Champions League Thread (the dawn of time - 2014)

Unbelievable game of football.

Right, onto replacements then:

To anyone who follows the Bundesliga, who's likely to replace Badstuber, Alaba and Gustavo in the final?

Thought Alaba's booking was an incredibly harsh one, though it was a defo penalty imo. Guy looks an absolute gem.

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Found this gif yesterday on twitter following Barca's elimination. Too bad it doesn't make much sense now. Nevertheless, Mourinho's face in this gif is priceless and his dance could seduce any bitch!

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Had this odd feeling Ronaldo would miss it. Almost like the same movement in 2008 final. He pauses, goes for the left corner, saved.

Kaka, sorry for him.

Won't be surprised bitches coming around saying now Real madrid have wasted 150m in those two penalties. ---- happens.
 
Certainly wasted a lot on Kaka. He was woeful when he came on.

AA for Kaka. The wheels of the attacks keep falling off :p
 
Deserved win in the end for Bayern. I thought Gomez might rue his many missed chances over both legs but they held their nerve (well most of them) in the shoot-out against Saint Iker.

David Alaba, what a player this kid's gonna become. Sad that so many players are missing the final because of second yellows. They should rectify the rules like they did with the World Cup where they give everyone a clean slate after the Quarter-finals.
 
Yeah fully agree. Wasn't much between the two sides up until extra time, but only one side looked like winning it over those 30 minutes. As I've said, every attack broke down at the fresh players - Higuain and more often Kaka. Seemed to take an extra second or two to think about what he was doing compared to everyone else.

Alaba looks a player. 19 years old and steps up to take the first penalty in a Champions League Semi-Final away from home.

Balls.

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Should bookings be wiped out for the final? I can't help but feel after a long tournament it seems strange that some of the best players miss the one-off final because they picked up a few yellow cards on route. Obviously a red card should carry over, but I can't help feeling there's not too many negatives to giving both sides the best chance to have their strongest possible side for the club showcase.

Thoughts anyone?

So no-one has contributed to my question a page or two back....

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@ Auwais - See I still feel a yellow card in the first semi should be able to rule you out of the second semi-final. I'm just not sure that a few yellow cards picked up over quite a few games should be able to rule players out of the biggest final in club football?
 
We were talking about this while watching it. If you think about it you have to play 6 90 minute matches (plus extra time) to reach the final; not sure if it's two or three bookings for a suspension but any system that leads to weakened sides in the show-piece clearly has problems.
 
I think it's fairly likely as well that in games between the top sides, there's going to be defenders getting skinned a few times and they're going to pick up the odd booking.

This all said, I have no sympathy for Ivanovic, since I'm pretty sure his yellow was for protesting the penalty and I would have banned Terry just for being a female orifice :p

That's my point dude, this isn't a league. It isn't about managing your players through a long and gruelling 38 game campaign. It's (after the groups) a knockout competition where the game you're playing is always the most important one, until you play the next one. It seems odd that the final will be a test of their squad depth, and not a matchup between the two sides that reached the final.
 
Right, onto replacements then:

To anyone who follows the Bundesliga, who's likely to replace Badstuber, Alaba and Gustavo in the final?

Loved the response. Cheers.

Anyway, figured it out through a much more reliable source, and have to say they still boast quite a XI:

Probable XI (4-2-3-1)

Neuer
Rafinha - Boateng - Tymoschuk/van Buyten - Lahm
Kroos ---- Schweinstieger
Robben ---------- Muller ----------- Ribery
Mario Gomez


Alternative XI (4-2-3-1)

Neuer
Lahm - Boateng - van Buyten - Contento
Tymoschuk ---- Schweinstieger
Robben ----- Kroos/Muller ----- Ribery
Mario Gomez​

van Buyten was actually preferred to Boateng in the middle for the first half of the season.
 
It didn't matter, they're team is still awesome.

Much bigger losses for Chelsea to lose almost their entire central defence and their best midfielder. That said, Terry can hardly complain that bookings shouldn't carry over, and I'm fairly appalled that both Lampard and Di Matteo have defended him. The guy was a complete knob who yet again put his own selfish motivation ahead of a team and their fans.
 
Roman's dream? Sod his dream - he's had enough dreams come true. I'd like to see Chelsea win it for the fans and for English football.
 
I have no problem with terry being banned for a red card, but yes, I think the yellow cards need to be reset after the quarters or something because it's silly you can be getting punished for yellow cards back in january and it's depriving match ups of the two best teams in europe. imagine a barca v madrid final without ronaldo and messi, now, I hate them both but it would severly dent the appeal for a lot of people.

the weird thing is, they already have a pretty good rule for the qualifying part of the tournament before the groups. if you recieve 4 yellows you get banned OR 2 in consecutive matches. I don't really have problems with players getting suspended if they have been employed to do nothing more than hack players in both semi final legs, and 4 yellows over 6 matches implies you've been a bit of git over the whole knockout stage and deserve your ban.
 

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