Sir Alex please log in to view this image Lucky 13th (Title)? No, I don't think so. Fair play to him.
Poor Barca getting outplayed. It should have been 2-0, including Thomas Mueller taking out Jordi Alba for Bayern's 3rd goal directly in front of the additional penalty area official makes a joke of European refereeing.
Me too, Bidders. Hopefully this will put to rest the "best team of all time" nonsense. Barcelona have been a great team in recent years, but certainly not the best team of all time.
But Bayern should've had a penalty too... I agree though, those extra officials have proven to be a waste of time. I am loving the novelty of Barca having decisions go against them though!
It's funny how the football writers are all in a tizzy about the rise of German football, and the decline the Spanish variety, because Dortmund and Munich put the wood to Barca and Madrid. I'm sorry, but the triumph of two German clubs (assuming Munich holds out tonight) over the Spanish giants does not signal a tectonic shift in the world of football. Gary Neville was on TV the other night whining about the four UK regulars in Newcastle's otherwise French lineup and immediately points to Dortmund and Munich as proof to a metaphysical certainty that Newcastle should have found its talent a little closer to home. In any event, I, too, have enjoyed watching the Spanish giants get spanked.
I think it's a little more than that DR. I think it was 7/8 German teams that made it to the knockout stages of European competitions this season (Dortmund, Bayern, Schalke, Stuttgart, Hamburg, Wolfsburg, Monchengladbach and Lerverkusen?). What irritates me is that German football has been on the rise for the past few seasons yet it takes two of them to reach the CL semi's for people to notice. La Liga was never really that good, take out Barca and RM and it's Championship standard with maybe Atletico Europa standard, Valencia and Sevilla are now fallen giants, but take Bayern and Dortmund out of Germany and it is still a very good league.
Well the balance of power is a lot different these days, that can't be denied. A year or two ago if you said Dortmund and Bayern would beat Real and Barca 4-1 and 4-0 respectively I'd have told you to do one. The Germans didn't just sneak a win by the Spanish, they decimated them.
Absolutely agree. With the Missus being a Señorita I get to watch quite a bit of Spanish football live and on the box. The big problem for quite a few years is lack of competition. Barca and Real have dominated to such an extent that it has gone the way of Scottish football - albeit the homegrown talent is of a much better quality thanks to the very good coaching systems clubs and the national FA has. Now Madrid & Barca's dream players are getting older they are becoming fading forces and you can see a torch passing. Sevilla are my team and they have been bloody awful this season and have never really replaced Kanoute, despite having Navas and Negredo in their squad - either of whom would do a very good job for us, especially Navas coming in from the wing as he does. You are also spot on about how long German football has been on the up. The guy I sit opposite at work supports Hamburg and has been banging on for years about the quality of the league. I have always rubbed the Spanish League in his face to be honest but this season he's made me eat my words. Can't see La Liga getting much more competitive for a while again, either.
I hear what you're saying, boys, but my point is that one year does not make the a trend. I live in Germany. I know the football is good, but I'm not sure it's time to eulogize the Spanish because two tired teams got the a$$es handed to them by a couple of quality, in-form sides. Last year, the second-best team in SW London up and won the CL. Did that signal the rise of English football. Not for me it didn't.
That's because according to the English media, the English PL is at the top of the chart and cannot be beaten. Chelsea didn't put English football back at the top of the perch, because according to many it was already there, despite the fact that no English team got to the CL quarter finals this year.
That's an example of the media pandering to a person's insatiable need to feel good about his- or herself. "You are the best, UK resident, because ... blah blah blah." We hear it so much (particularly in the states) you don't even realize it's happening. Dark powers at work.
I don't think Chelsea winning it last year on a wing and a prayer is quite the same as the Germans being hugely impressive in the semi's and setting up an all-German final.
I can't tell you how much I want Benfica to win the Europa League this season. If Chelsea were to win, after their players came out and basically said they were embarrassed to be in the competition, it would be a travesty.
Somewhat digressing, a Brentford fan told me how relieved he was that Trotta was not on the pitch,especially with their late penalty.
Very true, but sadly that's what the Europa is all about now, a fall-back for ailing bigger clubs. I don't know how they're going to revitalise it, to be honest. I'd like to see the Champions League take after it's name and be a comp for, you know, Champions or perhaps runners-up as well, and the rest go into the Europa. But that wouldn't happen. The problem with the Europa is the obscene amount of games involved if you want to go far. Clubs don't want it because if you've qualified for it, you've won a trophy or finished 5/6/7th, and will still want to focus on the domestic league, perhaps even fight a relegation battle at the same time. At that point, all the Europa games are just a distraction, especially as the clubs' squads that compete in it are usually too small. A return of the Cup Winner's Cup would be good as well, to keep the amount of teams in the Europa down - I'm probably alone on that one though.
Papers are rife with reports that he's standing down. May be to nip in the bud any attempt from Chelsea to bring in Jose Mourinho?? Although the bookies seem to fancy David Moyes. "As rumours of the 71-year-old’s imminent retirement swept Manchester, senior figures at the club failed to respond to repeated attempts to confirm or deny the story, which emerged following United’s player versus coaches golf day at Dunham Massey on Tuesday afternoon. With United now forced to adhere to the strict rules and regulations of the New York Stock Exchange in terms of the release of significant information relating to the running of the club following last August’s partial flotation, any change of management would fall within those requirements. As of Tuesday night, no statement over Ferguson’s future had been issued by United. However, with sources close to the players confirming that the squad’s golf day had been overshadowed by suggestions that the Scot would be making an announcement ahead of Sunday’s clash with Swansea at Old Trafford, any ongoing uncertainty is unlikely to be allowed to continue to the point where it would affect the confidence of investors and, in turn, United’s New York share price." Source: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/sport/football/teams/manchester-united/10042798/Sir-Alex-Ferguson-considering-retiring-as-Manchester-United-manager-before-end-of-the-week.html
The BBC have also deemed it necessary to 'feature' their gossip column which has reams of articles about Sir Alex's possible retirement. There does seem to be a whiff of truth about it...
Historic because one of the greatest managers in football history retires, or because now City and Chelsea have a chance at being the most dominant team in England?
