Those 2 teams + Atletico Madrid might brighten up the Europa league a bit.Quote:
Originally Posted by OwlsFan
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Those 2 teams + Atletico Madrid might brighten up the Europa league a bit.Quote:
Originally Posted by OwlsFan
CL Knockout Stages DrawQuote:
AC Milan v MAN UTD
Porto v ARSENAL
Lyon v Real Madrid
CSKA Moscow v Sevilla
Bayern Munich v Fiorentina
Inter Milan v CHELSEA
Olympiakos v Bordeaux
Stuttgart v Barcelona
It's good the way CSKA have joined in with MAN UTD, CHELSEA and ARSENAL.
The main focus will be on Mourinho v Chelsea and Beckham v United but there are some other interesting ties there. Fiorentina and Bayern Munich should be fairly evenly matched and I'd say Porto could cause Arsenal a lot of problems. Benzema going back to Lyon also. Decent draws for Sevilla and Bordeaux I feel and they could be the teams to get in the quarters.
Report commissioned by Master Card on the prize money/monetary benefits of remaining in the Champions League. BBC article condenses some of the information.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/business/8418236.stm
"......Prize money
The 50m euros is comprised of 14m euros in participation and prize money, 12m euros from UEFA's commercial deals, 8m euros from the club's own sponsors and merchandise sales, and 6m euros from increased player values. Professor Chadwick said the increased exposure players get through the Champions League increased their value.
He cited Lyon, which has made no secret of the fact it specifically targets the competition in order to increase the resale value of its players."
".....Europa League
For those teams that have not made it into the knock-out stages of the competition, the financial implications could be severe, even for clubs that will now play in the Europa League, such as Liverpool and Juventus.
"The Champions League is the premier European football competition, offering commercial revenues far in excess of the Europa League. In no way are [the two competitions] comparable," said Professor Chadwick."
What a great game between Man U and AC Milan last night. Milan should have been out of sight by half time but they didn't possess a finisher of the talent of Rooney. Beckam was on the periphery of the game and SEEMS to be past his sell by date. Just as Andy Gray is writing off Milan they come back to score and then almost equalise. I wouldn't totally write off Milan at Old Trafford (remember Ireland in Paris) as Man U's last few home performances in the CL were not impressive as far as I remember.
Nice to see Lyon beating the money men of Madrid. Sets up an interesting second leg.
The game flew by last night. Exciting yet full of errors. Ronaldinho was a pleasure to watch and it's good to see him in that kind of mood. Fergie would have been delighted to see Becks start in a 3 man midfield. Pato, Hunterlaar and Ronaldino don't bust a gut to track back so Man Utd's 5 man MF was up against 3 (1 of which was Beckham!!!).
Milan have to chase the game at OT and that plays to United's strengths. Sit back and break on the counter. Hopefully Vidic is back so Evans can sit alongside Owen on the bench.
Lyon did very well last night, Real were a bit blunt if anything. Ronaldo had one of those games where he tries all the fancy stuff but his final ball is lacking. The goal was a cracker but nobody closed Makoun down. I think Lyon could easily win the tie.
I would think that Rio should be the one to sit on the bench not Evans.Quote:
Originally Posted by shakermaker1982
Evans seemed to be off the pace and the camera picked up on Ferguson using a few expletives in his direction.
I thought Ronaldinho faded out of the same in the second half, like most of the Milan team.
milan are an ageing team...utd will beat them easily in the second leg...watching arsenal now,fabianski is having a stinker,a team will never win anything without a half decent keeper!!
The **** Martin Hansson had a hand in Porto's winner over Arsenal tonight. How this man still has a job is beyond me. Fabiaski is pretty stupid and shouldn't have picked it up but Hansson was woeful as well.
fabiaski & campbell messed up to concede free kick.. fabiaski should have held onto ball and campbell should have got goalside instead of standing with his hands on knees and then slowly trying to walk back ...Quote:
Originally Posted by theworm2345
referee was correct in letting porto take quick free kick and arsenal were punished .
Hilarious stuff.
I don't understand Wenger's moaning. I'm pretty sure his side have taken free kicks before.
What did Hansson do wrong? I thought he refereed the game quite well. Dunphy going on (for the sake of being controversial again) about his belated signalling of an indirect free kick was pathetic. The only direct free kick in the box is a penalty and everyone knows that. He is also entitled to ask the goalkeeper for the ball if he thinks the keeper is delaying the game. Blame the Arsenal goalkeeper, not the ref and Campbell for not standing in front of the free taker. 100% Arsenal fault.Quote:
Originally Posted by theworm2345
Sky Panel (Rednapp in particular) going mental about the ref in the Bayern vs Florentina game. Same Norwegian ref for the Chelsea semi final last year ;). Apart from the offside (which was the linesman's job), he pretty much got most decisions right although the Florentina defender might have been sent off for the peno and the Bayern player for an over the top tackle but they'd have criticised him if the game ended 9 vs 10. Got so nauseating that I had to turn back to the RTE Panel.
