The Official Football/Soccer Thread: 2017-2018 Season
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Adidas commercial about today's Real Madrid-Barça final with Messi, Villa, Alonso, Xavi, Di Maria...
Beckenbauer "Bring more like Raul" http://www.as.com/futbol/articulo/beckenbauer-aconseja-traed-raul/20110420dasdasftb_7/Tes Beckenbauer thinks that the key to Schalke's performance in Europe is Raul. -
Well, someone has to talk about it... Real Madrid 1 - Barça 0 One of the best matches I've ever seen. Not because of the show or attack but because the level of both teams. So great attacking, so great defending. Barça insisted a lot of attacking through the center and virtually nothing through the wings. Real Madrid (and Casillas) stopped that and had similar chances too. In the end a perfect play of Marcelo (who's defending great lately), Di Maria and Cristiano decided the match and the championship. Next match on Wednesday. This is hard to believe but I've seen that many Real Madrid supporters say that if the Champions League final was Real Madrid vs Schalke then... they will support Schalke instead of Real Madrid.
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I agree, one of the best games of the season. A shame the referee, just like on Saturday, lacked the juevos to deservedly send off any Madrid players in the first half for their ruthless tackling. So much for the theory of "Villarato". But the atmosphere at a neutral venue made it a great night for the game.
21st Century Paul:
This is hard to believe but I've seen that many Real Madrid supporters say that if the Champions League final was Real Madrid vs Schalke then... they will support Schalke instead of Real Madrid.
Well then they are not Real Madrid supporters. They are Raul fans. Many people are like that these days, selecting to follow players rather than teams. Florentino understands this, which is why he loves to buy the big name players. He knows that fans of these players will buy the blanco shirts for the name on the back rather than the badge on the front.
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Here's how the Copa del Rey should be properly treated...
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unclesox:
I agree, one of the best games of the season. A shame the referee, just like on Saturday, lacked the juevos to deservedly send off any Madrid players in the first half for their ruthless tackling. So much for the theory of "Villarato". But the atmosphere at a neutral venue made it a great night for the game.
21st Century Paul:
This is hard to believe but I've seen that many Real Madrid supporters say that if the Champions League final was Real Madrid vs Schalke then... they will support Schalke instead of Real Madrid.
Well then they are not Real Madrid supporters. They are Raul fans. Many people are like that these days, selecting to follow players rather than teams. Florentino understands this, which is why he loves to buy the big name players. He knows that fans of these players will buy the blanco shirts for the name on the back rather than the badge on the front.
Well I am a Real Madrid supporter before Raul ever played on the team, and I guess most of the rest that are gonna do that too. Real Madrid fans are sure the weirder of all fans... I know we're hard to understand. Schalke could play "at home" at the final.
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21st Century Paul:
Well I am a Real Madrid supporter before Raul ever played on the team, and I guess most of the rest that are gonna do that too. Real Madrid fans are sure the weirder of all fans... I know we're hard to understand. Schalke could play "at home" at the final.
Well, the final is at Wembley and each finalista will be given 25,000 tickets for the game. The rest, which have already been sold on uefa.com, went to the open public. I'm sure that whichever team advances from Manchester United or Schalke will have more support in the final. As for Real Madrid, I've heard rumors of dissent amongst the board of directors/members between the so called 'old guard' - older members who still want to win with "beautiful football - and the 'new guard' - younger people who simply want to win no matter how ugly it looks. The 'new guard' obviously love Mourinho while the 'old guard' has problems with the way Mourinho is using the team. Even the great Real legend Don Alfredo had harsh words about Real's style of play after Saturday's 1-1 draw.
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unclesox:
21st Century Paul:
Well I am a Real Madrid supporter before Raul ever played on the team, and I guess most of the rest that are gonna do that too. Real Madrid fans are sure the weirder of all fans... I know we're hard to understand. Schalke could play "at home" at the final.
