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UEFA Champions League 05/06 Thread

What do you mean Xavi didn't play this season?

Xavi is and has been an automatic 1st choice and key part of team for few years now and same goes this season until he got injured few months back and was told he'll miss the rest of the season most likely.
 
well I predict it will be 1-0 to Milan or 0-0.

For some reason I have this feeling Barca wont score at San Siro.
 
gergerger said:
Larsson can be replaced by Maxi Lopez. And he's not that good anyway.
Deco can be replaced by Iniesta. Deco is playing crappy nowadays.
Messi can be replaced by Giuly. Barca won the spanish league with Giuly.
Xavi didn't play this season, so he practically doesn't count.
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I disagree. Larsson has scored 14 goals in 20 matches this year and has been playing superbly. Maxi is a crap player.

Deco can be replaced by Iniesta, but the team is lacking also Xavi, so the midfield is very very weak right now, because the complete midfield line is formed by subs. No Xavi, no Deco, no Marquez.

Giuly has degenerated a lot as a player this year. Mentally, Messi has broken him down. He has been playing horribly this year.

What I meant is that Barça is playing this important match with 5 injured of the starting eleven, and that worries me a lot. Against Benfica barcelona should have won by a larger margin, and Milan is far stronger than Benfica. I would be happy if we can, at worst, loose 2-1, but I agree I see great dificulties to score in San Siro, mainly because of the problems in the midfield.
 
gergerger said:
Larsson can be replaced by Maxi Lopez. And he's not that good anyway.
Deco can be replaced by Iniesta. Deco is playing crappy nowadays.
Messi can be replaced by Giuly. Barca won the spanish league with Giuly.
Xavi didn't play this season, so he practically doesn't count.
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I take it you've not watched much of Barcelona in the league this year then.:lol:
 
* Ok, so Larsson scores a lot. Can you asure Maxi Lopez wouldn't score a lot if he played continuosly? I thought so.
* Deco is losing 100 balls per match.
* Giuly is still Giuly, I respect him and I think he can be a key player in any team.
* I consider Xavi one of the three best DMF's out there (if not THE best), but this season's Barcelona is a Barcelona without Xavi from be beginning, whether you like ir or not. No one said a word when Barcelona was crushing every team and midfield was working like an engine, because the had assimilated Xavi's absence. So, as I said before, his gap can be covered. When Edmilson was out, it was the same. When Eto was out, Larson was there.

So I respect Barcelona and their players. Take a look now at many injured players argentina has. But I still think we will make a great WC. While Barcelona isn't a national team and has a limited resourse of players, they are not just eleven profesionals and a bounch of youths without personality like Real Madrid. They are a good team made by professionals with experience.
 
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Of course they have a great team and their backup players are also great, I'm not arguing that fact. But to say Larsson "isn't that good anyway" is a joke - Larsson has been one of their best players this season. While Giuly is still a good player, and I agree with you a key player when he's on form, he has been a shadow of himself this season, and I think you are only slightly exaggerating when you say Deco wastes 100 passes a game. :lol: ;)
 
gergerger said:
* Ok, so Larsson scores a lot. Can you asure Maxi Lopez wouldn't score a lot if he played continuosly? I thought so.
* Deco is losing 100 balls per match.
* Giuly is still Giuly, I respect him and I think he can be a key player in any team.
* I consider Xavi one of the three best DMF's out there (if not THE best), but this season's Barcelona is a Barcelona without Xavi from be beginning, whether you like ir or not. No one said a word when Barcelona was crushing every team and midfield was working like an engine, because the had assimilated Xavi's absence. So, as I said before, his gap can be covered. When Edmilson was out, it was the same. When Eto was out, Larson was there.

So I respect Barcelona and their players. Take a look now at many injured players argentina has. But I still think we will make a great WC. While Barcelona isn't a national team and has a limited resourse of players, they are not just eleven profesionals and a bounch of youths without personality like Real Madrid. They are a good team made by professionals with experience.
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Yes of course Barcelona like any other top team in world has a lot of great backup players who at times can play even better than first 11. I think this is pretty obvious.

I don't know what you mean by the bolded part though. In case you forgot Xavi was a first choice player and a key member until he got injured NOT at begining of season but sometime in December I think where almost half of the season is already gone! So no it hasn't been a full season without Xavi more like half of a season or slightly more than that without Xavi.