I thought Fiorentina's red card was very harsh. Looked completely accidental to me.Quote:
Originally Posted by OwlsFan
Side on view of the ref it looked quite vicious with the elbow high. Presumably the linesman (who got the offside wrong) agreed with the ref that it was a red card. Oh for technology and we wouldn't have to end 75% of games talking about decisions.
Dunphy withdrew the complaint when they showed the ref running up to the penalty box with him arm in the air, indicating an indirect free.Quote:
Originally Posted by OwlsFan
but then agreed when giles still insisted referee should have stood over ball and then raised his arm to let all the arsenal players see it was an indirect free kick :confused:Quote:
Originally Posted by tetsujin1979
In the "I agree with Eamonn I agree with John" show last night, they both castigated Zlatan Ibrahimovic and sung the praises of Eto'o. Needless to say, apart from one nice pass leading up to an Inter goal, the latter was pretty anonymous and was subbed while Ibrahimovic scored the previous night. Doubt if there was any mention of this at the end of the "analysis". Chelsea should have won the game on the amount of possession and chances but they didn't and might rue that yet. I for one will shed no tears as they would be my least favourite Premiership team. If they didn't have Droghba, my second least favourite.
At least all the ties are still competitive and no gimmies.
Owlsfan, you do know there are other punditry teams you can watch, right?
Owlsfan has a love/hate relationship with Dunphy!
Not last night there wasn't if I wanted to watch that game. I drifted over occasionally to Spurs vs Bolton whenever George Hamilton starting spouting on about the "priceless away goal". No great interest there with Andy O'Brien playing like, err, Andy O'Brien. It would appear to George H that even if a team loses 10-1, no worries, they've got the priceless away goal. Perhaps I should watch it all with the sound down ;)Quote:
Originally Posted by tetsujin1979
RTE lads, shut the f**k up about Beckham.
Let me guess , They're deriding him?
I thought he done well enough when he came on created a few chances for them
They were talking about how his fame came through celebrity and not football, but well done to him for making what he did (fame-wise) of himself, despite his lack of ability.Quote:
Originally Posted by gustavo
It wasn't so much what they were saying, just the fact that they never shut up. RTE just goes on and on with 'analysis' until the highlights from the night's other game are ready to be shown - invariably this means they end up talking crap for about 15 mins, just waiting for Bill to tell them it's time to look at the highlights.
They say Beckham is a celeb and a shirt seller etc etc yet they spend the 15 minutes directly after the game talking about him and him alone. Unreal when they could have talked about the game and Rooney.Quote:
Originally Posted by osarusan
It's called "being controversial" upon which they have based the show for over 20 years.
I watched the Real Madrid vs Lyon game. Great game with Real dominating the first half but failing to put Lyon away. They were always on a tightrope though for a Lyon goal would bring disaster and sure enough it did. Ronaldo, if a bit petulant at time, was still their best player.
I didn't see the Man U game but I saw the stats afterwards which showed AC Milan dominated possession and had as many shots as Man U and yet were hammered. Strange one.
Directly after the game they should have been talking about the game and Rooney imo. They laugh at Beckham yet they give him the coverage they gave him. Joke!Quote:
Originally Posted by OwlsFan
They should have been talking about Park. Awesome performance.
It helps continue it and then they can talk about it again the next time.Quote:
Originally Posted by Rafa B
milan played a lot of passes backwards / sidewards had a couple of decent chances to score.. .but utd well deserved of win and if they stepped up a gear could have added a few more goalsQuote:
Originally Posted by OwlsFan
agree with you rafab .. they even had the cheek to keep on about beckham even after they showed him being interviewed after match and they all commented this was only because of the beckham image that he was interviewed ... i thought the panel were there to discuss match / incidends / highlights ... they even spent first 15 mins when they came on air about the fans and glazers and the red knights takeoverbid and mr dunphy reckons utd finished again in 1-3 years !!!!
+1.Quote:
Originally Posted by shakermaker1982
He ran his socks off all night. Rather him in there than Carrick. We were much more creative. He plays a lot better centrally, which is where he plays for South Korea I think...
Drogbha sent off. Magic.
and Messi class. When I heard my good friend Eamo say that Stuttgart would make Braca struggle, I knew it would be a cake walk for Barca.Quote:
Originally Posted by OwlsFan
Giles: "It's very hard to man mark someone in a great side".
Whelan: "It's easier to man mark someone in a poor side".
Good man Ronnie. Let's have an original thought someday.
Whelan, Dunphy and Giles together are shockingly bad to listen to. Dunphy says something, Giles agrees, Whelan says something really really obvious. Brutal.
Also Trevor Steven wasn't much better - making out Messi didnt have a perfect game, jeez I dunno but nearly scoring a hat trick and setting up a goal.............what more did he want?
and chelsea out and captain fantastic terry having a go at officals after game ... just like last year getting to be bitter losers :pQuote:
Originally Posted by OwlsFan
Sweet, didn't think I'd be able to access the Champions League Draw a at work!