2014

[britblazerdude]

Halfway towards an El Clasico Final. Would you guys like that? Or rather have Barca Juve?

[Foye]

Watching this game has me questioning the rumored Guardiola hire. Good hire!?

Massi and I have been saying that all year

You are late then. I said this even before they lost to Real Madrid last year they are not half the team they were under Heynckes.

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[truth18]

Watching this game has me questioning the rumored Guardiola hire. Good hire!?

Massi and I have been saying that all year

You are late then. I said this even before they lost to Real Madrid last year they are not half the team they were under Heynckes.

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Word, my fault.

[truth18]

Halfway towards an El Clasico Final. Would you guys like that? Or rather have Barca Juve?

Prefer Barca/Juve, but Clasico is fine too.

Guess we both lost the sig bet, CGF.

[Cactus Jack]

Watching this game has me questioning the rumored Guardiola hire. Good hire!?

I dont blame him for not beating Barcelona. They are at full force and Bayern misses half of their best 6 players. Barca was always going to advance.

However, that defense Guardiola has put in place is just horrible. Benatia is consistently destroying any attempt at the offside trap lol.

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That's what I'm worried about. He's already mailed things in at Bayern.

[Foye]

Lewa made Mascherano his bitch there lol.

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[cgf]

Watching this game has me questioning the rumored Guardiola hire. Good hire!?

I dont blame him for not beating Barcelona. They are at full force and Bayern misses half of their best 6 players. Barca was always going to advance.

However, that defense Guardiola has put in place is just horrible. Benatia is consistently destroying any attempt at the offside trap lol.

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Eh, that's one of those things that everyone would be praising him for having the bravery to do if Bayern had taken their chances much better and been more lethal when they've gotten space in barca's box. I would've used Weiser over Rafinha because he's a better attacker and both are liabilities defensively, and using both Schweini-Xabi has been a mistake, but what more could he really do defensively other than give up on competing in this match and trying to bunker through?

[cgf]

Halfway towards an El Clasico Final. Would you guys like that? Or rather have Barca Juve?

Prefer Barca/Juve, but Clasico is fine too.

Guess we both lost the sig bet, CGF.

Yeah, your posts would've looked so much nicer with an Eli avi, though it's always nice to see Bayern slain

[SniperHawk10]

Rather face Juve, we see Barca vs Real enough domestically

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[TheAdmiral]

Funny how people are expecting an el clasico CL Final. I have little faith in Madrid’s ability to (not only) score, but also defend a sufficient enough lead over the Italians. They're all over the place right now and it's going to be extremely tough to go through Juventus.

[J-Mezzy]

I want a clasico final

[CalamityX12]

I want Real Madrid to man up and get it done tomorrow!

[magik9113]

Props to Barca...Suarez-Neymar-Messi seems unstoppable.
But it's a shame for Bayern that they were without their two best players.

Tomorrow can't come soon enough. Forza Juventus! Pogba is back

[MaliBrah]

would probably prefer barca/juve. The last clasico was a game of sideshows diving , crying , and fouling every 5 seconds. Tired of el clasico's antics.

[EArl]

I want Juve. Real not winning anything this year would be great after they had their eyes set on the treble this year.
Even though real is playing like crap I still think they can beat us. Juve is the better team right now but I'm not as worried.

[cgf]

Thank god that's over. If Bayern had taken one of those opportunities shortly after the 3-2 and made it 4-2 with 10 minutes+stoppage time to go...I would've probably had a heart attack. As is just 15 minutes of high anxiety. Funny to think that without that neymar goal in stoppage time in the first leg and if Lewy had taken either of his golden first half opportunities in this leg or the first, the Bayern comeback would've been right there for them despite all of the injuries. But I'm glad that we won't have to hear bayern fans talk about their historic comeback against barca despite missing their starting 11, every even half-decent backup, and having to play with a bunch of random fans and Pizarro against the mighty Barca.

