no irony there--- he's won more champions leagues than most-- than all actually i think?

Yes, four finals, three titles. I meant that Guardiola was supposed to be the megamaster who would lead Bayern Munich to win more UEFACLs after Heynckes' success, but if Bayern wins the Champions League this year it's gonna be The Pep's veteran replacement who will achieve the feat, while Guardiola himself tries to make sense of the Premiership.

Speaking of, has the predicted quantum quality leap in Manchester City from Pellegrini to Guardiola really happened? I'm not trying to be a dick; I'm posing the question honestly. Me, I preferred it when Touré and Silva were in clear charge of the attacking midfield instead of this intermitent mess.

oh yeah i get your meaning now. and--fuck pep! ha ha ha ha

i used to miss heynckes. now not so much.

I'd say they're worse under Pep. They've lost focus in attack and they're definitely weaker in defence. They're less than the sum of their parts, which is the opposite of what I'd expect from one of his teams.

I ultimately think he's baffled by the sheer relentless intensity of the Prem. The way teams he probably assumed he could stroll past show him no respect. I also think he's a bit rattled by the quite confrontational nature of the British press.

I'm not getting into the whole 'Prem is the best league' argument but I always thought it would be his biggest challenge, not for its quality, necessarily, but for its utter competitiveness. And right now I don't think he's coping with it very well at all.

But we can only really start to judge him next season, when he has the players he wants in place, better suited to his ideas. I'm having my doubts though.

I don't get that. Messi had some injury issues the past couple of seasons but if anything, I'd say it's Ronaldo who's had the greater dip (by his standards)

All I can say in comparison is I've watched both about equally and I'd say they're about even in terms of effectiveness. The difference for me is that while I'm regularly astounded by what Ronaldo achieves, his focus, his strength, his power, I'm never mesmorized by him the way I am with Messi. Ronaldo plays football with a conviction I'm not sure I've ever seen before, whereas Messi plays it with an ability that goes beyond anyone I think I've ever seen before. Maybe Maradona, but Messi has done it more consistently.


Pretty much singlendedly dragged a very unimpressive Argentina to the final? Admittedly he wasn't that great but then nor was Ronaldo when Portugal won the Euros.

Well that Arsenal match was just daft. I'm as far an arsenal fan as you can get, but that was just sad to watch.

Suspect the rot is too far gone now in that team. Even if Wenger left tomorrow it'd be a couple of years before they'd have any level of success again.

Oh and Ramos *kisses forehead* love the guy.

Also! If Everton went and got Oxlade-Chamberlain I'd be a happy man indeed.

I've learned to love Ramos. I'm not sure what my problem was with him before but whatever it was it's over. Love him.

@demonyo-for me mascherano was really the force that drove them

@h8kurdt-i felt sorry as well as i said earlier but the first half they did look good. koscielny really did them in.

and fucking ramos, i hate him about the same as cronaldo, but the fucker is so good ha ha ha. congrats on your team making it to the quarterfinal.

I don't hate Arsenal as a team but their fans are the worst, so I kind of want Wenger to stay just for the spectacle of seeing them descend even deeper into despair.

I agree on that. The outrage and the attitude of "we deserve to be champions" is what galls the most for me. So yeah, take that extension on your contract, Wenger, this is just a blip!

Who's watching watching tonight? I'm gonna be Captain Obvious and watch the Barca/PSG game. They can't fail like Arsenal did last night, can they?

im torn beetween the games. in theory i could watch them on a split screen but to me that's just some gimmick for gamblers--i can't really follow 2 games at once. hard enough to follow the 2 teams in one game (i tend to focus more on one side always)

really want dortmund to do well today but i might just go with the tide and watch barca psg also. could be another historic drubbing...

if i'm reading this correctly, arsenal's mediocrity is not really due to arsène himself but to corporate policies that emphasize stock valuation over football success

https://www.theguardian.com/football...wenger-time-up

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and this... this speaks of better fans in a different era

https://www.theguardian.com/football...spartak-moscow

at this hour im thinking there's bound to be more drama in the dortmund game. they didn't score abroad and lost by a goal. if benfica scores dortmund will have to overcome that plus add two goals.

anyway let's see if this works. lineups:


subs: Weidenfeller, Guerreiro, Schürrle, Kagawa, Merino, Ginter, Passlack
no reus! OUCH. no götze? damn! <-- just found out he has an apparently serious medical problem. damn! poor guy.

elsewhere on the planet:



hilarious that someone made a graphic & posted it on twitter right away

yes!!!!! auba starts early

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then little pulisic & auba again!

hurrah

maybe i can switch channels now... hm...

holy shit 3-0 there too? i probably should...

