General Football/Soccer Talk

[Phil89]

True. Ancelotti did win a treble with Chelsea a few years ago, so he knows how to succeed in England and would be good for City. I wonder if that would open the way for Klopp to join Madrid.


David Luiz obviously didn't learn from the first time this happened

phpBB [video]

[shadowgrin]

Entire Bayern Munich medical team (with their head physio being with the team for 40 years) quit because of reports saying that Pep blamed them for the ass whoopin' they got vs Porto, injuries weakening their team.

Seems like Pep will be available in the market too if they get knocked out of the UCL.


I say:

Pep to City (because I don't see him joining Real Madrid)

Klopp to Real (same as Pep, don't see him joining a rival like Bayern)

[Phil89]

Wow, I hadn't heard that. I knew they were missing several key players through injury, but to blame the medical staff for losing is pathetic by Pep, if true


Napoli had a big win over Wolfsburg in the Europa League and it looks like Rafa Benitez could win his fourth European trophy. His contract expires at the end of the season, so maybe he could be an outside shot at the Real Madrid job as well (if it becomes vacant).

[shadowgrin]

Apparently they've been having 'beef' for some time now, even back to when Thiago Alcantara was injured.

Here's Pep applauding them when Benatia got injured vs Leverkusen.

[Phil89]

The semi final draws are out.

Champions League
Barcelona vs Bayern
Real Madrid vs Juventus


Europa League
Sevilla vs Fiorentina
Napoli vs Dnipro


It's hard for me to go past a Barcelona vs Real Madrid final. They have both been so good this season and it would be an epic match.

I think Napoli will win the Europa League.

[formx]

I want Juve as an underdog and beat Madrid. Although an El Clasico final would be amazing too.

[Phil89]

I can't see anyone stopping Barcelona from winning the CL with the form they are in.

Messi, Suarez & Neymar have 111 goals between them this season. That's 6 more than the entire Chelsea team and only 6 less than Bayern

[stereoxide]

I feel sorry for Gerrard and Liverpool this should have been them last season, and doing the guard of honor for Chelsea makes the pain worse.

[[Q]]

I can't see anyone stopping Barcelona from winning the CL with the form they are in.

Messi, Suarez & Neymar have 111 goals between them this season. That's 6 more than the entire Chelsea team and only 6 less than Bayern

Unless Bayern drops 6 goals on them like they did Porto. (Yes, I know Barca is way better than Porto)

[shadowgrin]

Watch Bayern win the 2nd leg by 4-1 and still get eliminated because of the away goals rule.

[Phil89]

I feel sorry for Gerrard and Liverpool this should have been them last season, and doing the guard of honor for Chelsea makes the pain worse.

At least he got a goal. That was nice, I guess.

Not sure why the commentators went out of their way to praise Chelsea fans for applauding Gerrard when he went off. Especially when half the ground initially booed him when he was heading off.

He summed it up pretty well after the match

I can't see anyone stopping Barcelona from winning the CL with the form they are in.

Messi, Suarez & Neymar have 111 goals between them this season. That's 6 more than the entire Chelsea team and only 6 less than Bayern

Unless Bayern drops 6 goals on them like they did Porto. (Yes, I know Barca is way better than Porto)

Watch Bayern win the 2nd leg by 4-1 and still get eliminated because of the away goals rule.

It's hard to see Bayern stopping Barcelona from scoring.

The other match is interesting though because Juventus have a 2-1 lead and Real Madrid aren't in great form. It could go either way and maybe whoever scores the first goal will win.

[Phil89]

phpBB [video]

[stereoxide]

So it will be Barcelona-Juventus in the CL Final. Morata scoring twice against his former club. Barcelona will be the favorites to win though. I think they can win the treble this year with the way they are playing.

[Phil89]

It's hilariously ironic to see a former Real Madrid youth product knock them out of the CL as their big name signings fail to deliver

Hopefully Suarez lets his football do the talking because you just know the whole build-up to the match will be about him vs Chiellini and Evra.

[Phil89]

Shouldn't laugh at an 84 year old man falling off a stage like this, but he was ok and got up to present the trophy afterwards.

[stereoxide]

I thought you were going to talk about the horrendous showing by Liverpool in Gerrard's last match in Anfield.

[Phil89]

I thought you were going to talk about the horrendous showing by Liverpool in Gerrard's last match in Anfield.

Why bother? I mentally checked out after United beat us a few weeks ago and top 4 was gone. I expect a similar result away at Stoke to end the season tbh.

Liverpool need a big summer to get back into the champions league fight next season. A beast midfielder and a proper striker to replace Suarez would be a good start.

[Phil89]

I expect a similar result away at Stoke to end the season tbh.

