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| Champions League | |
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| Tweet Topic Started: Jan 23 2007, 11:32 AM (2,296 Views) | |
| futbol4 | Mar 9 2007, 11:37 AM Post #61 |
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<!--QuoteBegin-+----></div><table border='0' align='center' width='95%' cellpadding='3' cellspacing='1'><tr><td>QUOTE ( @ --)</td></tr><tr><td id='QUOTE'><!--QuoteEBegin--> Bayern (Thanks to Ronaldo being cup-tied, Milan is just weak in attack) Pool (They're just that much better) ManU (Stronger defense, they can out-catenaccio even the giallirossi, nuff said!) Ch [/QUOTE] Obvious choices, but then many picked Barca (like me ) Madrid and Inter to advance.I think Munchen v Los Rossinieri will be an all out war, quite possibly ugly but full of tension. Ronaldo will be a big help by resting Inzaghi and Gilardino some in the Serie A. Schwienstiger (sp), Podolski, Makkay, Lucio are on fire, but the Milanese back line (other than Oddo) is solid. Lots of old faces on the field and bench in these two games. Milan takes it (can't help it) PSV-Pool- yeah, they're better, but they beat my Barca PSV (letting emotions get the best of me)Man U-Roma- no argument there, besides, Ronaldo is much prettier than Totti these days...Man U Chelsea-Valencia. I never thought I would be rooting for Valencia and the cards are gone so they could do it. Chelsea is deep, but something in the air is blowing Valencia's way so far in league and CL. Valencia |
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Four hundred years ago, English-speaking illegal immigrants slipped into Jamestown, Va. When will America start getting serious about protecting its borders? - L Powers U S A! MEXICO! BARCA, BARCA, BARCA! MILAN! | |
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| futbol4 | Mar 9 2007, 11:41 AM Post #62 |
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posted twice... |
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Four hundred years ago, English-speaking illegal immigrants slipped into Jamestown, Va. When will America start getting serious about protecting its borders? - L Powers U S A! MEXICO! BARCA, BARCA, BARCA! MILAN! | |
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| valenciano | Mar 9 2007, 03:11 PM Post #63 |
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I am happy Valencia drew a team like Chelsea because if we had drawn a lesser known team there could have been the possibility the team wouldn't be as ready as they would for a strong club like Chelsea. For some reason this year's Valencia plays better against good teams and has a tendency to drop points against lesser squads. Valencia's hopes also will ride on their injury status. Fortunately Albelda will be back from his suspension and he is the team's motor in midfield. Baraja will likely miss the games with yet another injury but the rest of the team seems to be recuperating from their injuries. Hopefully Vicente can stay away from more injuries before the Chelsea game as he has been constantly getting hurt this season. I am looking forward to these two matches and I also think Villa's speed at forward will be important as Chelsea won't have anyone to keep up with him. And Ayala and Albiol against Drogba and Shevchenko will be an excellent matchup. My predictions for the teams who will advance, Valencia (it'll be a close one but Valencia will edge out Chelsea) Liverpool (too much for PSV) Bayern (watch out for Hitzfeld, he's a coach with magic in this tournament) Roma (Manchester United are sputtering now and will miss Larsson) |
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| xeneize | Mar 9 2007, 03:52 PM Post #64 |
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I'll join the others in saying these four quarterfinals look evenly matched. No team really stood out in this previous round but they have three weeks now to get themselves ready for the quarterfinals. If anything I'd say Liverpool, Roma, Bayern and Valencia had the most impressive victories in this just completed round and I think they are best placed now to win through to the quarterfinals but a lot can change in these intervening weeks with injuries, loss of form, etc. |
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| Merengue | Mar 13 2007, 08:03 AM Post #65 |
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We'll see more absentees before the quarterfinals start up again in early April but as enganche noted in the Dutch league thread, PSV's Alex tore his hamstring and will be out 6 weeks, meaning PSV's hero of their 2nd leg draw against Arsenal will miss both legs against Liverpool. And UEFA also suspended Bayern's Mark van Bommel two games for his red card against Madrid so he also will miss both quarterfinal games for his club. |
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| valenciano | Mar 14 2007, 07:58 AM Post #66 |
