UEFA Champions League/Europa League 24/25/26 April *** Spoilers ***

[jakeke]

Barca have by far the best players, they just don't have enough of them in the squad, they are exhausted as they've been relied upon too often (e.g. Messi always playing 90 minutes rather than coming off at 60 mins), Real have a mental squad and that's what has won them the league, the size of the squad not the quality.

Also, Bayern have loads of good players to watch, are an excellent and entertaining team and imo would have beaten Barca in the final.

 

[Tom84]

such fail.

if barca are second in their league then how can their players be the best?! your own death defying logic is incredulous to say the least.

bayern are the biggest team in germany and have most of the best players, they've just had an average league campaign.

interesting how your argument has swivelled in the last few pages which contradict your opening para in this post i quoted.

My argument hasn't changed at all, Barcelona are the best team in Europe, Real Madrid are probably the second best team in Europe, given they both play in the same league it stands to reason that one is likely to be behind the other and this season it's Barcelona's turn, surely even you can work that much out without having it spelt out to you? Guess not

 

[sanaxe1]

I would say Real Madrid are the best team in the world at the moment. You can only judge a team by its results it doesn't matter if they have the best person in the world in every position if they don't get the results then they are not the best.

I would look at the strength of the league the team plays. Then look at there position in the league and then how far they got in the champions league.

 

[jakeke]

I'm surprised at what people are saying about Real. I thought Bayern were clearly better than them in both games. Barca are also clearly better.

La Liga means nothing, the league is a farce

 

[Tom84]

I'm surprised at what people are saying about Real. I thought Bayern were clearly better than them in both games. Barca are also clearly better.

La Liga means nothing, the league is a farce

Both Chelsea and Bayern deserved to go through over both legs, I dont think that automatically makes either better than the two Spanish sides though, just as Basel aren't better than Man Utd, Napoli aren't better than Man City etc etc

 

[Tom84]

Just watched the German Cup final and it's going to take a much much better performance from Bayern to beat Chelsea, I know both teams have their suspensions but defensively I think the likes of Drogba & Mata could have a field day against Bayern's defence and as was my criticism of Bayern against Real Madrid their lack of quality upfront could see Chelsea's back 4 have a fairly easy evening especially with Bayern's best player Robben up against Chelsea's best defender Cole. I reckon it's going to take someone like Luiz to have a very bad individual game for Bayern to look threatening.

I know Chelsea were shocking against Liverpool (in what was for them a pretty meaningless game) but everything I've seen of the two teams over the last month I can only see a Chelsea win (if they do lose they'll have just given up the best chance a lot of them will ever have of ever winning the UCL)

 

[drunkenmaster]

However Robben and Ribery can switch sides, and all of a sudden Robben would be up against their worst defender.

Impossible to call, Bayern have only lost 2 games in, ages, and both to Dortmund, who were great in the league yet sucked balls in the champs league.

To a certain degree, they are different styles of football, but having that experience and nerve away in unknown stadiums, in an unknown country makes more difference than you would think.

Bayern are a BIG team and more than capable of playing well, Chelsea are more than capable of stinking or playing great. Bayern for me have far more actual quality but its based in very inconsistent players who often disappear in huge games. Chelsea have less quality, but a strength and drive around certain players that are more likely to drag them through a big game. However, Drogba is inconsistent, Torres is consistent, but consistently useless and Terry is missing which will be huge for them.

Impossible to call, Dortmund are great offensively and ripped them apart scoring 5, but will Chelsea do that? Or will they try and do what they did to Barca, take advantage of a defence by sitting back, Bayern "should" cope with Chelsea barely attacking far far better than Dortmund.

Also how many finals has Di Matteo managed or won things as a player in, Bayern coach has won a champs league before, intertoto cups, league titles repeatedly, managed for a dozen clubs and himself won a world cup, euro cup, uefa cup, leagues.

We'll see, I can't see much beyond Bayern winning myself.

ignore the Chelsea vs Liverpool result, and the fa cup final, Liverpool were so god awful till Carroll came on that Chelsea were just playing in 2nd gear, then as often happens in those games had trouble coming out of 2nd gear when Liverpool raised the tempo. The midweek game was a joke, big changes, different team, mostly rubbish team and they weren't anywhere near as bad as the result suggested... or more accurately, Liverpool weren't anywhere near as good as that result suggested, monumental erros for all the goals, joke performance, mostly from 2-3 guys who won't be in the final.

 

[FrankJH]

However Robben and Ribery can switch sides, and all of a sudden Robben would be up against their worst defender.

Impossible to call, Bayern have only lost 2 games in, ages, and both to Dortmund, who were great in the league yet sucked balls in the champs league.

To a certain degree, they are different styles of football, but having that experience and nerve away in unknown stadiums, in an unknown country makes more difference than you would think.

Bayern are a BIG team and more than capable of playing well, Chelsea are more than capable of stinking or playing great. Bayern for me have far more actual quality but its based in very inconsistent players who often disappear in huge games. Chelsea have less quality, but a strength and drive around certain players that are more likely to drag them through a big game. However, Drogba is inconsistent, Torres is consistent, but consistently useless and Terry is missing which will be huge for them.

Impossible to call, Dortmund are great offensively and ripped them apart scoring 5, but will Chelsea do that? Or will they try and do what they did to Barca, take advantage of a defence by sitting back, Bayern "should" cope with Chelsea barely attacking far far better than Dortmund.

Also how many finals has Di Matteo managed or won things as a player in, Bayern coach has won a champs league before, intertoto cups, league titles repeatedly, managed for a dozen clubs and himself won a world cup, euro cup, uefa cup, leagues.

We'll see, I can't see much beyond Bayern winning myself.

ignore the Chelsea vs Liverpool result, and the fa cup final, Liverpool were so god awful till Carroll came on that Chelsea were just playing in 2nd gear, then as often happens in those games had trouble coming out of 2nd gear when Liverpool raised the tempo. The midweek game was a joke, big changes, different team, mostly rubbish team and they weren't anywhere near as bad as the result suggested... or more accurately, Liverpool weren't anywhere near as good as that result suggested, monumental erros for all the goals, joke performance, mostly from 2-3 guys who won't be in the final.

2nd leg commentary suggested Ribery is suspended for the final.....

 

[Egon]

2nd leg commentary suggested Ribery is suspended for the final.....

Don't think he is.

"Bayern will be without Holger Badstuber, David Alaba and Luiz Gustavo whilst the Blues must deal with the absences of Branislav Ivanovic, Raul Meireles and Ramires for the final on May 19."