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UEFA Champions League 2015/2016
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4R5Emaniac
Always fresh from Bangladesh
He is a child in a man's body.
4R5Emaniac
Always fresh from Bangladesh
How freaking good was Koke yesterday? Would be absolutely perfect Santi or Ramsey replacement if one of them left. He is like everywhere.
eye4goal
Established Member
Its too predictable a comptition right now. You can only compete against MSNs and BBCs by playing the Simeone or Mourinho way, and even then you need incredible amounts of luck to produce an upset. Its hard to see anyone other than Barca, Madrid or Bayern winning it in the next 5 years.
Country: South Africa
Player:Nketiah
Interesting post @eye4goal, I just read a similar article which suggest what you are saying above.
http://bleacherreport.com/articles/...m_medium=referral&utm_campaign=programming-UK
Real Madrid Win Hints at Growing Imbalance in Champions League
By Jonathan Wilson, Featured Columnist May 29, 2016
Real Madrid have been able to win the Champions League twice in the last three years but have won only one league title in eight seasons.
It used to be that the European Cup was a grail only to be attained after a lengthy quest, the consecration of a great team. This success was avowedly not that. It may be the start of a glorious era under Zinedine Zidane, whose 27 games in charge have yielded 21 victories, but there is no sense this Madrid are the defining team of their era. Not yet, at least.
PIERRE-PHILIPPE MARCOU/Getty Images
Rather, there remains a sense there is a wealth of untapped potential in this team. While there has been an improvement under Zidane, while the midfield looks far better balanced now than it has for a couple of season, with Casemiro liberating Luka Modric, while Madrid’s willingness to set off and allow Atletico Madrid the ball showed an encouraging tactical flexibility, this is still a side that seems like less than the sum of its parts.
Its grand strategy for success has essentially been to sign a lot of stars and hope they can find a way of playing together.
Up to a point, that has always been part of the Madrid way. Their glamour has always stemmed from their capacity to sign the biggest stars, from Ferenc Puskas to Hugo Sanchez to Zidane, but the financial imbalances have changed the nature of the competition.
Immediately after Cristiano Ronaldo had converted the winning penalty, Andrew Orsatti, a director and spokesperson for players union FIFPro tweeted: “Take nothing away from Real Madrid, great club, but at what point will football acknowledge the growing competitive imbalance is unhealthy?”
Leicester City’s success in the Premier League has perhaps demonstrated the shop is not as closed as it was, but the Champions League increasingly feels like a game of pass the parcel between a tiny elite.
Hang around long enough—and this was the sixth consecutive season in which Madrid reached the semi-finals, which is either evidence of impressive consistency or of the flawed repetitive nature of the Champions League, depending how you look at it—and the music will eventually stop for you.
Chelsea’s success in 2012 with arguably its weakest side since the Roman Abramovich takeover in 2003 is further evidence of the same phenomenon.
The sense of familiarity has been emphasised by three repeat finals in the past 11 years. Barcelona have been in seven semi-finals in the past nine years. Bayern Munich have been in the semi-finals in each of the last five seasons.
Perhaps in time we will look back and regard the three giants as nothing more than exceptional teams—and it’s not insignificant that six of the last nine Champions League winners have featured eitherLionel Messi or Cristiano Ronaldo. But the economics of the situation also help. When the elite clubs suggested there was need for a shake-up in how the tournament and its revenues are structured, they were right; the problem is their proposals were aimed at increasing their revenues and thus exacerbating those financial imbalances.
Alongside the story of Leicester, there was something prosaic about the Champions League this season. Had Atletico won, having beaten Barcelona and Bayern in the previous two rounds, it would have been one of the great underdog success stories—yet Forbes recently reported they are the 15th most valuable club in the world. Last season, Juventus, the most successful side in Italian history, were widely—and not inaccurately—portrayed as minnows against the might of Barcelona. That suggests the extent to which the big three have come to dominate.
Laurence Griffiths/Getty Images
It didn’t help the feeling that Madrid’s run was underwhelming because the draw was so kind. Perhaps the comeback against Wolfsburg in the quarter-finals will come to be seen as a defining game, but the fact is Madrid should never have lost the first leg 2-0. Their record of not conceding at the Santiago Bernabeu in this season's competition looks rather better than it was—both Roma and Wolfsburg had chances.
