Keeps it interesting though...

 

[Dave A]

Barca have the away goals advantage, if Chelsea win 1-0 at Barca, Barca win on away goals.

As for Arsenal and Real Madrid, Real Madrid are nothig like they used to be, they're not the top Spanish club and I can see Arsnal winning that one, I'm not saying the WILL, but Real arn't good enough to dominate teams like they used to. Like you said, any of the matches can swing either way, which is good for entertainment, unless it's two Italian teams.

 

[Poverty]

Comeon you arsenal. I knew arsenal would win cause real madrid are crap against that style of play. Barcelona annilhated real madrid the other day and chelski are tottaly outclassed by them. Im proud of our younguns all that ruff play they have to endure in the premiership payed off against real madrid.

 

[Dave A]

Real Madrid arn't that great anymore though, people have this missconception that because it's Real Madrid they should be superb, they arn't the same as they were in the 90's, they've got some great players, but they're all old and slowing down a lot now.

 

[Touring Mars]

Is all I can say.

Very magnanimous of you, RI... it was a spectacular goal though

Poor decision to send Del Horno off in tonight's match, I think a fair result would have been 1-1... if it had been 11 v 11, Chelsea most probably would not have lost tonight

 

[Smallhorses]

It seems the "Swampford" Bridge pitch wasn't as unfriendly to Barcelona as they were expecting. Wonder if they'll be watering the Nou Camp for Chelski's visit?

 

[Mike Rotch]

It's got to be said - the only teams really in a strong position for the second leg are Ajax, Villarreal and AC Milan, and none of them are in a particularly strong position.

Arsenal won away at Real 1-0. Whoop-de-doo. Now they have to stop Real from scoring at all at Highbury or, if they do score, hope that they can at the very least match it. Not easy.

Same goes for Barcelona, though they are slightly more secure.

How do you figure Ajax have a strong position. Conceding two away goals doesnt sound very good to me.

they have to stop Real from scoring at all at Highbury

Considering they did that at the Bernabeu, is it that much of a stretch that they can do it in London, in front of their own fans?

Real Madrid arn't that great anymore though, people have this missconception that because it's Real Madrid they should be superb, they arn't the same as they were in the 90's, they've got some great players, but they're all old and slowing down a lot now.

👍

1-2 to Barca

Haw haw. 'The Special One' is in a bit of a pickle, no?

 

[DQuaN]

Haw haw. 'The Special One' is in a bit of a pickle, no?

Great result for the Gooners, but it aint over yet. Real Madrid may not be what they used to, but it is still gonna be a tough game.

 

[Famine]

How do you figure Ajax have a strong position. Conceding two away goals doesnt sound very good to me.

Because they're playing a pants team that they know they only have to score one more goal than. But, as I said, none of them are really in a strong position at all

Considering they did that at the Bernabeu, is it that much of a stretch that they can do it in London, in front of their own fans?

Yes. Real not scoring for two consecutive games?

They may be old and slowing down, but they're still Ronaldo, Figo, Zidane, Raul, Guti, Beckham, Roberto Carlos... Not to mention Robinho... Or what's likely to happen if Sol Campbell plays.

Like Ajax, Real only have to score one more than Arsenal (though if it's 0-1 it'll go to extra time).


Any tie could go either way, easily.

 

[Mike Rotch]

Because they're playing a pants team

AC? A pants team? *cough*

Yes. Real not scoring for two consecutive games?

Well technically they arent consecutive, there are league games inbetween so it is entirely feasible that they could fire more blanks in leg 2. Also, a goal from arsenal makes it more interesting yet.

But this is all getting hair splitty.

 

[Dave A]

Yes it's still Ronaldo, Figo, Zidane ect, but that doesn't mean they're automatically still great players, sure they're still good, Real is still a good team, but they're nothing special anymore.

 

[Famine]

AC? A pants team? *cough*

They couldn't beat Liverpool with a 3 goal head start. Nuff said.

 

[Poverty]

Yes. Real not scoring for two consecutive games?

They may be old and slowing down, but they're still Ronaldo, Figo, Zidane, Raul, Guti, Beckham, Roberto Carlos... Not to mention Robinho... Or what's likely to happen if Sol Campbell plays.

Like Ajax, Real only have to score one more than Arsenal (though if it's 0-1 it'll go to extra time).


Any tie could go either way, easily.

