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Champions League 2011/12

Munich doesnt have anything to play for in the league (well barely). Plus Bremen in its current state shouldn't be considered 'difficult' by Bayern. Yes they still have some class but are at best average in the context of the Bundesliga.
 
bebo said:
arsenal vs chels
barcelona vs real madrid
bremen vs munich

tough weekend games, it could be a factor.
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To be fair, Bayern have already lost the title so probably won't worry (8 points back with 3 games to go).

It would be interesting if both Spanish teams fielded weakened sides for the Classico.
 
beachryan said:
To be fair, Bayern have already lost the title so probably won't worry (8 points back with 3 games to go).

It would be interesting if both Spanish teams fielded weakened sides for the Classico.
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was trying to be political correct there, I don`t follow Bundes just watch Friday night games and some early Saturday kick off when PL don`t play at lunchtime .
 
Actually, Munich don't have to play anything. They've already lost the title. (A single point will be enough for BVB.)

P.S. dammit. guess its the sleep time for me. sorry fellas for overlooking the posts.
 
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beachryan said:
Oh and there's something glorious about Barcelona fans complaining about a player staying on the ground feigning injury when they're winning. Do you actually watch your team?

As a United fan I had to suffer through about 10 minutes of that crap in the first of the two CL finals. When all these fit young men had 'cramp' in the 70th minute...yeah...

Busquets and Drogba running into each other and each diving and rolling...I was waiting for the world to explode ;)
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+1
 
Chelsea today have very luck....
90 minutes in her area...and they scorer his only ocasion...
Barça shoot 24 times....alexis, fabregas , busquets, pedrito...bad day for they...
I think that in camp nou barça will score sure..but..if chelsea score...
For me is a bad match...only 1 team want play football, and they losed...


congratulations to di mateo, chelsea is the team more hard of the world....

di-K8QZ.jpg
 
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good game by Chelsea actually..they show how to win over Barca, it´s the only key at Nou Camp as well for them..

still i think Barca will destroy them at home.
 
I knew Chelsea would have a good result.
Of course they were lucky and of course this Barcelona looked having an off-day (but isn't that because Chelsea defended extremely well ?).

I'm not convinced that this Barcelona team will thrash Chelsea in Nou Camp. They haven't been convincing in the CL this year... (2012)
 
Ronaldinho_23 said:
Chelsea today have very luck....
90 minutes in her area...and they scorer his only ocasion...
Barça shoot 24 times....alexis, fabregas , busquets, pedrito...bad day for they...
I think that in camp nou barça will score sure..but..if chelsea score...
For me is a bad match...only 1 team want play football, and they losed...


congratulations to di mateo, chelsea is the team more hard of the world....

di-K8QZ.jpg
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72% possession and only 6 shots on target. That's the sign of some good defending/lack of penetration imo.
 
beachryan said:
72% possession and only 6 shots on target. That's the sign of some good defending/lack of penetration imo.
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Nope, you are wrong.

Sanchez wide, Sanchez post, Pedro post, Busquets wide, Fabregas fail, Fabregas fail II.

6 + 6 = 12. Ok technically its 6+ bar and post = 8, as post/bar isnt counted as shot on target. They had chances to score dont be fooled by statistics.

Barca did everything like they always do, why they didn't score?

1. Chelsea history - always been a difficult opponent at home
2. Sanchez poor form, bar + missing opportunity after brilliant Fabregas pass
3. Rain, rain, rain, wet pitch, slippery slip - all favors defending bus team more
4. Unlucky, yes that matters
5. Another post + busquets fail

What will happend at Camp Nou?

1. Even more chances, better weather and world widest pitch
2. 90 minutes of hell for Chelsea blue bus parked at Camp Nou.
3. Most likely Iniesta won't be used out wide as yesterday, Pep will go with Pedro/Messi/Sanchez or Cuenca/Messi/Pedro
4. Pique will play
5. Barcelona going to the finals
 
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About Bayern, I would say they have a best chance to get to Finals right now.

Real will have Classico before Bayern.
Barcelona will have Classico before Chelsea.
Chelsea will have Arsenal before Barcelona.

All 3 play very tough games and while Barcelona and Real contest for La Liga, Chelsea is trying to get Champions League spot for next season against Arsenal. Bayern has nothing to lose, heck they can play without Ribery and Robben and Gomez against Werder.

Would you imagine that El Classico would be without Messi and Ronaldo? That wont happend. Chelsea can try to rotate between Torres/Sturridge/Drogba, but it dosent really matter... Barcelona will dominate at home game anyways. That leaves us with Bayern which COULD travel now to Bernabeu and let youngsters play against Werder.

Tough game for Bayern.. but they will be well fit and have most stamina from all 4 CL teams.

Oh and Real Madrid might go through but half of players would miss finals because of yellow cards :) thats my prediction if Real goes through.
 
