18 Feb 2014 21:51:45
I know money and class players will take you a long way but Man City tonight!
Just shows Celtic can give this a right good go every season (not saying we will win lol)
For all their thousands of millions, Man City were terrified of Barcelona tonight. Still have the return leg but that was a poor showing by seemingly EPL favourites.
2nd place in the Bundesliga - totally shafted at home by PSG.
Something their millions can't buy is a noisy support. embarrassing!
Wouldn't say they were terrified of them they just gave Barca a bit too much respect. They play football similar to Barcelona and they should have seen how Chelsea stopped them in the league and applied similar tactics against Barca. As we found out to our cost you must keep11 on the field at all times against Barca or they will exploit your weakness. Barca will struggle against a morr physical direct team
What this shows, Mrs. E is the declining state of the Champions League. I also watched the game and was amazed at how far in front Barca were. A team that Jose were the poorest in a long time.(aye pal, that's why you were chased out of town). Look at the other result tonight. 0-4. Home advantage means nothing now. I remember GREAT CL ties like MU in Turin, the final at Hampden when "Whit did u call ma mum??" lol. scored etc etc. I actually said to my partner tonight that we have done REALLY well in the last two years when you look at other teams results against teams like Barca. No doubt we have punched above our weight. Alas she wasn't having it and said. 'This is sh!te'. Alas, I had to concur.
Briggs the atmosphere was terrible, it was like watching a Barca training session.
I thought Man City looked unprepared and didn't want to be there. I'm not sure the last time they were in the CL last 16 but for a team like that with all their millions, playing in the most watched league in the world and trying to get recognised as a Club to be respected/feared it really was a poor advert.
Players like Yaya Toure, Kompany etc I always think are physical? Maybe missing Aguero and Silva would fit in at Barca no problem.
Maybe they can turn it around at the Nou Camp, who knows.
Other than Ibrahimovic last night, both games weren't great Davie.
In terms of Leverkusen their budget is a long way short of what PSG have and that proved to be very telling in the game. The German model on the 50+1 fan owned rule means that most the clubs with exception of all powerful Bayern with their huge fanbase can ever operate with a major budget like in the Epl or a league where sheiks and oliguarchs are allowed to lavish their wealth at clubs. I for one hope the fifa fair play rules might even things out a bit more or a story like Dortmund who were a revelation last year with a team that cost less than 40 million in total may become a rare thing in future with the financial big hitters ruling the roost almost completely
Gally
I'd love FIFA to impose the 50+1 rule worldwide and tighter restrictions on the use of debt for acquisitions to discourage control by a single entity. But greed at the top won't allow it to happen! Just to show how succesful the model is, the ruling was introduced for the start of the 2003-04 season, 11/18 clubs were in the black after 2008-09. In 2009-10, 32/36 of the clubs from 1. + 2. Bundesliga voted to stick with it after minor opposition to have it repealed!
This, while Messi was clearly either unable or unwilling to break a sweat. He spent most of the game strolling around as if it were a round of golf.
I didn't think City did much wrong last night: its jsut that Barca don't hang around waiting for a second bite at the cherry, as we bhoys and ghurls know too well/
Personally I am an admirer of the way things are done in Germany on a number of levels. The 50+1 fan ownership keeps the fans integral to any given club from Bayern to Saint Pauli. Players are well paid but not in the fantasy world level of epl in particular where second and third rate players get daft money.The standard of the football itself is great with goals galore every weekend in atmospheric stadiums where a match ticket doesn't go above 20 euro. The only thing that I would be critical of is that Bayern are becoming far to powerful on and off the park for the rest but saying that they are a fantastically well run club when other superpower clubs in Europe are in a mountain of debt
Gally
{Ed007's Note - I've been saying for years that the Bundesliga is far better league than the EPL or La Liga. From the way clubs are structured and ran financially, the quality of football throughout the league down to the treatment of supporters, only last year Bayern Munich's cheapest season ticket was around £60!}
We were talking about Bayern in work today Gally and the way they are in danger of killing competition in Germany. They've already taken the likes of Gotze and Lewandowski (this Summer?).
I would love if things were run the way German football is unfortunately, we don't have a population of 80 million.
Wonder how long it will be before a French Club wins the Champions League.
@9) Did Marseille not win the Champions League in 93 or 94?
Hail Hail
Yeah, 92/93 and the year Jose won with Porto it was Monaco they beat (that was a strange CL year).
I was just meaning French teams haven't really dominated recently but PSG etc with their huge spending, the French Clubs could be contenders once again.