2013/14 Champions League Football

Fair enough..

 

Good game by both teams tonight. Fair result. Wide open heading in to the next week, will be exciting.

 

There you go. Bayern played too predictably and didn't really attack as much as they held the ball. Also, what is up with them playing without a striker? Was Mandzukic even on the pitch? Not quite Torres bad but really invisible.

 

Could have been worse. Real missed some chances, particularly Ronaldo's chance he hit high.

 

I hate Madrid like any other Cule but I won't be upset about an All Spanish final

 

Neverrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr

 

The victory for Real was well-deserved. Could have gone 3-0 or 3-1.

Something is wrong with Ribery. I have been observing his body language since the start of the year, and he is not happy. He is playing like a shadow of his former self. He doesn't seem physically fit, either.

Pep needs to stop doing this bullcrap with Lahm in midfield and playing Rafinha.

Take Rafinha out, put Lahm on the right and return to the Jupp system.

Whatever Pep has been trying to do has not been working - for a while already. Bayern needs to return to last year's system. Basti and Javi as double six. More verticality. Less passing the ball around from left to right like in frickin' handball.

And if he has balls, he takes Ribery out for the return leg and plays Müller or Götze on that side. Müller needs to play. Period.

---------------------------Neuer-----------------------
Lahm------Boateng--------------Dante-------Alaba--
---------Martinez-----------Schweinsteiger-----------
Robben------------------Götze------------------Müller
-----------------------Mandzukic------------------------

Unless Ribery mans up and stops sulking or coasting or whatever the hell he has been doing for at least a couple of months already.

 

Isco is turrible,other than that everyone played solid,Impressed with Coentrao Looks like he stole Marcelo's Starting Spot.

As for Bayern
Heynckes>>>>>>>Pep

 

I'm a bit biased, but Mandžukić didn't get a single useful ball sent towards him throughout the whole game. Actually, he got one in the dying minutes and nodded it between two defenders to Muller, but Xabi Alonso made a great last-second challenge to turn it away.

Great post. Guardiola messed up the tactics, but his substitutions during this game were great and it seems he realized his mistakes. Bringing Martinez in for Rafinha and reverting Lahm to his original position was a very sensible decision. IMO Rafinha is mediocre and Javi Martinez is one of the best defensive midfielders in the world, he has to start every game.

 

Javi was not 100% as far as I know?? The reason why he didn't start.

 

Think he was fit, Guardiola unfortunately had another strategy.

Saw our starting XI before the game and knew Rafinha playing would be a huge problem, I don't know why anyone would start him and let him defend Ronaldo, Modric, etc. No rocket science that Lahm would've done a way better job and that Martinez starting at 6 would've saved us in a lot of Real's counterattack situations.

And like ATW said, Ribery has been playing like complete sh** for week, let's see if Pep has the balls to start Götze or Müller next week. Always hard to bench a key player, especially when he's Europe's player of the year and has been crucial last season, but he's in a horrible slump and we've basically been playing 10 vs. 11 with him on the pitch these past few weeks.

Also, Kroos is way too slow and not a good guy to play vs. a quick team like Real. The last months really show how dependent this team is on Thiago and his risky playing style, dribblings, deadly passes, etc.
Right now we have no player in the central that's capable of dribbling past an opponent and opening space. Kroos and Schweinsteiger sadly are playing to static and with less verticality. Our playing style is pretty easy to defend because of that.

If Real scores one goal, (which I think they will, as Ronaldo hasn't been fit yesterday and Bale didn't start) we need three goals. In our last few games we've really struggled to create more than 2 or 3 chances sometimes, so scoring three goals vs. a Real side that will play counterattacking to the fullest will be incredilby difficult.

Really pessimistic right now...

 

Are there any rumblings for why Ribery is down? As you both said, he not only didn't play well but he seemed completely disinterested. Muller looked good out there once he finally got in so I think it would definitely make sense to start him.

If Madrid can run out a healthy trio up top I highly doubt they will be able to score three times as they likely will need against a defense that had them mostly figured out (and I should have written before - outstanding game by Modric).

It was a fun game to watch, though, which is good because I had to pay for it. Unlike the Rockets who have not been worth the investment.

 

I don't know, all I can say is that whenever I see him around, he doesn't look happy either.

Perhaps it has to do with the style the team is playing. Pep's football is quite similar to van Gaal's. Ribery wasn't happy under van Gaal. He loved Jupp's system. But Ribery has publicly said that he loves playing under Pep.

I really don't know.

 

Well, of course he won't publicly say he doesn't like Pep's system. I'm not saying he doesn't like it.

 

This is what I am expecting for tomorrow, and sadly, I think it will work for them.

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" lang="en"><p>Real Madrid - Bayern <a href="http://t.co/E1VDGAjEw3">pic.twitter.com/E1VDGAjEw3</a></p>&mdash; Humor Madridistas (@MadridistaHumor) <a href="https://twitter.com/MadridistaHumor/statuses/460791837826232322">April 28, 2014</a></blockquote>
<script async src="//platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>

I think they will play a similar style as to what Bayern played against Barca last year - and they have the weapons to do that.

 

Pep with the 4-2-3-1 and Müller starting, nice.

 

I changed my mind. I think it will be a shoot-out. I'm pessimistic, though, because we need to score two more than they do.

Lineup is almost perfect, should be Javi instead of Kroos, other than that, great.

 

Yea, would've liked Martinez instead of Kroos. But I'm optimistic right now, well see.

 

F****

 

It's over.