The top 4 leagues all have their weak and strong points.
The top 4 leagues all have their weak and strong points.
Sevilla really brought it on themselves. You really cant miss 2 penalties over the two games and expect to go through in the champions league. They were the better team over the two legs but their nerves got the best of them. They really are a team who can't handle being favourites.
Really impressed with Monaco and am happy Man City is out.
On the topic of the leagues, La Liga has the most depth even though the league itself does everything in its right to keep the 2 clubs at the top. The problems German teams have in Europe is they play every game the same as they do in their own league. You won't see a German team park the bus, as they simply cant and this exposes them to those dangerous counter attacking teams from the lower tier leagues in Europe. They lose out on trying to play positive attacking football, sometimes you gotta step back and defend in Europe. German teams struggle to do that.
Leicester and Man Utd are the only remaining English clubs in Europe and neither team is in the top 5 of the EPL. Spurs got knocked out by Gent. Arsenal and Man City went out in spectacular fashion. Leicester got lucky with the group they was in probably the weakest group i have seen in a champions league. Southampton got knocked out by Hapoel Beer Sheva and West Ham couldn't even qualify. I think its a case of opponents getting extra motivated against EPL teams and they just turn it on against them.
Quarter-final draw:
Atletico - Leicester
Dortmund - Monaco
Bayern - Real
Juventus - Barcelona
I'm guessing Dortmund - Monaco will be the best game to watch. Anticipate a lot of goals and fast flowing football. Leicester will struggle because Atletico is so defensive-minded, I'd give them way lower odds against someone like Barca/Dortmund/Monaco.
Originally Posted by CharlesJones
Absolutely devastated tonight, going out to Lyon on penalties when we played so well over 2 legs. Just missed too many important players, sad for Besiktas. The clubs been through so much we deserved some success in Europe, the team just lacks ruthlessness.
Bayern got raped by the ref, people using the game as an excuse to bring in video refereeing. Thing is the decisions made in the Bayern - Madrid game, you shouldn't need video refereeing in the first place. The refereeing in Europe has been seriously bias towards Spanish teams, especially this season. I hope Juventus win it all.
The penalty miss by Vidal was so crucial they could have gone on with it that night at 2-0 up at half time but unfortunately it gave Madrid hope and once Martinez was stupidly sent off they capitalised and from there it was always going to end in tears. The refereeing wasn't great in the second leg but honestly it's no excuse. I am not a fan of Arturo Vidal I hope they sell him to Chelsea, Alonso is retiring which on the one hand is great but on the other it is so frustrating to see Toni Kroos in Madrid when Schweinsteiger is gone and Alonso is earning the money they refused to give to Kroos and quite frankly it's scandalous in hindsight. I really thought there was a chance to do better post-Pep but they've done worse! Fucking hell. There needs to be a lot of activity in the summer because Lahm is retiring and Rafinha is nowhere near good enough to be the full time RB, the midfield needs bolstering and with the imminent exit of Douglas Costa there needs to be some wide players brought in too.
The bullshit refereeing in favour of at the very least Barcelona and Real Madrid is so obvious it isn't even hidden anymore and I really hate both of these teams. I'm hoping for Juventus to win I was a huge Serie A fan back in the 1990's and it's kind of sad to me to see Serie A bordering on being irrelevant. Funninly enough Juventus v Monaco was the semi final in 1998 when Real Madrid defeated Juventus in the final. I think the whole bus bomb situation with Dortmund really shook that team to the point they couldn't do anything against Monaco and I would be surprised if they could pull off a victory against Juve. I wouldn't mind seeing Atletico win but preference is for Juve.
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So who will play Real in the final? Looking like a repeat of 1998 Juve v Real
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Juventus v Real Madrid confirmed. I wonder how Pogba feels lol
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Should be a good final, hope Juve win.
Pogba's got the Europe league to think about. I remember when Owen left Liverpool to go to Madrid because he wanted to win the champions league. Thats when Liverpool went on to win the champions league.
Ajax looked good last week though so Man U want to be careful. I hope Ajax win it would be good to see them have some relevance in Europe again.
If Juve win then the 4 best teams would have won it in the last 4 years. If Atletico managed to win one then the 5 far and away best teams would have won. I'm hoping Juve win but Real Madrid have an awesome team with ridiculous depth I wouldn't be surprised if it went in to extra time.
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The Bayern - Leipzig game was great.
Chelsea champions, the EPL this year wasn't that great. Liverpool, Arsenal, Man City and Man utd all disappointing. Inter Milan now want Conte.
Ajax making the finally of the Europa League i can say i am genuinely surprised. After how bad they were in Europe last season seeing them make the final this year. I can only relate this improvement to De Boer leaving.
End of an era today, Francesco Totti's last game. Only Buffon remains from that great generation.
Was tough to watch, One of the best players i ever got to watch play.
Match of the year tonight?
De mijne is 4x duurder!
I don't know what Juve were doing in the second half, they played so well in the first and were the better team for 45 minutes. Fell apart in the second, they played too deep. Dybala and Higuain went missing. A real shame.
I am sick of seeing Madrid win, but also get all the decisions go there way. The red card was ridiculous, the ref is a bloody fool for giving it. Same shit happened in the quarter final against Bayern. Madrid were handed the win there thanks to dodgy refereeing. They had already beaten Juve by then but refs simply can't let Ramos get away with shit like that.
I didn't watch it but very annoying to wake up to Madrid winning, they're such cunts. WTF happened to Juve shipping 4 goal! Poor Juve just keep on losing finals.
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