Well, the final is at Wembley and each finalista will be given 25,000 tickets for the game. The rest, which have already been sold on uefa.com, went to the open public. I'm sure that whichever team advances from Manchester United or Schalke will have more support in the final. As for Real Madrid, I've heard rumors of dissent amongst the board of directors/members between the so called 'old guard' - older members who still want to win with "beautiful football - and the 'new guard' - younger people who simply want to win no matter how ugly it looks. The 'new guard' obviously love Mourinho while the 'old guard' has problems with the way Mourinho is using the team. Even the great Real legend Don Alfredo had harsh words about Real's style of play after Saturday's 1-1 draw.
Well, Real Madrid has a team built for this playing, kind of similar of Man Utd playing, if they want to play different they will need other players. If Granero played maybe there would be more passing game, something like Ramos Pepe Carvalho Marcelo; Alonso; Granero, Di Maria; Ozil; Kaka, Cristiano. You never know with Mou, maybe he plays kind of that against Barça in some match...
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Guys you will see...Olympiakos is going to be the winner of Chl this year...We are a team with a new owner who puts a lot of money!!!We also have the best fans in whole europe...Gate 7 im sure you know them ...OLYMPIAKOS!
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21st Century Paul:
Well, Real Madrid has a team built for this playing, kind of similar of Man Utd playing, if they want to play different they will need other players. If Granero played maybe there would be more passing game, something like Ramos Pepe Carvalho Marcelo; Alonso; Granero, Di Maria; Ozil; Kaka, Cristiano. You never know with Mou, maybe he plays kind of that against Barça in some match...
Mou kind of this that yesterday but with many substitutes. Casillas; Albiol, Garay, Carvalho, Nacho; Lass; Granero, Canales; Kaka; Higuain, Benzema... and it was absolutely different from the usual playing... first half ended 0-4 against Valencia. It seems Kaka and Higuain are recovered.
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GreekMaccaFan:
Guys you will see...Olympiakos is going to be the winner of Chl this year...We are a team with a new owner who puts a lot of money!!!We also have the best fans in whole europe...Gate 7 im sure you know them ...OLYMPIAKOS!
I guess you mean the winner next year... who's Olympiakos planning to sign?
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Raul trying to make history getting to the Champions League final with Schalke! IMO, that's much harder than winning the World Cup with Spain. Van der Sar asks to their defenders a special attention to Raul, to watch their backs, well they already know. In the meantime, a little bit of Guardiolato , the referee designed for Real Madrid-Barça match is portuguese... Guardiola complained about that (?) and now UEFA has changed the referee for some referee that considers himself a Messi fan, "I will ask him for his shirt at the end of the match". (?)
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21st Century Paul:
Raul trying to make history getting to the Champions League final with Schalke! IMO, that's much harder than winning the World Cup with Spain. Van der Sar asks to their defenders a special attention to Raul, to watch their backs, well they already know. In the meantime, a little bit of Guardiolato , the referee designed for Real Madrid-Barça match is portuguese... Guardiola complained about that (?) and now UEFA has changed the referee for some referee that considers himself a Messi fan, "I will ask him for his shirt at the end of the match". (?)
I'm sure Raul would rather have a World Cup winner's medal with Spain than a Champions League winner's medal with Schalke. The Portuguese referee is Pedro Proença, and given how many Portuguese players are in Real Madrid, I'm sure Madridistas would feel unsettled had the situation been reversed. By the way, Proença stated on Saturday that he will be officiating a second leg match next week although he doesn't know (or hasn't said) if it will be Barca-Real or Man Utd-Schalke. As for the German referee Wolfgang Stark, this is the same referee who handled the first leg of Barcelona-Chelsea in 2009. The English media love to ramble on about four supposed "stonewall penalties" that were not awarded to Chelsea in the second game, but they never mention the job Stark did in the first game where he denied a clear penalty when Bosingwa pulled down Thierry Henry in the penalty area and later failed to show Ballack a second yellow card when he clearly committed a 'professional foul' on Iniesta.
