Champions League Thread (the dawn of time - 2014)

[MasterBlaster76]

One of the must awful decisions by refree I have ever seen in football. Nani didn't even deserved yellow card, let alone a red.

Ha not a United fan, but its clear the ref messed them up, since they were controlling that game.

Madrid have a great chance to win the UCL now, because Barca are going to have to do a miracle in their current form to get past Milan.

If they do win, surely the Madrid executives would have rethink sacking Mourinho. They could maybe possibly build the best Madrid team since the Galacticos era if this squad & coach stays together for another few years.

Weirdest post match interview ever from Mourinho?

Definitely the weirdest post match interview of all time. Before the red card, we were completely controlling that match - we were attacking the Real back line at will and they could not handle us.

Was it a red? I'm in two minds: it was dangerous play by Nani and he did catch him in the ribs, but his eyes were clearly on the ball so maybe most of the time you could've got away with a yellow card but this ref. was obviously doing things by the book; I could understand why he gave the red. The ref's positioning was terrible as well: he was miles away from the incident. Either way, that decision cost us the game - when the winning manager says that the best team lost there's no arguing with that fact.

The referee had a bad game in general - we should've had at least one definite penalty. Rafael? Not for me, that wasn't a penalty. You even had some guy phoning Talk Sport afterwards putting that case, and he was completely shouted down by all the pundits answering the call.

Ronaldo... what's going on in his mind? He looked like he'd just lost. His team mates were congratulating him and you could see that he was forcing a smile. And what of Mourinho's mid-game and rather amicable chat with Sir Alex?

'That wasn't a red?'
'Damn straight it wasn't'

could've been that conversation. Mourinho - he doesn't miss a trick, does he? Right in the middle of a match like that and he still remembers to put his hand in front of his mouth to stop anyone lip-reading...

 

[puddleduck]

Roy Keane is someone who could be known as a contrarian... not sure too many people wouldn't call him at least half that.

 

[MasterBlaster76]

Roy Keane is someone who could be known as a contrarian... not sure too many people wouldn't call him at least half that.

Keane thought it was a red card and he knows a bit about red cards you could say.

 

[puddleduck]

Yeah I find it hard to take Roy Keane seriously. Great player, but he deliberately tried to injure a fellow professional. He's a failed manager, and disagrees with whatever the other pundits have said... He's not quite right in the head that man.

The Rafael one was a definite handball/penalty/red card. Doesn't matter how close you are to it, you don't put your arms/hands up when you're there.

Anyone else think the first Real goal should have stood? Looked fairly innocuous to me at the time. All in all, the ref was pretty poor throughout and Man U look fairly comfortable, but who's to say Real wouldn't have nicked a goal anyway.

Also, one final point, I'm pretty sure I suggested RVP would go missing in this tie due to being a big stage bottler... well, anyone fancy digging up his chances/goals scored ratio over the two games

 

[MasterBlaster76]

It's a strange one with RvP. He's had some great games for Holland (although he was rubbish in Euro 2012, everyone else in the team was as well) but in the CL he hasn't done much at all.

As for whether Real would've nicked a goal, I think it's far more likely that we would've gone 2-0 up - when you make that many chances, some always find their way through.

 

[puddleduck]

United's finishing was actually pretty poor throughout. Nearly every save the Madrid keeper made was pretty much straight at him.

 

[MasterBlaster76]

United's finishing was actually pretty poor throughout. Nearly every save the Madrid keeper made was pretty much straight at him.

Apart from Vidic's crunching header off the post - yeah, you have a point but we didn't really carve out lots of clear cut chances, instead lots of half chances that could've gone in.

I wouldn't want to be Reading at the weekend - the team is going to be fuming about this, especially after being in such firm control of the game.

 

[barmyarmy]

I think Utd took too long to get over the red card. Chelsea got one against Barca in the semi last year (same ref) and still won the tie. 2 goals in 7 minutes after the red.

 

[MasterBlaster76]

Even the player who was caught said he reckoned Nani didn't see him.

@Barmy - I reckon Mourinho's timing in bringing Modric on was perfect.

 

[barmyarmy]

Intent is irrelevant though.

 

[MasterBlaster76]

Intent is irrelevant though.

True - but everyone was pretty shocked that he gave a red. He could definitely have given a yellow for that, but I understand why he gave the red.

I don't agree with what Cristiano just said on highlights - Real didn't deserve to win that match, they were barely in it before the red card. Townsend reckons the ref. 'swallowed a rule book' instead of using his judgement.

It's just such a shame regardless of who you wanted to win, because that was a hell of a good game to watch before the red card. After that, it was just Madrid attacking constantly and the outcome was inevitable.

Southgate's another one who doesn't think it's a red. As the guys are saying, does the ref. give a penalty if the keeper comes out and misses a punch, instead catching a player (which incidentally happened tonight when Real's keeper gave Vidic a right cross when trying to punch the ball). What about when a player goes for an overhead kick in the area and misses, maybe catching an opponent - does he give a red? Nope.

 

[barmyarmy]

My point though is the outcome wasn't inevitable. If Chelsea can hold off Barca with 10, Utd can hold off Real. I just think they lost their heads for 10 minutes with the sense of unfairness.

 

[puddleduck]

They did indeed. In the space of 10 minutes they conspired to throw the game away. Had they seen out the 10 minute period straight after the red, they could have started to find some belief, but more than losing a man, they lost their composure.

As Steve said though, good move from Mourinho to get Modric on. An obvious decision perhaps, but it suddenly gave them another ball playing outlet and it still took a cracking goal from him to get Real up and running.

 

[MasterBlaster76]

My point though is the outcome wasn't inevitable. If Chelsea can hold off Barca with 10, Utd can hold off Real. I just think they lost their heads for 10 minutes with the sense of unfairness.

No doubt about it, we could've gone about it better.

Real's keeper did box Vidic when coming for the ball tonight - what do you guys make of that?

 

[puddleduck]

Pretty standard, never once been a foul, so much like the ref deciding that today, in a Champions League Q/F he'd suddenly break 20 years of giving bookings for high boots, it would have been somewhat bizarre had he picked today to penalise.

What about the disallowed goal for Real early on? Anyone else feel that should have stood?