La Liga 14/15

[Alarcón]

If we can't beat Atletico then we don't deserve La Liga. To get the best, you have to beat the best.

Real Madrid didn't beat anyone, why would they deserve it?

 

[Deco 20]

Real Madrid didn't beat anyone, why would they deserve it?

They beat us

 

[Leo_Messi]

Me 2.

As I said before, Real Madrid are the only side on the planet that can have us on back foot for extended periods of the game. Bayern have been somewhat underwhelming for the past 2 seasons or so. 12/13 was a one-off. Really, before their treble season, no one really considered them as one of the really great European sides for more or less a decade. And don't give me that "CL-finals" BS.

While I was guilty of being engaged in obvious jinxing earlier in this thread, my recent statements are hardly controversial from an objective point of view. I have no love lost for RM but you got to be honest with yourself.

Sevilla were actually not that bad tonight either. One could argue that they deserved more but at the same time RM's defense (Casillas included) were doing well. Especially using Varane, Pepe and Ramos at once has worked well for Carlo. Atlético was not a one night stand in other words.

Carlo will commit a tactical mistake if he moves away from that tactic against Juventus just to accommodate Bale IMO. A lot depends on whether Benzema will be ready for the first leg though. Ronaldo and Bale upfront with James, Isco, Kroos and Ramos behind them is not that bad though and won't really change the tactics. If Benzema will be fit the case might be different.

 

[StarLord]

Seriously, I know you are disappointed by Sevilla result but don't start sounding like a gloryhunter who's in it only for trophies.
We're playing best football in Europe that should account for a lot. Trophies are great but in the end that's not why we're watching Barca.

I agree 100%. Trophies are overrated. The best a team can do is to play good football and we are doing exactly that and then some!

Now, we have reached a point where luck can have us undone. We have been playing tough games all season long, and since late November we have been beasting both Spain and Europe! I seriously can't remember another season where we won so many big games. We have consistently drawn the toughest teams in Europe in the CL, while our rivals (both local and foreign) have had it far easier on all counts. If we play to our full potential I expect us to get past Bayern (either easily or narrowly) and then all bets are off (if Real Madrid also make it to the final)

Having said that, Bayern are a proper world class team with only one thing on their mind (unlike us) and getting past them will be a real achievement. Knock-out ties are sometimes determined by fortune (or the lack thereof) and that is what I am fearful of.

Anyhow, the team have managed to do what we demanded of them, go for all the titles, beat great opponents and most importantly, play attractive football! They have done exactly that.

Now, squeaky bum time...

 

[Leo_Messi]

I agree 100%. Trophies are overrated. The best a team can do is to play good football and we are doing exactly that and then some!

Now, we have reached a point where luck can have us undone. We have been playing tough games all season long, and since late November we have been beasting both Spain and Europe! I seriously can't remember another season where we won so many big games. We have consistently drawn the toughest teams in Europe in the CL, while our rivals (both local and foreign) have had it far easier on all counts. If we play to our full potential I expect us to get past Bayern (either easily or narrowly) and then all bets are off (if Real Madrid also make it to the final)

Having said that, Bayern are a proper world class team with only one thing on their mind (unlike us) and getting past them will be a real achievement. Knock-out ties are sometimes determined by fortune (or the lack thereof) and that is what I am fearful of.

Anyhow, the team have managed to do what we demanded of them, go for all the titles, beat great opponents and most importantly, play attractive football! They have done exactly that.

Now, squeaky bum time...

While trophies are not everything we can't deny that they are crucial. Trophies are what sets big clubs apart from smaller clubs. "Beautiful football" (itself highly subjective) alone won't do it unless you are Rayo Vallecano. Often more than not (especially in the modern era) you tend to win while playing offensive football in the process as well.

I want us to win at least the league title this season (winning the Copa del Rey alone won't be enough IMO) due to how last season ended and RM winning the CL.
I also feel that we as a club (take into account all the off-field drama, our moronic board and subsequent bad publicity) need to make a statement. Let alone this being the era of Messi, Xavi's last season likely, us buying Suárez and the amazing story a successful season ending would be given all the struggles in recent times, numerous changes of the squad the past summer, a new largely green manager in Lucho etc.
Tons of reasons to desperately want us to win the league at least and preferably the CL too. I refrained from talking much about a possible treble but we are only 7 games away from achieving just that. We would become the only club to win the treble twice in the history of European football. That would be a colossal achievement.

So no, I won't be comforted with "just" 4.5 months of good/great football. Especially not if that means that our greatest rival (RM) will win major titles for the second season in a row while we end another season empty-handed.

Hell no.

 

[Morten]

I agree 100%. Trophies are overrated. The best a team can do is to play good football and we are doing exactly that and then some!

Now, we have reached a point where luck can have us undone. We have been playing tough games all season long, and since late November we have been beasting both Spain and Europe! I seriously can't remember another season where we won so many big games. We have consistently drawn the toughest teams in Europe in the CL, while our rivals (both local and foreign) have had it far easier on all counts. If we play to our full potential I expect us to get past Bayern (either easily or narrowly) and then all bets are off (if Real Madrid also make it to the final)

Having said that, Bayern are a proper world class team with only one thing on their mind (unlike us) and getting past them will be a real achievement. Knock-out ties are sometimes determined by fortune (or the lack thereof) and that is what I am fearful of.

Anyhow, the team have managed to do what we demanded of them, go for all the titles, beat great opponents and most importantly, play attractive football! They have done exactly that.

Now, squeaky bum time...

You switched to Arsenal recently?

