Champions League Watch

Watching Celtic v Juventus and Celtic have just gone 2-0 down which means they are probably out. It's a shame as they have played well and made some good chances. The referee hasn't helped by a poor performance, including standing by as Juvetus do rugby tackles in their box under the technicality that you are allowed to do whatever you want to your opponents in the build up to their corner.

 

Pretty much what they are saying on TalkSport too

 

3-0 now. It doesn't reflect the game but Celtic were sloppy there.

 

Yeah this was my recent point amongst all the diving furore. Divings a sin but:

Shoving an opponent to the ground is ok.

Hauling an opponent to the ground is ok.

With your back to the ball, never once looking at it wrestling your opponent away from the ball is ok.

In fact if it happens to you against an Italian team you'll be carded.

Word association:

Italians
Matching fixing
Referees
Champions league

 

Referees are such cowards about this issue.

The PSG game ended more interesting, a last minute goal for Valencia to make it 1-2 and a red card for Zlatan.

 

Rep.

 

Watched the first half of the PSG v Valencia game,Lucas Moura absolutely sensational.

 

I wouldn't call them cowards as it takes some massive brass balls to be a referee in the first place but I agree with you on the 'it happens all the times' / 'we'd have twenty penalties a game' type fouls.

I would love to see players punished for the shirt pulling and grappling that goes off it set pieces. What annoys me more than this is the referee speaking to the players involved only for it to continue to happen regardless, if you are going to speak to them then follow it up with action if they persist

Of course, if referees took a stronger stance on this it would mean the end of Martin Skrtel's career

 

Juventus today went beyond what even Stoke do. One of their tactics is the defender grabs the forward. The goalkeeper then pushes his defender to the ground and he takes the forward with him. Somehow that's no longer a foul.

 

Not really arsed, Celtic cheated their way into the knockout rounds anyway.

 

In what way did they cheat, Shogs?

 

IIRC Samaras dived for a penalty which put them 2-1 up in the last group game against Spartak. 1-1 would have seen them to out.

 

Celtic were the better side by a country mile

Their mistake was chasing an equaliser when they could have been more conservative and had a go on the second leg.

 

How many difficult saves did Buffon actually make though?

 

what does that have to do with anything?

putting a free crack or header wide of the goal means Buffon could be in a beach chair asleep.

But the chance was still there

and Celtic had enough of those chances to win the match 3x over

bad day in front of goal rather than Juve earning a result for me. juve bent over and celtic missed the prize is all

 

Shame about Celtic, they deserved something from that game.

Looking forward to Real trashing United tonight though. We'll once again see how bad the PL teams are in Europe.

 

once again? had a team in the final for 6 of the last 7 years

 

Anyone can reach the final and even win it - as Chelsea proved last year with their shower of ****e performances. The league's teams have changed alot too. You think any English team will come close this year? United will be smashed tonight, Chelsea are out, City are out and Arsenal will soon be following - unless you think they'll beat Bayern

Last year was a complete fluke. Year before United were embarrassed, year before we weren't close, before that United were once again embarrassed by Barca and going back one final year, we had a double English final but those teams have changed alot since then. Whether we reach the final or not, English teams usually get smashed by someone. Not even a close fought loss, but completely outplayed. This year will be the same, and no finalist.

 

Chelsea can't have been that ****e to progress past Napoli, Benfica, Barcelona and Bayern Munich in their own back hard.

A fluke isn't a fluke when it happens 4 times.

 

I think you miss the point shogs if Pool are not in it, it is either ****e or flukey, no ifs or buts allowed.