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I get sick of all these massive teams having the 'unlucky' tag brandished all the time.

For the record I don't like Chelsea, but last night I was rooting for them, BIG TIME!

Barcelona have had the rub of the green for 2 or 3 seasons now, they are the blue eyed boys of football, posters boys for FIFA. The refs fall for their devious tricks all the time, but last night's officiating was top drawer, fair play to them.

Where in the annuls of football history does it say that teams with the most possession always/deserve to win, or that teams with the most shots on goal (most wayward) deserve to win. Statistics only reflect one aspect of how you judge a football match.

Personally, whilst I admire Barcelona technically, they send me to sleep.

Last night's result was a triumph for tactics, strategy, work rate and one for the underDrog. As if they aren't the most gifted team in the world all the noob followers lose sight of all reality and simply cannot/refuse to believe that a football team like this can be beaten. It's football. Sometimes 11 men with arms and legs can beat the other team with arms and legs.

I hope Chelsea hold out at Barce, I really do. Blatter would probably have a heart attack and die there and then, especially if Bayern do Real too lol!
 
beachryan said:
72% possession and only 6 shots on target. That's the sign of some good defending/lack of penetration imo.
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No. It's the sign of a side who don'y just shoot on sight but wait for a clear opening.

Chelsea were extremely fortunate they did not concede four goals tonight. Very poor finishing from Barcelona let them off the hook. They themselves had 2 chances all on the counter. One that ought to have been saved by Valdes the other wasted by Kalou.
 
ccshopland said:
I
Barcelona have had the rub of the green for 2 or 3 seasons now, they are the blue eyed boys of football, posters boys for FIFA. The refs fall for their devious tricks all the time, but last night's officiating was top drawer, fair play to them.

Where in the annuls of football history does it say that teams with the most possession always/deserve to win, or that teams with the most shots on goal (most wayward) deserve to win. Statistics only reflect one aspect of how you judge a football match.

Personally, whilst I admire Barcelona technically, they send me to sleep.
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Really ? You should watch more games. Oh but of course they send you to sleep. With attitudes like these England will not win anything for another century at least.

The referees fall for their devious tricks all the time ? Perhaps because they have the ball much of the time and it is extremely hard to disposess them the opposition have to foul ?

Ever thought of that ? Or perhaps Chelsea getting the rub of the green as against Tottenham on a continual basis ? Or indeed Drogba ? He apparently was in extremis several times on the pitch before making a miraculous recovery.
 
Chelsea defended really well and organized and Cech was very good. They did what they had to do and luckily scored from their only shot on goal where as Barcelona missed a lot of easy chances. We've seen the scenario a lot now but Chelsea were able to use their physicality to close the area very well. Barcelona are the only team who could have broke that wall Chelsea did yesterday.

Again good job by Di Matteo who had that "I am way over my league here and I'm pulling it off" face. :LOL: Would be awesome if he ends up being the one to get Roman the CL. :D
 
ALBICELESTE2010 said:
Really ? You should watch more games. Oh but of course they send you to sleep. With attitudes like these England will not win anything for another century at least.
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I know implementing that Barcelona style is spectacular itself, but, with all fairness, they rarely do anything spectacular in matches considering the amount of time they have the ball (maybe that leads to having the ball this much? anyway). Anybody would concede the fact that making it look this simple is pretty much amazing and admirable as well but it's not so awkward to hear that some guys around (including me) find it boring to watch at times (especially when they meet the other big sides who wouldn't want to be humiliated by them and choose defending/counter-attack tactics instead of playing an open game - which is quite understandable imo). That ain't an insult to Barcelona and its fans, fans would be delighted with the way Barça play, that's natural, but some (maybe a few) neutrals wouldn't feel that way which is natural as well. Mind you, the real insult would be to use ridiculous general statements about a team despite having watched them only a few times in fact.
 
Ronaldinho_23 said:
Chelsea today have very luck....
90 minutes in her area...and they scorer his only ocasion...
Barça shoot 24 times....alexis, fabregas , busquets, pedrito...bad day for they...
I think that in camp nou barça will score sure..but..if chelsea score...
For me is a bad match...only 1 team want play football, and they losed...


congratulations to di mateo, chelsea is the team more hard of the world....

di-K8QZ.jpg
Click to expand...

It's not that Chelsea is lucky, it's that Barca is unlucky. Chelsea was not even good like they use to be.
 
It will be interesting to see how Barcelona react if Chelsea are still going through by half time in the next game. Because from the games I have seen, some of their players lose the plot abit and start acting badly when they get frustrated. I know people talk about Real Madrid being like this, but we only see it from time to time with Barcelona because they are rarely in that position.

But to be honest I expect them to get through, they just create too many chances and at the Nou Camp I don't think they will be that unlucky not to score a couple.

