2014

[MaliBrah]

lol just hand out trophy

meh. Barcelona looked anything but indestructible in the last clasico.

no busquets and modric was starting for real.

[SniperHawk10]

True, having Busquets instead of mache in the midfield is huge for our passing game

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[EArl]

That second goal man. Poor Boateng. RIP

[jirrit]

Messi is amazing. And he doesn't flop constantly, which is refreshing.

Yeah, that's why Bayern and Barcelona are IMO the greatest teams of the moments. Was there a moment of fake injury or whatever? A bit argueing by Neymar but that's about it. They play it the real way, with respect and just play the game. And Messi is GOAT man, we'll be talking about other star players in the future saying: Messi was still twice as good.

[Ted Lasso]

- What a complete and utter waste of Philipp Lahm.

- Bayern's early shape was bordering on farcical. And the way Pep insists on having a player as slow as Xabi Alonso drop deep between the centre-backs for distribution is just asking for trouble. When pressed intensely, his current lack of mobility negates whatever advantage his passing brings to the table. He pumped some aimless stuff yesterday.

- I look forward to Boateng and David Luiz being named to FIFA's World XI. I am more and more impressed every time i watch them.

[Baphomet]

Messi is amazing. And he doesn't flop constantly, which is refreshing.

Yeah, that's why Bayern and Barcelona are IMO the greatest teams of the moments. Was there a moment of fake injury or whatever? A bit argueing by Neymar but that's about it. They play it the real way, with respect and just play the game. And Messi is GOAT man, we'll be talking about other star players in the future saying: Messi was still twice as good.

Bayern don't flop constantly? Have people forgotten about Robben's ridiculous antics already? Or the serious sour grapes on display when they got battered by Madrid at the Allianz last season? I think it's a bit of a stretch to say that they play with respect.

[Andi Obst]

- I look forward to Boateng and David Luiz being named to FIFA's World XI. I am more and more impressed every time i watch them.

I think Boateng played well before Messi killed him (which happens, Messi is one of the best ever) and he's definitely much much better than Luiz. Don't think it's fair to put them in the same category.

[Ted Lasso]

- I look forward to Boateng and David Luiz being named to FIFA's World XI. I am more and more impressed every time i watch them.

I think Boateng played well before Messi killed him (which happens, Messi is one of the best ever) and he's definitely much much better than Luiz. Don't think it's fair to put them in the same category.

I have a hard time believing he's as much of a fraud as Luiz myself, but he has been poor almost every time i've watched him play in the past few months. People argue that he suffers from tactical issues and there certainly was an element of that at the World Cup and against Wolfsburg, for example, but the errors he's made against City, Porto, and now Barcelona are fundamental & individual ones. It's easy to chalk last night up to Messi's brilliance, but Boateng's defensive stance in that instance is simply wrong.

[J-Mezzy]

lol just hand out trophy

meh. Barcelona looked anything but indestructible in the last clasico.

no busquets and modric was starting for real.

No James either and Modric should be back for the final, should Madrid get past Juve. With James and Modric, they beat Barza pretty soundly.

Barcelona is the best team in the world right now, but they are anything but invincible, especially not to Madrid due to the rivalry

[Andi Obst]

I have a hard time believing he's as much of a fraud as Luiz myself, but he has been poor almost every time i've watched him play in the past few months. People argue that he suffers from tactical issues and there certainly was an element of that at the World Cup and against Wolfsburg, for example, but the errors he's made against City, Porto, and now Barcelona are fundamental & individual ones. It's easy to chalk last night up to Messi's brilliance, but Boateng's defensive stance in that instance is simply wrong.

He has made some mistakes over the last few games and I'm not trying to deny that. I just felt bad for him in the games vs Porto and against Barca last night because it seems like he always has to bail his teammates out and when he makes a mistake nobody does it for him (well, aside from Neuer sometimes). His teammates (Dante vs Porto, Rafinha and Bernat vs Barca)are making it awfully hard for him IMO.

Still, he has made inexcusable mistakes. You're right about that.

[J-Mezzy]

[Foye]

- I look forward to Boateng and David Luiz being named to FIFA's World XI. I am more and more impressed every time i watch them.

I think Boateng played well before Messi killed him (which happens, Messi is one of the best ever) and he's definitely much much better than Luiz. Don't think it's fair to put them in the same category.