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just tuned in to a 5-1 with 4 min to go barca psg ha ha ha

No Fuckin Way No Fuckin Way Watttttt

HOOOOLEEEEE SHIIIIIIIIIITTTTTTT

DAAAAMN

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this is fucking bananas. wat da fuc! i need to rewatch this uauauauuuu

how the fuck did they do it?????

amazing!

Incredible...just...just incredible. I'll be thinking about that one all day tomorrow!
Two things-Neymar is just so good. Suarez, on the other hand, is a diving TWAT

It' was a match that makes me feel a bit sorry for people who don't like football.

Wow ... just wow.

Amidst the epic insanity ... Neymar was on another planet.


It's ugly but I can't criticise him for it, any more than I could for his hand ball against Ghana. If a West Ham player was in an equivalent position, with something huge at stake (most realistically a relegation 6 pointer), I'd want him to do the same thing.

That was exactly what I said to my friend who I was watching it with. If somebody couldn't watch that and not get slightly caught up in the emotion, then I don't think I'd want to know that person.

Also, he bites people. Imagine if he were a stoner — he'd get the fuckin' MUNCHIES!!

so, on good bundesliga news today, wolfsburg beat rb leipzig 1-0 with a goal from mario gomez

unfortunately for me, dortmund, who is chasing leipzig for the 2nd place, got beaten 2-1 by hertha berlin.

so they remain 6 points away behind leipzig. damn.

and bayern of course knocked frankfurt 3-0 this morning so now they're 10 points ahead of everyone else.

it's okay....


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question for the ingleses: arsenal vs lincoln something on the FA cup today? i have a chance to see it. should i? leaning towards the no....

I'm watching it for as long as Lincoln have a chance. If Arsenal lose this that'll 100% mark the end for Wenger.

hm... i'll take a peek...

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looked boring, then a goal.

6 min stoppage time? was there some incident that required an ambulance?

stadium half empty!

decided to skip the second half and instead will watch the full length of the barcelona-psg historical cataclism that i only caught at the end this past week

finished watching plus rewatched highlights of arsenal-bayern

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first thing, arsenal: i was sorry about the abusive result but also in wenger's defense arsenal was doing very well until koscienly fucked it up for them. watch that game & see. why nobody wants to crucify kosciely for his fuckup? wenger didn't make him commit that stupid foul. i feel bad for the old man. then again, he could have switched tactics but didn't (can arsenal ever switch tactics?).


second: barcelona. great achievement and all, insane last few minutes, but let us also give credit to psg shitting the bed. instead of trying to score a 2nd (very doable, di maria almost made it happen), they take out draxler and put in a defender. nah.

had they put in a 2nd goal it probably would have taken the wind out of barca's sails. bad strategy in my view, as barca had no away goals, but hindsight is 20/20.

as for suarez beign a twat, sure whatever, but i thought he was brilliant all along, was always fighting for a goal, and when it came to diving-- everybody was kung fu fighting. marquinhos diving, neymar diving, everyone diving, and why do you put your arm on suarez throat, fuck that, good penalty even if he doesn't fall. as the commentators said marquinhos wasn't even looking at the ball.

so, yeah, great historic game and amazing mental presence by barcelona (with the help of an INSANE and gloriously supporting crowd) and very poor showing & decision-making by PSG and their coach. oh man. the last 10 minutes of the game were barcelona's glory. but the first 85 were psg blowing their chances.

I thought the sending off for Koscielny was a bit harsh (a penalty, yes, but no more) but either way, like in the 1st leg, when he went off, Arsenal just collapsed. Their problem is, apart from Sanchez, they never seem to have the heart for a fight. As soon as something goes against them, it's like they give up. It's been an issue with them for years so Wenger has to ultimately take responsibility.

I agree that PSG approached the game all wrong. They should've tried to kill the game with an early goal. But full credit to Barca's rising to the occasion, especially after Cavani did score. It was the polar opposite of Arsenal who seem convinced they can win games on skill alone, when the truly great teams (like Barcelona) know it's as much about mental strength as quick feet. Not just the obvious ones like Suarez but even Messi, Neymar and Iniesta. They'll fight for a win. That's why Sanchez will leave Arsenal. He looks at his teammates, and at Wenger, and he just doesn't see that kind of spirit.

yeah it was harsh on the action itself, but it was correct on the updated "dogso" rule which is why the lineman called the ref for a revision and the red was applied. it was a pull with no possibility to play the ball.

as for the heart in a fight-- okay, i hear that. and yeah they deflated horribly.

and back to barcelona --this is why suárez is so fucking incredible. from the start, blam, scores, and every time, you see it in his face, he wants it more than anybody else, he never fucking quits. he's got, what's the word, "spirit." it's not just balls-- it's-- he really fucking wants to win. whatever shortcomings he's shown over the years always stem from that. and that i can totally forgive in a player.

but the whole of barcelona--and the crowd--were amazing in those last minutes, i mean, everyone was standing up, right? (or maybe i dreamed it). it was a glorious sight. it was like that movie with rocky and pelé and the concentration camp. ah ah ah ha. i'm glad i witnessed that last goal live. it was fucking magic. and the replay did not disappoint. someone should make a movie out of it.

now i'm really intrigued for what they can do the rest of the tournament. fingers crossed for bayern to avoid them until the final ha ha ha.

