I think this match is a proof that Mourinho is not a top class coach. He has great players in his squad and yet you never see a footballistic routine in this team.
Apart from Xavi Alonso (great pass for Madrid's goal, that from Iniesta was pure genius), Man Utd has much more football intelligence in the team.
Gab, i did not like Barcelona in the second half because they were scarcely able to vary between long and short passes. Short passing gamer is wonderfull if you don't get yourself in trouble with it. In the second half this was frequently the case....a team like United will punish for those mistakes.
I know that Madrid played against one of the best club teams ever, but they were very, very poor throughout both matches.
I totally agree with you here Gerd. You know I'm quite critical with abussing short passing. It limits the teams, makes it smaller and smaller. In fact, the only chance of Madrid in 180 minutes came from an error for abusing this short passing.
I think Madrid was a little better today, but if they were trying to come back they should have offered a lot more. 1 chance of goal in 180 minutes is a poor stat. We could have scored in the first half but Casillas showed again he's a top 10 history goalkeeper.
Congrats to Barcelona. You're still the best team but, as this game showed, the gap isn't that big.
Good to see Eric backing to football. It was the best moment of the match so far (well, at least for me, because... you know
).
Thanks, Special, you know you're like ten thousand times more Special than the other one. The gap isn't that big but there's still a big difference in my oppinion. Mainly in the way both teams move the ball. We haven't been very fresh lately. The players are very tired and we're out of shape and with lots of injuries. But Madrid showed they're a competitive and solid team that can beat anyone.
But, in my oppinion, Madrid should have played a lot more offensive. Today Barcelona played with time. If we had to win the match, we would have player very differently in the 2nd half after the goal.
About the disallowed goal: it wasn't because the referee whistled before the goal anyway. And in my oppinion is either a foul of Pique to Ronaldo or a foul of Ronaldo to Mascherano.
When someone falls on your ankle from behind at top speed it hurts, so I don't get people criticizin Mascherano. He was arriving first at the ball and was Ronaldo falling that tripped him down. In my oppinion, it was a foul of Pique to Ronaldo, and the very moment Ronaldo makes Masche fall there can't be any kind of advantage rule.
But Carvalho could have been sent off too, for doing 5 fouls in the 2nd hald with a yellow already. In my oppinion the referee was almost perfect today in a very very hard match. For all the times they are criticized, they must be praised when it's deserved.
Finally, I don't get why Madrid players moan about today's match, as if they were robbed or something. They just did 2 shots on goal in 90 minutes (both in the same play: the goal), nothing else. How were they supposed to win this match? What they expected? To be given the goals? They had 1 shot at goal in the first leg, from 30 yards. Did they really expect to win with only 3 shots?
It was very thight, but in my oppinion the round was lost by Mourinho in the first leg, and the best team won, though it was very thight. Just as I expected.
) and pretty sure I saw Barca players trying to stay on their feet at times too but don't see anybody mentioning that? Messi did this on a few occasions.