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UEFA have come down pretty hard in the wake of the post game brawl between Valencia and Inter. These are the suspensions handed out, VALENCIA David Navarro- 7 months from all competitions Carlos Marchena- 4 UEFA games INTER Nicolas Burdisso- 6 UEFA Games Maicon- 6 UEFA games Ivan Cordoba- 3 UEFA games Julio Cruz- 2 UEFA games Navarro naturally got the harshest punishment but 7 months from all competitions, not just UEFA games is a stiff one. They are essentially banning him from his profession for those 7 months. Meanwhile Marchena, who is a versatile player who plays in both defense and midfield and has been a regular with the club, will miss both legs of the quarterfinals aganst Chelsea plus the semifinals if Valencia advances. With all of the injuries the club has suffered this season, Marchena has been an invaluable member of the team due to his versatility and his absence against Chelsea will be felt. Inter will feel the punishments next season as they are already eliminated from the current competition. Since Inter will win Serie A they'll pass directly to next season's group stages but with 6 game suspensions Burdisso and Maicon will miss the entire group portion. Cordoba will miss half the group games while Cruz will miss the first two. That's 3 defenders who will miss significant portions, if not all, of next year's group matches for Inter unless this ban can be shortened on appeal. That is a major loss for the club and something which will cause them to rethink who they acquire in the offseason to fill the shoes of these banned players. |
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| siralfred | Mar 14 2007, 08:30 AM Post #67 |
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Forza Zlatan!
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If the 7 months includes the summer break that'll soften it a bit. I agree with him getting a harsh punishment, though, since running off the bench to throw a closed-fisted punch in Burdisso's face is clearly pre-meditated (no, I'm not a lawyer). Of course I'm happy the Inter players didn't get longer bans, though as you point out they'll hurt when the next CL season starts, but all-in-all I think it was fair. |
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| Merengue | Mar 14 2007, 09:33 AM Post #68 |
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Navarro certainly did deserve the harshest punishment. siralfred makes a good point about some of it being lessened by the summer break but 7 months still means he'll be out from now, or whenever the appeal process ends and the sentence begins, until at least October so it isn't an insignificant penalty on Navarro who is the one who elevated this incident. Looks like for the remaining players, Valencia will pay the price this season while Inter will bear the burden in the next one. I hadn't thought of it but valenciano could be right that the punishments to 3 of Inter's first line defenders could cause them to change their transfer thinking this summer as their defense will be severely weakened in next year's Champions League group phase. |
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| rosarino | Mar 14 2007, 12:26 PM Post #69 |
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I think those are really harsh sentences and they definitely effect this year's competition with the suspension of Marchena against Chelsea and next year's tournament too as Inter will miss so many players, especially in it's defense, for next year's group matches. I guess UEFA felt it had to come down hard to prevent similar incidents in the future but apart from Navarro's justified sentence for throwing a blindsided punch, the other punishments seem a little too severe to me. |
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| Simon | Apr 2 2007, 05:34 AM Post #70 |
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Back to the Champions League this week then, and I thought it would be interesting, if possibly misleading, to take a look at the current form of the 8 teams taking part. AC Milan (6th in Serie A) v Bayern Munich (4th in Bundesliga) Milan are still inconsistent and dropping points, although the points they've dropped in recent weeks have been against Inter and Roma which is no disgrace. They're not finding many goals at the moment though. Gilardino has blown hot and cold and it's hardly been the best of seasons for Inzaghi either. Milan scraped past Celtic in the last 16, only scoring through Kaka in extra time, and they may end up relying on Kaka once again as of course his compatriot Ronaldo is ineligible. It seems to me that Bayern come into this in slightly better shape than Milan. After all, they just beat leaders Schalke 2-0. I've seen the goals but haven't seen the game so I can't comment on whether they deserved it. However it was their first win in 3 league games. Makaay is clearly the main danger man but it seems Podolski has finally started chipping in with some goals in the last few weeks and Salihamidzic is in form as well. I would say that bayern can be favoured at this point. PSV Eindhoven (1st in Eredivisie) v Liverpool (3rd in Prem) The title race is back on in Holland thanks to PSV's failure to win any of their last 3 games, most notably with that 5-1 hammering they took at home to closest rivals Ajax. I worry for PSV here, really. They lean extremely heavily on Farfan for their goals and Liverpool should really be able to shut him down. Defending and organising themselves is what Liverpool have always been about and the current team is no exception. What else do PSV have? Not a great deal, unless they can rely on Mendez's powerful long-range shooting. They defended resolutely against Arsenal but the star of the show on that occasion was Alex who misses out here due to injury. Liverpool shredded Arsenal at the weekend but it should be said that that was only their second league win in six games. They remain inconsistent and it's also worth noting that they were big favourites against Ronald Koeman's Benfica last season only to be dumped out. Can Koeman pull it off again? Well, he already tried this season and Liverpool looked very comfortable in winning and drawing with PSV in the group phase. Liverpool always seem to rise to the occasion in Europe and it's hard to imagine a way that PSV can get past them, especially a PSV on such poor form at the moment. Chelsea (2nd in Prem) v Valencia (4th in Liga) I could say that Chelsea aren't playing too well at the moment, and I'd be right, but what does it matter? They've won all of their last 7 games and haven't conceded a single goal in the process. They're a machine. They don't need to be playing well, they just relentlessly grind you down and always seem to find a goal from somewhere which kind of guarantees that they'll win with their airtight defence. Of course, Chelsea's defence is extremely sound in the Premiership but they're not invincible - especially against pace. Spurs ran them ragged at times in the FA Cup the other week and they had a few worring moments against Porto. If Valencia are on top form I think they can hurt Chelsea. The only problem is that Valencia's form has stuttered a bit recently and Morientes will be a big loss. I would say that Chelsea start as favourites but Angulo and Vicente definitely have the pace and skill to unsettle Chelsea and get them truning to face their own goal, which they don't like. And of course when David Villa's on song he's as good a striker as you'll find anywhere and his goal at the weekend suggests he might get back in the swing of things. Valencia will need him to be on top of his game. Roma (2nd in Serie A) v Man United (1st in Prem) Roma have only won two of their last seven league games and seem to have given up the forlorn pursuit of Inter. But they're a very good side and on their day they can beat anyone, as they showed in Lyon. Disappointingly for us reds, Totti's form seems to be as good as it has been all season and a lot rests on his shoulders. The supporting cast is strong though, the two Brazilians Mancini and Taddei need to be watched carefully as does Simone Perotta who was actually born and brought up in Manchester. As for United, we've won all of our last 7 league games and are also in the FA Cup semis, so things are going really well on three fronts. We've been playing some great stuff again recently and if we play anything like we did against Blackburn on Saturday there should be no way Roma can live with us. But as we say here, "'if' is a big word, if my auntie had bollocks she'd be my uncle". For some bizarre reason (Carlos Queiroz I'm looking at you) United play a strangely constricted 4-5-1 in Europe which forces Rooney and Ronaldo out of the danger areas and means that both have very poor scoring records in the CL. United fans are still waiting for the penny to drop with the 'management team' that this just doesn't work or get the best out of United. I think a lot depends on which United turns up. Roma have been knocked out on each of the last 3 occasions they've been drawn against English teams, let's hope we extend that to 4. For my part, I'm catching a flight to Rome tomorrow to watch the United game. Should be good, although we've been given dire warnings to avoid certain parts of the city and to stay in numbers due to the Italians' unfortunate penchant for knife attacks against unwitting groups of 2 or 3 opposition fans. Apparently a particular favourite is to zoom up on a Vespa and knife you in the arse on their way past! Hopefully if I pack my steel-reinforced underwear I should be okay! Seriously, I know Italy has a problem with this sort of thing and the Roma lot are worse than most. There were some pretty nasty attacks on Middlesbrough fans last season and on Liverpool fans a couple of years ago, so I just hope this year it passes without incident. |
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| Manzanares | Apr 2 2007, 08:13 AM Post #71 |
