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Football: Fox hunt failed - Leicester are Champions!


Mexal

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I am kinda indifferent to that final. 

On the one hand Atletico deserves it, having eliminated arguably the two strongest teams. But on the other hand, they play so freaking boring Chelsea football, and I really dislike that Mourinho clone on their bench. 

But then again, I really do not like that old General Franco Club Real. And they are also playing so terribly uninspired. As much as I dislike Real, at least they used to produce some entertaining football in the past. 

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Atletico have actually played some pretty good football so far. There's nothing wrong with placing an emphasis on defence. Parking the bus is another matter - they did that in Lisbon after scoring and that made for a terrible final. Real getting the first goal tonight made for a very watchable game.

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1 hour ago, Sept Sev said:

That run from Real makes Chelsea in 2012 look like the most deserving winners of all time.

Hmmmm

On one hand Real finished higher in their league and appeared to try things other than to park the bus.

On the other hand Chelsea beat some really good teams to get the trophy.

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9 minutes ago, White Walker Texas Ranger said:

Hmmmm

On one hand Real finished higher in their league and appeared to try things other than to park the bus.

On the other hand Chelsea beat some really good teams to get the trophy.

I don't think Real's league performance is relevant, plenty of teams have deservedly succeeded domestically and deservedly failed in Europe, and vice versa. In addition to being blessed by luck, Chelsea chose a strategy that played to their strengths and did all that they could on their side to progress, despite clearly not being the best side in Europe. Real made numerous failures, yet every time were handed another chance. If anything that makes it more galling, as a squad of their calibre should not have to be relying on fortune to win Champions Leagues.

Their first knockout opponent was Roma, who were still working their way back into form after a poor end to 2015. Although they would have been unlucky to get a difficult opponent having won their group, Juventus were lurking in the second pot and PSG would have been a possibility had they not come from the same group. Had Roma been more efficient in front of goal they could easily have been eliminated, and their goals generally came on the counter as Roma desperately sought a way back into the tie. Overall, the aggregate scoreline flattered their largely average performance.

After that they got a mediocre Wolfsburg side, well on their way to finishing midtable in the Bundesliga. Despite this they were beaten 2-0 in the first leg and relied on Wolfsburg getting stage fright at the Bernabeu. Even then the Germans had decent chances to get an away goal that would have knocked Real out unless they scored four.

In the semi they got Man City — considerably the easiest of the three potential opponents. Despite City playing with an intensity most commonly seen in pre-season friendlies, they only scored once, and even that was an own-goal.

So that got them to the final where admittedly they started the better side, and could have opened the scoring before they did. However, Ramos’ goal should have been disallowed for offside. After their good first quarter, Atleti rode out the storm and were considerably superior in the second half. Had Griezmann scored his penalty, they would likely have gone on to win the trophy in 90 minutes, but it went to extra-time, then penalties where it was Real who once again got the luck.

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Pfft.  Not sorry I skipped the game.  I saw ET in the gap between getting home from the park and then going to a movie.  I was a good dad today. 

Athletico are sympathetic as spirited underdogs but still a very negative team to watch.  My big takeaway was that both of these teams have so much more talent in midfield than anything in England, plus all of their players look so comfortable receiving the ball and using it well.  English teams have a huge deficit to close. 

Athletico are a bit similar to Liverpool in the EL: they had the hardest path to the final, they played their best football to knock out better teams, but they were below their peak in the final and had a mix of a dominant period where they should have scored more (at least they were given their penalty) and a period where they looked vulnerable.  They weathered their storm better than Liverpool, but they come away with the same feeling of falling at the final hurdle, knowing they didn't produce their best at the last gasp. 

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