But I would love Chelsea and Bayern to get to the final and Bayern to win it :))
 
Cshopland, why?
Do you really believe that UEFA (not FIFA) influences matches?
It's a sad and givden thing that big clubs are almost always favoured by the refs. Refs do it on purpose? Not at all. This comes with being the dominant team. As infuriating as it is, you got to deserve that as a team by being dominant.
I'll explain myself. I'm pretty sure that refs sub-consciously are influenced by statistic chances.
Genk plays Chelsea and there is a 50/50 charge or penalty: sub-consciously will advantage Chelsea if he is in doubt.
Chelsea plays Barcelona: now Chelsea is the underdog and get's the involuntary bias of the refs.

Besides that the way football is played nowadays doesn't really help the refs with the constant diving, sneaky elbows and other unseen fouls and "cruelties". Here UEFA could help: punish all the unseen things post factum. Divers like Drogba yesterday: give them a ban.

This said: Chelsea weren't advantaged by the ref. Yes, Barcelona were the dominant team, but Chelsea has some merits too. I must admit that i would like a Bayern-Chelsea final and may the best win...i would be delighted if Chelsea at last could win the CL. They dserve it after all these years. It would be a glorious and well deserved bonus for huge players like Drogba, Cech and Lampard; i always loved them. It would also be a deserved bonus for pricks like Ashley Cole and John Terry. Pricks they might be, but one has to admit that they were/are (Cole) still among the best players in the world.
 
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I'd like a Bayern - Chelsea final too, it would be a bit different from the classico which happens around 3-4 times a season anyway. Bayern's pace out wide against Chelsea and Chelsea's strenght in the air against a what might be a makeshift Bayern defence could be interesting.

You would still expect Barca to go through via the second leg result, but with Valdez in goal (chocolate-wrist mode again last night), Chelsea know that they have a reasonable chance to score out in Spain. They are in a stronger position than Arsenal (who had a home 2-2 and 2-1) and Milan (who were 0-0), yet both of these teams ran Barca close in Spain, if Chelsea can score out there then it will be very interesting, and Drogba is a very "clever" player, (what's the English phrase, "taste of own medicine" ?)- he frustrated Barca and won a lot of balls at Stamford Bridge. I was surprised at how bad Barca were at defending long balls in the air, Puyol and Mascherano seemed a bit lost, I can't really think of a top 3-4 Italian, English or German team that would struggle like that. Yet again the tactic of rushing at Valdez, making him kick it high and long and winning the subsequent ball in the air at times worked for Chelsea. Obviously it's a risk as you can be pulled out of position and it will tire out your strikers, but if offers a chance of breaking up their distribution from the back and forcing errors.
 
Yeah some of the long throw-ins attempted by Chelsea could have been really dangerous. Barcelona are not a physical team and Drogba won a lot of balls by pushing Barcelona's players away and that helped Chelsea a lot. Still Barcelona controlled the game and Messi was very dangerous up front.

Barcelona lacked efficiency up front and that's their problem. Same thing happened with Milan. Barcelona created all the chances then Milan were able to score from one counter attack.
 
gerd said:
Cshopland, why?
Do you really believe that UEFA (not FIFA) influences matches?
It's a sad and givden thing that big clubs are almost always favoured by the refs. Refs do it on purpose? Not at all. This comes with being the dominant team. As infuriating as it is, you got to deserve that as a team by being dominant.
I'll explain myself. I'm pretty sure that refs sub-consciously are influenced by statistic chances.
Genk plays Chelsea and there is a 50/50 charge or penalty: sub-consciously will advantage Chelsea if he is in doubt.
Chelsea plays Barcelona: now Chelsea is the underdog and get's the involuntary bias of the refs.

Besides that the way football is played nowadays doesn't really help the refs with the constant diving, sneaky elbows and other unseen fouls and "cruelties". Here UEFA could help: punish all the unseen things post factum. Divers like Drogba yesterday: give them a ban.

This said: Chelsea weren't advantaged by the ref. Yes, Barcelona were the dominant team, but Chelsea has some merits too. I must admit that i would like a Bayern-Chelsea final and may the best win...i would be delighted if Chelsea at last could win the CL. They dserve it after all these years. It would be a glorious and well deserved bonus for huge players like Drogba, Cech and Lampard; i always loved them. It would also be a deserved bonus for pricks like Ashley Cole and John Terry. Pricks they might be, but one has to admit that they were/are (Cole) still among the best players in the world.
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since when does anyone deserve it by simply being a good player? Those who play more consistence deserve it! If Chels beat all in front then and only then they deserve it.
 
drogba is a good player, but is a good clown too...

I think that in camp nou, is 2-1..in this momento i am pesimist...
 
It really amazes me how Drogba is still at peak physical strength and finishing at the age of 33. This guy can play on to until 36 and still be one of the world's deadliest strikers.

Diving a side, I think proper strikers like him are fading out. Back then we had Vieri, Shearer, Van Nistelrooy, Shevchenko etc.... These days it's quick dribblers.
 
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