The Football Thread

I’m not sensitive BL, just when he doesn’t score, goals for the national team that is

Oh, the media made up those gay pictures? I’d actually applaude the man if he came out of the closet,

He’s in love with himself. Does that count? :wink:

I support Tottenham Hotspur, very pleased with how they are playing right now 2nd in the league and flying high! Amazing to see them above all of the big names in English Football, but it probably won’t be enough to win the league because of the remarkable Leicester City. I’m still hoping for a minor miracle though :slight_smile:

It’s been a bizarre season, for sure. Totts fans like yourself will no doubt initially be kicking yourselves that, in the year you finished above all the big guns, you were pipped at the post by Leicester bloody City of all people. But hopefully you’ll go on to appreciate the achievement for what it is anyway. And of course, it’s not quite over yet.

And, despite last night’s cup exit, it’s been a pretty decent season for my own mighty Hammers too.

Semi finalists in the Champion’s League this year:

Manchester City
Real Madrid
Atletico Madrid
Bayern Munich

Surprise surprise NOT to see there the mighty Barcelona, but Atletico Madrid had eliminated them before. In the previous round Atletico played PSV and they didn’t really impress me. But they seem to have the right qualities and mentality to beat Barcelona, or better: to undermine their superior technical skills. Their win was well-deserved, even if Barcelona was denied a clear penalty in the final minutes of the game

That said it cannot be denied that yesterday night’s Barcelona was far, far away from their best form. The golden triangle Neymar - Suarez - Messi was ineffective and the great Iniesta looked like a normal player (is he over his peak?). Barcelona lost three games in a row (two in the league, one in the CL) and even the league title (which seemed almost certain a few weeks ago) is in jeopardy.

I feel sorry for VFL Wolfsburg; they were very close, but in the end Ronaldo was too much for them. Real Madrid is another Spanish top team struggling, but they have Ronaldo, who seems to have found his best form at the right moment. And like I’ve said before: when you have Ronaldo (in best form) anything is possible

It’s quite difficult to appoint a favorite. With Barcelona eliminated, I’d say Bayern is the best team, but Real have Ronaldo, Atletico is a fighting machine and Manchester City … well, what about them? Year after year they have been struggling in Europe, despite a wonderful selection of technically brilliant players, and all of a sudden it seems to click. The key factor probably is the chemistry between Kevin Debruyne and David Silva. In Belgium we have this discussion about Debruyne and Hazard, the two best Belgian players: according to some they don’t harmonize, you can’t have two captains on one ship: Debruyne and Silva are two captains, but they play very well together, there even seems to be a synergetic effect

I’d settle for a Bayern - City final.

Yes West Ham have been in great form recently. My grandad supported the Hammers so I’ve always looked out for them. Really need a favour from them this weekend :wink:

I like Atletic fighting spirit my kind of team, they don’t have a Ronaldo or a Messi for that matter (Neymar doesn’t really convence me as fenomenal player), but they keep on fighting, but yes City as the advantage of only haveing the CL in mind and that is na importante factor in the CL.
Talkiing about R

The Liverpool Dortmund game was astonishing. With Dortmund so clinical in their breakaways you couldn’t see Liverpool coming back but once they started you could feel the belief in their players growing at exactly the same rate it was bleeding from Dortmund. A great game and what you always hope for from a cup tie if you are a neutral.

Yes, edge-of-your-seat entertainmet.

Funny thing: German teams are often praised for their fighting spirit - the Germans never give up, they’re never beaten, nobody scores more decisive goals in added-on time than the Germans, etc. - and now they’re beaten with exactly this: the fighting spirit of the Liverpool players and a goal in stoppage time

Reminded me of the Chelsea - Liverpool game of some 5-6 years ago

Maybe because Liverpool has a German coach

Games between British and German teams are often quite spectacular. It’s a clash of two different styles of football, both styles are already attractive, and when they clash, you get some real fireworks.

But you’re right, a German coach is probably exactly what English football needs. An Italian coach (Capello) simply wasn’t the right choice. There’s no doubt that Capello was a good coach, but it just didn’t click, there was no synergetic effect. Who knows what happens when this Jürgen Klopp wins the UEFA League Cup with Liverpool (and I think he will)

The Spanish dominance in both cups is still disturbing.

What worries me most, is this dominance of three teams in the Champions’ league: Barcelona, Real, Bayern. This year Barcelona isn’t among the final four, but I expect them to be there next year again, like the other two teams. Atletico seems the only team that has found an answer: with their very physical and well-organized game they manage to close the gap with the Holy Trinity. Paris SG failed to do the same and City still has everything to prove. It’s a small miracle that they have reached this stage, they have a great group of players, but I’m not sure they’re strong enough as a team. We’ll see.

But overall you’re right. European Football is getting a story that is repeating itself year after year. We had more variation when only the champions of the country were allowed to play in the European Cup I and all the other played in the Cup winners competition or the UEFA Cup.

I don’t want to be called the nostalgic one, byt really don’t understand why the champion league has non champion teams, if they wnat to make a european league so do, but these competition we have today don’t call it CL call it other thing.

Actually the UEFA cup back in the day was much more difficult the Champions Cup, you would get a lot of difficult teams that fininshed second or third place in competitive leagues

That’s also why it was a very interesting competition

Non-champions in a champions league is of course nonsense.
The Champions League as it is today, doesn’t really work. But I guess we can’t go back to the old days, with the three cups and the first one only for national champions (+ the defending champion). It’s all about money, money, money

E vaaaaaaiii! :smile:

http://sports.yahoo.com/news/chinese-set-buy-ac-milan-broker-105453883--finance.html

Hmm, yes back in the last century the UEFA Cup was not easier to win than the European Cup (now Champion’s League). It was a strong competition, but since the reformation in 1997/98 and in 1999/2000 the UEFA Cup (now Europa League), it has lost any former importance, and is now the “Cup of the losers” (according to Franz Beckenbauer).

But Scherp, why does the Champion’s League now not really work? Since 2000 it is definitely a League in which all the important teams play together.
That the money teams dominate this cup, and the other one too, is a logical fact, and is nothing really new, as some Spanish and Italian teams always had more money to spent, and since the 50s always bough some exceptional players to improve their teams. The 5 times in a row win of Real in the 50s was possible due to foreign players like Di Stefano, Puskas and Kopa.
Now there is even much more money and several British teams and Bayern and PSG have also the resources to buy themselves great teams together (but still not all that successful), but these are now the great teams, and with the new system they all play in one league, instead of three like in the last century.

What I mean by ‘not working’ is that has become a competition for teams from a very limited number of countries, in the first (and second place) Spain, and then Germany and Engand. For teams of other countries - even Italy - it has become very difficult, nearly impossible to win the tournament. In the past we had winners from Holland, Portugal, France, Yugoslavia, even Rumania. And we had ‘smaller’ teams from the great competitions winning the cup: Aston Villa, Nottingham Forest, Marseille … will one of these clubs, or clubs from the above mentioned countries ever be able to win the CL again? Never say never, but at the moment it looks like an impossible dream.