Champions League Thread (the dawn of time - 2014)

[m_vaughan]

They looked really poor, the over-hyped Ibrahimovic failed to perform as ever, and if that's Italy's best then it's obvious why they are nowhere near having the best league even in Europe.

What? He is nowhere near their best. Never turns up for the big games....apart from the Milan derby maybe.

I thought the second half was dominated by them though. And since I believe in Mourinho's view of having an advantage when playing the second leg away from home, I think 0-0 is a good result for the Italians, who by the way, are the biggest underachievers in Europe.

m_vaughan added 3 Minutes and 48 Seconds later...

Hoping Real Madrid and Juventus do a favour to Manchester United..

The old lady can do what she wants, but we have better things to do. I am pretty sure that Inter will get that away goal that will take them through. And I have a feeling that a former Madridista will be scoring it.

 

[Skater]

I saw the second half of Internazionale vs Man United and on the basis of that it was a fairly even game. By the sounds of it Inter were a lot more intrusive than they were in the first half, albeit lacking a killer instinct. United were unlucky a few times, with Ronaldo passing across the edge of the six yard box and Giggs having a shot blocked. Inter nearly scored as well though through Cambiasso. A draw was a fair result for me.

If there is a decent crowd at Old Trafford (not in terms of size), then there should be no problem. It would be bad for European football not to have at least two English teams in the next round.

 

[m_vaughan]

I saw the second half of Internazionale vs Man United and on the basis of that it was a fairly even game. By the sounds of it Inter were a lot more intrusive than they were in the first half, albeit lacking a killer instinct. United were unlucky a few times, with Ronaldo passing across the edge of the six yard box and Giggs having a shot blocked. Inter nearly scored as well though through Cambiasso. A draw was a fair result for me.

If there is a decent crowd at Old Trafford (not in terms of size), then there should be no problem. It would be bad for European football not to have at least two English teams in the next round.

Draw was indeed a fair result. I do not think it will be bad for European football in any way.

 

[Skater]

Draw was indeed a fair result. I do not think it will be bad for European football in any way.

You wouldn't.

 

[m_vaughan]

There is no reason. And really cant see why you would think otherwise, except your bias maybe.

 

[MasterBlaster76]

Draw was indeed a fair result. I do not think it will be bad for European football in any way.

A draw was a fair result. How do you work that one out?? We could've been three-nil up at half-time easily, and Berbatov had a clear penalty denied when an Inter defender was practicing rugby moves on him! We were by far the better team, fair enough, Inter came back into it in the second half, but we still looked the most likely to score. And to think we were all stressing about how our defence would cope without Vidic/Neville/Brown!

Oh and before you start about Inter's penalty appeal, Rio put his hand on the guy's shoulder and he went down. He was actually in a goal-scoring position as the pundits said, all he had to do was stay strong on his feet and head the ball in, but he was more interested in trying to con a penalty out of the ref! And finally, remember, all this happened in the San Siro, where we looked like the home team, not Inter!

 

[m_vaughan]

Inter had their chances too. But then its about scoring in the end, and neither did.

Anyways on to the big game now. Our tactic in recent games has worked wonderfully but we obviously do not have Huntelaar for this game. Still with Guti and Robben back to full fitness, we would have probably never played all three strikers anyways. I hope Ramos sticks with Marcelo as well because he has been brilliant.

Torres, Gerrard (if fit) and probably Alonso are the main threats. Reina is good between the sticks, but the form we are in at the moment I would be really surprised if we did not score.

Cracking game nevertheless, second only to us against AC Milan I think. This is what European football is really about. Not the rubbish Atletico showed yesterday.

Also a special day for Ranieri to come back to Stamford Bridge. Mourinho was a better manager, but Ranieri more than did his job while at Chelsea.

 

[PhilD123]

What? He is nowhere near their best. Never turns up for the big games....apart from the Milan derby maybe.

I meant Inter are the best in Italy, which after three Serie A titles on the trot, is an opinion difficult to disagree with.

They'll be pleased we didn't get an away goal, but I know I'd be very negative if we had drawn 0-0 at home and had to go away to the European Champions.

 

[Dr. Pepper]

When defenders do what Cordoba (?) did to Berbatov, it pisses me off so much. It's such a pathetic tactic and should be a free-kick/penalty. The defender has no intention for the ball and they're just obstructing the player. Should've been a penalty.

 

[Themer]

A draw was a fair result. How do you work that one out?? We could've been three-nil up at half-time easily, and Berbatov had a clear penalty denied when an Inter defender was practicing rugby moves on him! We were by far the better team, fair enough, Inter came back into it in the second half, but we still looked the most likely to score. And to think we were all stressing about how our defence would cope without Vidic/Neville/Brown!

Oh and before you start about Inter's penalty appeal, Rio put his hand on the guy's shoulder and he went down. He was actually in a goal-scoring position as the pundits said, all he had to do was stay strong on his feet and head the ball in, but he was more interested in trying to con a penalty out of the ref! And finally, remember, all this happened in the San Siro, where we looked like the home team, not Inter!

Not overly sure what game you were watching, it was pretty much all Man Utd first half and all Inter second and a draw was a fair result.

Also Madrid were very poor tonight against Liverpool, there was only one shot of note in the whole night by them and they weren't threatening bar that.
Liverpool played well, kept it tight, kept the ball and kept their composure. Also what was happening in the crowd, they mentioned disturbances and said police had gone it but didn't really elaborate. The Liverpool fans were on the opposite side of the ground so Im not sure what happened.

 

[King Pietersen]

Premier League > La Liga. Confirmed. A team that have been in pretty poor form, and without their talisman beat Real Madrid away from home. Awesome stuff.

 

[Leicester Fox]

Madrid were crap. They could well have put Benitez off too. Liverpool are going through. Crap.

Bayern, what a win, they have sent a message out.

Will next week hurry up and come. ARRRGHHHHH. Me hearties.

Off topic but lol at West AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMM

 

[PhilD123]

Not overly sure what game you were watching, it was pretty much all Man Utd first half and all Inter second and a draw was a fair result.

Definitely not all Inter second half, we had plenty of good chances even then, unlike them in the first half.

tweaking dippers Very poor game, just gotta hope Madrid pull something out of the bag at Anfield, but they were awful tonight.

 

[m_vaughan]

Well we did not play well. Actually played crap, most probably due to the overconfidence after the last two games when we won so comprehensively. Liverpool played the perfect away game tactics as well so credit to them.

But there are 90 minutes + left to be played, and we have some awesome players, so I am more than confident of overturning this result. Nine time champions we are, for a reason you know.

 

[barmyarmy]

It's a bit of a worry how dominant the English clubs have been this week. It might all go tits-up in two weeks time but for all the talk of Real and Inter, Juventus etc being brilliant teams they've all looked very ordinary.
We'd never have talked about a draw away against the Serie A champions as disappointing in the past or only beating Roma 1-0 at home.
Obviously I'd like the English clubs to progress and I suspect all hell will break lose in Italy if Roma, Juve and Inter all go out in the first knockout round. Bottom line based on this week's evidence though is that the EPL is extending the gap rather than others closing it.

barmyarmy added 0 Minutes and 50 Seconds later...

Well we did not play well. Actually played crap, most probably due to the overconfidence after the last two games when we won so comprehensively.

We in this case being Real not Chelsea right? :