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Posted by: Milan Are Brilliant Aug 11 2012, 09:44 PM

Recent La Liga Champions (Since '92)
92/93 Barcelona
93/94 Barcelona
94/95 Real Madrid
95/96 Atlético Madrid
96/97 Real Madrid
97/98 Barcelona
98/99 Barcelona
99/00 Deportivo La Coruña
00/01 Real Madrid
01/02 Valencia
02/03 Real Madrid
03/04 Valencia
04/05 Barcelona
05/06 Barcelona
06/07 Real Madrid
07/08 Real Madrid
08/09 Barcelona
09/10 Barcelona
10/11 Barcelona
11/12 Real Madrid

Posted by: Fillipo Simone Aug 12 2012, 06:00 PM

Another season of Madrid-Barcelona rivalry and trashing the opponents. Can't wait...

Posted by: X-Offender Aug 19 2012, 10:20 PM

Madrid 1-1 Valencia
Barça 5-1 Sociedad

Villa scores in his comeback debut.

Posted by: Milan Are Brilliant Aug 20 2012, 06:26 PM

Ah well, Madrid can try next year

Posted by: kurtsimonw Aug 20 2012, 06:40 PM

They actually looked really good. Though Jose has his La Liga title, I just want him to get a CL with them now.

Posted by: X-Offender Aug 20 2012, 06:41 PM

No Milan fan should want Madrid to win the CL.

Posted by: kurtsimonw Aug 20 2012, 07:07 PM

Not at our expense. But when we're out, I generally support Jose. I don't care about this ego of how many we have won.

Posted by: Fillipo Simone Aug 21 2012, 07:54 PM

Oh, I do care about it. It's part of our history, something which makes the CL more special to us. You may support Jose, just not in the CL

Posted by: X-Offender Aug 23 2012, 09:08 PM

Valencia have signed Aly Cissokho from Lyon.

http://www.tuttomercatoweb.com/milan/?action=read&idnet=bWlsYW5uZXdzLml0LTg5MDI5

Posted by: Fillipo Simone Aug 23 2012, 09:19 PM

Hmh. We'll see how well he can do.

Posted by: Milan Are Brilliant Aug 23 2012, 10:45 PM

...and how bad his teeth are.

Posted by: han2503 Aug 23 2012, 11:16 PM

LOL @ Valdes.

What an idiot!

Posted by: kurtsimonw Aug 23 2012, 11:26 PM

Very enjoyable game topped off with a great refereeing display.

Sanchez' dives are criminal, he really needs to be suspended. Messi was very poor, Xavi ran the show. Valdes is an awful, awful, keeper.

Posted by: Jack Bauer Aug 23 2012, 11:29 PM

Damn, forgot about this game

Posted by: dst Aug 23 2012, 11:30 PM

Where was Pepe to piss all over this again? Is he going to be back next week to f*** football?

Sure!

Posted by: kurtsimonw Aug 23 2012, 11:31 PM

Did you not think so? I think he had no input on the game and missed 3 chances that are, usually for him, unmissable.

Posted by: dst Aug 23 2012, 11:36 PM

Very poor? No way.

Posted by: X-Offender Aug 23 2012, 11:47 PM

Valdes should quit football.

Posted by: kurtsimonw Aug 24 2012, 12:00 AM

By his standards I really think so. He doesn't miss those chances, forget 3 in the same game.

Posted by: Fillipo Simone Aug 24 2012, 01:18 AM

What did he do?

Posted by: X-Offender Aug 24 2012, 01:22 AM

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DSOTp4Xvegc

Posted by: acid911 Aug 24 2012, 03:59 AM

No way should Valdez quit football. Pure entertainment. Never do I laugh more than when Valdes makes a mistake. Always fun, always amusing. If it were any other keeper, he'd lucky to be on the bench. But hey, we do need him to sabotage Barcelona matches and make them interesting. I'd play him till he's 50, at least.

Posted by: Zed.D Aug 24 2012, 08:35 AM

Buffon made a similar mistake last season too... but Valdes does it all the time. it was a few el classicos ago he passed the ball straight to a Madrid player in minute 1 and Barca conceded.

Posted by: Fillipo Simone Aug 24 2012, 09:53 AM

It happens. (Un)fortunately - too often when Valdes is around.

Posted by: acid911 Aug 24 2012, 10:32 AM

So very true.

Posted by: dst Aug 24 2012, 12:36 PM

Makes the second leg a lot more interesting.