As for Pep in this match; again he showed that he is a brave and innovative coach...who isn't quite the GOAT that his supporters pump him up to be. His bravery in the face of Barca's brilliant trident and his injury situation is to be commended. They got burned, but they also were able to control the match for good stretches of the tie despite everyone they were missing. That speaks well to his strategy and tactical adjustments as his pressing just took over for a while there.

On to the in match moves; I liked the Rode substitution, Lahm was playing poorly and the change really fed that wave of energy which came close to giving them that 4th goal that I worried would've broken Barca's back. Schweini should've come off sooner, or dropped to the 6 with Xabi coming off after his booking, Basti's just far too slow to play that far up the pitch anymore. Had it been Gotze in Schweini's spot, instead of replacing Mueller and coming on a good bit sooner, and that 4th goal would've come. Possibly too late, but it would've come.

Rafinha just has nothing to bring to the table in the final third. Bernat is also a weakness defensively, because he's a wing back and not a fullback, but he can make things happen in the final third and contribute there as the widest and most further forward player when they're set up around the opposition goal. Rafinha on the otherhand...not so much. Weiser has had plenty of bad moments this season, as he is still a young winger learning to fullback, but he's also shown a lot more in that respect than Rafinha ever has in his stronger matches.

Lahm's just not good enough in the final third to play the position for pep. He's an option as the guy on the right in a back three during league games, and he can play in midfield where he's mostly cycling the ball and using cross field balls to drive their possession, but as the Wingback for Guardiola he lacks teeth in the opposition box to be that widest attacker who actually tries to beat guys down the byline to get into the box.

So they need to replace Rafinha with a better vet who could be the right side's Bernat, and let Weiser keep developing while pushing the new comer for PT.

I hate that they've already locked up Kimmich, Pep might have a new third favorite player after Thiago and Xabi. That kid will be a remarkable 6 for them in time because he absolutely gets the quick short passing build up that underlies Bayern's attack, and he's great at resisting pressing with his positioning and ball skills. His long passes aren't Xabi-esque like Geis's, but the kid has a lot of biscuits with just how good he is at getting the attacks started and keeping them flowing quickly into ever more dangerous areas.

Depending on how they chose to reinforce the attack and if Pep ever realizes that Gotze is the German Iniesta, not the German Messi, there's no reason they won't be even tougher next year. And if they get a little better fortune with injuries...hopefully Neuer, Boa, Mueller, Mario, Lahm and if they buy him, Ilkay, realize that we need them to save themselves for the Euros and so just mail it in when it comes to the CL...

[EArl]

You can tell that in second half they stepped off the pedal. They're probably looking ahead against Atleti to clinch La Liga.
Props to bayern. They played well. With less injuries they should be competitive next year.

[DD12]

So what happened bayern with pep? They were going to win every single cup out there. For two years they cant even see the final in cl. Talk to me cgf

[DD12]

Where is my analyst? Is he gonna pull anothet Grant Hill? Lmaooo

So bayern won only bundesliga this year lol huge accomplishment congrats for that.

As usual, my predictions came true so far. Pep will be fired soon.

Sooo i am laughing right now. I am not saving it like you lmaoo so from now on obey your master and whatever i say just say okay sir lmaoooo

[cgf]

So what happened bayern with pep? They were going to win every single cup out there. For two years they cant even see the final in cl. Talk to me cgf

You're gloating that a healthy Barcelona managed to hold on against a Bayern side missing their 3 best non-Neuer players (at least until Lewy reaches his top form in Munich or Thiago decides to have a full season)? I guess you've gotta take your wins were you can get em, and I'm not complaining. Seeing Bayern's hopes dashed is always fun.

Still an odd moment to gloat, as if Barca had missed Messi, Suarez and Iniesta/Neymar for this tie you'd be the only one picking them to lose by less than 5 against a healthy Bayern. Yet Bayern lost by 2 and had Barca reeling after the 3-2. They lost, but if you really can't figure out how things may have gone differently with Alaba, Robben and Ribery on the pitch...then it's a good thing you got your job through nepotism.