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| Champions League 09/10 | |
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| Tweet Topic Started: Jul 23 2009, 05:46 AM (4,901 Views) | |
| Don Balon | Nov 24 2009, 03:56 PM Post #136 |
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Guardiola decided not to risk either Ibrahimovic or Messi and as manzanares writes neither were really missed. You have to give Barcelona's coach plenty of credit too as he designed a game plan which confused Inter and I think that is what caused them to look so lifeless in this game. Instead of playing their normal 3 man attack, Guardiola had Henry and Pedro at forward with Iniesta playing behind them and here he was sensational, despite Inter, especially Thiago Motta's hard tackles against him. You almost hate to say this but without Messi and Ibrahimovic, Barcelona played more collectively as they dribbled less but passed more, which was very effective. This new look gives something for their future opponents to think about. Keita and Busquets with help from Xavi pressed Inter intensely every time they had the ball and the few times it did make its way up to Eto'o or Milito, often Pique and Puyol were there to anticipate the ball and deny them the ball. It was a very complete performance for Barcelona, one of their best of the season and they now move into first place in the group. Sets up a dramatic final day in the group, Barca at Kiev and Inter home to Rubin Kazan. Winslow, you are correct Stuttgart hosts Unirea on the final match day. Unirea will need just a draw, Stuttgart a win to join Sevilla in advancing from that group. |
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| Merengue | Nov 24 2009, 08:03 PM Post #137 |
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Inter really did look flat and some of that as Don Balon notes is because of Barcelona's pressure but Inter just never looked like they got in the game. Eto'o was trying to do what Barca did and press his opponents but nobody else on Inter seemed interested in doing that. When you give Barcelona time on the ball they will pick any defense apart. Iniesta's positioning, playing as a media punta was an interesting twist and gave him a lot of opportunity to link up with Xavi. I'm curious to see if Iniesta will return to playing there when Messi and Ibrahimovic return. Don Balon though does bring up an interesting point about Barcelona playing more collectively without Messi and Ibra, a little less flair but plenty of one and two touch passing. Curiously in all 8 games played on Tuesday, at least one club went scoreless. It was not a night for a lot of goals scored. |
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| Martin | Nov 24 2009, 08:18 PM Post #138 |
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Well Iniesta often drops back to playing like a media punta even when he's starting on the wing or he'll move forward when playing in midfield. It is only one game and against as others noted a very flat looking Inter but as well as Barcelona played makes you wonder if Pep Guardiola will start Ibrahimovic and Messi on Sunday against Madrid? This game showed Guardiola he does not need to rush the injured players back. The coach is probably breathing a little easier though as he knows his club can win without Messi and Ibrahimovic. Inter can still qualify for the next round, a win at home over Rubin Kazan or even a tie in that game if Dynamo Kyiv does not defeat Barca, will get Inter into the next round but they were made to look very average against Barcelona. Inter hired Mourinho in large part to achieve European success, right now it looks like they are far away from that. I am curious which team was our Barcelona socio, Inter season ticket holder poster ursus arctos supporting??? |
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| libero | Nov 24 2009, 09:31 PM Post #139 |
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Inter may claim they were missing Sneijder which would have helped some but the bottom line was Barcelona always looked the more technically gifted team. Inter could have made up for that by working hard and pressuring Barcelona much as Mourinho's Chelsea teams did against Barcelona but on Tuesday they never had that energy needed to pressure barcelona. As somebody wrote, you give Barcelona tieme and they will rip any defense, even one as good as Inter's, apart. But as the quote above notes, Inter still control their fate and a win at home over Rubin Kazan gets them into the 2nd round. Once you get there anything is possible as who knows what form any of these teams will be in come next February/March? Fiorentina defeated Lyon with a penalty converted by Juan Vargas. It was a kind of edgy game, lots of niggly fouls and Fiorentina looked nervous but I believe with the win and their qualification for the 2nd round, this is the first time Fiorentina have advanced this far in the Champions League. That explains their nervousness. |
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| Sammy Maudlin | Nov 25 2009, 12:28 AM Post #140 |
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Someday he will make some mistakes but Guardiola now has the Midas touch, everything he touches turns golden. His tactical moves always seem to be the right ones. Moving Iniesta behind the 2 forwards was a great idea, Iniesta may take up that position sometimes during games but against Inter he was specifically placed where he could be close to goal and would be more central. Who needs Messi when you have Iniesta?