He did miss those chances but he was in no way very poor in my opinion. He was very active, constantly drawing attention (2, 3 or more players) and he set up quite a few attacks.

Posted by: han2503 Aug 24 2012, 01:06 PM

Messi looked like a great player yesterday... I agree with kurt, because of the standards he's set for himself, there is the Messi level and then the level every other great player plays at.

Iniesta on the other hand was just incredible!

Posted by: dst Aug 24 2012, 01:38 PM

Can we safely say now that Iniesta has surpassed Xavi? He's looked like the better player the past couple of seasons and it's all but a certainty now, I think.

Posted by: Zed.D Aug 24 2012, 02:31 PM

Xavi has been more consistent IMO. performs almost perfectly most of the time like a machine. whereas Iniesta has his great days and (sometimes) less great days. in his defense he struggles with fitness more than Xavi does.

On their absolute best day, I'd say Iniesta edges Xavi.

Posted by: kurtsimonw Aug 24 2012, 03:23 PM

Agree with all of the above Zed.

Posted by: Milan Are Brilliant Aug 24 2012, 06:15 PM

Fixed.

lol

Posted by: X-Offender Aug 24 2012, 06:39 PM

Well, he's only played for Barça.

Posted by: kurtsimonw Aug 24 2012, 06:45 PM

Think he's on about that irrelevant country somewhere in South America.

Posted by: X-Offender Aug 24 2012, 06:51 PM

National teams are another matter. And besides, he's got all the time in the world to prove everyone wrong.

Posted by: kurtsimonw Aug 24 2012, 08:32 PM

I'm not going to say anymore beyond this, but I think it's funny how Ronaldo scores plenty of goals at International tournements, scores a league and Cup win against Barca and people still question his ability in big games. Messi fails to show up at International tournements and recently against Madrid and he gets defended. Just funny to me.

Posted by: Zed.D Aug 24 2012, 09:17 PM

I don't question Ronaldo's ability in big games anymore, he's been doing well recently. but in the end Messi is the better player in my eyes. he's performed enough times and scored enough goals against Madrid, you can't question anything because he hasn't humiliated them in 2 or 3 games like he used to!

Posted by: Fillipo Simone Aug 24 2012, 09:35 PM

Good god, always the same argument. Can't we agree that they simply both do an excellent job and deserve their world class status?

Posted by: Zed.D Aug 24 2012, 10:17 PM

What would be the fun in that?

Posted by: Milan Are Brilliant Aug 24 2012, 10:56 PM

I'm not even bothered nowadays. I just enjoy annoying the Messi fanboys on here

Posted by: acid911 Aug 24 2012, 11:18 PM

Scoring goals against Madrid isn't all that hard. I'd really fancy my chances against this Madrid defense.

Posted by: Zed.D Aug 25 2012, 08:28 AM

^^ Problem is, unless he scores at least 2 goals and rips Madrid's defense apart on numerous occasions, some will say he hasn't been his usual self, whereas for Ronaldo, a goal would suffice even if he does nothing else during a game. case in point: he scored a header in CL final and did nothing else, even nearly cost his team the title with his missed penalty but kurt always mentions Ronaldo "performing" in a CL final in his argument because of that goal where the crossed ball happened to land on his head at the right time and he took it well. Messi can play simply a good game like the recent El Classico but still get criticized by Ronaldo fanboys for not being "amazing".

I think the expectations from Messi are way higher and that only proves he's the better player of the two.

Posted by: Milan Are Brilliant Aug 25 2012, 10:17 AM

Oh god acid, they mad now

Posted by: Fillipo Simone Aug 25 2012, 11:33 AM

La Liga must be boring considering the same arguments pop up instantly.

Posted by: Milan Are Brilliant Aug 25 2012, 12:22 PM

I don't even think it was an argument this time, Kurt just said in his opinion Messi was poor in a match then they jumped on him and thus it goes into this trash again, where if you talk down of Messi or high of CR7 you get shot down and you get stipulated into this 'debate' again.

Therefore, it's just easier to make light of the situation!

Posted by: Fillipo Simone Aug 25 2012, 02:00 PM

Nah, anyway. Like I said before, both are good, world class players. But you guys are a bit too much fixated on whether one of them has a weakness or not.

