Real Football (Soccer to you Yanks) Thread

After giving it some thought I agree with my earlier statement that the second yellow was harsh, however I think also Van Persie was luckly not to have walked given his first yellow, where he clearly raised his hands to Dani's face. I'm not saying it was full on violent conduct but the risk is run when you put your hand that high. Also Arsenal clearly escaped when Messi was tripped in the first half, the referee was right on top of it so I feel he should have given it, there was enough contact to constitute Messi going down so that was another decision he got wrong. Overall though, even had Van Persie stayed on, I think Barcelona would still have won, and maybe by more because from the time Van Persie did go off until the third goal Arsenal played very deep and defended a lot, had Van Persie been there I think they wouldn't have been as deep and left themselves more exposed, saying that Almunia had a fine game mostly. 19-0 on shots and 67% possession, as well as a lot more passes tells me Barca were the much better side on the night and in the tie. It's just a question of who can stop them. Whoever plays them next will have to get a lot closer to them.
 
There is, they just don't look as spectacular. They will still win and play well, but it's kinda like if you had a really really top of the range car, which then breaks, so you have to use your less better car, which is still a good car, just not as flashy.
 
True, but you still have Villa and Pedro scoring 41 between them.

I think Barca's real problem is the squad, it just isn't there at the moment. Tonight for example Puyol and Pique were missing and it was Abidal and Sergio, which to be fair worked well despite Sergi's OG, but if Puyol and Pique were not there for the longer term there would be a bigger concern I think. The midfield is better though with Xavi, Iniesta and Sergio as well as Keita, Mascherano and Affelay, which leads me to the flexibility of the team. Afellay can play up front too, Inieta can, Masch and Sergio was slot in at the back, Adriano can play at the back and in midfield, and Villa, Pedro and Messi are fairly interchangeable up front. Hopefully they sign Fabregas and Llorente in the Summer.
 
to be honest,the way F.I.F.A. and E.U.F.A. are corrupt at the moment,and blatter and platini's obvious dislike of anything english,it wouldn't surprise me if the ref was instructed or hinted at to make it difficult for arsenal.....hence the ridiculous sending off...i just dont trust them
 
Yeah but equally Barca had a clear penalty turned down in the first half, which arguably was a bigger decision at the time, it didn't change the end result, but it was a bad decision not to give it. Nothing about conspiracy there.

Plus, Arsenal are French, Blatter said so himself ;)

The beautiful game won last night as far as I'm concerned, Arsenal came to defend for 90 minutes and play anti football, like Inter did last year, only this time the plan failed.
 
Watched the game last night but don't really remember it..

I think I left at half time cos i said if arsenal keep it 0-0 til halftime they are in with a chance, but alas on 45+4 minutes (messi?) scores... Game over from then on.
 
Yeah they were resilient defensively. I felt Milan were the better team attacking wise but it's sometimes good to have a performance like that from Spurs because it improves the defensive side of the team. In the other game Schalke beat Valencia 3-1 on the night and 4-2 on aggregate to go through.
 
It really depends who they get, I mean if they drew another English team I think they'd be more prepared considering they play us and Chelsea twice a season anyway, though the same could be said of us. I don't think they'd fancy a Spanish team because the likelihood is they would be attacked a lot more and Tottenham dont strike me as a team who could survive attack after attack, I think they'd fancy a German team out of all the remaining options really, they have a good attacking philosophy and that would help them break down the German resistance.
 
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