Champions League

smarauder68 · Champions League

Was I the only observer who was happy to see Chelsea go out after conceding that dramatic goal in the 93rd minute???

Serves Hiddink right for not going for the away goal in Barcelona...

For all the talk about the bad ref, I thought the Chelsea players were ALL too eager to go down as soon as they sniffed the box...I agreed with ALL of the decisions except for the red card he gave to Abidal, which was nothing more than clipped heals(accidentally).

Drogba, Malouda and Anelka were all looking for penalties and not goals...F those diving bitches!

SlowRower

With all due respect, your analysis is decidely suspect...

The first "penalty" that wasn't given was awarded as a free kick outseide the box. The ref thought it was a foul, but failed to see the foul took place well inside the box.

Two of the other "penalties" were for handball. (Pique's was pretty blatant in my opinion.)

On an average night, at least one of three marginal penalty decisions would go your way, particularly at home, so Chelsea were pretty unlucky not to be leading 2-0 before Barcelona's goal, in which case Hiddink's tactics in the away leg would have been spot-on.

Agree about the diving though! Drogba in particular is a disgrace.

In case you're wondering, I normally seriously dislike Chelsea, but I thought they got the rough end of the stick last night.

Mrs John Murphy

I've only just finished gutlaughing.

Fuck Chelsea and their anti-football. A more expensive version of Arsenal under George Graham.

Given the way that Chelsea have cheated in past years I guess that this was karma.

I bet Anders Frisk is laughing his arse off.

smarauder68

SlowRower

Pique's "handball" was off a fairly gentle flick from Anelka...

I'll grant you that Eto's off Ballack was probably hard to avoid.

For the free kick for foul inside the box, the Ref simply made a mistake. If he'd wanted to compromise, he would have not awarded anything and then later awarded a free kick favourably to Chelsea in a less threatening part of the pitch.

As it is, he's clearly dropped an absolute clanger, drawing unfavourable attention to the other marginal decisions he made.

Did Chelsea really defend for the entire 180 minutes? They must have made the odd attack to score once and have 4 penalty appeals last night! How many shots on goal did the all-attacking Barcelona have last night?

I take it you don't like Chelsea and haven't actually thought through your comments.

smarauder68

Chelsea never sent more than 3 players forward in the first game in Barcelona...Their only chance came on a long ball to Drogba.

Last night they were a bit more adventurous in the first half and got rewarded with a great goal from Essien...but by the 20 minute mark, it was mostly 1 way traffic and I believe the stats bear that out...Barca had a 65% to 35% edge in possession and while many shots were off the target, they had 30 shots to Chelsea's 10 in the two encounters...

The better side advanced and Hiddink can blame himself for not taking some chances on the road.

SlowRower

Barcelona were cr*p over the two legs, if truth be told. If they had been any good, they'd surely have scored at home and not have had to rely on the ref not to award penalties last night.

Barcelona probably are better overall than Chelsea, but they got lucky last night. (Not that getting lucky is a bad characteristic to have as a sports team!)

cardinal guzman

I cant think of a cup winners cup match that wasn't decided by the referee. Best avoided unless your team is playing imo and so I didn't see the match - just the news.

I would say that if Drogba had been in the wrong then the ref would have been able to look him in the eye and give him a second yellow for his behaviour, as it was, the ref's body language spoke volumes - he definitely $titched Chelsea up.

Mwuhahaha - I hate Chelsea, I hate Lampard, I hate Terry (who has got away with elbowing every single forward he's ever played in the face repeatedly) and I hate Drogba - nice one ref. Cool

Imagine my delight when I get to hear both Lampard and Terry boohooing about their loss......
http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/football/8037154.stm

Jackov

Watching Chelsea lose was only equalled by listening to the whiners on 606

CapeRoadie

Drogba should check into the ER, pretend he is having a heart attack, then see if he can convince the ER docs that he is actually dead. Chelsea played like defensive shite, regardless of referee mistakes.

Drongo

This article gets on topic, eventually, and I liked it:

http://www.theage.com.au/news/spo...rge/2009/05/08/1241727605464.html

smarauder68

if you believe in Karma, than Barca wins 2-1...That sounds about right. I reckon Rio will be a little rusty on his return and get beat for at least 1 goal.

last km

last km

BTW the reason I dont want the Mancs to win is because I will never here the fuckin last of it from all the Southern jessies, who never go to a Match evoh, who I have the pleasure of working with... Rolling Eyes

... get the picture all you "sane" people in the world...

CapeRoadie

Where can we watch the match live on the internet?

Mrs John Murphy

They'll be tears on the streets of Surrey and Berkshire tonight. I am sure that they'll be a lot of people discovering 'Catalan Heritage' today and declaring themselves lifelong Barca fans.

Glad that for once the best team won. Scholes was lucky not too see red after one of his typical leg-breaker challenges.

ventoux

smarauder68

CapeRoadie

Ferguson was all wrong tactically. Agree with you re leaving out Tevez who's been hot of late. Man U was outplayed, outfinessed. Messi looked great. Waaaaaaaaaaaa.

cyclingtv

cristia-nooooooooooo showed and
messi-ahhhhhhhhhhh delivered.. Wink

CapeRoadie

Very clever ctv.

cardinal guzman

mazda

Rangers 1 Sevilla 4
Rangers 1 Unirea Urziceni 4

Very Happy

Mrs John Murphy

Yes, Sky need to learn the correct pronounciation of Unirea Urziceni Wink

it's not 'The Romanians'

smarauder68

cardinal guzman

SM - what is it with the USA and their world class keeper production line? Brad Guzan looks like he's grabbed the baton with aplomb!

Mrs John Murphy

If guess if I couldn't pronounce Unirea it would be funny.

last km

WTF is a "helmuts"......... Shocked

smarauder68

last km

I've noticed keepers from other parts of the world seem to spill the ball more...I know that's only one aspect of keeping but how many times have we seen David James spill a harmless looking long-range shot that turned into a goal or adventure?

see youtube...Gordon Banks vs Pele....awesome Cool

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LVrQxIMRjVM&NR=1

or in slow motion http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ngE9RCAdWaE&NR=1

fede40

aaaaand Ovrebo part 2... (in CL that is, given he's already proven himself in other competitions as well)