Champions League 2015/6

That was one hell of a performance by Atletico and a great game of football in the 2nd half.

Some in rte panel afterwards were claiming that Atletico are virtually living off scraps, selling their best and replacing them with cheap signings.
This season they have sold for about Eur 145m and bought replacements for about Eur 135m. Of course they are not super rich, but upper middling rich.

The competitiveness of the other game was affected by Benfica having scored no away goal and the 3 Benfica strikers were suspended. All the same Benfica were a pleasant surprise over the 2 legs and could be a real contender next season, there's a lot to like about their football.

Yeah I suppose Atletico's finances/tranfser activity were discussed with Real Madrid and Barcelona in mind. I think Dunphy went a bit far by calling them the Leicester of Spain alright. ;)

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Originally Posted by DeLorean

Yeah I suppose Atletico's finances/tranfser activity were discussed with Real Madrid and Barcelona in mind. I think Dunphy went a bit far by calling them the Leicester of Spain alright. ;)

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Atletico's finances/transfer activity were not discussed with Real Madrid and Barcelona in mind,
the comments by themselves were just downright wrong,
"selling their best players and having to buy economically" etc

If only it were true, but good Jesus the whinng about the "Barca dream" ending is as bad when they were all conquering.

A month ago this team were the greatest ever. Good Jesus.

Anyway, all the craic is over in the EL.
Coutinho makes it 2-3 now.

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Originally Posted by BonnieShels

If only it were true, but good Jesus the whinng about the "Barca dream" ending is as bad when they were all conquering.

A month ago this team were the greatest ever. Good Jesus.

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Well Bonnie, it's time for the great Bayern Munchen and Pep to take up the gauntlet of being the first ambassadors of top quality modern european football.
I wasn't aware that Bayern took such a brave stand against the Nazis before and during WW2 when a minuscule act of perceived defiance, meant death
They were branded a Judenklub by the Nazis.
I'm warming to this great German team, what a history they have.

Manchester City v Real Madrid
Atletico Madrid v Bayern Munich

Good draw for City as they can score goals and Real can concede them. Mind you the reverse applies as well of course. Possibility of another Madrid Final though.

Bit of a dream draw for Real Madrid all the same, especially having the home leg second. Atletico could probably have done with the home leg second, hopefully they don't picked up too many suspensions. Barcelona being taken out of the equation has opened it up... the bookies will indicate a Real Madrid v Bayern final, and it would be hard to disagree with them.

On what planet are the odds that Bayern aren't favourites for this fixture?

Out of the 4 teams remaining the only one to "hope" for are Atletico.

The other three for varying reasons are a pox on the game.

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Originally Posted by BonnieShels

On what planet are the odds that Bayern aren't favourites for this fixture?

Out of the 4 teams remaining the only one to "hope" for are Atletico.

The other three for varying reasons are a pox on the game.

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Why are Bayern a pox on the game? They are big but is it not mostly through self-generated wealth? I don't know so it's a genuine question.

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Originally Posted by RedBench

I really think Bayern and Real are the favourites to win the Champions League this year after Barcelona exit.

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Really, you think?:p

What a big yawn that game was, I ended up playing solitaire.
Jesus probably wept also.

There was one great passage of play around 75 mins where Real worked the ball beautifully in a tight space deep in their own half and then a few passes later ended up heading the ball against the bar.

The Times was funny this morning. Headline all about Joe Hart saving the day. Big photo of him blocking Pepe's (?) shot from close range. Player ratings then gave him 6/10 but Navas 7!

Dull game, but sets up second leg well. Real are 18 for, zero against at home in the CL this season. Will City score?

Looking forward to tonight.

I thought the second half was pretty good, well Real were good and City defended well. The first half was a bit disjointed, Real couldn't get anything going but always looked comfortable at the same time. Modric and Kroos were below par so there was no real link between defence and attack. They improved in the second half though and controlled the game really. It was never likely to burst into life too much without a goal being scored, with both teams reasonably happy with 0-0, but I didn't think it was boring either.