I have a hard time believing he's as much of a fraud as Luiz myself, but he has been poor almost every time i've watched him play in the past few months. People argue that he suffers from tactical issues and there certainly was an element of that at the World Cup and against Wolfsburg, for example, but the errors he's made against City, Porto, and now Barcelona are fundamental & individual ones. It's easy to chalk last night up to Messi's brilliance, but Boateng's defensive stance in that instance is simply wrong.

What do you expect him to do? There is no CB in the world who can keep up with Messi one on one. Boateng, Neuer and Benatia saved Bayern's asses for 70 minutes. Sure he looked like a fool on that second goal but I have a hard time believing anyone else would've done significantely better.

[Ted Lasso]

I think Boateng played well before Messi killed him (which happens, Messi is one of the best ever) and he's definitely much much better than Luiz. Don't think it's fair to put them in the same category.

I have a hard time believing he's as much of a fraud as Luiz myself, but he has been poor almost every time i've watched him play in the past few months. People argue that he suffers from tactical issues and there certainly was an element of that at the World Cup and against Wolfsburg, for example, but the errors he's made against City, Porto, and now Barcelona are fundamental & individual ones. It's easy to chalk last night up to Messi's brilliance, but Boateng's defensive stance in that instance is simply wrong.

What do you expect him to do? There is no CB in the world who can keep up with Messi one on one. Boateng, Neuer and Benatia saved Bayern's asses for 70 minutes. Sure he looked like a fool on that second goal but I have a hard time believing anyone else would've done significantely better.

I expect him to get his defensive stance right. If a dribbler is coming at you with the ball one-on-one, you have ensure that your outer thigh is parallel to his chest. Which thigh and the distance depend on what side you need to force him to and how you match up physically, respectively.

If you show your ass to Messi for reasons unknown instead, then of course your ability to react will be curbed and you'll end up doing the full ballerina. He is also too upright, but that's a minor thing and it may just be a personal habit.

Usually when defenders make errors in these situations it's because they open themselves up. The ass-defence was new to me.

[Ted Lasso]

I have a hard time believing he's as much of a fraud as Luiz myself, but he has been poor almost every time i've watched him play in the past few months. People argue that he suffers from tactical issues and there certainly was an element of that at the World Cup and against Wolfsburg, for example, but the errors he's made against City, Porto, and now Barcelona are fundamental & individual ones. It's easy to chalk last night up to Messi's brilliance, but Boateng's defensive stance in that instance is simply wrong.

He has made some mistakes over the last few games and I'm not trying to deny that. I just felt bad for him in the games vs Porto and against Barca last night because it seems like he always has to bail his teammates out and when he makes a mistake nobody does it for him (well, aside from Neuer sometimes). His teammates (Dante vs Porto, Rafinha and Bernat vs Barca)are making it awfully hard for him IMO.

Still, he has made inexcusable mistakes. You're right about that.

That's the sort of thing i was referring to by tactical issues and i am not denying that he has been let down by his teammates or the tactical approach of his team at times.

[cgf]

Without boateng Bayern concede 3+ more goals, and that's just from attacks he broke up in the second half, as I missed the first half. He's asked to make a lot of big challenges cleaning up for everyone, and sometimes he gets burned, but the majority of the time he's a boss like he was in the second half before he slipped.

This reminds me of the silly Hummels isn't really good at defense arguments people used to make because of some very noticeable instances of him getting burned. All backs get burned, and one's who play a very proactive style, like Hummels, or are asked to make a lot of goal saving tackles, like Boateng, will have some very memorable examples, but that doesn't take away all of the brilliant challenges he makes between those occassional errors.

[Man of Steel]

Well that was about as enjoyable as watching Barca score 3 goals will ever be for me

[J-Mezzy]

Barcelona couldn't win 3-1 in their own house against a Madrid missing James and with Modric just coming back from a 4 month injury. Obviously you have to favor Barcelona due to their current form, but they are not unbeatable. When both teams were healthy (Bale doesn't count lol), Madrid beat Barcelona soundly.

I hope we get a clasico final, that'd be awesome

[El Turco]

barcelona team that lost to madrid is a different team than now. i dont see how real has a chance against barca trio with all the defensive gaps.

[SniperHawk10]

That barca team featured Suarez out wide in his first official game with the team. He stated that he felt tactically lost out there. There was simply no MSN connection and chemistry yet
And it also featured mathieu at LB for the first time in the season, as it was early on when Enrique kept tinkering with his lineups every single game and hadn't set his mind on his best starting XI

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[J-Mezzy]

Okay, the second game was recent and the MSN were in full gear against the same bad Madrid defense, they still only put 2. Madrid could have very easily won that game had they not botched so many first half chances.