Still possible, going back a few years ago no one expected Liverpool to knock them out but they did. I think the best situation is a team getting Barca away for the first leg and holding them to a draw.
That is indeed the play I remembered, and IMHO he was falling down before the contact, but you are right the ref could have given a penalty. But it is not a clear-cut penalty IMHO there are always questionable calls in a game. But the yellow card of RVP was ridiculous, he shot the ball right after the whistle, there is a good possibility that he indeed did not hear the whistle or that he didn't realise the whistle until after he started shooting. If there was more time between the whistle and the shot then I can agree that he could have gotten a Yellow card. I think we mostly agree. The goal of Messi was brilliant, he is such a great player.
The call was ridiculous. He absolutely ruined the match and gave Barcelona the clear victory. It was no doubt the most significant call of the match. Anyway, you seem to forget when Abidal grabbed van Persie by the neck - I am sure if you go by the rules this should be a red card also. Arno - unless you mean you are an Excelsior fan, I don't think you can say fighting relegation anymore. ;-) If you heard Been, Feyenoord are now going for the eight spot! I'm a Feyenoord fan as well, by the way! ATW - van Gaal doesn't always have a run like that. He had a good long run at Ajax. At AZ he had a great season where he almost won the title, then had an absolutely atrocious season (11th). He quit/resigned/got fired, but then his players convinced him to keep going. The next season they won the title for the second time in their history, breaking the Big Three's domination in Holland. I agree, though, his personality is a problem. At Barcelona he had a terrible relationship with some of the Brazilians, for example. The thing is that van Gaal doesn't adapt - it's his way or you're out. He has very specific ideas. I agree with Arno, you knew what you were getting into! I think he is a fantastic coach and he should have been given credit till the end of the season - at least for what he did last year. I thought it was exaggerated how loved he was anyway, considering that it was mostly all due to Robben!
His antics are hard to bear even when you are successful, but you tolerate them because it seems to work. But if you lose three hugely important matches in a span of 10 days (game against the league leader at home, DFB cup semi-final at home, game against the team right ahead of you in 3rd place which is incredibly important to re-qualify for the Champions League), then it is not surprising that the coach is in question. At Bayern, if you are not "tri-winning" (national championship, DFB cup and semi-finals in the Champions League), you don't meet the expectations as a coach.
The red card on RVP did not ruin ****. Arsenal were beyond lucky to be even on away goals at the time but RVP was already contributing nothing (I felt like I was watching the WC again) but thats not all his fault as the match was played in Arsenals half. AW's substitions/selections were not great. He left Rosicky on too long and probably should have started Arshavin instead. Chamakh should have come on for RVP at the half and the decision to bring on Bendtner was shamed when his woeful first touch wasted Wilshere's effort. What was most shocking to me was Arsenals inability to string 3 passes together in the first half. Yes I know they were playing Barca and Barca can retain possession like no other but Arsenal were shockingly bad in the first half with 11 men that going down to 10 just meant it'd be a quicker demise to their CL hopes imho. Talking about penalties, I always forget how standup a chap Messi is. Seriously he could have at least 3 penalties in every match he plays in. Not to say Messi has never dived cos he has but he gets tackled stupidly by defenders in the box constantly and a lot of times stays up or even when he goes down he doesn't get the call.
Like you said, you know what you're getting with Van Gaal. He hasn't changed in two decades. Capello did but Van Gaal is as inflexible as a manager can be and he is not known for building motivating personal relationships with his players a la Pep or Mourinho.
arsenal had about 5% possession and 0 shots on goal before the red card, and about 2% possession and 0 shots on goal afterward. you're right, it changed and ruined the game. poor arsenal.
For the last time I'm not saying is fair. However, if I'm Barca I rather be up 2:0 (If the ref would have given that penalty of messi... Messi rarely dives and if u look closely the arsenal players gets him with his right leg) and/or have the goal that was taken away from Messi in the away game, than be playing against 10. If you watch Barca when they are leading comfortably you'll know they can keep possession for so long that the other team won't even have a shot on goal. So as a Barca fan I rather have either of those two ( penalty on Messi or goal unjustly taken away) than the second yellow on RVP.
What a save from William Gallas! Milan were pretty much guaranteed a goal because Gomes went way off his line.
Wow an Ace sighting. Good to see you post again. You are also a Feyenoord fan, wow I thought I was the only Feyenoord and Rockets fan. Ok so you are saying that there has only been one coach successful before van Gaal, the only time in History Bayern got your tri-winning was in 2000 when they got to the semi-finals in the Championsleague and won both the league and the cup. Last season was one of the most successful seasons in bayern's history (although I think winning the Cl and the league are better, so 2001 and 1974 were more successful), and after one disappointing season they fire the coach (a season with a lot of injuries). You have to agree that that is a bit strange. They should have given him more credit, or not have hired him in the first place. Like I said I dislike his antics. But Bayern knew what they were getting themselves into. I hate it when team throw they coaches under the bus after a short period with disappointing results (like Feyenoord dit with Gert Jan Verbeek) Every now and the your run into a reasonable poster on this board. It doesn't happen that often:grin:
Arno, yes, Feyenoord for sure. I haven't been to a game in years seeing that I live in the UK, but it will be great once our team is on top again. Hopefully I won't be too old before that happens. ;-) I can't believe Tottenham going through there. They were absolutely not the best team over 180 minutes! In any case, congratulations to them. I am looking forward to van Gaal's show against Inter Milan. If Bayern wins the CL, what will they do?!
LOL, fail, no. I guess you didn't see the first game. AC had nothing in the first game, literally nothing. Tottenham sat back, defended, and kicked long balls with the lead the second game. It's called Sheening. Look it up.
Heading to Bayern vs. Inter now! If you see a naked guy streaking across the field, Spoiler it's not me .
Great, hope you enjoy it. Shame the game is not on german free-tv, gotta watch a stream. Let's hope Bayern can defend Eto'o, last game had heart-attack potential every 5min.
Wow! I turned the game off when bayern seemed in control 2-1 in the 2nd half. Can't believe inter came back. Was going for bayern as well.
Never switch off a football-game, especially CL. :grin: Bayern got distracted after Robben and van Buyten went out, really annoyin to see how week Bayern is without Robben, way too predictable. Gettin a counter-goal minutes before the game is over shows how silly the team plays sometimes, you gotta have a solid defensive-oriented formation at that situation.
