UEFA Champions League Thread [Archive]

[TyrrellRacing]

Mourinho must be laughing his ass off. Considering at the time he said Barcelona "is already in the final", he must be very happy. I'm pretty confident Madrid will beat Bayern at the Bernabeu.

Everyone said that about Barcelona. Could go either way. Personally think Bayern will go through, but could easily be Madrid. Either way I'm sure they're both very happy with tonight's result.

Ah, yes Mourinho, the purveyor of flowing attacking football.

👍 I'l read your complaints tomorrow Lucas. Could be a nightmarish final at this rate.

 

[MagpieRacer]

I hope Bayern go through, Bayern V Chelsea will be a better final than Real and Chelsea.

 

[dhandeh]

I hope Bayern go through, Bayern V Chelsea will be a better final than Real and Chelsea.

My thoughts exactly.

 

[ExigeEvan]

Nothing. But know defending during 180 minutes won't leave me satisfied. And not proud, either.

So you'd rather lose than employ tactics. Check.

You don't really think that, under normal circumstances, Valdés would be practically standing in the middle of the pitch, do you?

Keepers playing on the half-way because they need to score isn't unusual. If he'd been struck by lightning moments before a goal, that wouldn't be normal circumstances. But goal keepers playing up the field in the final minutes, quite standard fare.

They only beat Barcelona once.

Grand delusion.

When I hear the word "worthy", I think of a superior team. Maybe that's my problem. But surely one wouldn't say "Chelsea is worthy to be on the final because Barcelona conceded 5 own gals", right? At best, it means Barcelona shouldn't have been in the semi-finals at all.

If Barcelona put them in their own nets, sure. But Chelsea scored them.

 

[Ellis]

If you watch Ramireses goal, Valdes' attempt at stopping it is so half hearted. I would have stopped it. Although it was an amazing chip.

Imagine if torres did what he did against man united tonight

 

[Dennisch]

And I missed it. I totally forgot to turn on my radio. Great job by Chelsea. If defending is the way to go, then go. Tomorrow Bayern will win 1-2.

 

[Touring Mars]

A classic game that will live long in the memory - not least because my mate Dave, a rabid Chelsea supporter, did an epic rage quit after the second goal and stormed out of the pub, only to miss the comeback and eventual glory

Chelsea were not exactly brilliant, but they deserved the result IMO... Terry was an arse and deserved his red card, but Barcelona just didn't have enough tonight, despite getting alot of the breaks. Messi's penalty miss was crucial, but Cech was awesome all night, and Drogba silenced his critics by putting in a superb effort in defence. We all thought that Torres for Drogba would be disasterous, since Torres can't defend for toffee, but it turned out to be a good choice.

Great game, well worth staying in the pub for

 

[Dennisch]

200 tv channels. And not a single rerun of the match. 👎

 

[Touring Mars]

200 tv channels. And not a single rerun of the match. 👎

Here you go:

Buy pint
Sit down
Game starts
Oooh, that was a chance
Terrible defending by Chelsea! 1-0 Barca
What the hell is he doing?!? (Red card to John Terry)
2-0 Barca - Game over (?)
Waa? Incredible goal, 2-1... game back on??
Half time
Go to bar, wait 15 minutes
Second half starts, still waiting at bar
Get another round while watching the start of 2nd half
Barca chance
PENALTY!
MISS!
Barca attack
Barca attack
Barca chance
Barca attack
Barca attack
Drogba subbed for Torres - DOH!
Barca attack
Barca attack
Barca attack
Barca chance
GOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOAL TORRES!
Game Over
Kebab
Taxi
Home
GTPlanet

 

[Dennisch]

Match recap

Yeah, still missing the ambiance. I just keep on channel surfing. And checking the binaries. Must see game.

 

[Mike Rotch]

Wow, properly shocked at the result there. I didnt watch the game, but it sounds like Barca snatched defeat from the jaws of victory. Messi missing a penalty!?

I don't give Chelsea much hope in a Real final, what with some big names suspended. Against Bayern, maybe...

 

[Sanji Himura]

Yeah, they are called tactics. Tactics that some of the most renowned players in the history of the game, like Johan Cruyff and Messi himself are against. As someone said earlier in this thread, I would be ashamed to go through to the final like this.

Chelsea is not worthy of the final. It doesn't have a chance to win it. Barcelona, on the other hand, can win it (against Bayern), or at least has a chance to (Real Madrid).

