Pwnage: Barcelona bum Man Utd 2-0, win the CL

[Shak]

"A Manchester United fan in Nigeria killed four people when he drove his minibus into a crowd of Barcelona supporters after his team lost the Champions League final, police said on Thursday. "

 

 

They really take football seriously in Nigeria don't they?

 

 

Fuckin hell, what a gobshite.

 

There was the Arsenal fan who topped himself after the semi as well, wasn't there?

 

Just a game lads.

[Guest toonlass]

What do you call a Manchester United fan with a bottle of Champagne?

 

A waiter.

 

[Guest Heneage]

I bet Platini was loving last night. He seemed a lot more friendly with Barca players , and he's about as subtle as a brick with his dislike for English football. I think Messi got one up on Ronaldo, but the gulf in class of Man United's midfield and Barca's is what really won this game. Giggs is finished, he was never good enough for central midfield, and I think he should have started Scholes. Anderson is still flattering to deceive, at Porto he was a monster, he ran at players, he took shots he was high energy, but like Rooney, Ferguson seems to have taken that out of him his game and in a way while making him a more rounded player it's made him worse. Along with Carrick their midfield has no spark , when you watch them there isn't passing and movement like, Iniesta, Xavi and last night Busquets.

[madras]

i haven't read all through this thread nor have i read much of todays press but has it been mentioned anywhere that in the biggest match of their season.........ALEX FERGUSON QUITE PROBABLY GOT IT COMPLETELY WRONG .

[wacko]

ahahaha, english "domination" of the the CL eh?

 

still only 3 wins since the tournament began in the CL format, some domination; some people in and out of the press should remember it has to actually be won to be dominated

 

Also represented in the last 5 finals, and three of four semi-finalists for the last three seasons. Barca, AC Milan and PSV are the only non-English sides to have knocked out an English club in those last three seasons. Barca's sweet, sweet victory last night and their semi win against Chelsea were the only times an English side has been beaten by a continental side since the 2007 final, I believe. Barca and Milan are the only non-English sides to have appeared in the final since 2004. That's pretty dominant.

 

I'm still made up from Barca's win last night. Man Utd winning would have been really depressing.

[tmonkey]

ahahaha, english "domination" of the the CL eh?

 

still only 3 wins since the tournament began in the CL format, some domination; some people in and out of the press should remember it has to actually be won to be dominated

 

Also represented in the last 5 finals, and three of four semi-finalists for the last three seasons. Barca, AC Milan and PSV are the only non-English sides to have knocked out an English club in those last three seasons. Barca's sweet, sweet victory last night and their semi win against Chelsea were the only times an English side has been beaten by a continental side since the 2007 final, I believe. Barca and Milan are the only non-English sides to have appeared in the final since 2004. That's pretty dominant.

 

How much of that is down to timing and coincidence with respect to the other major competitors though?

 

Real Madrid are going through a rebuilding period (and even though they're s*** at the moment, the best player in the Premiership playing for the biggest club in the Premiership is desperate to sign for them), a result of their constant chopping and changing and undermining of their managers since Del Bosque. Milan and Juve were hit hard by the match fixing scandals, which has propelled Inter to champions when they never had the team to be that in the first place. Both are also in the process of rebuilding their teams.

 

That's three clubs who would normally be looking to challenge for the CL, and would provide strong competition for the top Premiership sides, yet for different reasons unrelated to the emergence of Premiership clubs, they aren't able to do so at this point in time. These three clubs are giants in the game, and will always attract the best players, so it's surely only a matter of time before they get back to their previous standards.

[The College Dropout]

all about midfield, man utd just couldnt cope with barca's superior quality. maybe fergie will now realise he needs to buy a central midfielder..

 

£35m on Anderson and Nani. Doesn't look like it was too well spent, as unless they improve signficantly they won't be replacing Scholes/Giggs in the next season or two.

 

Anderson looked a good signing last season, lost his way this year a bit. Still hope for the lad but Nani? He aint good enough.

 

I thought Anderson might be able to become as good as Essien, not too sure now like. Essien just gets better & better.

 

Man Utd. outclassed but I don't understand how anyone can say it was a great final. Barcelona created a good amount of chances but they didn't tear Man Utd open the way I would've enjoyed (like they did to Madrid). There wasn't loads of great passages of play either. Would've preferred a nervy display and someone nicking it at the end.

 

Last years final was more entertaining.

 

Well done Barca all the same.

[madras]

ahahaha, english "domination" of the the CL eh?