 

[namaria]

They beat us

and with better goal diff :/

 

[ricknattery]

You guys are panicking over nothing. With our current form we can beat this Atletico 9 out of 10 times, plus they basically secured third place by defeating Villareal last game. Only way they put it in jeopardy is if Valencia defeat RM which would basically give us the title.
Plus if Atletico dont need the points they will not push hard against us, they couldnt care less about revenge for the 3 losses against us if it means they will hand RM the title, you only need a little knowledge of La Liga to anticipate that

 

[Vlom]

This thread got VERY depressing in the last few hours.. you would think we're fighting relegation and just lost by 8-0...

 

[cmsy27]

Ah well. As much as I'd hoped Sevilla would at least hold RM to a draw, this really isn't the right attitude to have. We keep playing like we do, we'll win the league. We don't need anyone to drop points Atletico will be tough, but come on, we already beat them thrice this season. We sure can do it again, especially if the trophy's this close to being ours.

 

[StarLord]

You switched to Arsenal recently?

It's not like we are 15 points off and got eliminated at the round of 16 and looking for excuses. What I am saying is that we cannot ask from the team to get lucky, all we can ask is that they are in with real chances for all titles. That does not mean that I will be making excuses if we do not play well against BM. I expect a top notch performance, but even so, something can still go wrong, that is all I am saying.

 

[khaled_a_d]

You guys are panicking over nothing. With our current form we can beat this Atletico 9 out of 10 times, plus they basically secured third place by defeating Villareal last game. Only way they put it in jeopardy is if Valencia defeat RM which would basically give us the title.
Plus if Atletico dont need the points they will not push hard against us, they couldnt care less about revenge for the 3 losses against us if it means they will hand RM the title, you only need a little knowledge of La Liga to anticipate that

Atletico will be well rested with playing only 1 game per week while we play 2 games per week ,they have too much pride not to try to win the game in their home .

 

[Leo_Messi]

You guys are panicking over nothing. With our current form we can beat this Atletico 9 out of 10 times, plus they basically secured third place by defeating Villareal last game. Only way they put it in jeopardy is if Valencia defeat RM which would basically give us the title.
Plus if Atletico dont need the points they will not push hard against us, they couldnt care less about revenge for the 3 losses against us if it means they will hand RM the title, you only need a little knowledge of La Liga to anticipate that

Let Atlético win the match away against Levante (their bogey team of late) first and then we can talk. Today Atlético were denied of 2 legal goals. No coincidence. RFEF want the Atlético-Barça match to be a title decider.

Besides there is no way of Atlético just giving up. There have been countless of season endings where we have played against them where they have not bended over (rather the contrary) despite us fighting for the league title with RM.

Also even if they have nothing to play for other than pride and their honor then that does not guarantee a win. We HAVE to win most likely.

People were also sure of us winning last season when we played them at the Camp Nou 1 week before their CL-final appearance and when Costa and Turan were out (their two most important attacking players).

Better be prepared for the first case scenario.

 

[ricknattery]

Let Atlético win the match away against Levante (their bogey team of late) first and then we can talk. Today Atlético were denied of 2 legal goals. No coincidence. RFEF want the Atlético-Barça match to be a title decider.

Besides there is no way of Atlético just giving up. There have been countless of season endings where we have played against them where they have not bended over (rather the contrary) despite us fighting for the league title with RM.

Also even if they have nothing to play for other than pride and their honor then that does not guarantee a win. We HAVE to win most likely.

People were also sure of us winning last season when we played them at the Camp Nou 1 week before their CL-final appearance and when Costa and Turan were out (their two most important attacking players).

Better be prepared for the first case scenario.

I'm not saying Barca should trust the others to do our job. Barca is more than capable of beating this Atletico, both teams going full throttle. I'm only talking about probabilities in the other games, the odds favor Atletico beating a piss poor Levante(even with a ref like the one they had yesterday). Most importantly if they dont need the points and they end up gifting RM the league, the players know their fans will go against them, they would get boo'ed on the streets. People need to understand the rivalry. Do you actually believe Espanyol would do something like that to favor us? Not in this universe.

 

[Leo_Messi]

I'm not saying Barca should trust the others to do our job. Barca is more than capable of beating this Atletico, both teams going full throttle. I'm only talking about probabilities in the other games, the odds favor Atletico beating a piss poor Levante(even with a ref like the one they had yesterday). Most importantly if they dont need the points and they end up gifting RM the league, the players know their fans will go against them, they would get boo'ed on the streets. People need to understand the rivalry. Do you actually believe Espanyol would do something like that to favor us? Not in this universe.

I don't care about the others which in this case are Valencia, Espanyol and Getafe as all 3 will bend over to RM.

I am just saying that it's far from certain that we will defeat Atlético at the Estadio Vicente Calderón. I just told you that Atlético have not done us any favors in similar situations in the past. They might take it easy and "gift" us the win by not showing much intensity and will to win if they will have secured the third place before the match. That scenario is just not given though. All I am saying. It's not like we are going to play against Eibar at the Camp Nou.

Also don't forget that we are talking about a tournament organized by RFEF and that the referee will be a certain Mateu Lahoz.

Of course we are more than capable of beating Atlético but that match will be played 4-5 days after us playing against Bayern twice in the span of 6 days. Not just training games but CL-semifinals. An injury to Messi and we might face quite the trouble to defeat Atlético away from home. Even if they will have "nothing" to play for.

People are too confident. If Málaga of all teams can take 5 points away from us then surely Atlético can win or draw against us at the Estadio Vicente Calderón.

Had Celta or Sevilla taken points from RM we would have basically been crowned as champions today. Now we will likely be forced to win all 3 of our remaining games. Many fans are understandably disappointed and fearing the worst.

We have the advantage because we are 2 points ahead with 3 games left but it's nevertheless not an comfortable position. At least it could have been better.

Anyway got to hit the bed.