For what, faceball?
How often do you wash your hat?
Sidâs a Barca fan, he expects favours, intervention and cover-ups from UEFA.
massive Fagan, massive
Fair play to Milan. They choked Narcs then took their chances well. The further the game went on the less likely the Catalans looked liked scoring.
This tie is red rover. Just goes to show how lop sided La Liga is.
I believe that Mullerâs cross for the first Bayern Munich goal last night was intended to pick out Kroos and went exactly where he aimed for. The general consensus on the TV coverage last night, and now again on RTE, was that it was lucky and mishit. Lee Dixon called it a âscabbyâ cross on ITV last night.
barca aren´t the force they once were and a lot more teams know how to frustrate them now but i still don´t think Milan will hold them in camp nouâŚif barca got an early goal i can see Milan totally foldingâŚ
at the moment it looks like there will be 3 german teams in last 8âŚcan they be drawn against eachother if it happens? or is it just in semi´sâŚ
No, pal. You couldnât have 3 teams playing against each other in 1 match.
what about drawn against eachother?..palâŚas in two german teams meetingâŚpalâŚ
2 of the teams could meet alright, pal.
Perhaps EPL Runt could remind us all of that exciting Liverpool-Arsenal last eight clash from a few years back?
This could not be better set up for a famous victory in the Nou Camp and a barnstorming run to win the CL. Believe.
Milan have come on from a few years ago at this stage. Barca werenât expecting a team not to fold for them at the first sign of danger like most of the teams in La Liga do. Once Ac can get an away goal I think they will get through.
Barca are done.
Didnât think Milan were any great shakes despite beating Barca. Even at 0-0 Barca didnât seem interested for some reason. Was a weird type of performance from them, incredibly passive, poor work rate, non existent movement. The likes of Fabregas and Xavi were invisible. Milanâs first goal was a bit of a fluke, the second was well worked to be fair. Thought it was unusual to see Milan celebrate wildly after the first leg too. It is only half time and Barca wonât be as shite again.
Not too long ago the likes of Muntari was struggling to get a game at Sunderland, Iâve never rated Mexes, Ambrosini did well the other night but his best days are over. Despite the result that is an average Milan side and would still fancy Barca to turn it around.
Munich were comfortably the best side of the round. Arsenal could well get an awful hiding over there if they donât get the first goal.
[quote=âKIB man, post: 739658, member: 208â]Didnât think Milan were any great shakes despite beating Barca. Even at 0-0 Barca didnât seem interested for some reason. Was a weird type of performance from them, incredibly passive, poor work rate, non existent movement. The likes of Fabregas and Xavi were invisible. Milanâs first goal was a bit of a fluke, the second was well worked to be fair. Thought it was unusual to see Milan celebrate wildly after the first leg too. It is only half time and Barca wonât be as shite again.
Not too long ago the likes of Muntari was struggling to get a game at Sunderland, Iâve never rated Mexes, Ambrosini did well the other night but his best days are over. Despite the result that is an average Milan side and would still fancy Barca to turn it around.
Munich were comfortably the best side of the round. Arsenal could well get an awful hiding over there if they donât get the first goal.[/quote]
Agreed with most of that. I think Barça will progress but theyâve given themselves a tough task and will need to cop themselves on. Pundits were saying last night that itâs now obvious how to play against Barca but I donât think itâs straightforward. Milan pressed them far more than Chelsea or Celtic I thought and Milanâs full backs stayed wide, unlike either other teams who had success against Barca recently.
[quote=âKIB man, post: 739658, member: 208â]Didnât think Milan were any great shakes despite beating Barca. Even at 0-0 Barca didnât seem interested for some reason. Was a weird type of performance from them, incredibly passive, poor work rate, non existent movement. The likes of Fabregas and Xavi were invisible. Milanâs first goal was a bit of a fluke, the second was well worked to be fair. Thought it was unusual to see Milan celebrate wildly after the first leg too. It is only half time and Barca wonât be as shite again.
Not too long ago the likes of Muntari was struggling to get a game at Sunderland, Iâve never rated Mexes, Ambrosini did well the other night but his best days are over. Despite the result that is an average Milan side and would still fancy Barca to turn it around.
Munich were comfortably the best side of the round. Arsenal could well get an awful hiding over there if they donât get the first goal.[/quote]
KIB,
i agree with much of your post
it is a very much different game now however at 2-0, before Muntari got that goal i really felt that Barca just were trying to play the game out safe in the knowledge they would rip them apart in the open spaces of the Nou Camp.
i was impressed with ambosini and mexes in particular, mexes was like paul mcgrath vs italy in USA 94 getting the vital interceptions in everywhere and ambrosine was tigerish in midfield with the tackles, Montilivo then made things happen for Milan .
aside from that , i really was not too impressed with them, The boy up front from Morocco, El Sharawwy (sp) is a lot of huff and puff , he did well for the second goal but one must take into account the awful defending from the center half.
i had a 0-0 draw backed after 15 mins, the first goal while well finished resulted from a rather comical assist from a shot that was going nowhere.
I must say i enjpyed the RTE studio last night, Brady made some good points about the one dimensional way Barca just try to play thru the middle with all the pasing and how they are missing an actual center forward to give them a plan B if they wanted to vary things and swing in a few crosses into the box,
H espoke highly of Milan, and i agree, they have come a long way from last summer, its such a pity Ballotelli isnt eligible for the CL, id love to see him in a game like this.
aside from that, i do think the praise been heaped on SES and Milan is premature.
Muntari is a disaster waiting to happen in the Nou Camp, as is they lad playing left back whose name escapes me,
its going to be a fascinating game in a few weeks.
elsewhere that looked a cracking game in istanbul last night, again the seemingly lesser match seemed a lot better game
that was a smashing goal from Yilmaz and Drogba really seemed to have a bit about him, looking very fit
Galatasary will be disappointed not to have gone to Gelsenkirchen without a lead tho
Didnât see either of the 2 games you mentioned but didnât think Milan pressed them high up the pitch. They double teamed Iniesta well on the left, tracked the runs of the full backs abd flooded the area in front of the box with bodies. routinely they got the ball back by Barca trying to run it up the middle and just lose it. Barca were guilty of overconfidence and probably thought that even if the game finished 0-0 they would walk the second leg.
They didnât go all out pressing them but they didnât allow Xavi and Busquets to just stroll forward or pass at their own pace either. It was a slightly more dynamic version of the disciplined defending that Chelsea and Celtic opted for. But they were certainly helped by a lethargic and unambitious performance from Barça. Theyâve been beaten before but hard to remember them creating fewer chances in a game.
Both Chelsea and Celtic rode to their luck in both games as well, Forster made some excellent saves. You couldnât say the same for AC, Barca hadnât one real chance of note and aside from a couple of decent hits from 20+ yards they created nothing and were completely nullified. While I agree that a lack of plan B hasnât helped, neither has the fact that their other attacking options like Villa and Sanchez are completely out of form at present. Bit similar to the 2009/2010 season when Zlatan got injured and lost a bit of form and they had Henry and Bojan on the bench but were playing terribly