Real madrid done score for consecutive matches quite often. And figo doesnt play for real madrid anymore. He got sold. Zidane is old, raul hardly ever scores anymore, Guti is guti, Beckham works really hard and is excellent at crossing but thats about it, roberto carlos is old and robhino has enough trouble scoring. Hell the thing about real madrid team is that most theyre players are quite slow. Arsenal has pace on their side.

Poor decision to send Del Horno off in tonight's match, I think a fair result would have been 1-1... if it had been 11 v 11, Chelsea most probably would not have lost tonight

I think he would have gotten sent off later in the match regardless. Often chelsea werent even going for the ball they were being outpaced and outclasses by a much better team. Rumour has it just before the match chelsea were watering their pitch even more to try and outsettle barcas passing game.

At the nou camp barca will finish chelski off. Theyre the best team in the world at the moment.

 

[Race Idiot]

 

[Poverty]

LOL if some average thug can manage to grow a basement full of marijuana why cant the richest man in the UK do the same for his pitch.

 

[Race Idiot]

 

[Dave A]

Because no matter how much cash you've got, your not re-positioning the sun so it shines right onto the pitch. Grass and marijuana are not the same, grass doesn't grow without sunlight.

 

[livemusic]

And marijuana you have to grow away from sunlight or people might see it.

 

[Race Idiot]

 

[Omnis]

I bet you'll see a huge influx of pro jamaican footballers.

 

[Omnis]

 

[Omnis]

triple post, ugh.

 

[Mike Rotch]

I forgot Barca didn't make any bad tackles either did they? Pujol, Oleguer and Motta acted like saints all game didn't they!

Especially Pujols tackle on Crespo, which was more warranting of a red (because it could have caused an injury).



Edit: Blah blah words chel$ki lol great one lol eh I can't be arsed, god I wish Chelsea were the middle of the road team they were a while back. Then at least I wouldn't have to constantly put up with this on the internet. Granted, we probably would have went bankrupt and shot down the leagues but bah.

Haha. Keep your hair on.

The straight red was harsh yes, but he should have been booked for a previous studs up challenge on Messi anyway, so he would have collected two yellows in any case.

The ref did seem a bit more harsh on chelsea, but they its only fair they got some karma back (remember Van Persie's goal ruled "offside"...).

 

[Omnis]

I've been watching a bunch of goal highlights and stuff, and I've formulated a question...

Why the hell do goalies just fall back on their bums during like EVERY single goal? Some of the goals look so easy to block as well...if only they hadn't just fallen back like it was nothing.

 

[DQuaN]

Is all I can say.

Does he fall on his bum?

 

[livemusic]

My friend told me about this goal the other day, it was on wednesday I think? I miss the Champions League.

 

[Poverty]

Because no matter how much cash you've got, your not re-positioning the sun so it shines right onto the pitch. Grass and marijuana are not the same, grass doesn't grow without sunlight.

And marijuana does??

Im sure if they really brainstormed something chelsea could sort out their pitch trouble or they could just relay the turf every other game. They have the money to do it. Or the could build some UV lights somehow.

Where theres a will theres a way.

 

[Dave A]

No, you can grow Marijuana under a small UV light. Now fitting the stadium with UV lights could work, but it'd be a very big job and they'd need to be low down over the grass which would mean you'd need to build a platform covering the field that can be moved out of the way, and thats a big platform and have UV lights under it. As for re-turfing the pitch after every game, I think that'd ultimately do more damage to the undersoil and result in the whole pitch needing further work. It's just turning one job into several either way you go about it, the pitch is bad, but at the end of the day teams still play on it without complaint barring the odd, over watering issue, I don't see a huge problem.

 

[Race Idiot]

 

[Famine]

The red card one confused me.

Why did Del Horno get a straight red for trying to go for the ball (though he missed) and Messi didn't get anything for jumping up in the air and aiming his shoulder at Del Horno's head.

Conservation of momentum - Del Horno was moving towards Messi before the incident and stopped dead when he hit Messi. Messi didn't move much immediately after the collision. Ergo Messi was moving towards Del Horno with roughly the same amount of force and the ball was going in a completely different direction. This says to me that Messi made no attempt to continue to play the ball and instead aimed a shoulder barge at Del Horno. Del Horno was at least trying for the ball, but missed.

So why did one go and not the other as well at least?