Champions League 2011/12

How stupid of Mandanda. Inter and Marseille were both very, very poor.
I refuse to think that CL will be decided between Barcelona, Real Madrid and Bayern.
I think the winner of Chelsea-Napoli has also a reasonable chance.

And concerning Real Madrid, let's see if they can eliminate CSKA and then we can talk about being contenders.

Poor Basel. Even their goal was disallowed (and it was a perfectly valid goal). Still, i think they played a good CL.
 
I'd LOVE for Napoli to win it but their inexperience in CL will show sooner or later and I can see them do well but not go all the way and win it all.

As for Basel, horrible day but congratulations anyway. Great campaign and they're doing very well as usual in the league as well.
 
Mazzarri's ban has been reduced so he will be at Stamford Bridge tonight. Usually, his presence really fires up the players, so I wonder if this will improve their chances tonight. I think all of Italy is supporting Napoli tonight.
 
this is going to be one hell of a test for napoli players' nerves, as they will get everything chelsea has left to give tonight. the onwer gave the players what they wanted (sacking vilas boas), and to give even more responsability to the players (and make his point even clearer) abramovich left di matteo in control (basically putting the senators in charge).

we've already seen this very same situation happening dozens of times before. any chelsea player who doesn't perform at his very best from now till the end of the season is as good as gone and might aswell tell his agent to look for a new club (and good luck finding someone who pays as much as abramovich).
the last 2 games were already an appetizer, but tonite is probably much more important to roman. the whole team is gonna be playing for their future at stanford bridge tonite.
the big question is, will napoli players be able to keep their coolness and not allow chelsea to dictate the rhythm of the game?
this one should be interesting :))
 
Mario Gomez is a great 9, now he is a high level...all that he touch, is goal...

and robben & ribery are speedy gonzalez
 
and what a game for Torres to finally score...

if he wasn´t motivated untill now, a goal two tonight might save his Chelsea reputation..

edit: or career..
 
I have a feeling that Chelsea will win.
Just like Ben says in his posts: the stakes are sky high for the players.
 
Bayern 7 - 0 Basel
Barcelona 7 - 1 Leverkusen

It is really impressive to see that in CL. This is Playstation football!!
We used to complain that football video games were not realistic because we could win 10-0, but in the end the real football comes closer to the "virtual" football!
 
Yeah some crazy results recently.

I think Napoli will get through tonight unless there is some controversy (Home team advantage getting ref calls like penalty they shouldn't, offside for other team, etc.) and I think having Mazzari there IS a big help. But this should be a very interesting match that can go both ways. At the moment I'd give the edge to NApoli. 40% Chelsea 60% Napoli to advance.

I think Napoli will score the first goal and REALLY dampen the mood as Chelsea will then need to score 3. But the West Londoners will NOT give up and score one. Then in last 10-5 minutes they'll score another go up 2-1 and make a REALLY tense final few minutes but Napoli will hold out and win 4-3 on aggregate and go through.
 
PLF said:
I think Napoli will get through tonight unless there is some controversy (Home team advantage getting ref calls like penalty they shouldn't, offside for other team, etc.) and I think having Mazzari there IS a big help. But this should be a very interesting match that can go both ways. At the moment I'd give the edge to NApoli. 40% Chelsea 60% Napoli to advance.

I think Napoli will score the first goal and REALLY dampen the mood as Chelsea will then need to score 3. But the West Londoners will NOT give up and score one. Then in last 10-5 minutes they'll score another go up 2-1 and make a REALLY tense final few minutes but Napoli will hold out and win 4-3 on aggregate and go through.
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mmh, i was leaning towards a 2-0 win for chelsea, but fu*k me, if u say it's gonna be 2-1, then that's where my money will go... i'm not making the same mistake twice, not after looking at your recent betting history (on the betting thread) :WORSHIP:
 
lol I don't know Ben. I just don't see Napoli NOT scoring. Because I think if they don't, Chelsea will go through.

But between Cavani, Lavezzi, Hamsik and co, I think there will be a goal for Napoli if not two and that will mean the end of Chelsea because though though they'll probably play well and win, it'll be too much for them. Napoli on counter attack deadly.

I think if Chelsea can manage to NOT concede, they'll go through but that's a tough task against this motivated hungry ambitious Napoli side with so many capable players especially in attack.
 
While watching the Chelsea match, my brother came up with an interesting fact.
Every team that stops Chelsea's campaigns in the Champions League, is sure to be in that year's final.

