Village Idiot

Tha headline was: "Barca win 5-0 but don't play football." And yeah, I was about to say Barca and its fans are just as bad as Real Madrid in the expectations game. SBR was sacked despite winning three trophies that year (came in second in La Liga two points behind Real Madrid). Not good enough. You have to take into account what we were coming from though (the Cruyff years), we were massive spoilt brats at the time. It was always a tough act to follow. Be sure Sir Bobby would have got a statue if he got those results in 2002. That said, I do like we have developed a culture of how we want to play and what we want to see at the pitch. I think it's important for a club, since it informs all levels, and it helps the academy.

I know they probably imagined it as some weird "the best signing is YOU" campaign, but it's still a terrible idea

For some reason, I keep reading this thread as "The Master Race for Europe". What happens if Arsenal win the CL (I know, I know) and end up 5th?

http://www.time.com/time/magazine/europe/0,9263,901120206,00.html Messi in the cover of the ROTW editions of Time magazine. Gonna buy one as soon as it hits the stands.

That was in the past. We used to have one game ties at the home of the lower league side. Now La Liga teams all enter in the last 32 phase, and the draw is seeded so 12 of them will play against a lower league side (home and away), and the remaining 8 play set the remaining 4 games. This is meant so lower league sides have less chance of progressing further, and hinder TV viewership.

Giant killings were way more common back when we too had a system like yours, with single game ties until the late stages and La Liga teams entering the draw much earlier. But the big sides (and more importantly, TV networks) complained and we got the current system which is an absolute farce.

Aye, I'm pretty sure that UEFA will "arrange" so we end up in the same side of the draw for a tie before the final.

Aye, the drama may look ugly to neutrals (and it is from a cold point of view) but as an insider it just adds to the epicness of these "battles".

When you have a team moulded for being reactive, like Espanyol is (and gotta say Pochettino is doing a very good job with them), sometimes you just don't know how to control a game, even against lesser opposition. It's not in your DNA. And the Mirandés players just wanted it more, sometimes that can make the difference.

And regarding Mirandés (the team that beat Espanyol), if they somehow make it to the final they are pretty much guaranteed an EL spot given it's gonna be either us or Valencia (can't see Levante coming back from a 4-1) and we'll both qualify for Europe through the league.

Those bastards let me down on two accumulators. Can you explain they're exit? I couldn't even find the opposition in tables. The opposition plays in Segunda B. Espanyol just got indulgent and set off to defend their advantage. Regarding if we were lucky yesterday, possibly, but we too missed a couple clear chances to put the tie to bed in the second half. Luck is always even-handed in the long run. Personally I think the referee was awful (Teixeira Vitienes is a terrible ref), but we can complain as much as Real Madrid.

Oh, and I wasn't around yesterday so I couldn't say this: Espanyol (gotta say an all-Barcelona final would have been class, but you just can't trust the parakeets even when handed the best possible draw ever)

Well, that was great entertainment yesterday. Real Madrid were bound to have a good game against us at some point and - as I have said here lots of times - they put us under much more trouble when they have a go at us and try to play football. All in all, delighted we won the tie. Still a very tough tie against Valencia before we can claim a final (I'd love another cup final against Athletic).

Ok, currently I can marry and die at the Camp Nou, given that Barcelona's maternity (where I was born) is just two blocks away from the stadium I can get all the important moments of my life sorted there.

We have installed a columbary in the Camp Nou, and sold the rights to run it for €6m. Our debt problems will soon cease to exist.

Thread title makes it look like he's been confined to a wheelchair with little hope of standing right again, like.

Málaga hit by a transfer embargo by La Liga, due to money indebted to Osasuna for Monreal. Maybe all that glitters it's not (black) gold...

Didn't Jupp Hyenckes get the old heave ho for only winning the CL back in the day too? Aye. What do you do with the manager that brings in the first European Cup since the 1960s? Sack him because he finished behind Barça in La Liga! They also famously sacked Antic in 1992s when they were seven points clear at the top of La Liga because the football "wasn't good enough", and ended losing the title versus Barça.

Seen him play a lot for Chile. I think he's decent enough for the bottom half of the PL but certainly won't save their season. He's one of the Chilean players that arrived drunk at a training camp, isn't he?

Off the scale. Oh, and remember Capello too. Fired twice after winning the league each time, because they didn't find his football to their liking. Or Schuster, sacked on the spot because he said he didn't think he could defeat Barça before a Clásico (and he had won the league the year prior). Madrid is just a mental place.

Remember this is the club that sacked two times CL winner Vicente Del Bosque because he had "only" won La Liga that season.

I don't know about defensive. They scored 102 league goals in 2010-11 and are on pace for 134 (67 halfway) 2011-2012. That's the point, they are an impressive attacking unit, but go full catenaccio/leg breaker when playing against us. It is quite puzzling, I do think they would give us trouble if they had a go like they did in the Super Copa. And it does get under the skins of Real Madrid fans the implicit acceptance that they can't go toe to toe against us.

What's behind this kind of ludicrous mentality? Sense of entitlement. Think Liverpool, multiply by a thousand.

Real Madrid fans are famously fickle. There's a reason they have sacked so many managers all these years, and it's not only because Pérez is trigger happy (Calderón also had two managers in two years). They boo their team/manager/board at the drop of a hat. If Mou wins a major trophy (either La Liga or the CL would suffice, I think) he'll be fine. But the whistles this weekend should show him what kind of place he's at (personally think they deserve each other, c*** for c***s).

Just noticed Falcao's on 14 goals, which is quite great given how shit Atlético have been until now. Quite a few pens, but still...