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Great report Simon and I'm green with envy about your trip to Rome. Enjoy the game and we hope to read your account of it here. To be honest I can't think of much else to add to Simon's comprehensive previews of the teams and their current form. It's too bad injuries have taken a toll on PSV's narrow bench. I was reading it's not just Alex but also striker Kone and midfielder Affellay who will also miss this first leg against Liverpool. There's even a chance though that another oft injured player, Patrick Kluivert might return for the Dutch club. But due to PSV's injuries they just don't seem to have the troops to challenge Liverpool. The other three matchups look so even, at least on paper, that predicting an outcome is difficult. Hopefully that should make for some competitive and compelling matches to watch. |
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| xeneize | Apr 2 2007, 09:29 AM Post #72 |
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Patrick Kluivert? That's a name from the past! It doens't look promising for PSV against Liverpool but remember apart from Crouch's explosion against Arsenal this past weekend, Liverpool have also had trouble scoring so this could be one of thsoe sries where a mistake or two detemriens the outcome. I don't expect it to be tantalising football as both teams are rather conservative in their approach. Same applies to Bayern-Milan. I was looking at Milan's expected lineup and even though they're at home tomorrow it is expected to include only one forward, Gilardino, with Kaka playing behind him and 4 other midfielders behind him: Seedorf, Ambrosini, Gattuso and Pirlo. Doesn't look like Milan are coming in to that game intent on doing much attacking. Enjoy your trip Simon, I also look forward to reading your account of the voyage. |
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| valenciano | Apr 2 2007, 01:00 PM Post #73 |
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Let me add that I also think Simon's commentary is on target. I'll just add a few things to this game which for obvious reasons is of the most interest to me. Morientes' loss is a major one and will deprive Valencia of somebody with size in the attack. But with him out the team will gain in speed and mobility which is where I think they can trouble Chelsea. Also look at Joaquin as a player who will be a handful defensively. His form the past month is what we were expecting from him since his preseason signing. And now that he's healthy Vicente is another player who will be tricky to handle. I'd watch though for Chelsea to try and nip at his ankles since that is his weakness now. Manchester United-Roma is a game like Valencia-Chelsea which does have the potential to be a very exciting back and forth type of matchup. Ronaldo & Rooney against Totti and Mancini. These are the type of games you want to see in a Champions Leagues. Tuesday's games look less interesting to me simply because of the teams' style of play. Hopefully I am mistaken. |
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| rosarino | Apr 2 2007, 10:44 PM Post #74 |
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Milan-Bayern looks like one of those cagey matches between two tactically sound but less than enterprising teams. Hopefully there will be an early goal so we'll see better entertainment. The same applies to PSV-Liverpool too. On paper at least, Wednesday's games look more interesting but even those will likely turn into defensive struggles. At this stage nobody wants to give anything up. But hopefully players like C.Ronaldo, Rooney, Totti, Mancini, Vicente, Villa, Schweinsteiger and Kaka can liven things up for we viewers. Simon, great preview, enjoy the game in Roma. Include me as one of those envious of your trip! |
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| Winslow | Apr 3 2007, 12:53 PM Post #75 |
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Tuesday's first leg results... . . . . . . . AC Milan 2, Bayern Munich 2; PSV Eindhoven 0, Liverpool 3. The Reds are on a roll after the best imaginable result on the road. Gerrard scored the first just before the half-hour, climbing on Dirk Kuyt's back to head in a Finnan cross. Shortly after halftime, a terrible clearance went to Riise, who left-footed a wonderful ball into the corner from the top of the box. Crouch settled the outcome later by heading in another Finnan cross. The other tie is still up in the air after two van Buyten goals gave Bayern a share of the points at the San Siro. Milan led at halftime thanks to a Pirlo header, then van Buyten tied it with 12 minutes to go; Milan took the lead again on a penalty (Lucio was called for taking down Kaka, but the replay suggested it was a clean play) before van Buyten scored again well into injury time. Bayern played without Kahn in goal; he'd been suspended for bad behavior during a postmatch urine test. Meanwhile, Milan will not have Gilardino in Munich thanks to too many bookings. Let's have another exciting day tomorrow, shall we? |
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) Madrid and Inter to advance.
PSV (letting emotions get the best of me)



5:04 PM Jul 10