I knew the team would play crap, but I wasn't expecting to get smashed 6-1 by Stoke Feel bad for Gerrard that he had to end his Liverpool career in such a way. He deserved better.


This stat sums up our season.



The failure to replace Luis Suarez and having Sturridge out injured for most of the season killed us. Balotelli and Lambert were failures and no one else could score. We need to sign a quality striker this summer.

Brendan Rodgers looks set to be sacked. Jurgen Klopp to replace him would be great.

[Phil89]

http://www.bbc.com/sport/0/football/32982449

Sepp Blatter is to resign as president of football's governing body Fifa amid a corruption scandal and is reportedly under investigation in the US.

In announcing his exit, the 79-year-old Swiss has called an extraordinary Fifa congress "as soon as possible" to elect a new president.

Blatter was re-elected last week, despite seven top Fifa officials being arrested two days before the vote.

But he said: "My mandate does not appear to be supported by everybody."

[shadowgrin]

Transfer season has started!

Rafa Benitez to coach Real Madrid lol.
Jurgen Klopp taking a sabbatical for now.

Memphis Depay to Manchester United even before the league season was over. £25m.

David Villa, Frank Lampard, and Pirlo going to play for NYCFC, a good team to bandwagon in the MLS!

James Milner to Liverpool, free transfer.
Martin Skrtel definitely out with Liverpool after Rodgers offended him by offering Skrtel a pay as you play contract. Unless of course Rodgers gets sacked.

[Phil89]

Transfer season has started!

Rafa Benitez to coach Real Madrid lol.

As happy as I am for him that he got his dream job, I just can't see it ending well. Ancelotti just got sacked after winning the champions league and it's going to be hard for Rafa to win the league against such a good Barcelona team.

Jurgen Klopp taking a sabbatical for now.

Can't blame him for taking a break. Things kind of derailed at Dortmund after that Champions League final loss.

David Villa, Frank Lampard, and Pirlo going to play for NYCFC, a good team to bandwagon in the MLS!

I'm surprised that Xavi went for the oil money in Qatar instead of going to the MLS as well.

James Milner to Liverpool, free transfer.
Martin Skrtel definitely out with Liverpool after Rodgers offended him by offering Skrtel a pay as you play contract. Unless of course Rodgers gets sacked.

Milner seems to be another Jordan Henderson type. Not very exciting or highly skilled, but gives 100% every game and is a solid player. He did impress me in the few Man City games I saw last season though, and he'll offer more to the team than Gerrard did last season at least.

I wouldn't really care if Skrtel left. Except he is our best defender and rarely gets injured. So hopefully it gets sorted out or even better - Dejan Lovren magically remembers how to defend


Not to mention the Raheem Sterling saga. I've got no idea how that will turn out. Apart from the fact that he'll only leave if a big offer comes in - like Suarez.

[shadowgrin]

Xavi following Guardiola's advice and doing what Guardiola did when he left Barcelona.
Besides, Xavi was probably offered a lot of tax-free money and 'hidden' bonuses that even the government couldn't find.

[Mandich]

What a disgrace. It's just so retarded how bias the refa are in every major football occasion for a certain team. If that's not a penalty I don't know what is. Barca players jump like monkeys on the Neymar handball and not a certain card is shown. What a joke. Such a shame the best player in the world has to play in such obviously rigged competitions.

[Phil89]

Really? If it was rigged why didn't Vidal get a red card or Neymar's handball goal count? The penalty looked 50/50 to me. Alves had his arm on Pogba's back, but he didn't seem to grab his shirt or pull him down.


The better team won on the day. The best forward line we've probably ever seen delivered again. What an incredible record they have this season.

barcastuff @barcastuff
Messi (58), Neymar (39) and Suarez (25) have together scored 122 goals this season

What a turnaround for Luis Suarez this season. Twelve months ago he was a pariah and now he's won the champions league and scored the crucial goal.

[bigh0rt]

Regardless of that penalty no call, it certainly felt like every single call went Barcelona's way and that Juventus couldn't buy a call from the officials. I wouldn't say rigged, but the game was officiated slanting Barcelona's way from whistle to whistle. Juventus dominated a good portion of the match, following their early concession and into the first 10 - 15 minutes of the second half. They had the better of the play, had chances, but couldn't capitalize outside of their early equalizer. Barcelona's midfield and back line I feel are very overrated, and they get by having such offensive firepower with those three, and really just Messi, as he orchestrates many of their goals, including the deciding one that Suarez finished. A true World Class goalkeeper parries that outside of the penalty area or holds onto it, though, I feel, not deflecting it to the six yard area for a sitter. Again, I've always felt Gianluigi was an overrated bum.

Suarez is still a pariah. A true scumbag in every sense of the word, deciding goal or not.