[cite]Posted By: Kap10[/cite]Ronaldo went missing again
Not a team player is he, unlike Messi.
Is it too soon to put Messi up on the same pedestal as Best, Pele, Maradonna I wonder.
Crap game lit up by his wonder goals
To be honest I hated Ronaldo in England for his arrogance, his cheating, was overrated in his early days but now I honestly think he is every bit as good as Messi overall but from a completely different perspective.
Ronaldo must be sitting in that dressing room thinking oh how I wish I had those creative feet and minds that Messi is surrounded by.
He certainly benefited greatly from having Rooney around, although I suspect he's way too arrogant and vain to acknowledge that.
He's a class act but a very selfish player.
Messi on the other hand, whilst capable of great individual brilliance, shows infinitely greater awareness of his teammates positions and runs and is mature enough to subordinate his talent to the team ethic.
His ball control at pace and changing direction is awesome.
Much the better of the two IMO.
Messi is only 23 so he still has a long career infront of him. I think by the end of hes career he will be looked upon as the best ever player. Hope he keeps it up and there is more to come from him.
I sat down tonight expecting to be entirely neutral but after a while i found myself thinking why do i want madrid to win?
After all they are the team of franco, throwing money at the team and under mourihno play negative pragmatic football.
Then i realised why i despise barcelona. Despite their technical and tactical brilliance their game is underpinned by cynical gamesmanship. I'll exclude messi from that criticism as he takes more punishment than the rest of his team put together and just gets on with it.
If that's 'more than a club' them i dread to think what less than a club looks like!
[cite]Posted By: Covered End[/cite]The first 75 mins of that game was total dog shite.
The 2 teams, but especially Barcelona were a disgrace to the beautiful game.
The match wasn't dirty, it was just the pathetic play acting. Players rolling over backwards and forwards, feigning injury, often holding their face, when there was no contact, with the face.
Reminded me of foreign football from the past. Didn't think it was so prevelent these days.
Now I know why I rarely watch foreign football.
Messi graced the last 15 mins, but that aside, a complete disgrace.
I hope Man U win the final & I don't even like them.
This is exactly why I cannot stand hearing people say this Barcelona team are one of the best team ever. Maybe they could be with the amount of technically gifted players they have in that team but they do not play in the spirit of how football should be played. Look at the invincibles, maybe occasionally went down a but i dont remember every single tackle bergkamp rolling around holding his face and Seaman running up to the ref waving imaginary cards. Barcelona tonight were an utter disgrace and if they win I am writing a formal complaint to Mr.Platini. So there.
Very poor behaviour by both teams - feigning imaginary injuries ( especially facial ones ) and pursuing the ref in packs to get opponents booked and sent off - they made Roy Keane and his mates look tame. Even allowing for the history of these teams, over familiarity and personal vendettas, it was ugly in parts. Man of the match, other than Messi,was Woolfgang the referee ( presumably German ) - top man.
Against that, only one team set out to win the game and the statistics on possession reflect Barcelona's superiority - I don't think anyone on here could credibly deny that, nor that the second goal was a thing of great beauty. I admire Mourinho greatly but playing Pepe and Diarra in the home leg of a semi-final tells you all you need to know. I don't accept the criticisms of Di Steffano and Cruyff after the first game that Mourinho was unnecessarily negative, because if you attack Barcelona, they will exploit the space.
I know they are media darlings and that gets on people's tits but take a step back for a moment. Any team ( let alone one of this quality ) that can provide 7 or 8 starters from their academy must be doing something right. Why not just enjoy it while it lasts ?
Good also to see that ITV are providing gainful employment as pundits to a couple of former, sacked Middlesborough managers - entirely commensurate with the level of their coverage and getting the long term unemployed off the dole.
To be honest, there's a difference between 'the most talented team ever' and 'the BEST team ever' and tonight we saw that. In terms of ability Barcelona are easily the best team I have ever seen (although at 22 I admit that doesn't give me a lot to compare them too) but the gamesmanship on behalf of both teams was ridiculous, absolutely ludicrous.
Am going to make sure I miss tonight's game............if I'm going to watch people embarass themselves by falling over I'lll watch Dancing on Ice or go down the local this Friday night at chuich out time
Agree with Covered End entirely, both teams were shameful in their antics. I have said it before, and I will say it again, give me League 2 football on the telly and I would watch it in preference to any southern European or South American game anyday. Like corruption in their governments, cheating in football is something you will never remove from their culture.
Tonight's match is the first of these 4 matches I've watched but it seems immediately obvious to me that Barcelona are favourised. Everytime one of their players fall over they get something for it. They even just got a perfectly legitimate goal of Real Madrid's ruled out by fouling Ronaldo!
Yeah Ronaldo was fouled, fell into Mascherano and the ref gave a foul to Barca. Barca are a very good side but their histrionics really get on my tits.
Sorry, can't stand Barca. Their football is sublime but cannot stand the diving/theatrics. Typified by the slo mo of Mascherano being caught by Diarra and as he was rolling about in unparalled agony, glancing up towards the referee to see if he was looking and the continuing to roll. The free kick given against Ronaldo before Higuain scored-WTF? Credit to Messi who tries to stay on his feet even when he is having lumps kicked out of him
Comments
He certainly benefited greatly from having Rooney around, although I suspect he's way too arrogant and vain to acknowledge that.
He's a class act but a very selfish player.
Messi on the other hand, whilst capable of great individual brilliance, shows infinitely greater awareness of his teammates positions and runs and is mature enough to subordinate his talent to the team ethic.
His ball control at pace and changing direction is awesome.
Much the better of the two IMO.
Dare I say that goal had a McManaman/Fowler English feel to it?
In fits and starts.
Could he do it on a cold December Tuesday evening at The Britannia though?
After all they are the team of franco, throwing money at the team and under mourihno play negative pragmatic football.
Then i realised why i despise barcelona. Despite their technical and tactical brilliance their game is underpinned by cynical gamesmanship. I'll exclude messi from that criticism as he takes more punishment than the rest of his team put together and just gets on with it.
If that's 'more than a club' them i dread to think what less than a club looks like!
but seriously... Messi isnt human
This is exactly why I cannot stand hearing people say this Barcelona team are one of the best team ever. Maybe they could be with the amount of technically gifted players they have in that team but they do not play in the spirit of how football should be played. Look at the invincibles, maybe occasionally went down a but i dont remember every single tackle bergkamp rolling around holding his face and Seaman running up to the ref waving imaginary cards. Barcelona tonight were an utter disgrace and if they win I am writing a formal complaint to Mr.Platini. So there.
Against that, only one team set out to win the game and the statistics on possession reflect Barcelona's superiority - I don't think anyone on here could credibly deny that, nor that the second goal was a thing of great beauty. I admire Mourinho greatly but playing Pepe and Diarra in the home leg of a semi-final tells you all you need to know. I don't accept the criticisms of Di Steffano and Cruyff after the first game that Mourinho was unnecessarily negative, because if you attack Barcelona, they will exploit the space.
I know they are media darlings and that gets on people's tits but take a step back for a moment. Any team ( let alone one of this quality ) that can provide 7 or 8 starters from their academy must be doing something right. Why not just enjoy it while it lasts ?
Good also to see that ITV are providing gainful employment as pundits to a couple of former, sacked Middlesborough managers - entirely commensurate with the level of their coverage and getting the long term unemployed off the dole.
I think they must've turned yours of Jimmy. Everyone else's is working. Did you not buy a badge?
I'm going to bed in disgust.