Also, Chelsea only beat Barcelona in one of the matches. For what I care, Barcelona won today's match. It could have easily avoided that last goal, but when away goals are against you, and you are down to the very last minutes of play, you have to take your chances.

Barcelona is not invincible. That's a fact. No team is invincible. That doesn't mean that losing actually makes the other team superior. And that shows in La Liga, and pretty much every league in the world, such as the Premier League.



From what I have heard, Chelsea defended from the very beginning at Stamford Bridge. And from what I have seen, Chelsea defended from the very beginning at Camp Nou, while being one goal up.



I don't want my teams hanging from the crossbar.

Chelsea had to defend at Stamford Bridge against Barca. They knew going into the semifinal that Barcelona was the stronger team on paper and on the score sheet. As a matter of fact, the only prior "close" match before Stamford Bridge for Barca is a 0-0 draw against AC Milan, but eventually they came back and took the second leg 3-1.

It goes to show that Barca was winning, when they won out right, the knock out matches by a margin of 2+ goals per game.

Now if you were Chelsea's manager, would you have your starting 11 attack and have ball control against a team like that? Of course you wouldn't. And even if Barca managed to tie via aggregate, Chelsea would have still advanced by way of away goals.

 

[Blitz187]

200 tv channels. And not a single rerun of the match. 👎

If you have Sport1 they usually rerun it.

 

[Lucas]

So you'd rather lose than employ tactics. Check.

As you may or may not know, River Plate was relegated last year. During the last 10 games, our coach played ultra-defensive football (and he didn't apply it correctly, either). Everyone was against it. It's against River Plate's historical style of playing. We were relegated because our players focused more on defending than on scoring.

The truth is, I'd rather lose while playing as the dominant team, than win while playing as the weakest team. If you don't like it, fine. I don't think you have the right to say I'm wrong. I'm not saying Chelsea supporters should feel bad. And if I did say that, I'm sorry. But as the River Plate fan I am, I would feel embarrassed to see my team advance to a final like that.

And as I said earlier, if this is because I used the words "anti-football", I take it back.

Keepers playing on the half-way because they need to score isn't unusual. If he'd been struck by lightning moments before a goal, that wouldn't be normal circumstances. But goal keepers playing up the field in the final minutes, quite standard fare.

Under normal circumstances, as in, playing a game of no importance, Valdés wouldn't be standing there. The circumstances (semi-finals, two minutes away from finishing the match) made him being there. No wonder Chelsea tied the game.

As I said, in a normal match, where the outcome is not as important as yesterday's match, Barcelona would have won the match. If you can't see that, well... there's nothing more I can say.

Grand delusion.

I'm definitely being trolled right now. Are you seriously saying Chelsea beat Barcelona in both matches?

In BOTH matches?

BOTH?

1st leg: Chelsea 1-0 FC Barcelona
2nd leg: Chelsea 2-2 FC Barcelona.

You may have not understood what I say earlier. But I'm sure I've said it over two times already.

If Barcelona put them in their own nets, sure. But Chelsea scored them.

Chelsea scored 3* goals against a Barcelona that was more focused in attacking than in defended. Barcelona, on the other hand, scored 2 goals against a Chelsea that had all of its players inside its area. To me, Barcelona deserved the final far more than Chelsea. I won't talk about events that didn't happen, but I'm sure that if Barcelona had decided to defend all the time, like Chelsea did, it would have been victorious. Pep Guardiola knew that wasn't Barcelona's style, and went all out trying to break Chelsea's defence. Yes, Barcelona was eliminated. But I'm proud of Barcelona, eliminated while playing as the superior team, one that wasn't scared of its rival.

Now if you were Chelsea's manager, would you have your starting 11 attack and have ball control against a team like that? Of course you wouldn't. And even if Barca managed to tie via aggregate, Chelsea would have still advanced by way of away goals.

Truth be told, as a manager, I think Di Matteo (sp.?) did the right thing. I'm not denying that. It's just that I do not feel good about that style of play. I understand it's necessary. But don't expect me to feel happy or satisfied for eliminating Barcelona that way.

Obligatory message:

And as I said earlier, if this is because I used the words "anti-football", I take it back.

 

[Bram Turismo]

The truth is, I'd rather lose while playing as the dominant team, than win while playing as the weakest team.

So, Mr. Villas-Boas, is this the reason you got sacked at Chelsea?

 

[Lucas]

So, Mr. Villas-Boas, is this the reason you got sacked at Chelsea?

