Champions League 2017/18

[El Gato]

How can you say we are late comers in European prestige and behind Liverpool and Bayern at that? Come on. It's always been Barca and Real since the 50s, Real were more successful but Barca were always the romantics choice. These two clubs have been head and shoulders above all the others for decades and we have Barca fans like you saying it's only a recent phenomenon, unbelievable.

By "recent" he means since 1990 I assume. Barca were nowhere to be seen in Europe before then. Ian Rush & Graeme Souness' Liverpool and Gerd Muller's Bayern were there at least a decade before Barca broke through as a clear 2nd European Spain-based team.

Not that Madrid was particularly dominant post-Di-Stefano, lol. Took hiring Heynckes to get back onto it.

 

[KingLeo10]

By "recent" he means since 1990 I assume. Barca were nowhere to be seen in Europe before then. Ian Rush & Graeme Souness' Liverpool and Gerd Muller's Bayern were there at least a decade before Barca broke through as a clear 2nd European Spain-based team.

Not that Madrid was particularly dominant post-Di-Stefano, lol. Took hiring Heynckes to get back onto it.

it's a little more nuanced than that. barca actually stopped real in the european cup semis in the early 60s under helenio herrera if i recall correctly. and in those days only the league champions (and holders) were allowed to participate in the european cup, which is why league dominant teams like real, bayern, ajax, benfica and liverpool established themselves early on, atleast in terms of regular semis and finals and cups. barca, the milan clubs (outside of a short spell in the 60s), united and juve featured mostly in UEFA cup and other intercontinental competitions until the rules were changed to accomodate more than 1 team per league, which benefited barca and milan greatly (as they previously had to contend with real and juve just to get a participation spot).

I will agree that real stands out unique amongst the historic clubs in that you have been there since the beginning and continue to be a force today (unlike milan).

 

[Luftstalag14]

Popularity is not all about trophies, Celtic have always been more popular than Rangers, Man Utd always more popular than Liverpool and Barca more popular than Real

How can you say we are late comers in European prestige and behind Liverpool and Bayern at that? Come on. It's always been Barca and Real since the 50s, Real were more successful but Barca were always the romantics choice. These two clubs have been head and shoulders above all the others for decades and we have Barca fans like you saying it's only a recent phenomenon, unbelievable.

There is no data to suggest Real had more fans, it wasn't measured until recently and Barca finished top. Barca sell more shirts and have more fans on social media so I don't understand why so many Barca fans in this forum want us to believe Real are a bigger and better club, they aren't now and have never been.

The numbers of shirt sales that I have seen all indicated that Real Madrid sold more (albeit slightly) than us on a per year basis.

I think prestige and popularity are two different things by the way. Prestige is mostly associated with trophies won and history matters a lot while popularity has more to do with how the club/team is currently performing. For example, AC Milan has 7 CLs, ahead of us, Bayern, Liverpool and any other European club except Real Madrid, is not very popular by any account right now but when it comes to prestige they can always brag about the 7 CL trophies they won. Real Madrid is both prestigious and popular, unfortunately.

Again, like I said earlier, we still have a lot of time. Even after the Messi-Ronaldo era as long as we don't screw up and plan smartly, we can still achieve a lot more fame and prestige, we can catch up to Real Madrid in that department, and we can remain very popular. But if we are not careful, we could be the next AC Milan.

 

[Barcilliant]

This was our golden generation with the greatest player of all time in it. Despite that we have massively underachieved. Thanks to poor decisions by the board, player complacency and an unwillingness to adapt to modern football we have blown a great chance. We should have won at least two more cls.

 

[Barcilliant]

We may have been a romantic club and even a big one but prior to Cruyffs dream team we didn't achieve shit in the old European cup. Teams like Celtic, Benfica, Villa and even Forrest had won the cup before us!

Teams like Liverpool, Bayern and Ajax were considered the benchmark in Europe.

 

[Kewell]

This is a bit exaggerated. Bayern today outshot RM 17-7, a vast majority of which were point blank chances that could easily have ended up in the goal. Liverpool's attack this season is, without a single doubt, superior to Bayern. And they also excel most at scoring in transition/counter which RM is weakest at defending. And Salah right now is in a level of form that no Bayern player can dream of touching. Before this game they were dominated by Juve who were also able to feast on defensive lapses against them.

RM will have several great chances against Liverpool for sure, but it will be the same the other way around. I expect this (potential) final to be a straight up shootout and the team that is more clinical on the day will go home victors. RM being the epxerienced champions they are have the bigger advantages and are easily the favorites, but Liverpool's chance is higher than people make it seem. I certainly think they are a better matchup against RM than Juve was last year, and I think this is the most cohesive/on form offense that RM has faced in the CL in the past 3 years outside of maybe this Heynckes Bayern side (who collectively were great today despite the defensive mistakes and poor finishing). Overall one of the most interesting tests they will have had in a while.

Liverpool fan here.

If Real Madrid leave space behind then Firmino, Salah and Mane will utilize this efficiently and be very problematic for them. However, anyone can beat Liverpool if they play it right. Mourinho found the perfect way to play Liverpool but surprisingly no one has copied it. If Real Madrid plays a deep defense with long balls to their striker especially targeting Lovren, man mark Firmino and Salah then expect Liverpool to do poorly. Once Real Madrid doesn't do this then expect Liverpool to take the game to them.

 

[khaled_a_d]

Faster than us. No elite team in Europe is slower than us. Probably no professional teams in Europe are slower than us.

