Cl Semifinals

[Overgame]

3 spanish win in a row. If Atletico wins it, 3 different winners in 3 years.

[SteffenM]

F*** Spanish sides.

I want more money in English football!!

[max tre]

In 2010 Milano took the trophies-by-city lead winning the title in Madrid, now with the Milano-final Madrid is gonna overtake it.

[bugylibicska]

City would never be here if Juventus didn`t give way in the GS. Remember, they beat twice City, but lost points against Sevilla and Gladbach. And beside City were lucky against both weaker sides, very lucky. Then they drew Dynamo Kyiv and then Malko FC. I just hope Atletico will win, Real are very poor.


FIVER LETTERS

“Following Bayern’s defeat to Atlético, I was pondering the similarities between Pep Guardiola and the soon-to-be-ex-Queen’s Celtic’s Ronny Deila. Both have spent the last few seasons successfully winning the league in a country where it’s almost harder not to, while consistently underachieving in Europe. Interesting that Pep is universally adored in Munich and feted as one of the best managers in the world while Ronny will leave Glasgow as the least popular Queen’s Celtic boss since the unmitigated disaster that was EhJohnEhBarnes” – Adam Pinder.

[matt]

Roma, Wolfsburg and Manchester City: Real Madrid luck in the draws is incredible.

One of the easiest path ever for a Cl finalist.

[AlanK]

I want City to advance tonight. For a simple reason. We don't need another single-country finale. We've seen at least one to many already in only a few years time. Especially we don't need the same match-up twice. When does UEFA finally change their rules to force single-country matchups in the quarters and the semi? Like they do in the Copa Libertadores...

Hopefully never. I don't like same country clashes in the quarters or semis, but in the final I want the strongest teams and if they're from the same country so be it. Man City are 4th in England, it'd be hard convincing myself I'm watching 2 of the strongest teams in Europe with them in the final. That said, if they beat Real Madrid then they fully deserve, just hope they don't sneak through with a goals draw or penalties.

Agreed! We had the "no two teams from the same country in the Final" rule back in 1997-98 when Real won la Septima. Borussia D. had to play either Bayern M. or Bayer l. in Quarterfinals, drew Bayern M. and beat them, while Real beat Bayer L. Had Bayer L. beaten Real, they'd have had to play Borussia D. in the Semifinals. Thunder_PT has it right IMO--let's allow luck of the draw and natural selection to pick the Finalists!

[BurningStorm]

Roma, Wolfsburg and Manchester City: Real Madrid luck in the draws is incredible.

One of the easiest path ever for a Cl finalist.

Indeed. I wonder how many teams in Europe could have made it to the final with this path.

[Overgame]

Roma, Wolfsburg and Manchester City: Real Madrid luck in the draws is incredible.

One of the easiest path ever for a Cl finalist.

Indeed. I wonder how many teams in Europe could have made it to the final with this path.

Not PSG, not Chelsea. Should I continue ? And I'd consider Fiorentina, United and Lyon (after ending second in GS) quite similar.

[BurningStorm]

Roma, Wolfsburg and Manchester City: Real Madrid luck in the draws is incredible.

One of the easiest path ever for a Cl finalist.

Indeed. I wonder how many teams in Europe could have made it to the final with this path.

Not PSG, not Chelsea. Should I continue ? And I'd consider Fiorentina, United and Lyon (after ending second in GS) quite similar.

I would begin with Barcelona, Juventus, Bayern.

Maybe even Boru.... okay, I should shut my mouth after the Liverpool game.

[SirHenri]

Pathetic, I never had the feeling City wanted to score here, more like a friendly where both waited for the finale whistle.
Can't help but couldn't Bayern just draw one of these ?

Cheering for Atletico's first CL-titel ever now, Real has waaayyy enough

[matt]

Indeed. I wonder how many teams in Europe could have made it to the final with this path.

Not PSG, not Chelsea. Should I continue ? And I'd consider Fiorentina, United and Lyon (after ending second in GS) quite similar.

I would begin with Barcelona, Juventus, Bayern.

Maybe even Boru.... okay, I should shut my mouth after the Liverpool game.

Leicester would have destroyed Roma, Wolfsburg and Manchester City (done in the league ). Also Juventus and Borussia Dortmund (City is not Liverpool in the Cups).

The incredible fact is not this year, but almost every year they are veery lucky with the draws

[Lorric]

You know, I think Arsenal could have reached the final with those opponents.

[bugylibicska]

This was Real`s 27th semi final - 14 wins and 13 losses - and it`ll be their 14th final - 10 wins and 3 losses. I`ve read that City promised Guardiola a quarter of a million pounds in the transfer market. Enough for 5 decent players?

[nemesys]

I`ve only question: could you name a coach who`d NOT reach at least the semi final with Barcelona or Bayern? (No Arry Redknapp or John Carver, please.)