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Originally Posted by Stuttgart88

Will City score?

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Quite possibly but I suspect they'll need more than one, particularly if Ronaldo is back. City have had some good away results in Europe this season despite being brutal on the road in the PL.

While both teams were happy for most of the game with a 0 - 0 draw, I'd rather watch Ronaldo stretching out on the sidelines.
Marginally more interesting than watching Steaua Bucharest play for penalties.

What a goal from Saul. Great start to the game.

Bayern look out of sort. Long may it continue.

Every team are out of sorts against Atletico!

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Originally Posted by DeLorean

Every team are out of sorts against Atletico!

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70% possession and not an iota of what to do with it.

There was a great passage of play that summed up Atletico in the last 3 min; Koke got on the end of a a ball in his own box and headed it out and away. He then proceeded to follow the ball and ended up trying to stop the Bayern player who received it. Great stuff. They're relentless in defence. Love it.

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Originally Posted by BonnieShels

70% possession and not an iota of what to do with it.

There was a great passage of play that summed up Atletico in the last 3 min; Koke got on the end of a a ball in his own box and headed it out and away. He then proceeded to follow the ball and ended up trying to stop the Bayern player who received it. Great stuff. They're relentless in defence. Love it.

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As a neutral though would you like to watch two Atletico type teams playing each other? I am not so sure. If the Atletico systems proves to be successful, will other coaches decide to follow it ? Good for Atletico. Not sure that will be great for football if the main object becomes to stop others scoring and hope to nick one. They've only scored something like 57 goals in 37 games in La Liga.

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Originally Posted by BonnieShels

They're relentless in defence. Love it.

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Yeah it's brilliant to watch. "Look at them", said Dunphy, "they're like dogs after a bone". :D

Pity Torres didn't make it two but I suppose they got a couple of breaks as well. Do Bayern have it in them to keep a clean sheet next week? They'll probably need to.

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Originally Posted by OwlsFan

As a neutral though would you like to watch two Atletico type teams playing each other? I am not so sure. If the Atletico systems proves to be successful, will other coaches decide to follow it ? Good for Atletico. Not sure that will be great for football if the main object becomes to stop others scoring and hope to nick one. They've only scored something like 57 goals in 37 games in La Liga.

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Wouldn't bother me at all. Defensively minded teams have come up against each other from day one really, it takes all sorts. They played against a Chelsea side that weren't overly expansive themselves a couple of years back and it was a good tie. Their relentless aggression makes it easier on the eye than just your average defensive team getting numbers back and sitting deep anyway I think. They pressed high up the pitch in the first half last night and retreated, or were forced to retreat, somewhat in the second half. They can mix it up.

That was some game, nicely embellished with two Barca-esque moments of brilliance from Saul and Torres. And that cxnt Alaba can certainly strike the ball sweetly from distance.
I don't think the one goal lead will be enough for Atletico.

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Originally Posted by geysir

And that cxnt Alaba can certainly strike the ball sweetly from distance.

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Some strike, unfortunately for Alaba it was just lacking a lucky touch off Sean St. Ledger's arse.

Johnny Giles mentioned before the AM-BM game the last night that Mark Clattenburg referring the game may be a disadvantage to Atletico. He was saying that you get away with more on the continent than you do in England. I always thought they general consensus was that 'European' referees were far more fussy? It's possible he was talking specifically about yellow cards though, that you get away with more fouls without being booked on the continent, but maybe you get away with tougher challenges in England.

While I'm at it, I saw something a few weeks ago I found kind of strange. I was watching some of the Bundesliga derby between Schalke and Dortmund and as the game was moving into injury time the commentator was saying that we'll probably only have two additional minutes, despite there being four goals in that half, six substitutions and a sizeable delay for an injury. He was spot on and proceeded to mention that there's never much injury time in the German league.