 

still only 3 wins since the tournament began in the CL format, some domination; some people in and out of the press should remember it has to actually be won to be dominated

 

Also represented in the last 5 finals, and three of four semi-finalists for the last three seasons. Barca, AC Milan and PSV are the only non-English sides to have knocked out an English club in those last three seasons. Barca's sweet, sweet victory last night and their semi win against Chelsea were the only times an English side has been beaten by a continental side since the 2007 final, I believe. Barca and Milan are the only non-English sides to have appeared in the final since 2004. That's pretty dominant.

 

How much of that is down to timing and circumstances with respect to the other major competitors though?

 

Real Madrid are going through a rebuilding period (and even though they're s*** at the moment, the best player in the Premiership playing for the biggest club in the Premiership is desperate to sign for them), a result of their constant chopping and changing and undermining of their managers since Del Bosque. Milan and Juve were hit hard by the match fixing scandals, which has propelled Inter to champions when they never had the team to be that in the first place. Both are also in the process of rebuilding their teams.

 

That's three clubs who would normally be looking to challenge for the CL, and would provide strong competition for the top Premiership sides, yet for different reasons unrelated to the emergence of Premiership clubs, they aren't able to do so at this point in time. These three clubs are giants in the game, and will always attract the best players, so it's surely only a matter of time before they get back to their previous standards.

so does that mean you agree that english teams are dominating ?

 

hey it's that circumstances thing that means nufc aren't in the champs league.

[The College Dropout]

ahahaha, english "domination" of the the CL eh?

 

still only 3 wins since the tournament began in the CL format, some domination; some people in and out of the press should remember it has to actually be won to be dominated

 

Also represented in the last 5 finals, and three of four semi-finalists for the last three seasons. Barca, AC Milan and PSV are the only non-English sides to have knocked out an English club in those last three seasons. Barca's sweet, sweet victory last night and their semi win against Chelsea were the only times an English side has been beaten by a continental side since the 2007 final, I believe. Barca and Milan are the only non-English sides to have appeared in the final since 2004. That's pretty dominant.

 

How much of that is down to timing and circumstances with respect to the other major competitors though?

 

Real Madrid are going through a rebuilding period (and even though they're s*** at the moment, the best player in the Premiership playing for the biggest club in the Premiership is desperate to sign for them), a result of their constant chopping and changing and undermining of their managers since Del Bosque. Milan and Juve were hit hard by the match fixing scandals, which has propelled Inter to champions when they never had the team to be that in the first place. Both are also in the process of rebuilding their teams.

 

That's three clubs who would normally be looking to challenge for the CL, and would provide strong competition for the top Premiership sides, yet for different reasons unrelated to the emergence of Premiership clubs, they aren't able to do so at this point in time. These three clubs are giants in the game, and will always attract the best players, so it's surely only a matter of time before they get back to their previous standards.

 

Arsenal's & until this season Liverpool haven't been able to really challenge for the PL. They've handled all foreign sides before them except PSV.

[tmonkey]

ahahaha, english "domination" of the the CL eh?

 

still only 3 wins since the tournament began in the CL format, some domination; some people in and out of the press should remember it has to actually be won to be dominated

 

Also represented in the last 5 finals, and three of four semi-finalists for the last three seasons. Barca, AC Milan and PSV are the only non-English sides to have knocked out an English club in those last three seasons. Barca's sweet, sweet victory last night and their semi win against Chelsea were the only times an English side has been beaten by a continental side since the 2007 final, I believe. Barca and Milan are the only non-English sides to have appeared in the final since 2004. That's pretty dominant.

 

How much of that is down to timing and circumstances with respect to the other major competitors though?

 

Real Madrid are going through a rebuilding period (and even though they're s*** at the moment, the best player in the Premiership playing for the biggest club in the Premiership is desperate to sign for them), a result of their constant chopping and changing and undermining of their managers since Del Bosque. Milan and Juve were hit hard by the match fixing scandals, which has propelled Inter to champions when they never had the team to be that in the first place. Both are also in the process of rebuilding their teams.

 

That's three clubs who would normally be looking to challenge for the CL, and would provide strong competition for the top Premiership sides, yet for different reasons unrelated to the emergence of Premiership clubs, they aren't able to do so at this point in time. These three clubs are giants in the game, and will always attract the best players, so it's surely only a matter of time before they get back to their previous standards.

 

so does that mean you agree that english teams are dominating ?

 

hey it's that circumstances thing that means nufc aren't in the champs league.

 

They definitely are dominating. Barcelona from day one looked like being the only real competition to an all Premiership final, with Inter and Madrid being nowhere near good or settled enough to take these teams on.

 

As stated though, not sure if this is just temporary (i.e. merely at a time when several of the biggest clubs are rebuilding) or an actual shift in power/dominance like we've seen in the past.