Favorites before R16: Barca #1, Real #2, Bayern #3. SF for Bayern is ok-ish.
After Barca elimination: Real #1, Bayern #2. SF for Bayern is disappointing.
Poor Guardiola, Atletico eliminated Barca, else he would be ok-ish, the bad luck (draw Barca in SF instead of City) would be the reason for not reaching the final.

Of course, Barca and Real squads being superior of Bayern it is debatable. I personally think so, also because, I think, Ribery is getting older, and Arjen Robben was for Bayern a more decisive man than Douglas Costa (at least from what I could see in Atletico - Bayern, please correct me if I am wrong here). So, who chosed Costa, club or coach? But this is another topic.

On my books: Guardiola failed to eliminate Atletico? True. Failed to win a competition with the absolute best side out there? False. I don't expect everyone to agree with me.


@All Spanish final

I agree with Thunder and AlanK positions here. Let the luck decide who faces who.


@ Mourinho/DiMatteo titles (Lorric)

Some years, gods seems to be on someone side.

Mourinho could kind of dominate in Premier Legue, but not win the title with the best squads Chelsea ever had; that season Inter was struggeling with Ukrinian and Russia sides, besides Barca, in GS; qualified second (IIRC), faced Chelsea being underdog, and won in Stamford Bridge, faced Barca being underdog, after winning in San Siro, they played with Eto'o running back up to the line of full backs to defend in Camp Nou. Barca was really motivated, and technical skills wise, the best side; but could not complete the come back. In final, Bayern was defeated. It was a victory of the will, and tactical dedication, more than anything else. One of the two (the other was Porto) Mourinho's master pieces.

Chelsea won the title in likely the most unpredictable season. I was happy for guys like Lampard, Drogba, A.Cole, Cech, because they were protagonists so many times, but never won. They had a negative season in their league, conceaded goals way more easily than previous years Chelsea, risked to be eliminated by Napoli in R16, bigger experience and the attitude to keep on trying saved them, went up to the final because they had nothing else in the league to really fight for, and won on PK. Deserved, for being protagonists so many years, but again, not the absolute best side aesthetically wise out there in R16.

This makes football cool, on my books. You can never tell for sure.


@ Ancellotti (burning storm)

The coach I would hire (if I was an owner, which I am not) to win a CL.

The guy stats (number of titles, finals, % of victories n CL) are impressive. Excellent handling players. And I like the guy attitute and style talking to the press: never screaming, never acting like a clown, hardly complaining. He always proposed a balanced, contructive football (he invented Pirlo instead of a defensive midfielder next to the defensive line), instead of Mourinho style to excellently close up the gates and hurt mostly in counter attacks, or Guardiola tiki taka finalised to dominate with huge amounts of ball possession. He could, for instance, win (with a bit of luck) in Madrid 3-2 with a squad which was being smashed by everyone in Serie A: of course, quality players like Pirlo were there on his side, but still, great job.

However, he was also able to lose a final he was winning 3-0 in Istanbul, he was also able to lose in Spain 4-0 after winning at home 4-1 (or maybe 3-0); I think it was Deportivo La Coruna.

Rule #0 in football: when you win, you are right; when you lose, you are wrong.

Every coach makes good (or lucky) calls, and bad (or unlucky) calls.
On my books, to always succeed is too unlikely to be a reasonable request, extremely close to impossible; and to be consistent it is not a shame.

The best coaches are the ones with many more good calls than bad calls. Guys like Guardiola, Mourinho, Ancellotti, and another few maybe, are all in this list on my books. Then of course, a coach football philosophy can be or not be the right choice for a specific club, or a specific squad, or even a specific generation of players; moreover, a coach can have some qualities different than another coach, which are more needed in a specific club, for instance: Mourinho mentality was maybe exactely what that chaotic Inter needed? Simeone mentality is maybe exactlely what Altletico needs? But this is another topic.


Disclaimer:

As always, just my silly two (well, 222 maybe) cents!

Edit: tried to remove all the misspelling, I apologize if there is still some.

[bugylibicska]

Football is so popular for being unpredictable - no other sport comes close - and stirring up emotions difficult to imagine in other sports. I`ve never said that Guardiola is a bad coach, and never jumped on the bandwagon making him a semi-god - he`s the best paid coach. I`m very skeptical though and very curious how will he do with City. I`ve thought City had the best squad in England - on paper, but their coaches have failed them. So, if Guardiola can make City to win the CL surely he cannot be just a mediocre coach, we`ll see. His 3 years with Bayern I`d not call a success, but for obvious reasons not everybody can afford to criticise him openly until he leaves. In the last few years I`ve thought behind Barcelona must come Bayern, so at least reaching the final once in a while could be expected. Again, we`ll see with Ancelotti if he`s able to deliver more.