As for Drekaard, I agree with most of what you say but this is certainly harsh on Giuly:
drekkard said:
Giuly has degenerated a lot as a player this year. Mentally, Messi has broken him down. He has been playing horribly this year.
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He hasn't been horrible this year. Yes unfortunately Giuly isn't the same "amazing" player he was a few years ago in Monaco and has started going downhill but like Larsson who is on same path for few years and also going down in attributes, he's still got more than enough quality to contribute to team when on high morale and fit and has done that in some matches this season! Although he was unlucky in many matches to get a goal cuz he hit the post like 3 times which is his own fault but at the end of the day I don't think it's fair to say he's been horrible! He's still Giuly a quality player, just not as good as he once was.
 
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Messi/Deco are out, they are big part of Barca.
If barca can pull off 1-1 draw, awesome for the catalonians.

What I meant is that Barça is playing this important match with 5 injured of the starting eleven, and that worries me a lot. Against Benfica barcelona should have won by a larger margin, and Milan is far stronger than Benfica. I would be happy if we can, at worst, loose 2-1, but I agree I see great dificulties to score in San Siro, mainly because of the problems in the midfield.
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Your rite mate, if barca can get an away goal,lose 2-1, still ok result, I think van bommal/Motta & Edmilson can shutdown the midfield, Barca will go into defensive mode, sit back, hit on the counter. Iniesta played last year at the san siro, so he should do fine fitting in for deco.
Well see if ROnnie can pull off some magic at the san siro.
 
Nobody talking about first half of the game here?

Weird :confused:

Anyways for me it's been a very exciting first half so far. Lot of good plays/defending from both team, some good tackles, some silky moves it's had everything so far and quite enjoyable.

What's caught my eye and has made the match even more interesting for me though has been the individual play of Serginho and Giuly so far and their little head to head battle at times as well.

It's been "The Battle" and most interesting aspect of game for me so far (Not to take away from any good stuff other players have done so far like Ronnie or Kaka but this is what gave me most entertainment thus far) things like seeing Giuly race back all the way to his own by line to head a cross coming from right hand side out for corner! :applause:

Another 2 times, making good tackles and basically showing real commitment/eagerness to come and help the team out even defensively as one should.

Serginho has been same though, defending well at times against Giuly very entertaining to see! :D and also getting forward as usual to give team the width they need on left hand side and try to provide crosses and pose attacking threat!

So match has been good so far and a lot of players have played well but for me these 2 players and their little battles (which sometimes Guily has won, often SErginho but not a one-sided thing) is what's making me look forward to 2nd half even more!

That's it for now. Hopefully it'll be another good flowing football from two top teams in 2nd half as well!

See ya
 
drekkard said:
Giuly has degenerated a lot as a player this year. Mentally, Messi has broken him down. He has been playing horribly this year.
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LOL...

Just saw his goal...
Every forum needs a clown i guess...
 
Stan said:
LOL...

Just saw his goal...
Every forum needs a clown i guess...
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I don't think it's right to call Drekkard a clown Stan. He usually from what I remember makes decent points this time though he was way too harsh about Giuly and I answered to him here:
http://forums.evo-web.co.uk/showpost.php?p=678559&postcount=1387

before today's match and today's goal where he was probably MoM (although they may give to someone else since he played 70 mins).

Great job Giuly and Co. :applause:

He worked his ass off today. When there was need for defending as I talked about at HT we saw him rushing back few times and very impressively helping team out with defensive duties.

When Barca had posession with someone like Iniesta or Ronaldinho, he was always making daunting sprintful off the ball runs to get behind defence and it worked a few times including the goal.

He also got ball himself and was very good and fast with it as usual and nicked it from Milan players (Seedorf in particular )at times as well to set up counter-attack.

My MoM although there very other very good players!

p.s. You got my long pm last night right? Took so long writing that :D
 
SPiTFiRE said:
What the fuck is Seedorf doing?
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Great point. He was poorest player on the pitch tonight.

I don't know what he was up to last night :roll: but today his concenctration values were "pooooooooooooor" which is just unacceptable for a match of this importance and this high of calibre.

At least 4-5 times he gave ball away not with a bad pass but by simpyl dwelling on it a bit too long which only came as result of being "Not focused enough" and unaware of surroundings which sharper/faster more focused Barca players like Giuly took advantage of and nicked ball from him few times!
 
Im so devastated :(

I rarely get annoyed or start screaming at the TV but today was one of those days. Milan look like they were against Lyon. Far too lazy. I remember last years match against Barca, we played excellent.