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unclesox:
21st Century Paul:
Raul trying to make history getting to the Champions League final with Schalke! IMO, that's much harder than winning the World Cup with Spain. Van der Sar asks to their defenders a special attention to Raul, to watch their backs, well they already know. In the meantime, a little bit of Guardiolato , the referee designed for Real Madrid-Barça match is portuguese... Guardiola complained about that (?) and now UEFA has changed the referee for some referee that considers himself a Messi fan, "I will ask him for his shirt at the end of the match". (?)
I'm sure Raul would rather have a World Cup winner's medal with Spain than a Champions League winner's medal with Schalke.
lol, yeah, sure, especially after already winning 3 Champions Leagues. Anyway this is a harder challenge.
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It's difficult to see Guardiola allow himself to get lulled into a war of words with Mourinho. And with no healthy left back and Iniesta now ruled out, Real look to be firm favorites to come away with a good result.
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I don't even want to get into what the coaches are saying Yes, lots of injuries in Barça, Puyol will play as left back or even Keita or Jeffren. I've been quite disappointed today as you can imagine. Schalke 0-Man Utd 2 Lots of chances for Man Utd and finally 2 goals. Almost no chance for Schalke, I don't know what happened to them. Maybe they have played too defensive, especially for the XI on field with lots of ofensive midfielders. Almost no pass to Raul. In the 2nd half he received 3 balls, in one he did a pass to an offensive midfielder, and in the other 2 tried 2 goal assists saved by... Ferdinand, I think. Schalke "only" need to do again at Old Trafford what they did at San Siro. Metzelders says they're gonna try to do the same. What about Ryan Giggs? He was already playing in the XI of Man Utd. when today's Man Utd right back Fabio wasn't even born (!).
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It's a cold stat but Raul was the player who run the most on yesterday's match. So sure he's not too old to play and all those things... They're gonna try at Manchester he says. Now not even me thinks of Schalke knocking out Manchester Utd at Old Trafford after a 0-2. Schalke is all about Neuer and Raul and they have to do again what they did with Inter... in the meantime today there's another match
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well, very defensive Real Madrid, not even creating counterattacks. Messi scored a typical "Raul goal" and then a typical "Messi goal", or "Maradona goal". It seems the semifinal it's over unless Real Madrid plays offensive in Camp Nou. Whether with another lineup with Ozil, Kaka, Higuain, Granero, even Canales... or with a similar but going forward. Marcelo was against decisive... but this time for defensive mistakes. I see you and me have used the same strategy in Fantasy. But we got no chance unless Real and Schalke make it really big next week. 1 Daniel 47 530 2 Oliver 25 460 3 Unclesox 17 432
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Some quotes to sum the Classico: Pique about Pepe: "If you play with fire you may get burned" Cristiano: "I don't like to play this way but that's the coach decision" Adebayor: "they're far from fair-play, if you just touch them they fall down and cry like babies" Mou: "I would be ashamed to win like this" and Rosell studying if they sue Mourinho.
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and Real Madrid and Barça have sued each other. the discussion about the red card of Pepe has gone global... some referees says it is some say it's not the thing is that Busquets did a similar one to Xabi Alonso... In the next match, in spite of all the great players on field, the most watched one will be the referee. I hope the show will be on the field and not on the press room.
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some minutes left for the big match and driving rain here A match of records, 1000 journalists, 220 countries broadcasting... Madrid is gonna play the typical way this season, only with Kaka instead of Ozil, Arbeloa instead of Ramos and Albiol instead of Carvalho. And Barça same way too with Mascherano for Abidal. So defensive Real Madrid again, not so much as with Pepe as midfielder. I guess Mou will change strategy if result doesn't favour Real Madrid and bring Granero, Ozil... in. Or play with 3 defenders. Maybe this rain will influence the match too. UEFA has named Collina to watch the referee Bye. 2: