Champions League 2012-2013

Well, Dortmund have had just as many chances as Madrid. Pretty spectacular performance. Gonna miss this team, they've been a joy and now they'll be shredded.

Furious finish!

HOLY SHIT.

Madrid need one goal to go through. I can't believe this.

Aggregate 4-3 Dortmund wins, buenas noches...

That was fucking intense. I'm still recovering.

Crazy finish. Another big game where C.Ron doesn't show up...

He was bad. Poor decisions, poorer finishing, wayward passing.

Lewandowski had a bad one, too. He should have had two goals, easily.

Lewandowski was probably seeing double from the clattering Ramos gave him.

The first half was insane, someone on twitter said it was like watching air hockey!

It was indeed...or ping-pong.

rock and roll motherfuckers!

  On 4/30/2013 at 11:14 PM, jhonny said:

Crazy finish. Another big game where C.Ron doesn't show up...

[my life story]

I don't think Ronaldo is as great as people say he is, and I'm not basing that on the last two games, or suggesting he's not a 'big game player'. I think he's considered the second best in the world because of the amount of goals he scores, one a game, meaning he's effective. But he's also considered one of the all time greats, again i think purely because of his stats. But he's only as effective as real madrid are, they score loads through counter attacking mostly awful financially-limited La Liga teams. Most of his goals are tap-ins, some are penalties, some are wonder strikes.

Pundits saying he's one of the all time greats makes me think of Nadal. I think; really? Oh okay, he's dominated the sport at one point and is playing the game at a level higher than the rest. But his defining attributes are pure athleticism and a never give up attitude, whereas Federer is pure technique and style and elegance, and considered the greatest of all time because he can pull off shots with an ease no one else could, not just because he's dominated the game at one point. Nadal is to Federer what Ronaldo is to Messi.

Even at United I thought Ronaldo could work on his dribbling skills and ball controll in tight spaces. He works purely with space in front of him, I don't think he could score a goal like Modric's against United. Making the pass so the defender runs to his left, receiving the pass, making a heavy touch and setting himself up for a shot so he draws the defender in, then darting past him into space before bending it around a player and inside off the post. That wasn't spare of the moment oh look no one is near me I'll take a wild shot from distance hope it moves in the air and stuff, Modric was thinking 3 moves ahead and i think the best players, the ones who play at a different level to everyone else, do that. Jedi-like seeing things before they happen.

I play 5 a side with and against someone who plays exactly like Modric, it's uncanny, I've seen him be sandwiched between two players and skip through the gap with the ball at his feet, or genuinely go to shoot with his right, notice a player is going to block it, then spin around on to his left before scoring, completely taking him by surprise. It's not a feint or a trick or something pre-planned and then executed, he does it on the fly, I've only seen him do it once. But I've seen him take on about 3 players and wriggle through them with the ball somehow, I've never seen him run fast off the ball to score an easy goal, he holds it with the aim of manipulating the players around so he rush into space and fire off a shot. He's planted firmly to the floor at all times, he's just the right height to do it, he can move and stop, move and stop, never lose the ball, dart into space. I play like Walcott having a bad game.

If Iniesta scored a goal a game then he'd be automatically considered an all time great, but he should anyway and probably is but Ronaldo forces it through his stats. Not since Laudrup has anyone dribbled with as much elegant ease as Iniesta. I'd put him, Ozil and Modric and loads of others above Ronaldo in terms of ball control and technique, but just not consistency and effectiveness and sheer determination. If determining the best players is not about ball control and having supernatural anticipation skills...and not about lots and lots of goals.

Messi is also judged on effectiveness. Cristiano is who he is, greatest scoring winger in history, and he was like that before Real Madrid, where his game became more dull thanks to Mourinho strategy. Ozil, Modric, even Iniesta are players of a certain reproducing type, but Ronaldo had no specific place on a field to fulfill, that's what made him special. And of course, there are a lot of different qualities to judge greatness on, tennis is individual game, comparison just doesn't work at all. Scoring winger has no need to play elegant to be the best.

Very entertaining game and the ending was insane, Madrid almost made it, but fell short. Madrid had more chances, but the it was very even in the high quality chances. Glad that Dortmund is playing the finals, very fun team to watch.

Great game, especially the finish! For a few minutes I was utterly convinced Real were going to do it. They have no one to blame but themselves, though - so many missed opportunities throughout the match! Great performances from both Weidenfeller and Lopez.

  On 5/1/2013 at 2:56 AM, Amen Lare said:

Messi is also judged on effectiveness. Cristiano is who he is, greatest scoring winger in history, and he was like that before Real Madrid, where his game became more dull thanks to Mourinho strategy. Ozil, Modric, even Iniesta are players of a certain reproducing type, but Ronaldo had no specific place on a field to fulfill, that's what made him special. And of course, there are a lot of different qualities to judge greatness on, tennis is individual game, comparison just doesn't work at all. Scoring winger has no need to play elegant to be the best.

I know Messi is judged on effectiveness, but his team mates at Barcelona were saying he was the best player in the world when he was 19/20, when Ronaldo scored 40 in a season. What they were seeing in training every day and glimpses on the pitch was a player dong things they'd never seen before. Then people were thinking; how can he be the best player in the world, Ronaldo has scored 40 goals in all competitions as a winger! Barcelona players were probably thinking; yeah but he has the ability to dribble past entire defences. And now he scores loads.

