UEFA Champions League 2015/16

[ejuventus]

I'll quote from Pep's topic, since this is more suited topic for this:




I am not saying that the history is ALWAYS repeating, but numerous times in club and NT tournaments, it happened that "a minor" team beats everyone in quarters and semis and they play excellent, brave and everything and then they suddenly totally crumble in the final (against an experienced team).

Especially if "a minor" team already failed once or a few times in the final (which Atletico did, against Real 2 years ago).

In 2000', Valencia played the same as Atletico today (maybe even better).
They totally demolished Lazio (Lazio was like Chelsea or Psg today, extremely rich and Italian Champion, in the days when Seria A was the best league in Europe) with 5:2 and 0:1.

In semis, Valencia demolished (Van Gaal's, Rivaldo's and Figo's) Barca with 4:1 and 1:2.
They were flying all over the field in group stage, querters and semis.
A video of highlights of Valencia vs Barca 1st leg in semis 2000':

They looked like lions and as if they played on drugs versus Lazio and Barca.

And then, the classic story, everything is good till the finals, and then a smaller team usually crashes, or have insanely bad luck or whatever.
And big boys win in majority of matches.

Cl final in 2000: Real vs Valencia.
Instead of brave lions, Valencia turned into a team of mice. They couldn't create 2 decent passes, they were scared as f*ck:
(Real Madrid was poor in La liga, as always. Deportivo a champion, Barca 2nd, Valencia 3rd, Real 5th on the table.
But as always, Real turns a crappy season into a CL title...)

Imo, Atletico can knock out EVERYONE in Quarters and semis, but in a final, they will burn out again.
So, if we don't want to see Real winning it, our only chances are City and Bayern...

interesting reconstruction , but .....


....there's a remarkable difference between that Valencia and nowdays' Atletico:
that Valencia needed and practiced flowing football all over the field, on the contrary Simeone's Atletico keep matches in the way we know.......so that, Atletico can suffer less the particular status that Final matches use to have.
And 2014's Final goes against your theory.........in which Atletico didn't suffer at all Real for 92 minutes and 50 sec

 

[ejuventus]

.....

I don't if people remember this situation from 2000:
Van Gaal's Barca had a clash of fixtures between cup and NT matches and didn't have enough of available players at all to play a match, lol:
"Note: Barcelona failed to play the second leg due to a fixture clash with UEFA international matches, which left Barcelona with only seven first team players. The competition rules at the time for the Copa del Rey allowed sides a maximum of three youth players per match, leaving Barcelona with a squad of ten players for the return leg against Atlético de Madrid. The ten Barcelona players refused to take to the field as a protest against the Spanish FA (RFEF), thus forfeiting the match."

This case also says enough about the national cup in modern days and how "important" it is :/

I didn't know at all that story

 

[ManusXavi]

My pick is surprisingly Atletico. Bayerns defense is not brilliant. Atletico I feel does need to focus on scoring a goal. Defending is in my opinion what they need to stick to.
My concern for Atletico lies with their attacking ability as 'a team' in open play. So if Atletico want the ball more in order to score a goal then I feel that Bayern will have more 'real' goal scoring opportunities than they had in Madrid.

When Atletico become more attacking oriented gameplan for long periods of a match, the ability of their defending drops dramatically > In other words each percent of possession that Bayern will have when playing against an Atletico team that has an attacking gameplan is more valuable than a percent of possession when playing Atletico when they play their defensive gameplan.
This plays into Bayerns hands.

Going back to my concern about Atletico with their attacking ability as 'a team' in open play. I don't feel Atletico are more likely to score a goal if they try to attack more. In my opinion Atletico are best to just play the gameplan that they played in Madrid.
Rather than a focus on scoring a goal, Atletico need to reduce the effect of Bayerns Shooting ability because I don't feel that the odds are good for Atletico if they let the game open up.