 

[MagpieRacer]

As you may or may not know, River Plate was relegated last year. During the last 10 games, our coach played ultra-defensive football (and he didn't apply it correctly, either). Everyone was against it. It's against River Plate's historical style of playing. We were relegated because our players focused more on defending than on scoring.

The truth is, I'd rather lose while playing as the dominant team, than win while playing as the weakest team. If you don't like it, fine. I don't think you have the right to say I'm wrong. I'm not saying Chelsea supporters should feel bad. And if I did say that, I'm sorry. But as the River Plate fan I am, I would feel embarrassed to see my team advance to a final like that.
]

So, that's why they went down. It's not that it was defensive, just rubbish?

Likewise, my team, Newcastle, got relegated a number of seasons ago because we were quite an attacking side..Works both ways.

Chelsea were superb, disciplined (aside from JT) and you are the only person I have seen or spoken to who is criticsizing them.

 

[Liquid]

River were relegated partly because Argentina has an odd relegation system, were they not?

It's based on your average finish over 3 seasons or so, I think.

 

[Emptyone]

Who else for Madrid, but Ronaldo. First a penalty, then a good move and finish for Madrid, now 2-0 up and 3-2 on aggregate, end to end game, but Madrid looking good.

EDIT: And Bayern score from a penalty to level the game up on aggregate, fantastic tempo for this game so far.

 

[Lucas]

So, that's why they went down. It's not that it was defensive, just rubbish?

One could argue that Chelsea's defensive system was also rubbish. Otherwise, there's no way to explain how they were 2 goals down at one point, while defending with the entire squad. If I recall correctly, after scoring the second goal, Barcelona kept looking for more. And that's why Chelsea scored. If Barcelona wanted to, it could have won the match by defending better instead of throwing all its players to attack.

Here I want to make a point, though. What Barcelona did was totally careless. It was a very bad idea to keep attacking as much as it was attacking before the goal. You could probably say Chelsea did the right thing by setting its priorities straight, first by defending, then by getting a goal, and then going back to the defending.

Likewise, my team, Newcastle, got relegated a number of seasons ago because we were quite an attacking side..Works both ways.

I never said it didn't. What I tried to say, though, was that we had rather be relegated while doing our best to score, instead of doing our best to keep the opposition from scoring.

Chelsea were superb, disciplined (aside from JT) and you are the only person I have seen or spoken to who is criticsizing them.

I could probably say that you guys on this forum are the only ones that aren't criticizing Chelsea, if that works for you. Most I know in real life, and the people in Argentina, criticised the way Chelsea played.

Ironically, even the fans of teams who defend most of the time, like Boca Juniors, criticized the way Chelsea played.

River were relegated partly because Argentina has an odd relegation system, were they not?

It's based on your average finish over 3 seasons or so, I think.

Yup. I did not see the first two seasons, since I wasn't interested in football back then. River Plate finished last for the first time in its history in one of the tournaments, the next tournament after being crowned champion (!!!). Anyways, we were doing pretty good on the tournament that saw us get relegated, until we lost one match, and our coach decided it was a good idea to defend until the rest of the tournament. Needless to say, that didn't work out pretty well. Right now, we are 2nd in Serie B, but at least we are trying to play the way history dictates. And we keep it in mind when criticizing our new coach.



Anyways, cheering for Bayern! If Madrid gets to the final, it will practically be champion. Not to mention Bayern plays a football more to my liking.

EDIT: Mario Gómez, how can you be so stupid to miss that...

 

[Bram Turismo]

Being completely honest, Gomez has been playing rubbish the entire match. So many chances, and he screwed up every single one of them.

 

[Lucas]

It's either penalties, or a Madrid goal now. They've got the initiative.

 

[raz_10]

First half was a great half...second not so much.
Benzema and Gomez should be replaced, Benz for his weak passing and Gomez needs to learn how to use his left foot!

 

[Lucas]

To penalties and beyond!

 

[Ross]

OK, we're into penalties.

 

[Emptyone]

Therefore the Germans must win the shootout good game, both sides should have won.

 

[Ross]

First penalty scored!

EDIT: Noya saves the second one

 

[Lucas]

Cristiano Ronaldo misses!!!!!!! YEAAAAAAAAAAAH.

 

[Ross]

Bayern 2-0 up after 2 penalties each! Noya is brilliant!

 

[Emptyone]

2-0 after 2 each, it's over, good saves Neuer
Edit: how wrong I was ...
Edit2: Never mind, Ramos blazes over, and Schweinsteiger scores, the Germans win