[The College Dropout]

Unless one of the others drastically improves I can see it being Barca v. Big 4 again.

[tmonkey]

ahahaha, english "domination" of the the CL eh?

 

still only 3 wins since the tournament began in the CL format, some domination; some people in and out of the press should remember it has to actually be won to be dominated

 

Also represented in the last 5 finals, and three of four semi-finalists for the last three seasons. Barca, AC Milan and PSV are the only non-English sides to have knocked out an English club in those last three seasons. Barca's sweet, sweet victory last night and their semi win against Chelsea were the only times an English side has been beaten by a continental side since the 2007 final, I believe. Barca and Milan are the only non-English sides to have appeared in the final since 2004. That's pretty dominant.

 

How much of that is down to timing and circumstances with respect to the other major competitors though?

 

Real Madrid are going through a rebuilding period (and even though they're s*** at the moment, the best player in the Premiership playing for the biggest club in the Premiership is desperate to sign for them), a result of their constant chopping and changing and undermining of their managers since Del Bosque. Milan and Juve were hit hard by the match fixing scandals, which has propelled Inter to champions when they never had the team to be that in the first place. Both are also in the process of rebuilding their teams.

 

That's three clubs who would normally be looking to challenge for the CL, and would provide strong competition for the top Premiership sides, yet for different reasons unrelated to the emergence of Premiership clubs, they aren't able to do so at this point in time. These three clubs are giants in the game, and will always attract the best players, so it's surely only a matter of time before they get back to their previous standards.

 

Arsenal's & until this season Liverpool haven't been able to really challenge for the PL. They've handled all foreign sides before them except PSV.

 

But they've not hit the lows Madrid, Milan and Juve have recently. Not being able to challenge for the PL doesn't mean they've hit a sizeable slump.

 

Maybe the arguement could be made that these clubs aren't recovering as fast as you'd expect them to (or used to) because Premiership clubs are now signing the players that these clubs would normally have signed first?

 

Difficult to tell right now though.

[tmonkey]

Unless one of the others drastically improves I can see it being Barca v. Big 4 again.

 

Quite likely. Arsenal should be better next year, with Arshavin being available for Europe, and they've had bad luck with injuries too, so if that sorts itself out then they'll be much stronger. Liverpool also, given that Torres was injured for a sizeable chunk of the season.

 

Having said that, I don't think it's impossible for Madrid to bounce back up to being competitive again pretty quickly, although that would depend on them making some big waves in the transfer market. Which is certainly not impossible for them, as they've done it in the past several times, with Figo and Zidane being the most recent (if Ronaldo is still desperate to go there, then there'll be a good possibility it'll happen).

 

There's also the Valencia everything-must-go sale that could see some Spanish sides picking up some top stars, although at the same time Premiership clubs (namely Liverpool) could similarly benefit.

 

And although they're not given much thought at the moment, I'd also expect Inter to be slightly stronger next year, given that this was Mourinho's first season there - and in all honesty, I thought they were the better team than ManU over the two legs, but just lacked that cutting edge which ManU had, hence why they were knocked out.

 

Will be an interesting summer in terms of seeing who goes where and who strengthens the most. Especially with Man City's wealth in the picture (hope they crash and burn in the transfer market though).

[Guest Stephen927]

Was shocked that Man United barely showed up for the game, thought they would win. Couldn't help but be in awe of Barcelona, they passed it round with little effort, made it look easy, whereas Man United were trying to build possession then just lumping it long for Rooney or Ronaldo wide left. Puyol had a good game at full back so Fergy's tactic there horribly misfired.

 

Loved Ronaldo's petulant little digs at Puyol, Messi upstaged him well and truly. Not saying Ronaldo isn't a good player mind, he's up there with the best of them in the world at the minute, but Messi looked leagues ahead of him.

[Mr. Snrub]

http://img.skysports.com/09/05/800x600/Barcelona-Josep-Pep-Guardiola-air-celeb_2311617.jpg

 

[Mike]

I removed a few S's from the title. It was way too American.

 

 

A team is a collection of people. They don't 'wins' something.

 

Lesson over.

 

But not when the 'entity' is considered a single thing. Manchester United is one singular thing. So they can also 'wins' stuff if you refer to them as a united entity i.e. refer to them as a club.

 

'Barcelona's winning this'

 

'Barcelona are winning this'

 

Both correct.

 

In the UK Manchester United are a group.

 

Don't do it again.

 

Bollocks.

[wacko]

ahahaha, english "domination" of the the CL eh?