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| Simon | Nov 25 2009, 03:40 AM Post #141 |
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Bit of a dull evening in the CL, few goals and no drama. It's disappointing how many teams are already through with two games to spare, and now a few more teams are through as of last night. There will barely be anything left to be decided on the final matchday. Wow, so Liverpool won't be making their annual jaunt to the semi-finals or final of the CL. Maybe Chelsea will have to find a foreign team to play at that stage of this season's competition! “This has no bearing on Rafa whatsoever,” said Liverpool managing director Christian Purslow. “He only signed a new five-year deal eight months ago and in those terms he is four months into a five-year journey. You don’t deviate from long-term plans for people. “I like to think we’ll be taking 40 or 50,000 to Hamburg in May [for the Europa League final], and if we get halfway to doing that, we will make more money than we would have from the next round of the Champions League. It’s a missed opportunity financially, but it has no effect on budgeted performance and that’s the key thing.” Okay, so Liverpool are already in the Europa League Final? That's good going! Milan were big UEFA Cup favourites last year, and Bayern the year before, and neither even made it to the final. I don't think Liverpool can take anything for granted, especially with someone like Benitez as manager. With four goals in five games, Liverpool haven't even scored as many as Debrecen. Benitez got LFC in the title race last season by letting them off the leash so that they battered Real Madrid in Europe and back home put four past United, Villa and Arsenal. But he's back in safety-first mode now, absurdly bringing Benayoun on as a sub against City, watching him score Liverpool's equaliser and then subbing him off again for a defender so they could hold a 2-2 draw at home! Benitez is just plain weird, I can't believe they don't get rid of him. |
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| Sporting | Nov 25 2009, 05:25 AM Post #142 |
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They probably can't afford to, given the compensation they'd have to pay out. |
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| Gunners | Nov 25 2009, 06:58 AM Post #143 |
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I may be incorrect, but I thought Fiorentina made it this far in 1999 or 2000. That was a very good Fiorentina squad, coached by Trapattoni and led on the field by the likes of Batistuta, Rui Costa, Di Livio, and Toldo. They never won Serie A, however. |
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| Yogi | Nov 25 2009, 08:21 AM Post #144 |
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I believe Gunners is correct. Back then there was an additional group stage and Fiorentina advanced to that, according to wikipedia, Fiorentina challenged for the title in 1998-99 but finished the season in third, earning them qualification for the UEFA Champions League. The following year was disappointing in Serie A, but Viola played some historical matches in Champions League, beating Arsenal 1-0 at the old Wembley Stadium and Manchester United 2-0 in Florence. They were ultimately eliminated in the second group stage. |
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| Simon | Nov 25 2009, 09:00 AM Post #145 |
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I think it was in 1999/2000 that United played Fiorentina in the 2nd Group Stage, which was the last 16. I went to the game at OT and it was one of United's best performances of the decade. We'd actually fallen behind to a missile from Batistuta but won 3-1 and it should have been more, we were kind of in exhibition mode for the last 20 minutes. Our football was stupendous that night, and it was a good Fiorentina side as well, as Gunners says. Think they may have beaten us in Florence. EDIT: Just read Yogi's post - so they did indeed beat us in Florence. If memory serves, they were defensive errors that did for us. A drastically underweighted backpass from Roy Keane of all people, and then I think Berg dwelt in possession. Ten years ago, goodness me... |
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| raconteur | Nov 25 2009, 11:31 AM Post #146 |
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Hopefully today's games will be better than yesterday's, both Porto and Chelsea are already in but their game is for seeding purpsoes sot hey still have something at stake. With Madrid likely having an easy game at home against Zurich, Marseille are in a position where they cannot lose to Milan, a point behind both Madrid and Milan, a Marseille loss tonight at San Siro would eliminate them (if madrid as expected also wins.) Then of course there is Juventus-Bordeaux with the possibility that Bayern Munich could also be knocked out with a Juve victory. |
