Messi choked ? come on he did all he could, the only thing he is guilty of is maybe trying to be too precise on the pk but hes facing a world class keeper Oh, and he's human.
Terry . What a tit. Id be fine if he never kicks a ball again.
Who said Ramires has no skill what a finish ...wait i did lol brilliant .
Drogba was brilliant again.
What a game.
Oh yeh Torres got one just as well as he was a liability defensively. (No hes still shite Macca and Rob)
Agreed. Messi makes 9 out of 10 PK's and 8 with his eyes closed. Give credit to Chelsea. Having JT sent off seemed to make them stronger, when Iniesta scored they could have folded but Ramires brilliant chip shot just made the rest of the team believe that they could do it.
Players like Fabregas, Alexis, the D could have played better. I don't blame this loss on #10 at all.
Just saw the replay and what a game. It's like Chelsea was defending a 30 minute power play. Can't blame Messi or Barca, just wasn't meant to be I guess.
It's a funny game. On the one hand, you have two teams in totally different points in their year. Chelsea are playing their best football and Barca their worst. The absence of Villa's brilliance up front and Pique in the back has taken its toll. Messi is in as bad a stretch as I've seen in some time as well.
In a just world, de Matteo gets the job. OTOH, unless he wins I can easily see Roman spending the summer wooing this year's hot managerial dish just out of habit.
XBL Gamertag: RobVarak
"Ok I'm an elitist, but I have a healthy respect for people who don't measure up." --Aaron Sorkin
If any of you are into Soccer or have family into soccer, this is interesting if you're in these cities :
Barcelona licenses youth soccer camps in US
The Associated Press
Posted: 04/25/2012 10:11:58 AM PDT
Updated: 04/25/2012 10:12:08 AM PDT
LOS ANGELES—Soccer power Barcelona has licensed its name to the company All American Sports Enterprises Inc. to open youth camps in the United States.
The company said Wednesday that camps will be held in July and August in Los Angeles; New York; Portland, Ore.; San Antonio; San Jose, Calif.; and Seattle. A technical team from the Escola youth program will travel from Spain "to oversee preparation and execution."
Escola is a feeder to Barcelona's La Masia residential youth academy, which has produced a large percentage of the current first team.
Barcelona has licensed its name to youth programs in Argentina, Brazil, El Salvador, England, India, Singapore, Slovenia and South Korea.
Entertaining game. Didn't Pepe hand ball on Robben's FK? It would have been a harsh call but....Ronaldo just converted what Ribbery and Robben couldn't.
Pepe is such a punk. Flopping all over the ground and holding his arm like he'd been shot here in the second pd after Ribery went by him. Replay shows nothing happened to Pepe's arm at all.
This should be a lousy final, as I can't see how Chelsea has a chance without Terry, Meireles, Ramires and Ivanovic. They may as well field the reserves.
Still, that semi and the final round of The Masters were the two most compelling sporting events I've seen this year. What theater. I actually thought Gary Neville's ear-gasm during Torres' goal was fitting!
"You know why I love boxers? I love them because they face fear. And they face it alone." - Nick Charles
"First on the throttle, last on the brakes." - @MotoGP Twitter signature
Hugely entertaining game today as well. I think Madrid missed their chance in ET, as they clearly had more left in their legs than the Germans. Not a great exhibition of PK's by either team, as they were both letting the keepers cheat without taking advantage. Only Alonso and Schweinsteiger made them pay for their early commitment.
I think both semis were very, very well officiated. The first penalty today was unlucky, but properly given. Good work by both sets of officials for both games.
XBL Gamertag: RobVarak
"Ok I'm an elitist, but I have a healthy respect for people who don't measure up." --Aaron Sorkin
Very tense match. I thought Bayern definitely deserved it. Very good team, very fast on the break (and tonight they dominated for long periods). The early penalty decision against them was harsh IMO. If that was a penalty, then, as 10s pointed out, Pepe's handball from Robben's free kick was equally deserving of a penalty. Chelsea will have the amazing Cech and Drogba duo and from what I've seen of them, they have quite a few excellent players (Ashley Cole doesn't seem to be the most popular round these parts but I've rarely seen the guy put a foot wrong). That said, Bayern look to have more cards up their sleeve for the final. Ironically, maybe the intense rivalry between Barca and Madrid meant that their encounter at the Camp Nou last Saturday left them running on empty to some extent for the second-leg matches. Credit to Casillas for getting Madrid back into the penalty shoot-out.
Pep Guardiola stepping down to be replaced by that guy Mourinho poked in the eye earlier this season. Next season's Classico should be even more interesting.
Anyone think that Fabregas is Barcelona's Juan Sebastian Veron - i.e. world class player comes in but somehow f's up the team shape/chemistry?
fsquid wrote:people are calling for UEFA to give clemency to those who are banned from the Champions League Final.
Yes please, that way we can get the best possible match not a reserve game. I certainly dont want to see Kalou for 90 minutes.
And Macca , at first i thought Fabergas looked out of place the first few times he was on but then after he was playing more regular and was scoring all those goals and playing the short stuff with the team i was like "wow hes's fit in quite nice now" but towards the back end of the season im back to thinking hes not a good fit again yes.
Pep stepping down thats a surprise isnt it? (dont follow Spain that close) If its true Pep to Chelsea The Russian is checking his off shore bank accounts as we speak.
In terms of versatility, Cesc is better than Thiago and Pedro. I think people made the wrong assumption that he would back up Xavi quite nicely but with an overcrowded midfield already, the natural choice to play the forward position is Pedro. Although it does seem that there's no perfect vacant position for him now, he does seem to fill in well whatever role is asked of him. Lately, whether he's fatigued or whatever he hasn't done much. Having said that, I think he would be much more helpful playing for his former team than Barca.
Macca00 wrote:Pep Guardiola stepping down to be replaced by that guy Mourinho poked in the eye earlier this season. Next season's Classico should be even more interesting.
Anyone think that Fabregas is Barcelona's Juan Sebastian Veron - i.e. world class player comes in but somehow f's up the team shape/chemistry?
I think their drop in form has been more due to the absences of Pique and especially Villa. They also seem to have lost a bit of depth from their peak, a change which is particularly critical given the sheer number of fixtures they've played in the last 12-18 months.
XBL Gamertag: RobVarak
"Ok I'm an elitist, but I have a healthy respect for people who don't measure up." --Aaron Sorkin
just as well as he was a liability defensively. (No hes still shite Macca and Rob)