 

[serghei]

Atletico can score without attacking as a team. They can score simply by exploiting favourable occurencies in a game, and they have players who can do that, like Griezmann, Torres, Saul or Koke. Arguably, the biggest scoring chance of the game vs Bayern, besides the goal, was Torres'. That says a lot about their strenght of creating chances from defensive position. Their transition is immense. They never allow the other team to regroup. If Bayern loses the ball and is caught with 8 men in front of the ball, neither of the 8 men will be able to get back behind the ball in time to stop that counter-attack. That means Atletico is faster with the ball on the counter, than their opponents are without it. That's their biggest strenght imo. They get on the ball few minutes when playing Barca, Real, Bayern type of teams. But when they do, they make it count.

 

[barcafan161]

So what are people expecting here

Real vs Atletico final? I wouldn't mind this and to see Atletico ending real's hopes of winning a title.

 

[Vlom]

Atletico can score without attacking as a team. They can score simply by exploiting favourable occurencies in a game, and they have players who can do that, like Griezmann, Torres, Saul or Koke. Arguably, the biggest scoring chance of the game vs Bayern, besides the goal, was Torres'. That says a lot about their strenght of creating chances from defensive position. Their transition is immense. They never allow the other team to regroup. If Bayern loses the ball and is caught with 8 men in front of the ball, neither of the 8 men will be able to get back behind the ball in time to stop that counter-attack. That means Atletico is faster with the ball on the counter, than their opponents are without it. That's their biggest strenght imo. They get on the ball few minutes when playing Barca, Real, Bayern type of teams. But when they do, they make it count.

Torres's was indeed the biggest chance of the game besides the goal.

And +1, especially if they have Carrasco back .. I still visualize him making our midfield and defense look like children running after a chicken.

 

[DennyCrane]

It's a pretty strange phenomenon though. I mean, why on earth? Why does his away record look so atrocious? What does a manager have that specifically influences the results of away games? I just don't get how it is such an extended issue with him.

Meh. A lot of coaches and teams play below their possibilities in away matches, not just Pep. On average, Bayern performances in the CL under Pep have been solid, and nothing more. The extraordinary performances can be counted on one hand, same as the atrocious ones, no matter where they were played.

 

[Barcilliant]

I personally have zero interest in Cdr, the same as probably 90%+ of football fans around the world (both for their domestic cup competitions and for cup competitions in Spain, England, Italy, Germany, France). Probably only footy fans from England care about their Fa Cup, and of course, die-hard fans of every club are looking at their favorite team's cup competition as something special...
But anyway, for me is: CL trophy > (multiple times more important) than La liga (with or without + Cdr)

EXACTLY!!!

The fact is the CL is the yardstick which European clubs are measured by!

 

[Barcilliant]

Also who gives a shit how many copas we win.

We should always rotate heavily in the copa.

It always comes during the busy period. Lucho fucked up. Sometimes you have to prioritise and the Cl is waay bigger then the copa in terms terms of prize money, prestige and exposure.

 

[Barcilliant]

Final is over 90 mins

Final is over 90 but I won't be surprised if it goes to et again.

 

[Morten]

Also who gives a shit how many copas we win.

We should always rotate heavily in the copa.

It always comes during the busy period. Lucho fucked up. Sometimes you have to prioritise and the Cl is waay bigger then the copa in terms terms of prize money, prestige and exposure.

Many, obviously, as Barca-fan seems obsessed with how many trophies they won over a year. Super-cup, super cup v.2, world cup for clubs, Camp nou-title etc. or whatever.

 

[serghei]

Copa del Rey is an important trophy. Not as important as the league or CL, but next in line for sure.

 

[footyfan]

atletico out run bayern by 5 km.. we got out run by 12 km or so .. yet bayern had lore possession than us.. this is me calling out those who claimed that the abysmal difference in running is due to possession.. koman and costa put on a lotta work in the wings with dribbles and penetration.. kudos to both teams for this great match of football .. and remember kids .. efforts win you games and atketico are the living example.. orgasmic high pressing at the start of the match

Agreed. If you don't have intensity, you are out.

 

[Barcilliant]

Bayern to batter Atletico.

3-1 will be the score. If they get an early goal I think the floodgates will open.

 

[diDi7]

Bayern to batter Atletico.

3-1 will be the score. If they get an early goal I think the floodgates will open.

I predict the same score, but the other way around.

It will be a very intense and emotional affair. I hope something good comes of it.