Soccer/Football XXVII

[Zoë Sumra]

We won the Copa del Rey like the great teams do!!

By ensuring that no one ever wins it again? :P

[Horus Ex Machina]

Sergio Ramos drops Copa del Ray. Bus runs over it. :rofl:

How does that happen?? Was he drinking Absinthe out of it b4 he dropped it??

By ensuring that no one ever wins it again? :P

OMG I'm crapping my pants! :lmao:

[Teabag]

Real Madrid is not a great team. They got a result last night because they had the ref in their pocket, again, and because they were able to block Barcelona by physicaly putting 8 defenders in the penalty area and playing with no strikers. They were ugly. Madrid examplifies anti-football. Much like Inter last year.

And as I said, everyone seemed to agree that they should have seen dark red twice in the first half.

If my team won like that, I would be ashamed.

Yeah, Madrid won. But no one will remember this Mourinho team with any fondness except to go down as a bunch of dirty butchers who got by via the referee, who must surely have earned himself a lovely little apartment in the heart of Madrid last night, and with the 4 penalties he already awarded to Madrid this season. And of course it helps that Barca looks much more worn out at the end of the season.

Tip to Barca: next year, save your best for last.

Let's hope Barca can humiliate Madrid again in the CL like they did 5-0 earlier this year.

And even without playing with a striker they still had more shots on goal, created better chances and scored to win the game. Football is all about defence and attack, and Madrid proved they can do both. They aren't anti-football, they gave a more complete performance exemplifying footballs positive and negative qualities.

Other teams don't exist solely to play in a way that allows Barcelona to do what they do. Madrid played to win, they pressed hard where they needed, defended where they needed to and made it hard to Barca to move the ball around quickly. They showed that even though Barca play entertaining stuff, they are one-dimensional and lack a plan b.

I admit Real Madrid weren't playing entirely cleanly, but then again neither were Barcelona:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D6RWAsKn69Q

Barca also committed plenty of fouls as well through frustration that the game wasn't unfolding in the way they would have liked it to.

I don't buy that the Referee was in Madrid's pocket, that just sounds like sour grapes to me. The amount of soft fouls and diving he let Barca get away with shows that.

[White Walker Texas Ranger]

Real Madrid is not a great team. They got a result last night because they had the ref in their pocket, again, and because they were able to block Barcelona by physicaly putting 8 defenders in the penalty area and playing with no strikers. They were ugly. Madrid examplifies anti-football. Much like Inter last year.

And as I said, everyone seemed to agree that they should have seen dark red twice in the first half.

If my team won like that, I would be ashamed.

Yeah, Madrid won. But no one will remember this Mourinho team with any fondness except to go down as a bunch of dirty butchers who got by via the referee, who must surely have earned himself a lovely little apartment in the heart of Madrid last night, and with the 4 penalties he already awarded to Madrid this season. And of course it helps that Barca looks much more worn out at the end of the season.

Tip to Barca: next year, save your best for last.

Let's hope Barca can humiliate Madrid again in the CL like they did 5-0 earlier this year.

I agree that Madrid were playing mostly defensively, but playing with no strikers doesn't really say anything to that. Mourinho was playing CRonaldo, who's scored more than any of Madrid's strikers, upfront. I mean CRonaldo's fast, big and a clinical finisher, so how is playing him in that position count as "no strikers"? The fact he's normally designated as a wide forward? That he likes to move around to find space and that he doesn't just stand in the top of the box waiting to receive crosses from wide midfielders? By that definition, Barca's never played with any strikers except for a brief experiment with Ibrahimovic last year.

Madrid had certain advantages, namely size, speed and strength and certain disadvantages, namely quick passing and keeping possesion. Why shouldn't Mourinho play a game that caters to Madrid's advantages instead of Barcelona's? When Xavi and Iniesta are passing the ball around, it'd be suicidal not bring 8 men back to defend. Are you suggesting that Madrid just sit there and let Barca pass around them into goal? In the end, Madrid created just about as many goal scoring opportunities as Barca did, it's just that when they got the ball, they immediately tried to move it up the field to it's forward players(who don't count as strikers) whereas Barca would pass around probing for a better opportunity. In the end, is possession worth that much when it doesn't result in chances?