Not to the closest, Bayern are way slower and older, they benefited a lot from crosses and they have more playmakers in midfield but they are slow as hell.

 

[Birdy]

This Real Madrid is the biggest joke in the recent CL history: i cannot remember any team before that is continuously winning so heavily without deserving it..
There have always been teams winning cup competitions without deserving it, but as one-off wonders.

Today's game epitomizes Zidane's way:
- injuries of the opponent's best players at crucial moments
- Your opponents outplays you, ends the game with 2.35-0.63 xGoals, but the final scoreline is somehow 1-2.
With a goal against the run of play, that succeeds out of 50 times, and another gifted by the opponent.
- referees (not overtly, but observably) leaning in favor of RM regarding those 'tight calls'
- luck when you need it

Yeah, that's the epitomy of Zidane's Real Madrid..
Enjoy one of the best teams in the history of the sport

 

[vlad]

They outplayed psg in both matches, in paris they played with midfield from the bench and still won easily, vs juve, they were better team in torino, on bernabeu match was even, yesterday, they were just clinical and bayern was not, that was the difference, last year they destroyed juve in finals, they were better team in munich in semis, on bernabeu they had referee help


But where is it written that winning cl team has to destroy opponent every match? It is not possible, since mourinho they reached semis every year, and now it will be their 4th final in 5 years, yes, even when they play bad they will match opponents intensity and with so much talent in the swuad they will have their chances, seems like winning formula for them and yes, they are greatest cl team ever

Barca can learn few things from them, since barca can win CL only if they are at their best, otherwise they get embarressed


Edit: barca teams looked like spoiled divas who thinks that they dont need to run much and other teams are scared of them, so you get this, going out in quarters in most embaressing way, they have to understand that nobody is scared of this barca

 

[FinBarcelonafan]

They outplayed psg in both matches, in paris they played with midfield from the bench and still won easily, vs juve, they were better team in torino, on bernabeu match was even, yesterday, they were just clinical and bayern was not, that was the difference, last year they destroyed juve in finals, they were better team in munich in semis, on bernabeu they had referee help


But where is it written that winning cl team has to destroy opponent every match? It is not possible, since mourinho they reached semis every year, and now it will be their 4th final in 5 years, yes, even when they play bad they will match opponents intensity and with so much talent in the swuad they will have their chances, seems like winning formula for them and yes, they are greatest cl team ever

Barca can learn few things from them, since barca can win CL only if they are at their best, otherwise they get embarressed


Edit: barca teams looked like spoiled divas who thinks that they dont need to run much and other teams are scared of them, so you get this, going out in quarters in most embaressing way, they have to understand that nobody is scared of this barca

Truth. We used to be team worth being afraid of, but not anymore.

 

[Flavius]

After each exit Bartomeu come with " we.ll come back stronger next year", yet Real, despite winning CLs are still coming back stronger(more hunger) than us after these wins...

 

[Morten]

As far as luck goes, take a look at our draws.
Not everybody can be Liverpool or Barca, getting Porto and Rome on their way to the final.
Yes i know Liverpool knocked out City, but Porto - City - Rome isnt exactly equivalent to PSG - Juventus - Bayern, though i guess PSG is only tough on paper.

Its about as hard of a route you can possibly get, and im fine with needing luck against so many good teams, when we were so unlucky to not get a simple easy draw this year.
If we only got Rome we would pretty much be guaranteed another CL-final, but our path to the final is a difficult one.

 

[Kragod]

I told my brother last year this was probably the greatest squad that Real have ever had.

What did your brother say?

 

[shockey80]

They outplayed psg in both matches, in paris they played with midfield from the bench and still won easily, vs juve, they were better team in torino, on bernabeu match was even, yesterday, they were just clinical and bayern was not, that was the difference, last year they destroyed juve in finals, they were better team in munich in semis, on bernabeu they had referee help

Watch the 1st leg vs PSG again...you'll change your opinion. PSG had so many opportunities but didn't do anything with them.
And Juventus did the same thing between 1-0 and 2-0. Ronaldo just scored to remarkable goals...everyone forgets about his 1st goal. His 1st goal was a great touch.

 

[hardyboy]

This is a bit exaggerated. Bayern today outshot RM 17-7, a vast majority of which were point blank chances that could easily have ended up in the goal. Liverpool's attack this season is, without a single doubt, superior to Bayern. And they also excel most at scoring in transition/counter which RM is weakest at defending. And Salah right now is in a level of form that no Bayern player can dream of touching. Before this game they were dominated by Juve who were also able to feast on defensive lapses against them.

RM will have several great chances against Liverpool for sure, but it will be the same the other way around. I expect this (potential) final to be a straight up shootout and the team that is more clinical on the day will go home victors. RM being the epxerienced champions they are have the bigger advantages and are easily the favorites, but Liverpool's chance is higher than people make it seem. I certainly think they are a better matchup against RM than Juve was last year, and I think this is the most cohesive/on form offense that RM has faced in the CL in the past 3 years outside of maybe this Heynckes Bayern side (who collectively were great today despite the defensive mistakes and poor finishing). Overall one of the most interesting tests they will have had in a while.

You're naive if you think Loserpool has a chance against madrid in a CL final Madrid will run circles around them. They would be humiliated like never before. I'm expecting a manita from madrid.. Liverpool are no match to madrid in CL. I can bet my house on madrid in the final..