Even the semi-final felt anticlimactic, largely because Manchester Cityturned in such an insipid performance. Winning a final on penalties after your opponent has missed a penalty in normal time is about as far as it’s possible to get from the 7-3 win over Eintracht Frankfurt in 1960 or Zidane’s volley against Bayer Leverkusen in 2002.
It’s not Madrid’s fault—they can hardly help the draw or City’s underperformance—and it’s not to say they were in some way an undeserving winner. It’s just their run lacked an epic quality, and it's begun to feel as though that’s a function of the structure of the Champions League.
It may be that, in time, history comes to look back on this success as the start of the Zidane primacy. It may be that, despite the pending transfer ban, he crafts one of the great Madrid teams over the next three or four years and they dominate Spain and Europe with the same blend of cleverness, creativity and toughness that marked him out as a player.
But they are not even close to being there yet, and two Champions League triumphs in three seasons does not change that. Rather, it hints at how the nature of the competition has changed.
http://bleacherreport.com/articles/...m_medium=referral&utm_campaign=programming-UK
Real Madrid Win Hints at Growing Imbalance in Champions League
By Jonathan Wilson, Featured Columnist May 29, 2016
Real Madrid have been able to win the Champions League twice in the last three years but have won only one league title in eight seasons.
It used to be that the European Cup was a grail only to be attained after a lengthy quest, the consecration of a great team. This success was avowedly not that. It may be the start of a glorious era under Zinedine Zidane, whose 27 games in charge have yielded 21 victories, but there is no sense this Madrid are the defining team of their era. Not yet, at least.
PIERRE-PHILIPPE MARCOU/Getty Images
Rather, there remains a sense there is a wealth of untapped potential in this team. While there has been an improvement under Zidane, while the midfield looks far better balanced now than it has for a couple of season, with Casemiro liberating Luka Modric, while Madrid’s willingness to set off and allow Atletico Madrid the ball showed an encouraging tactical flexibility, this is still a side that seems like less than the sum of its parts.
Its grand strategy for success has essentially been to sign a lot of stars and hope they can find a way of playing together.
Up to a point, that has always been part of the Madrid way. Their glamour has always stemmed from their capacity to sign the biggest stars, from Ferenc Puskas to Hugo Sanchez to Zidane, but the financial imbalances have changed the nature of the competition.
Immediately after Cristiano Ronaldo had converted the winning penalty, Andrew Orsatti, a director and spokesperson for players union FIFPro tweeted: “Take nothing away from Real Madrid, great club, but at what point will football acknowledge the growing competitive imbalance is unhealthy?”
Leicester City’s success in the Premier League has perhaps demonstrated the shop is not as closed as it was, but the Champions League increasingly feels like a game of pass the parcel between a tiny elite.
Hang around long enough—and this was the sixth consecutive season in which Madrid reached the semi-finals, which is either evidence of impressive consistency or of the flawed repetitive nature of the Champions League, depending how you look at it—and the music will eventually stop for you.
Chelsea’s success in 2012 with arguably its weakest side since the Roman Abramovich takeover in 2003 is further evidence of the same phenomenon.
The sense of familiarity has been emphasised by three repeat finals in the past 11 years. Barcelona have been in seven semi-finals in the past nine years. Bayern Munich have been in the semi-finals in each of the last five seasons.
Perhaps in time we will look back and regard the three giants as nothing more than exceptional teams—and it’s not insignificant that six of the last nine Champions League winners have featured eitherLionel Messi or Cristiano Ronaldo. But the economics of the situation also help. When the elite clubs suggested there was need for a shake-up in how the tournament and its revenues are structured, they were right; the problem is their proposals were aimed at increasing their revenues and thus exacerbating those financial imbalances.
Alongside the story of Leicester, there was something prosaic about the Champions League this season. Had Atletico won, having beaten Barcelona and Bayern in the previous two rounds, it would have been one of the great underdog success stories—yet Forbes recently reported they are the 15th most valuable club in the world. Last season, Juventus, the most successful side in Italian history, were widely—and not inaccurately—portrayed as minnows against the might of Barcelona. That suggests the extent to which the big three have come to dominate.
Laurence Griffiths/Getty Images
It didn’t help the feeling that Madrid’s run was underwhelming because the draw was so kind. Perhaps the comeback against Wolfsburg in the quarter-finals will come to be seen as a defining game, but the fact is Madrid should never have lost the first leg 2-0. Their record of not conceding at the Santiago Bernabeu in this season's competition looks rather better than it was—both Roma and Wolfsburg had chances.
