The Football Thread

Humans are overrated. Football isn't

Ok, back to sanity and to not-supporting Mourinho ever.

I'm glad it's not another Bayern v Chelsea final, that really would have been too much to bear.

Like ExittheLemming I think it'd be nice to see Atletico win the final as deep down I know they probably won't get another chance anytime soon.  Several of their best players will be hoovered up this summer by bigger clubs and La Liga will revert to normal.  I just about remember (I was a very young 'un back then!) the last time Atletico were in a European Cup Final when they so nearly beat that mighty Bayern team, only to concede a late equaliser and get buried 4-0 in the replay.  However Real generally win games like this and I'm expecting a repeat of the last all-Spanish Champions League final when Valencia started brightly then eventually went down fairly limply to Real Madrid.

That said, this Real Madrid team is fabulous to watch (unless your name is Teo ) and the forward line of Ronaldo, Bale and Benzema is breathtaking.  They would be worthy champions, in my humble opinion.

ExittheLemming wrote: Regardless of anyone's team affiliations, football was the winner at Stamford Bridge this evening. Great coaches win lots of trophies, so Mourinho is clearly a great coach but his teams are always an eyesore. The Portuguese has an Italian soul. I'd like to see Atletico win the final (just to give the monied elite a bit of a kick up the backside)

LOL!

Bale should play for England really as he's gonna be another one of these great players that never makes it to a World Cup or even a European cup.

Liverpool's capitulation at Selhurst Park was the stuff of sleepless nights. From being in cruise control and finger drumming on the roof, they ended up in tears on the hard shoulder. As much as I loathe the way his teams play, you have to give Tony Pulis major kudos for saving from relegation a team that surely looked doomed when he took over. The last time I saw a top EPL team surrender so badly to the jitters was erm....my beloved Arsenal who once relinquished a (four) goal lead at Newcastle to end up drawing 4-4 (and Toon had a perfectly legit 5th goal incorrectly disallowed).
I guess it's always been Man City's championship to lose but a win for Liverpool would at least have kept up the pressure on Pellegrini's side re their last two relatively straightforward home games against Aston Villa and West Ham. Who knows, there may be yet more twists and turns before the end?

No-one likes to see a player miss out on a tournament through injury but why is anyone remotely concerned about Phil Jones' prospective omission from the World Cup in Brazil? His absence would mean one less headless English chicken running itself into blind alleys in South America (Ditto Theo Walcott and to a lesser extent Jack 'Chocolate Ankles' Wilshere)


Edited by ExittheLemming - May 08 2014 at 06:15

The T wrote: Barca is alive once again. 2 triumphs would take us to the championship again. Looking how the team has played these last games this is very doubtful to happen, but stranger leagues have been won by the team.

OK yes truth can be stranger than fiction but although Real's draw with Valladolid takes them out of the picture the prospect of Elche away and Atletico at home on the last day of the season are not gimme 3 points by any stretch of the imagination

The T wrote: No, it isn't. Especially since this team has been quite good at losing to teams in risk of relegation. But in theory, there's no comparison with Elche, Barca should win. And, again, in theory, Barca should win at least ONCE in SIX matches this year against Atletico.  Yes this is difficult. But so were the leagues of 93 and 94 won thanks to Tenerife beating Real (two years in a  row on top of that)

I guess it's now 'winner takes all' re the Barca v Atletico title decider. What happens if Barca wins and both teams finish level on 89 points i.e. do Barca win the title by virtue of superior goal difference or do they use head to head results in Spain?

It's the FA Cup Final in England this weekend and I can only do what most atheist football fans do when their teams really need a result: pray to a deity I don't believe in and renounce drinking, cussing and fornication if the Gooners prevail. If Arsenal lose to Hull City, I suspect that Arsene Wenger may be drinking, cussing and f.u.c.k.i.n.g. off pretty soonish (Monaco would snap him up in a flash)

ExittheLemming wrote: I guess it's now 'winner takes all' re the Barca v Atletico title decider. What happens if Barca wins and both teams finish level on 89 points i.e. do Barca win the title by virtue of superior goal difference or do they use head to head results in Spain?

If Barca wins and both teams finish level at 90 points the decider is goal average between them, before absolute goal average. In that case, Barca would be champion (and it’s their only chance, they have to win) because in the first game they tied 0-0, and now any victory would give Barca the lead in results between them. That’s why Real Madrid could never have been champ in the case of a triple tie in points, because they had negative averages against both Barca and Atletico.

 

Oh man I will be suffering tomorrow. Last Sunday I almost collapsed of heart exhaustion or something while all three teams were playing at the same time and Barca failed to score and atletico missed a chance in the very last minute. Tomorrow is another blood-pressure-killing day