 

still only 3 wins since the tournament began in the CL format, some domination; some people in and out of the press should remember it has to actually be won to be dominated

 

Also represented in the last 5 finals, and three of four semi-finalists for the last three seasons. Barca, AC Milan and PSV are the only non-English sides to have knocked out an English club in those last three seasons. Barca's sweet, sweet victory last night and their semi win against Chelsea were the only times an English side has been beaten by a continental side since the 2007 final, I believe. Barca and Milan are the only non-English sides to have appeared in the final since 2004. That's pretty dominant.

 

How much of that is down to timing and circumstances with respect to the other major competitors though?

 

Real Madrid are going through a rebuilding period (and even though they're s*** at the moment, the best player in the Premiership playing for the biggest club in the Premiership is desperate to sign for them), a result of their constant chopping and changing and undermining of their managers since Del Bosque. Milan and Juve were hit hard by the match fixing scandals, which has propelled Inter to champions when they never had the team to be that in the first place. Both are also in the process of rebuilding their teams.

 

That's three clubs who would normally be looking to challenge for the CL, and would provide strong competition for the top Premiership sides, yet for different reasons unrelated to the emergence of Premiership clubs, they aren't able to do so at this point in time. These three clubs are giants in the game, and will always attract the best players, so it's surely only a matter of time before they get back to their previous standards.

 

Arsenal's & until this season Liverpool haven't been able to really challenge for the PL. They've handled all foreign sides before them except PSV.

 

But they've not hit the lows Madrid, Milan and Juve have recently. Not being able to challenge for the PL doesn't mean they've hit a sizeable slump.

 

Maybe the arguement could be made that these clubs aren't recovering as fast as you'd expect them to (or used to) because Premiership clubs are now signing the players that these clubs would normally have signed first?

 

Difficult to tell right now though.

 

Which is kind of another way of saying that they haven't been mismanaged like Madrid, Milan and Juve. All of these clubs' woes are fully of their own doing.

 

I think the main reasons are the professional management of the English clubs and their relatively recent ability to attract and afford the world's very best players. Man Utd always had the cash and cachet to be in with a chance of getting Europe's most wanted players, but for other clubs it was usually a case of foreign pros past their peak, and Man Utd always struggled in Europe until Fergie accepted he had to play possession football.

 

The CL regulars can play the fast, hard-pressing, high-intensity football typical of the EPL, which a lot of continental struggle mightily with, and they also have the skill and tactical sophistication of the best continental sides.

[Fugazi]

http://bleacherreport.com/articles/190763-angela-asante-cristiano-ronaldo-is-still-the-best-not-lionel-messi

 

 

It's not even a wind-up.

[Interpolic]

http://bleacherreport.com/articles/190763-angela-asante-cristiano-ronaldo-is-still-the-best-not-lionel-messi

 

 

It's not even a wind-up.

 

Aye, peoples' interpretations of that Barca-Chelsea semi have become tedious in the extreme.

[Mr. Snrub]

She actually refers to Man Utd as "The Red Champions"  :lol:

 

Barcelona stole their place in the finals—it’s simple as that to understand. Unless you are a cowardly big cheat, you would not understand this fact.

 

Cristiano Ronaldo is simply the best. You can play around on the field with the strength of a warrior, but if you are not able to win the European Cup in a fair manner, the real champion is the other man, Cristiano Ronaldo.

 

Pure gold.  What a daft bint.

[Adam]

I love how people still talk about Messi v Ronaldo, when it was Xavi and Iniesta that really raped Man Utd.

[Dave]

I love how people who know fuck all about football and only put it on because of the hype still talk about Messi v Ronaldo because they're the only ones they've heard of, when it was Xavi and Iniesta that really raped Man Utd.

 

fyp

[Shak]

The gobshite writing the second reply is just as bad tbh.

 

"Lionel Andres Messi is the greatest talent football has seen since the real Ronaldo, Leo has the potential to be a football legend (Capello, Lippi,Loew,Diego,Cassano,Arshavin, etc)"

 

"The fact is that currently there are at least 10 players who are years ahead of your diver: Leo, Kaka, Ribery,Van Persie,Iniesta,Xavi,Robben,Villa, Silva, Arshavin, Benzema, and many more."

 

[Guest firetotheworks]

I love how people who know f*** all about football and only put it on because of the hype still talk about Messi v Ronaldo because they're the only ones they've heard of, when it was Xavi and Iniesta that really raped Man Utd.

 

fyp

 

Oooh, how presumptuously elitist of you Dave. Could it not be that they are the two undoubted candidates for best player in the world at the moment?

[Dokko]

http://img.skysports.com/09/05/800x600/Barcelona-Josep-Pep-Guardiola-air-celeb_2311617.jpg

 

 

Mint picture.