Even the semi-final felt anticlimactic, largely because Manchester Cityturned in such an insipid performance. Winning a final on penalties after your opponent has missed a penalty in normal time is about as far as it’s possible to get from the 7-3 win over Eintracht Frankfurt in 1960 or Zidane’s volley against Bayer Leverkusen in 2002.
It’s not Madrid’s fault—they can hardly help the draw or City’s underperformance—and it’s not to say they were in some way an undeserving winner. It’s just their run lacked an epic quality, and it's begun to feel as though that’s a function of the structure of the Champions League.
It may be that, in time, history comes to look back on this success as the start of the Zidane primacy. It may be that, despite the pending transfer ban, he crafts one of the great Madrid teams over the next three or four years and they dominate Spain and Europe with the same blend of cleverness, creativity and toughness that marked him out as a player.
But they are not even close to being there yet, and two Champions League triumphs in three seasons does not change that. Rather, it hints at how the nature of the competition has changed.
4R5Emaniac
Always fresh from Bangladesh
I agree, totally. Needs an overhaul imo. Make it for league champs and cup winners of domestic or Euro competitions.
4R5Emaniac
Always fresh from Bangladesh
This top four getting a shot is bull.
Yeah, some ten years ago I cared more about the CL, nowadays it's a nice way to watch the Arsenal twice a week every two/three weeks at the start of the season.
4R5Emaniac
Always fresh from Bangladesh
Cheers for that @SA Gunner ! Good read.
redanddread
The stone that the builders refuse
The big 3 are a league unto themselves - everyone else is competing for the scraps. That can change though - there is no reason a LONDON club couldn't be as tempting as either of Spain's big 2 in years to come. I think it'll be harder for the Manchester/Liverpool clubs to attract the really huge names in years to come because, who the feck wants to live in Manchester or Liverpool when you can live in London, Barcelona, Madrid, Munich etc. Throw Paris in there also but the French league is such poverty that no self-respecting player at the top of their game would go their for anything other than the $$$ and to pad their trophy cabinet.
I will say this though - the English teams need to buck up from a tactical POV as we're way behind the rest of Europe. It shows when the English lads play in international competition and it shows when English teams cross swords with the top European teams. Until that happens, we won't have a chance in the CL.
I will say this though - the English teams need to buck up from a tactical POV as we're way behind the rest of Europe. It shows when the English lads play in international competition and it shows when English teams cross swords with the top European teams. Until that happens, we won't have a chance in the CL.
redanddread
The stone that the builders refuse
Torres completed ONE pass in 90 minutes yesterday!!!
I remember watching the game, that goal was the fifth or sixth goal in a complete blowout vs Almeria. The whole team went to celebrate with the goalscorer Arbeloa because it was his first goal in about five years, the whole team bar one man that is
fabo
6.51 / 10
Ramos MOTM..............
Worse than Iniesta winning it last year.
Worse than Iniesta winning it last year.
4R5Emaniac
Always fresh from Bangladesh
Should be Gabi, Godin or Koke.
Rosso
AM's Resident United Fan
Gabi and Casemiro were standouts I thought. Didn't think Koke was that great, Saul on the other hand is going to be a star.
General
Established Member
I thought Torres was awful. His work rate was terrible compared to Griezman.
4R5Emaniac
Always fresh from Bangladesh
eye4goal
Established Member
Yeah agree there's massive elite club potential there, problem is we have the most unambitious owner in football. Its going to take a special manager to deliver the big trophies we need to push onto the next level.
The big 3(and PSG) still have massive advantages in their leagues, with the financial disparity of La Liga, and Bayern picking up players for little or no money from their rivals/feeder clubs.
redanddread
The stone that the builders refuse
His performance yesterday made Theo's OT embarrassment look positively Messi-esque - he did nowt yesterday. Couldn't believe it & still they ran Real close and probably should have won. Greizmann seemed to disappear after he missed the PK.
General
Established Member
Playing Barca and Bayern eventually took its toll. You deserve to win the competition when you get past these two. Losing the toss and having to take the penalties in front of the Madrid fans wasn't a good omen. Despite getting back in the game I thought it was a bit of an off colour performance from Atletico and they were unusually wide open at times. With better finishing Real would have been home and dry in the first half. Atletico are punching way above their weight and it must be tough for Simeone having to pick himself and the team up and go again.