Barca easily deserved to win on overall play.

But inreality we should of been a couple of goals up with the chances we got. I just wanna say I HATE GILARDINO! might seem a bit harsh, but he just isnt a Milan player. The main thing I hate is the fact hes a diver. His first instinct is to go down. Like when Kaka broke through and played the ball to him, the first thing he did was fall after hitting it. Arsehole. Then there was the Ambrosini chance.

When we started to miss the chances I knew it wasnt our night. But I guess what goes around comes around, we dont deserve to be in the Semi's anyway...

One last thing, I found myself applauding Barca when it hit injury time. Certain team hold the ball in the corner, but barca held possession for two mins by passing the ball about beautifully. They alwasy seemed in control. Certainly no embaressment losing to a team like Barca tonite.
 
Milan have looked lazy for the last couple of games, I dont know what it is about them.

Barca deserved the win and I can now see them progressing to the final
 
Adonis said:
One last thing, I found myself applauding Barca when it hit injury time. Certain team hold the ball in the corner, but barca held possession for two mins by passing the ball about beautifully. They alwasy seemed in control. Certainly no embaressment losing to a team like Barca tonite.
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Well said my friend! :applause:

That last 2-3 mins was just absolutely CLASSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSS all the way!!!! It was incredibly enjoyful seeing thoes great Barca players with great technique/control/movement of traingle like and so many other signs of pure class just holding ball among themslves for about 2 mins instead of going to corner and waiting there putting your hand on somebody's shoulder, trying to get a CK or foul and 95% of time come out with nothing but a Goalkick or a foul against you like so many players do and bad part is usually they fail!!

Barca were great all night but in injury time minutes they showed their class even more to the whole world.

And don't be devastated dude, like Bebo says it's still anybody's game and anything can happen. It certainly did against Lyon :( with Cacapa misjudging one long ball in 88th minute that fell to Sheva for that shot that hit both posts! When he and Cris had dealt with 20 of them during that match!

So anything is still possible but yes judging by tonight Barca was better team and deserves their victory.

Positives: Giuly like I said and usual gang like Iniesta, Ronaldinho, Puyol

Negatives: Biggest one was Seedorf but Ambrosini, Gila and others could've done better with their chances as well.
 
CWright said:
Milan have looked lazy for the last couple of games, I dont know what it is about them.

Barca deserved the win and I can now see them progressing to the final
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spot on.

you know my main concern? Pirlo.

Hes such an important player for us but his overall play hasnt been up to his high standard. Earlier in the season he was so influential with his passing and set pieces.

Im actually concerned more for the World Cup as the role he plays for Italy is even more important.

But yeah like beboquintero said the tie is still not over. If Milan play as poorly as they did tonite though is definatly over. Inever thought Id say this, but I really hope Inzaghi is fit for the 2nd leg.
 
PLF said:
Well said my friend! :applause:

That last 2-3 mins was just absolutely CLASSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSS all the way!!!! It was incredibly enjoyful seeing thoes great Barca players with great technique/control/movement of traingle like and so many other signs of pure class just holding ball among themslves for about 2 mins instead of going to corner and waiting there putting your hand on somebody's shoulder, trying to get a CK or foul and 95% of time come out with nothing but a Goalkick or a foul against you like so many players do and bad part is usually they fail!!

Barca were great all night but in injury time minutes they showed their class even more to the whole world.

And don't be devastated dude, like Bebo says it's still anybody's game and anything can happen. It certainly did against Lyon :( with Cacapa misjudging one long ball in 88th minute that fell to Sheva for that shot that hit both posts! When he and Cris had dealt with 20 of them during that match!

So anything is still possible but yes judging by tonight Barca was better team and deserves their victory.

Positives: Giuly like I said and usual gang like Iniesta, Ronaldinho, Puyol

Negatives: Biggest one was Seedorf but Ambrosini, Gila and others could've done better with their chances as well.
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Agree with everything you said my friend :) I always do ;)
 
Well, what can I say...

Bravo Giuly, he played tonight as had never played in the whole season. You can call me what you want, I'm watching this team live every week at Nou Camp and Giuly has been playing absolute crap this year. And maybe I was too harsh on him, maybe my english is not so accurate as yours, but it's true that mentally, he was lacking confidence because of the eruption of Messi. Besides, I know him personally, he's chasing a blonde friend of mine who works in Barça TV with ridiculous SMS messages and he really is a bit comical. Well, I shouldn't have said that, but...