With Messi the praise is because of his skill not because of the amount of goals, they're just a result of the ease at which he finds the game. With Ronaldo the amount he scores is a result of his desire to win and pace and athleticism to finish of counter attacks, his shot conversion rate is actually poor. Absolutely no one would be praising Ronaldo like they do Iniesta if he didn't score so many goals. Laudrup is never considered the best player ever because he didn't score enough goals, he was a team player who preferred to find the pass, Iniesta is the same.

I think the Nadal and Federer comparison is true, Ronaldo is the modern footballer, honed to perfection, an athlete, tall and strong, whereas Messi is a freak of nature.

  Quote

Ozil, Modric, even Iniesta are players of a certain reproducing type, but Ronaldo had no specific place on a field to fulfill, that's what made him special.

But the game has changed from playing 442 with two strikers to only one striker in 433 or 4321 with the winger acting as a second or third striker, and can get on the end of through balls and come inside to shoot, rather than purely stay out wide to cross the ball in. He's not much different to Robben and his time at Mourinho's Chelsea.

Messi on the bench. This will be ugly.

Bayern are so quick on the counter, Barca will be the more tired of the two if they keep playing catch up to every Bayern counter.

Anyone think Barca can take Munich 4-0 shorn of the best player on Earth? No? Yeah.

Misión: Imposible

  On 5/1/2013 at 8:54 PM, Deer said:

Bayern are so quick on the counter, Barca will be the more tired of the two if they keep playing catch up to every Bayern counter.

Hah, just as you typed that, Robben nearly scored on the counter.

It has to be a balance, Spanish teams losing, German teams winning = German Formula 1 driver loses championship title and a Spanish driver finally wins it. PLEASE

ZERSTÖRUNGGGGGG

This is cool, Bayern players celebrating with a fan (reddit is saying this is Ribery's brother but i want to believe ..)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H1dliwHJARM

  On 5/1/2013 at 3:25 PM, Suffocate Peon said:

 

  On 5/1/2013 at 2:56 AM, Amen Lare said:

Messi is also judged on effectiveness. Cristiano is who he is, greatest scoring winger in history, and he was like that before Real Madrid, where his game became more dull thanks to Mourinho strategy. Ozil, Modric, even Iniesta are players of a certain reproducing type, but Ronaldo had no specific place on a field to fulfill, that's what made him special. And of course, there are a lot of different qualities to judge greatness on, tennis is individual game, comparison just doesn't work at all. Scoring winger has no need to play elegant to be the best.

I know Messi is judged on effectiveness, but his team mates at Barcelona were saying he was the best player in the world when he was 19/20, when Ronaldo scored 40 in a season. What they were seeing in training every day and glimpses on the pitch was a player dong things they'd never seen before. Then people were thinking; how can he be the best player in the world, Ronaldo has scored 40 goals in all competitions as a winger! Barcelona players were probably thinking; yeah but he has the ability to dribble past entire defences. And now he scores loads.With Messi the praise is because of his skill not because of the amount of goals, they're just a result of the ease at which he finds the game. With Ronaldo the amount he scores is a result of his desire to win and pace and athleticism to finish of counter attacks, his shot conversion rate is actually poor. Absolutely no one would be praising Ronaldo like they do Iniesta if he didn't score so many goals. Laudrup is never considered the best player ever because he didn't score enough goals, he was a team player who preferred to find the pass, Iniesta is the same.I think the Nadal and Federer comparison is true, Ronaldo is the modern footballer, honed to perfection, an athlete, tall and strong, whereas Messi is a freak of nature.

  Quote

Ozil, Modric, even Iniesta are players of a certain reproducing type, but Ronaldo had no specific place on a field to fulfill, that's what made him special.

But the game has changed from playing 442 with two strikers to only one striker in 433 or 4321 with the winger acting as a second or third striker, and can get on the end of through balls and come inside to shoot, rather than purely stay out wide to cross the ball in. He's not much different to Robben and his time at Mourinho's Chelsea.

You're clearly showing bias towards Barca, reproducing their views of the outside. Laudrup never considered by whom? He's certainly considered greatest player in Danish history, and if I'm not mistaken he was labelled the best ever by Cruyff when he played under his guidance. If you're looking for modern Laudrup, it's not Iniesta but Christian Eriksen, in my opinion, because Iniesta never was like the number ten one.

To understand where CRonaldo is coming from, you need to go out of your Barca way and analyze his upbringing - Sporting Lisbon academy, which is no worse than La Macia. Ronaldo started like their typical product, dribbler on a flank in the line of Luis Figo, Simao, Ricardo Quaresma and Nani. Skinny boy with tremendous technique, no less a freak. The path from his initial style of play to being the center of whole Man United is what made him inimitable. Every second winger now deployed as second striker, an inside forward, so what - where all these tap-in maestros? Is it really so difficult to become an all-around athlete with sheer determination? I remember him as a teen and I can see that image of him is really distorted and far from his substance. If anything, it's Messi who is perfect player doing robotic moves, not Ronaldo, a man of many human weaknesses.

it was great 9 years (3 champions, 6 ligas, 2 cups... but above all, greatest football I saw)

dortmund fans already singing their ass off, this final is going to be great.

I was all for Bayern because of all their failures in recent years (largely shared with Germany national team), but that Gotze transfer was too much. Dortmund, fucking do it.