Posted by: acid911 Aug 25 2012, 03:26 PM

Yeah, but it's a fact, Madrid's defense (save from their GK and Ramos) isn't nearly one fifth as good as the rest of their team. They always concede at the wrong time to even the smallest of teams. And unless they fix that, they'll have a hard time going alll the way in the Champions League.

Their attackers score at will, but Madrid's (dirty, talentless and idiotic) defense just undo it all.

Posted by: kurtsimonw Aug 25 2012, 03:58 PM

Are you serious? I suppose Shearer was a pretty crap player then, just the ball happened to land on his head over and over again.

Posted by: Jack Sparrow Aug 25 2012, 10:10 PM

Hey...you leave Shearer the f@ck alone okay?

Posted by: kurtsimonw Aug 25 2012, 10:18 PM

I was actually using Shearer as an example that heading is a great skill...

Posted by: kurtsimonw Aug 26 2012, 06:03 AM

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AiPlPp6SKD0&feature=related

I like how Valdes added a fake 0 on his shirt and also had Messi's name on it.

Posted by: Zed.D Aug 26 2012, 08:38 AM

@ Kurt

I tried to incite a few reactions with that post and I succeeded. credit to Ash, he resisted it well


I never said Ronaldo was a crap player!! I was specifically talking about one game where scoring from a header is considered performing well by you. the same never applies to Messi. admit it!

Posted by: kurtsimonw Aug 26 2012, 03:59 PM

The same doesn't apply for CR7 and Messi, no. Ronaldo gets criticised regardless.

Posted by: X-Offender Aug 26 2012, 04:07 PM

Ronaldo doesn't get criticized. He's just unlucky to be Messi's b1tch.

Posted by: kurtsimonw Aug 26 2012, 04:09 PM

Posted by: X-Offender Aug 26 2012, 04:13 PM

Posted by: kurtsimonw Aug 26 2012, 07:38 PM

FUCKING DISGRACE!

Barca have been battered today and this fucking bullshit again.

Referee actually tackles Osasuna player. Barca attack, Sanchez is offside, not given. They score as a result and an Osasuna player argues and gets sent off. 3 peices of bullshit in a row.

Barca then score again to take lead.

Posted by: Milan Are Brilliant Aug 26 2012, 07:42 PM

Until the referee physically kicks the ball in the net and awards a goal for Barca nothing can surprise me at this point.

Posted by: kurtsimonw Aug 26 2012, 08:04 PM

It's a disgarce. Oh well, CR7 and Jose beat La Liga last season so they can do it - they're just that good.

Posted by: kurtsimonw Aug 26 2012, 08:16 PM

Ozil misses an open goal from 6 yards.

Posted by: dst Aug 26 2012, 10:39 PM

poor poor Real Madrid, they get nothing from the refs, such a tiny little club with no leverage!

Posted by: kurtsimonw Aug 27 2012, 01:06 AM

**** they lost!?

I turned off at 1-0 to go laugh at Carlo.

Posted by: X-Offender Aug 27 2012, 01:47 AM

Yes, they lost, and played like crap, too.

Posted by: kurtsimonw Aug 27 2012, 04:13 AM

They were slow starters last season too. Really can't afford to in this league though.

Posted by: dst Aug 27 2012, 09:01 AM

if they manage to reach 100 points again they'll win it.

Posted by: Jack Sparrow Aug 27 2012, 09:43 AM

I think they're head and shoulders above the rest of the team to be honest. Right now the defeat is not too surprising.

I still like Carlo, but I don't really care for PSG much. Don't hate them, but don't care for their performance. Personally, I think Carlo just went there for the money. Don't really think he intends to stay there for too long.

Posted by: dst Aug 29 2012, 06:22 PM

Will Poopoo play tonight? Please tell me he won't!

Don't ruin yet another football match you idiot!

Posted by: Zed.D Aug 29 2012, 06:43 PM

Come on, he makes the el classicos more dramatic. can't wait for him to do something crazy!

Posted by: kurtsimonw Aug 29 2012, 07:00 PM

I forgot about him. I wondered why the first game was enjoyable and not full of stupid tackles and crap.

Posted by: dst Aug 29 2012, 07:46 PM

Dramatic? You must not remember well, he kills football! If he plays tonight all the fun from the first game will be replaced with cheap, dirty tackles that will be countered by more diving by Barcelona... I certainly don't want to watch that kind of drama...

Posted by: Zed.D Aug 29 2012, 09:25 PM

But it looks like he will play. try to enjoy what he adds to the game besides, it's not a given that he'll piss on the game. sometimes he behaves.

