We really fu.ked up not getting through our easy group. Apart from Barca, Real, and maybe Bayern who is there? 3 teams from the weakest Italian league in memory. Some French and Portuguese teams who are usually good for the qtrs but not much further. A couple of Russian teams - it's an improving league but still too soon for them to make an impact. A couple of London teams having nightmares. Leverkusen as good as out already. Basel there at our expense so fair play and good luck. Nicosia living the dream. Fu.k Fu.k Fu.k Still, there's always Thurs night to look forward to.
You should try watching football mate. You might broaden your horizons beyond match of the day. Worst italian league in memory??? Well we can disagree that the italian league isnt quality (i think they have some of the best teams in the world there atm), but to say its the weakest in memory is absolutly the stupidest comment ever. If you knew anything about football you would realise the italian league got screwed by the bribing scandal. The biggest club in italy has only just recovered and is now near the top of the league after many years out. Milan (the second biggest club) have also just recovered. One of the other big clubs (napoli) has also recently recovered from difficulties. SO even if you think the italian league sucks then to say its the worst in memory is just stupid. The weakest in memory was clearly the day after the punishments were handed out and it turned the italian league into an inter milan walk over for several years.
That Inter team was good enough to win the CL before they stupidly put Benitez in charge. Milan and Juve are nowhere near what they were before they got caught out. Napoli were only ever a real power when Maradona could win trophies almost by himself and yes I am aware that they have risen from the depths having gone out of business. Serie A may be more entertaining right now than it was due to closer competition and they are clearly outperforming English teams but they don't have a standout team and I rate their chances of winning the CL at slim to none.
Could've said the same thing last year mate, except last year it was just us, Barca and Real. Admittedly Chelsea and Arsenal weren't quite so inept last year, but they were in no way a genuine threat to any of the top three teams. Bayern couldn't even crawl past a post Benitez Inter, who promptly got shat on by Schalke.
There is that - it's just depressing how far behind Barca and Real everyone else looks this season - even more than the last couple of years. I hate them both equally and the thought that they'll own the CL for the next few years saddens me.
Just a theory, but I wonder if the 2 spanish clubs benefit from having an easier league. They get more opportunities to rest key players and keep them fit for the CL.
Barcelona already look like they're declining, Madrid simply outscore everyone despite having an occasionally suspect defence and Bayern are a great side who have strong players in almost every position. Milan have a decent forward line, but Ibrahimovic is overrated (despite being prone to moments of sheer brilliance), Robinho is temperamental and KP Boateng is hardly the next George Best. Let's not forget though, they got a well earned draw at the Nou Camp in the group stage and were unlucky to lose at home to Barca. Other than those four, nobody can win it. Arsenal and Chelsea are laughable.
I agree that Bayern are the best bet for an upset - quality throughout the team apart from Gomez up front who I don't rate. I know Milan had a few players out but I wasn't impressed with them even though they put 4 past Arsenal.
Real Madrid are the best team in the world at the moment and Ronaldo is unplayable (28 goals in 23 La Liga games says as much), but their record against Barca is poor and if they meet each other, it's Barca's to throw away.
What do you think of the La Liga title scrap between Madrid and Barcelona? Madrid 10 points clear at the top, cannot see Barcelona wining La Liga this season.
Yeah I know, I meant more that their head-to-head record has been embarrassingly one-sided over the past couple of years. If they meet in knockout competition, such as the Champions League, my money will always be on Barca.
Aye - there's no guarantee Bayern will be able to compete with them this season either. Could be a case of whoever wins out of Barca and Real wins the CL. But I doubt they'll own the CL for the next few years - once Mourinho leaves Real they'll fall to pieces again, and Barca are already looking a bit more vulnerable as Xavi gets older. It's more a case that they are the only two clubs in Spain top players will consider going to. If you get a talented young player in demand in the UK, like Bale, Ramsey or Jones, they'd get approaches from City, Utd, Chelsea, Arsenal, Liverpool and Spurs, and would probably listen to all the offers before making a decision. If you get the same situation in Spain, the player will go to Barca or Real 99% of the time and ignore all other offers. Look at how Barca managed to get Villa with barely a fuss, whilst Spurs managed to hold onto Modric and Newcastle rinsed Liverpool for Carroll. There are too many big clubs in the PL, and often the clubs with the big history and profile aren't the ones at the top of the table (vis a vis Liverpool and Arsenal this season). In Spain there are two big clubs and they are always the ones to go to if a player wants a realistic chance of winning La Liga and doing well in Europe.
Isnt the tv money something crazy like barca and real get 200m each and the next highest is valencia and at madrid 40m. The rest get about 20m. I am sure it is something like that. Whereas in the epl (and I think they have just done something similar in italy and germany) all the tv money is shared out more evenly. Thus we get a more competitive league (when coupled with the fact alot of english clubs have big local support). There was some stat that over 50% of spainish people support real madrid. Thats why spainish football is even less competitive than the SPL. I think real and barca will hurt themselves in the long run by hurting the smaller teams and not sharing the tv money with them.
Agreed, La Liga is a bigger and better version of the SPL and will head in the same direction - one of the big 2 will over-reach and get in a financial mess. This may already be the case - it's taken 10 years for Rangers woes to really hit the fan.
Agreed on the Xavi front - despite the goal scoring feats and skills of Messi and Ronaldo, Xavi is still my pick for best player in the world.
I doubt that will ever happen to be honest. The Spanish authorities have shown that they consider Real and Barca to be almost "too big to fail" in terms of their impacts on local communities. If either of them was close to going to the wire the authorities would step in and bail them out, like they did with Real when the City of Madrid bought their training ground for about £400 million. The Catalan authorities would do the same with Barca.
Wow, I fundamentally disagreed with your OP so much that this surprises me. This post is 100% spot on imo. I think barca win because they never lose possesion. And xavi pulls the strings. He also manages to make incisive passes to set up attacking moves with such a ridic rate of complettion. He is the best player in the world imo
