Champions League Semi Final *Spoilers* 29/30 April

Owenb said:
Porto were defensively very good, something Traore and co werent...
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What a load of rubbish. Mancs usual arguement was that we got to the final by playing boring defensive football :rolleyes:

We played and beat the 3 best sides in the competition that year and had a perfectly good penalty turned down at 1-0 so you can forget the offside goal.
 
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BaZ87 said:
Anderson had established himself (to a degree) in a European league and was an U-21 international. To buy a player direct from Brazil etc is difficult unless they've been playing Internationally.

You said Barca could attract top players and gave Messi as an example however he wasn't a star when he joined. Whether Messi leaves Barca or not isn't totally down to the standard of the Spanish league also. He'd cost a fortune, Barca wouldn't want or have to sell and to my knowledge he's not had the chance to move to England yet.
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With Grant getting his team to the final Abramovich will probably give him £100m bonus to spend on players to turn Chelsea into Englands Barcelona!

On the earlier debate about Messi/Ronaldo. The game wasn't setup for them last night. At 0-0 yes, but once utd scored space for Messi was going to be harder to find and UTD were less likely to support Ronaldo. If Barca had scored first it could have been very different with space for both players as UTD needed to go all out, while Barca only way to defend would be to attack!
 
BaZ87 said:
You said Barca could attract top players and gave Messi as an example however he wasn't a star when he joined. Whether Messi leaves Barca or not isn't totally down to the standard of the Spanish league also. He'd cost a fortune, Barca wouldn't want or have to sell and to my knowledge he's not had the chance to move to England yet.
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I see your point and maybe you're right but, whatever the reason, he is still there and I don't think he'll come to England for a fair few years, if ever. This situation will keep on being replicated in future which means Spanish clubs will always have top class players, whatever the reason, never mind all the top Spaniards (Iniesta, Xavi, Ramos etc.) despite Benitez's best efforts to bring them all to England :p.

Furthermore, on the homegrown Spanish players issue, I'm sure could argue a lot come to England (Torres, Fabregas, Alonso) but only 5 of Spain's last squad were based in England.
 
Spanish players never really settled over here but with the likes of Torres etc playing over here and doing well it will lead to more joining our league.

Like i said earlier, it was just the other week that Villa was talking about being interested in moving here.
 
Regarding the whole 2005 thing... The thing I remember most about the 2005 final, where Liverpool won, was Steven Gerrard's captaincy.

At 3-0 down the players and the fans had all but given up (and who could blame them?). Gerrard scored early in the second half, then ran almost the entire length of the pitch gesturing for the fans support. After that the entire stadium erupted and it was almost as if Liverpool had the home advantage. He gained a huge amount of respect from me that day.

I don't think it's fair to say that Liverpool winning was a 'freak result. They played well on the day, and beat a load of top teams on their way (defying the pundits at every turn). Not to mention that they went on to the finals and the semis in the following 3 years. It's hard to argue against cold facts.
 
Gilly said:
Liverpool fans, will you be supporting the team that knocked you out, your biggest rivals or ignoring the final altogether?

At least you didn't get beaten by manyoo in the final :)
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I'll be watching in the hope that the match is abandoned and both teams are subsequently banned from european competition for 10 years due to crowd trouble. Failing that, I'd rather see Chelsea win it than Man U.
 
Pigeon_Killer said:
LOL. We conceded a total of 6 goals on our way to the final and had one of the best defences in the competition. Please talk some sense.
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Monaco, Olympiacos, Deportivo(who didn't score a single goal that year)- hard group.

It was a weak team- why else would most of it be changed 2 years later when ye met a very similar AC Milan team- who's changes were forced by sales more than anything else. Ye won the cup, nobody can take that away from ye, but don't think that makes it a great team- it wasn't and still isn't and the league shows that.
 
BaZ87 said:
Like i said earlier, it was just the other week that Villa was talking about being interested in moving here.
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And Flamini looks like he's going to AC Milan, with perhaps Adebayor or Berbatov. There's plenty of other rumours of players going to Barca, Real, Milan and Inter, so I just can't see an English monopoly on the Champions League.
 
We'll have to wait and see. I certainly don't think it'll be all prem finals every year but im sure we'll have far more Semi finalists, finalists and winners than any other nation.
Owenb said:
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Monaco were the previous years finalists, Deportivo were then a very good side (pot 1 team) and Olympiakos are always a difficult side away from home. Then add Leverkusen, Juve, Chelsea and Milan. We couldn't have had it much harder.

Also nobody has claimed that the '05 side was a great side but we fully deserved it.
 
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My only worry is Abramovich's millions finding their ways into Officials pockets.
It probably won't happen, but you never know, especially with it being in Russia. :p
 
BaZ87 said:
Regardless of the way he went down, he was tripped at least twice and should have been a penalty even if he stayed on his feet.
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Im REALLY not digging - but an honest question

Is a penalty ever given in that kind of situation without the player going down?

Its rare to say the least imo

(Of course there are penalties for other reasons, like handball etc)

And switching that on its head, even when the player does go down ligitimately its hardly ever given (it seems)
 
Duff-Man said:
He's spent several hundred million of his own personal cash on the club, and has said many times that winning the CL is his dream for the club.

I can't fathom a reason, short of some major emergency, why he wouldn't be there :confused:
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Because allot of the Russian people want him dead or arrested for taking millions out their poverty-striken countries economy and spending it in the UK economy maybe?

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/uk/article3835003.ece
Not a popular boy at the moment in Russian media either, especially with the whole communist revival they have going on.

I'd be suprised if he DID turn up.
 
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That was simply unbelievable, I don't think I've ever been so emotional watching a game of football as when Lamps took his penalty, that took some real guts and I'm delighted for him, he was outstanding last night.
Played Rafa too, your Drogba dossier was a masterstroke that only a true tactical genius would even dream of, in your face Porky.
I genuinely don't care if we lose in the final, after enduring the ups and down of relegation and promotion over the years and only having the dizzy heights of the Full Members Cup as great days out in the past (+ the heartache of losing 3 CL semis) just watching my team play in a European Cup Final is something I thought I'd never see, incredible:)

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Anders0n said:
A) lol no they didn't.
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Care to elaborate? Disregard Chelsea fluke goal in the first leg and I honestly think they have looked stronger over the two matches.


Lets be objective for once.

For those saying Hyypia should have had a pen: FGS watch the replays.:rolleyes: Hyypia dives, there is no contact. Terry is about to kill him for it. Hyypia even smiles, slightly embarrased at his antics.

As for Chelsea pen: It was as clear as it can be. Hyypia clipped Ballack cleanly in the box. It was a clear foul.

First Drogba goal might even have been a tad offside. Fact is it was a very close call and sometimes they are called off and sometimes on. Football rules state if in doubt, the linesman should allow play. Football fans would know this...

Good call on the ref to dissalow Essien goal if Drogba indeed was obstructing the view of Reina from an off-side.

I thought it was a very entertaining match!
 
JohnnyG said:
Played Rafa too, your Drogba dossier was a masterstroke that only a true tactical genius would even dream of, in your face Porky.
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we'll lend you him for the final if you want? shame he doesn't play like that all the time. it was a very bizarre decision from rafa i must say.

it does illustrate the value of having the 2nd leg at home though (in both semis) and having a ginger on the opposition!
 
NokkonWud said:
My only worry is Abramovich's millions finding their ways into Officials pockets.
It probably won't happen, but you never know, especially with it being in Russia. :p
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What has UEFA to do with Russia? Hinting Chelsea would try and cheat, be it a joke or not, is pretty low from an Underboss.

I do agree however, Russia is shockingly corrupt :(
 
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