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| Manzanares | Nov 25 2009, 03:09 PM Post #147 |
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In Winslow's absence I will present Wednesday's results: Group A Bayern Munich 1 - 0 Maccabi Haifa Bordeaux 2 - 0 Juventus Group B CSKA Moscow 2 - 1 Wolfsburg Manchester U. 0 - 1 Besiktas Group C AC Milan 1 - 1 Marseille Real Madrid 1 - 0 Zurich Group D APOEL Nicosia 1 - 1 Atletico Madrid FC Porto 0 - 1 Chelsea I don't think any team assured classification today. Bayern Munich still have life as they beat Haifa by a lone goal while Bordeaux even without Gourcuff took it to Juve winning easily 2-0. On the final match day, however, Bayern will need to win at Juventus in order to qualify. CSKA Moscow stayed alive with a win over Wolfsburg in their battle to see who finishes 2nd behind Manchester United. beisktas ended Manchester's long home winning streak in Europe with a 1 goal victory courtesy of Rodrigo Tello but United were playing what clearly was a reserve team in this match. Real Madrid got a 21st minute Higuain goal in an otherwise unimpressive win at home over Zurich. Milan and marseilel drew 1-1 so this group is still alive as on the final day 2nd place Milan plays at 4th place Zurich, the only team with no qualifying chances, while 3rd place Marseille host 1st place Real Madrid. Milan and Marseille wins would qualify them. I am not a Marseille fan especially after their fan's disturbances at the Calderon last season but I will be pulling for them in two weeks time! ![]() Chelsea got a goal from Anelka, set up by Malouda to defeat Porto 1-0 and ensure Chelsea wins the group and Porto finishes 2nd. Atletico played yet another poor game in Europe but fought abck from giving up a goal after 5 minutes in Cyprus to earn a 1-1 draw with APOEL through a Simao Sabrosa goal. Simao was by far Atletico's top player on the night, the rest of the team looked disinterested. The tie likely means Atletico will finish 3rd and go to the Europa League. |
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| Simon | Nov 25 2009, 04:19 PM Post #148 |
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And to sum up who's through so far: Manchester United Chelsea Arsenal Bordeaux Lyon Fiorentina FC Porto Sevilla And there are various big clubs who aren't qualified yet, which at least maintains our interest for the last round of matches: Juventus Bayern Munich AC Milan Real Madrid Barcelona Inter Milan United did give more of the fringe players a go tonight including various teenagers, but we still controlled the game and shouldn't have lost. Besiktas only came out of their defence a couple of times, but on one of those a Tello long-ranger took a deflection off Rafael and went in. United weren't precise or incisive enough in the second half but we picked up when Owen, Carrick and Evra came on. Near the end we forced a couple of great saves from Rustu and were denied an obvious penalty (for the second CL game running :angry: ) for a foul on Evra. Ho hum. Our four-year long unbeaten CL home record is gone. The game at Wolfsburg isn't entirely academic now, as group victory has not yet been assured. I'm going over to watch that one in a fortnight so perhaps I should be pleased that it's got something riding on it. Every cloud has a silver lining! |
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| rosarino | Nov 25 2009, 08:13 PM Post #149 |
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Hey maybe you can pick up a good deal on a Volkswagen while you are in Wolfsburg Simon! ![]() In addition to the big clubs Simon named there are three eastern European clubs still in with a chance to qualify- Rubin Kazan, Dynamo Kyiv and Unirea Uzirceni. One of the better Champions Leagues for eastern European clubs in recent memory. |
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| Yogi | Nov 25 2009, 11:36 PM Post #150 |
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I was disappointed in Milan's play in their 1-1 draw with marseille. The physical power of the french team caused Milan, especially in midfield, some problems. It all began well with Boriello's goal but in the end Milan may have been fortunate to get a tie a sboth Brandao and Diawara came clsoe to scoring the winning goal. Milan should still qualify if they can beat Zurich in Switzerland in the next round while Marseille will, if Milan wins, need to defeat Real Madrid by 3 goals in order to advance. That I feel is a near impossible task, a one or maybe even 2 goal win is possible. But 3 goals? Nah. Real Madrid though did not impress in their 1-0 win over Zurich. The Swiss club were resilient but Madrid also lacked ideas and Ronaldo who did come on looked rusty. |
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