What kind of reasoning is this? Hypotheticals?? "Should have performed better". You are getting bold with these hot takes. Maybe Suarez/Rakitic didn't underperform from their usual level but actually straight up declined?? Suarez has been nothing like his old self since 2017 started really, even his recent goals have been pretty easy finishes while his inconsistency in front of goal continues.
RM were also 1 point away from winning the league in 15/16 after we nearly blew a 10 point lead that the fat idiot Rafa Benitez gifted us. Goes both ways and could say we were lucky to not have 2 consecutive seasons with only CDR. RM even got kicked out of the 15/16 CDR for fielding an extra player, giving us an easy trophy on a technicality. You're a master of revisionism tho.
Go say "Barca had a better starting XI than RM in 16/17" in any general football forum or neutral discussion ground. You'd get laughed the fuck out of there within minutes. Pure homerism and bias.
Jeepers have said it three times....
Barcas top players failed to show up. Reals didnt and Lucho made fuck ups that Zidane didnt.
If referees didnt fuck up Real might not make the final....think that is more beneficial than anything.
Seriously, how do you judge a player's quality? Busquets isn't good because his name is busquets but because he performs well constantly and in big matches against the best teams in the world. If our starting xi underperforms against big teams it means that we are a worse team than real.
Also if you want to judge on paper real starting xi is still better. Only MSN was better than BBC, Kroos-Modric-Casemiro is easily the best midfield in the world, Marcelo and Carvajal have been the best fullbacks in the world for the past years. Their central defenders are also better, maybe only Ter Stegen is better than Navas.
So you are agreeing with me quality of squad is not solely dependent on results.
Exactly.
You are massively over rating Real again but you seem to be a bit in awe of them so go for it.
Can you tell me the head to head results in the league when those first teams met across the past few years?
I'm not overrating Real, it's a fact that Kroos and Modric are better footballers than Rakitic or Andre Gomes and current Iniesta and that Marcelo and Carvajal are better than Sergi Roberto and Jordi Alba.
Can you tell me the head to head results in the league when those first teams met across the past few years?
since 2013-14 5 wins for barca and 2 for real, but you can't judge our starting xi based only on the head to head results.
For example I could say that real have advanced against atletico in the cl in the past 5 season while we were knocked out by them in 2014 and 2016.
I would say head to head is better way to judge it than anything subjective.
What is your point about Atletico?
It was only an example. To judge a team's quality compared to another team you need to take into consideration performances against mid-table teams in the league, performances in the head to head matches and performances against the best teams in the world like atletico or bayern.
Can't wait to see Messi and coutinho together, two absolute geniuses
My point is Barca have out performed Real in those past three years as a whole Barca have had a good enough squad to dominate Real on head to heads, have won most likely three of four league titles and off back of three cup wins in a row.
Barca have for whatever reason not done as well in the CL and I think has been mix of those top players underperforming at crucial moments and some fuck ups by Lucho.
You take those handful of CL games and ignore everything else to state Real have a vastly superior squad and starting line up. I dont agree and dont think Barca dominate domestically and head to head if that is the case.
You're the one who is claiming that we have a better starting xi only because we have a better head to head record against them. Ramos almost always fucks up in the clasicos but he rarely makes mistakes against Bayern and Atletico in the CL, does it mean that he's a worse defender than Piqué?
In past three seasons Barca have two league titles and three cups to Reals one league title. Looking like three of four titles.
Barca have dominated the head to head and won three on the bounce in the Bernabeu scoring ten goals.
Yet you ignore all that and focus on a handful of CL games where I admit Barca have not been good enough and said why/
You concude from the CL only that Real have a much better starting eleven and a stronger bench.
It actually points to Barca being dominant but for CL not being inferior.
In the past 3 seasons:
-2014/15: Barca 94 points, Real 92 points;
-2015/16: Barca 91 points, Real 90 points;
-2016-17: Barca 90 points, Real 93 points.
Real have the same points as us in the past 3 seasons, Barca has been slightly better in the league but has not dominated like you're claiming. We won the league by 1-2 points.