I forgive him all that not only because the goal, but as PLF says, because he played an impressive match in defense, covering, fighting and stealing balls. To me MOM was Iniesta, anyway, he outplayed milan midfielders everytime creating spaces and holding the ball.

And about the match, I feel Milan deserved better than that. I'm amazed with the fabulous ability that they have to create chances even when they don't seem to play well. If they had scored any of the numerous clear chances, I reckon it would have been almost impossible for barça.

All in all, I think the 2 best teams of the competition showed today some attacking football, at least in the 2nd half. And don't think barcelona will play defensive at Nou Camp. Barcelona always wants to have possession and score, so a very beautiful game is coming.

Cheers to milan supporters, your team has been the best team against us this year, and you deserved more.

PD: Can I insist that Giuly was playing very poor before this game?
 
Yep, Pirlo's form has been going down lately. True so that's one of the reasons Milan has suffered as well like you said since he's one of the most key players of team and the architect with his beautiful vision/passing sitting in deep position but hey everybody dips in form at one point or another so it's totally natural! It'll be a while and then hopefully he'll be back to tiptop shape and form again.

While he's suffering from form though, Vogel who is a very under-rated but solid player should get more playing time. His passing/vision is better than Ambrosini and when it comes to defensive work/stamina and commtiment I doubt he's much worst. Both are good in those aspects so I'd like to see more of Vogel.
 
drekkard said:
Well, what can I say...

Bravo Giuly, he played tonight as had never played in the whole season. You can call me what you want, I'm watching this team live every week at Nou Camp and Giuly has been playing absolute crap this year. And maybe I was too harsh on him, maybe my english is not so accurate as yours, but it's true that mentally, he was lacking confidence because of the eruption of Messi. Besides, I know him personally, he's chasing a blonde friend of mine who works in Barça TV with ridiculous SMS messages and he really is a bit comical. Well, I shouldn't have said that, but...

PD: Can I insist that Giuly was playing very poor before this game?
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Nop you can't, same way Gergerger can't say Xavi has been injured all season because it's not true! Oh well you're entitled to your opinion though so I suppose you could ;) but I can definitely disagree with that! Your english also may not be superb (and trust me mine isn't either, far from it) but it's good enough to know what you're talking about and so I suppose you know what "Absolute crap" means!!!!!! :roll:

And If that is what you're really saying without exaggeration and any "Personal hatred or dislike for this guy who seems to be after a girl you're a bit interested in as well - I won't get into this though as it's going offtopic) then I'm shocked especially since you say you see them every week! :shock: (So my guess is that yeah personally you dont like him hence him being worst than he really is in your eyes and you being super harsh on him where if he puts an avg performance in a match you will call it absolute crap!)

Absolute crap does NOT equal (Decent/avg) it's far from it!

I've watched Barca also probably more than any other team this season and no I could never say Giuly has been absolute crap. Can't even say he's been crap (sure there's been matches where he was crap but that's every player and if you look at it as a whole, he wasn't crap).

Truth of the matter is like I said above, Ludovic Giuly is NOT the great player he once was! (In his peak in Monaco!) But like thousands of other great players who are also past their peak and slightly going down hill, he's still a good player and one that can contribute to a team even as high quality as Barca. This is exactly what I said before and we saw again today he contributed probably as much as best players on pitch like Iniesta and Ronnie!

So just because the guy isn't what he used to be doesn't mean he's crap. I'd say he's had a decent season but not a very good one but decent or even avg is long way from saying he's had "Horrible season" :lol:

And yes you're right about one thing, with Messi' emergence and taking all the media world making him sound like god and showcasing his talent this season, it DID hurt his confidence! It did make his morale go down at times and that did hurt him. Nonetheless with all of these factors, Giuly is still far from crap, never has been crap! He was quality and one of the best players in Europe a few yeras ago in Monaco before and now he's a level or two below when he was 27 but he's still a good player!

Well that's my 2cents.
 
I think that Barca could have scored a 2nd goal if they wanted to accelerate.
Milan's defence was full of holes (Barcelona's too but players seemed to deal with it) !!!
All players didn't really press and that was very nice and enjoyable. I like the beautiful play. But I feel that with more ambition, both team could score 2-3 goals more. It could have ended 3-4 easily with more envy. Maybe next Wednesday... ;)
 
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