I watched that Schalke Dortmund derby on my laptop while supervising a class. There was a german woman from Gelsenkirchen attending and a long time Schalke season ticket holder.
The class were doing a test of sorts. She had to put the game out of her mind. But at 1-2 Schalke were awarded a penalty late on, I put the game up on a screen that she could see and gave her the nod to watch the silent screen. The rest in the room were quietly distracted and totally oblivious to what was going on in this screen. In one second she grasped the score, the penalty, the entire drama and she was transported to another universe. As soon as the penalty hit the net, she leaped up out of the chair and let out this almighty roar of YESSSSSSS along with some choice words in german, frightening the cráp out of the rest in the room.

Here we go. This will be a belter.

BAH!!!!

EDIT: Double Bah!!!!

EDIT EDIT: Phew!

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Lawro just said, genuinely, while commenting on a Lewandowski dive that he didn't think he "had it in him". Seriously!!!

Goal.

Offside... YUSS!!!

Miles inside the box :)

Can't believe he missed that! Had a feeling Atletico would regret Griezmann's exit. Torres has been brutal.

Yyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuussssssss ssssssssssssssssss!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Brilliant semi final over both games, could have gone either way, hardly a hair's breadth between them and that was one hell of an atmosphere in Munich.
Atletico are a world away from a Mourinho standard cynical team.
This side of the draw has been a ruthless roulette between the best teams left in the CL last 16, Atletico, Bayern, Barca, Juve and even PSV.

The noise was deafening even through the crappy laptop speakers I had to use. Wonderful tie.

Part of me thinks that Atletico could take City handily enough... so I would be plumping for the English team in that regard. But you know, it's City.

Spanish clubs' record in European knock out ties against non-Spanish teams is amazing. Something like won 44 out of last 47?

I don’t know whether to laugh at Rummenigge over his pathetic “a little bit cheated” outburst, or feel really annoyed by it. Spoilt tw@t. Fractionally offside, if at all (I think he was just on) and well within bounds of an understandable error. Atletico missed their incorrectly awarded penalty. What a whinger.

I definitely feel more amused than annoyed, it's good to see clowns like that hurting. Here's what Vidal had say...

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Originally Posted by Arturo Vidal

We were superior. We controlled the game, but we did not finish off the chances we had. Atletico did exactly what they have been doing all year in their league and took advantage of their chances.Today ugly football [Atletico] played against the best football in the world [Bayern]. The only time they saw the ball was for the goal.

They are going to be dreaming about us right up to the final. They did not have the ball, they took on the best team in the world, they took their chances and got to the final.

The best does not always win in football, like today. They are not deserved finalists.

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Stay classy Bayern!

Amazing. The cockles of my wee heart are warmed by them. They are such a despicable team. I'm raging Ancelloti is going there. Then again he was at Milan and Chelsea, so he has form!

Saw a BBC stat that Atletico hadn't even touched the ball inside the Bayern penalty area before Griezmann scored their goal (or was it passed the ball).

When it comes to teams that defend so much and so doggedly, my argument always is that if the attacking team had all that possession and all that territory, and still couldn't get the goals they needed, they've nobody to blame except themselves.

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Originally Posted by osarusan

Saw a BBC stat that Atletico hadn't even touched the ball inside the Bayern penalty area before Griezmann scored their goal (or was it passed the ball).

When it comes to teams that defend so much and so doggedly, my argument always is that if the attacking team had all that possession and all that territory, and still couldn't get the goals they needed, they've nobody to blame except themselves.

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Completely agree.

Last week the possession stats were 70/30. Atletico won that game.

Similar things were said of Leicester this year and can anyone, hand on heart say that Leicester haven't been great to watch?

Beauty is in the eye of the beholder and I bloody hate the Guardiola style of play. Monotonous cack. Successful cack. But cack.

What's to hate?
Apart from Lewandowski's shameless blatant cheating, that was a magnificent semi final tie.
It takes 2 to tango and Bayern brought out the best in Atletico.