Every team's entitled to a disaster (PSG 1st leg) and a wonder-game (PSG 2nd leg). I think you almost have to forget both matches due to their freakishness. Barcelona are good enough to go all the way but so are all the other sides left in it. But I suppose one thing in their favour now is that whoever they face from no, they'll believe they're almost immortal.

There's no clear, obvious winner for this Champions League (then again when is there? Rarely). For me, I can see Bayern doing it.

Bayern v Barca would be the best final for me. In a single game, the outcome's impossible to predict at the best of times but between those two even more-so. Although I'd say Barca's style suits Bayern more than the other way around, just because I'd say Bayern have the better defence. Barca probably edge it in attack but then Lewandowski is arguably even more clinical a finisher than Messi, Neymar or Suarez. And if Barca's defence stand off of Robben the way Arsenal did, well ... we know.

Given two legs are obviously more conclusive than one, I'd almost rather they met beforehand, but the intensity of them meeting in the final would be brilliant. And just the fact the winner automatically gets to be called Champions of Europe

It'll be interesting if Barca do win it, that their manager will be resigning straight after.

xabi alonso and lahm are retiring at the end of the year so bayern best do it right now.

but im not as sure they'd make it to the end as you guys. i've seen them rise to challengers, sure, and play to the level required, but i haven't really seen them overcome a really major opponent. a spineless arsenal isn't a serious test, is it?

on good news, ancelotti's new freedom seems no longer disorienting to players. plus, boateng came back from injury yesterday.

as for barcelona, that's exactly what i meant--- now that they know what they're really capable of doing, i don't know what could stop them...

Barca's only worry now is that they could blow it through over confidence whereas, as you say, Bayern haven't been properly tested yet, so won't really know how good they are. But key players in both teams know what it takes to win the cL so I'd say neither side are in much danger of freezing.

Sad to see Xabi Alonso retiring. What a great great player. Massively underrated. It feels like he's always been overshadowed by Pirlo in terms of broader recognition but quite honestly, I prefer Alonso just because I think he had more to his game - espcially defensively. Either way he's never had a team built around him the way Pirlo has, but then it could be argued that Pirlo's never had to deal with the competition (in terms of teammates) that Alonso has.

Lahm's clearly one of the greats of his generation but when Pep started tinkering with his position I think he lost a lot of his potency. Not that he wasn't fine in other positions (and versatility is a great virtue in itself) but I wonder if his status won't suffer in the future as experts fail to agree on what his 'true' position was. (Surely Right Back, but I've heard people talking about him as a more natural Left Back, so who knows?)

The other massive retirement, although it's not quite official yet is Totti. Never the greatest player but an absolute icon who would've achieved so much more if he'd left Roma for Real but would've also probably lost some of his mystique. The ultimate one club player.

Deportivo La Coruna could stop them, for example.

ha ha ha ha

most likely post-match fatigue

same thing happened to dortmund in the weekend. lost vs. hertha berlin.

but bayern of course won anyway-- thought the defense was bad and they got lucky. and their best player ended up being mueller, who didn't play against arsenal

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@ demonyo - lahm's a fullback, the midfielder business was a bit of baroque nonsense by pep--as for his position he started on the left and ended on the right but yeah he's a fullback for history. i think xabi alonso is fantastic and bayern will sure miss him-- pirlo though was something else not just because the teams were built around him but because they could be most effective that way-- definitely a genius playmaker above all else. totti is how old-- 40? that's goalkeeper retirement age!

God yeah. Don't get me wrong, Pirlo is incredible. I've just always had a soft-spot for those players, like Alonso, who can slot into almost any team without that team really having to adapt to them. I take it back though about preferring him to Pirlo, more like he's one of the modern eras most underrated players. Christ, the day I criticise Pirlo is the day I ... well I won't don't it. He's in that 'genius' category, alongside names like Xavi, that one simply doesn't fuck with.

speaking of xabi alonso going, i really look forward to javi martínez taking back his old midfielder spot.

with boateng back along hummels in central defense, javi m. is either benched or pushed forward.

fingers crossed for pushing him forward, cuz he was a beast in that role. not as elegant as xabi alonso but great in his own way-- more a tireless runner than a passer.

pep ruined that, btw... and here's to ancelotti seeing the light.

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eta: been laughing @ that pirlo meme for the past 1/2 hour now