2003-04: Monaco knocks out Chelsea, Monaco goes to the final
2004-05: Liverpool knocks out Chelsea, Liverpool goes to the final (and wins it)
2005-06: Barcelona knocks out Chelsea, Barcelona goes to the final (and wins it)
2006-07: Liverpool knocks out Chelsea, Liverpool goes to the final
2007-08: Man. United beats Chelsea, already in final
2008-09: Barcelona knocks out Chelsea, Barcelona goes to the final (and wins it)
2009-10: Inter knocks out Chelsea, Inter goes to the final (and wins it)
2010-11: Man. United knocks out Chelsea, Man. United goes to the final

Interesting?
 
Who's your favourite?

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Haha Drogba is a beast, but what unsporting behaviour from him!

Congrats to Napoli for getting this far, a club that hasn't felt this kind of pressure in many many years this is truly an outstanding achievement for Italian football and football in general.
 
Well done Napoli. I hope they can keep this team together and buy a good CB (Aronica is their weak point IMO, Drogba was all over him).

I wanted Napoli to go through, but i saw a very entertaining match and Chelsea that proved that they can still perform on big nights. From now on Chelsea are my team in the CL. My 12 year old daughter will be absolutely delighted with Chelsea going through.

About that clip: it looks rather ridiculous, but Drogba and Busquets are not the only two who do similar things. I prefer this to what Rooney did against Wigan last season, if you do that on the street you go to jail for a couple of hours at least...Maybe somebody could care to post a clip about that one. That was absolutely disgusting. What Drogba and Busquets do is unfair, but most players do it, and it doesn't disturbs me as much this way, as what players like Ronaldo, Di Maria and Suarez do frequently.
 
PIPA23 said:
what a match.

better team won in the end,
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Gerd said:
I wanted Napoli to go through, but i saw a very entertaining match and Chelsea that proved that they can still perform on big nights
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really?
i'm actually quite curious about this guys, what makes u say this was a good match, and what brings u to believe chelsea came out with a good performance? i'm not being sarcastic here, it's a sincere curiosity.:))

also what does everyone else think about this match? i think it would be extremely interesting to gather some opinions from epl followers and from other league followers. did u like this match?
did u find it entertaining?
did u consider that a quality football match (that is different from the previous question, of course; u might watch some great football in a pretty dull match..... as u might watch a very exciting and entertaining match with some horrible football quality).
did u think that was a good performance from chelsea? i'm not gonna ask u if u think that was a good performance from napoli, coz i immagine most of u haven't probably watched enough napoli games to actually know how napoli plays.... but most of u certainly know chelsea well enough to have a reliable opinion on their performance yesterday.
so what's your opinion on yesterday's game guys?
 
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gerd said:
.I prefer this to what Rooney did against Wigan last season, if you do that on the street you go to jail for a couple of hours at least...Maybe somebody could care to post a clip about that one.
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Here you go, now watch it to your heart's content and get it out of your system.

YouTube - wayne rooney elbow

Back on topic:

It was a great game last night, I knew it would be, I imagine with Napoli's style of attacking football it couldn't be anything but open. I think it's clear to most people that some Chelsea players have started giving 100% again since AVB's departure, and they very obviously weren't in his last few games as manager, he'd lost the dressing room completely.

Still, despite Chelsea's improvements, I was absolutely convinced Napoli would score again.
 
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Wilkmyster said:
Here you go, now watch it to your heart's content and get it out of your system.
Click to expand...

I'm at work and can't see it here...and to be honest what a stupid reply. If you can't admit that this is one of the worst things that can happen on a football pitch, then (with all due respect) you are hopelessly biased. I would have said the same thing if it was a Spurs, a Genk or a Palermo player by the way...

To me yesterday's match was a very good match, as good as the first leg in Napoli.
Chelsea were quite impressive from the first goal on to the end of regular play time.
In the prolongations, IMO Napoli were the better team, but Chelsea were the more clever team. I see Chelsea quite a lot this season and this must have been one of their best matches.

That said, Napoli's attacking trident were less impressive than usually...

The first Chelsea goal was a beauty and very clever, because imo that is Napoli's weak point: balls that come from the sides of the pitch. Both Zuniga and Maggio play high up on the field and if a team can get behind those two players then it becomes dangerous. Ramirez cross was inch perfect and Drogba's run was very good.

IMO Napoli was the most attractive "normal" (i.e. not being Barcelona) team in this CL. So it's sad they are out, but i think Chelsea dserved to go through based on this last match. Perhaps Napoli were great in the first leg, and they were unlucky with the unfortunate bounce that misled Cannavaro and led to Chelsea's away goal...but i honestly can't say Chelsea did not deserve to progress.

Chelsea and Benfica (Witsel) will be the teams i will support from now on...hope they don't play each other...
 
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