Posted by: Milan Are Brilliant Aug 29 2012, 09:51 PM

Look forward to the referee report.

Posted by: dst Aug 29 2012, 09:53 PM

wtf is this? where is Barcelona?

Posted by: han2503 Aug 29 2012, 10:01 PM

Real absolutely murdering Barca out there. Kind of great to watch

But wtf is up with Barca, they're misplacing as many passes as our midfield would. Really strange and surreal to watch

Posted by: acid911 Aug 29 2012, 10:19 PM

Maybe they fear losing out on Bojan, thinking Galliani will invoke the buyout clause.

Posted by: amancik Aug 29 2012, 10:29 PM

Two early goals by Madrid sort of stunned Barcelona. Good stuff so far.

Posted by: X-Offender Aug 29 2012, 10:33 PM

Too bad, Madrid should score at least four. Barça came about only in the last 15 minutes. Really good match so far.

Posted by: acid911 Aug 29 2012, 10:39 PM

Pique.

Posted by: kurtsimonw Aug 29 2012, 11:23 PM

Just another trophy for The Special One to tick off the list.

Posted by: X-Offender Aug 29 2012, 11:25 PM

LOL, the Barça players are like 'whatever...'

Posted by: kurtsimonw Aug 29 2012, 11:44 PM

Barca had a 2 goal lead in a competition Jose doesn't even care about and still couldn''t win.

15 different competitions entered and 15 different competitions won. Greatest manager of all-time even if he retires now. But he will continue to pull away for the next few decades.

Posted by: X-Offender Aug 30 2012, 12:04 AM

You do realize Barça had won it three consecutive times until now. I'd say they were the ones who didn't care about it.

Posted by: Rossoneri7 Aug 30 2012, 01:25 AM

Yup, spoilt brats. Bet you none of them lost sleep on it too.

Posted by: kurtsimonw Aug 30 2012, 02:14 AM

That's generally what the losers say, yes.

Posted by: dst Aug 30 2012, 03:05 AM

Didn't care about? That would be untrue even if he was playing anyone else, let alone now against Barcelona.


I hope not.

Posted by: X-Offender Aug 30 2012, 03:19 AM

Labeling a team that's won 14 trophies in the last 4 years as losers is hilarious.

Posted by: acid911 Aug 30 2012, 03:46 AM

Eh, I may be wrong, but Kurt quite possibly meant Barcelona as losers yesterday. I don't like them one fair bit, but the only time I'll call them losers is when referring to their dirty antics on the field and pressurizing the referees. Other than that, they've been one of the most dominant teams of all time.

Quite a few people/teams that lose give off the vibe that they did not really care for a particular match. Particularly if it is a (relatively) meaningless trophy like the Super Cup.

Posted by: dst Aug 30 2012, 09:21 AM

There's no way either team did not care.

Posted by: Danny Aug 30 2012, 09:47 AM

It took teams a while to finally figure Barca out. They should have looked back to Rangers in the CL in 2007, being the first side to hold them to a clean sheet in something like years.

Then more recently Inter figured it out then went onto win the CL.

And then we did it ourselves and got a 2-2.

The world's caught onto Barca, and Real have surpassed them.

I really like Madrid now and find myself increasingly supporting them.

Posted by: Zed.D Aug 30 2012, 11:09 AM

Speaking too soon Danny boy. if it wasn't for a Valdes brain fart, Barca might have won it. not to mention Barca and Real's respective positions in La Liga right now.

I think Pep's absence may be hurting Barca more than anything. he gave them that extra confidence that Vilanova can't.

Posted by: kurtsimonw Aug 30 2012, 01:47 PM

Yes.


Agreed. Madrid celebrated and Barca players looked gutted. ardly actions of players that don't care.

I think it's fair to say Madrid have found them out to an extent. If you pressure Barca, it doesn't matter how good their players are, they struggle. Aside from 3 refereeing gifts in 20 seconds, you'd think Osasuna were Barca last weekend, Barca have generally struggled to play all too well against Barca in the last few seasons and even Arsenal and ourselves (again, refereeing decisions aside) would've knocked them out of the CL.

Posted by: Milan Are Brilliant Aug 30 2012, 06:21 PM

Man, if some of you only stood as firmly by Milan as you did Barca this place would be much better off at times.

Posted by: kurtsimonw Aug 30 2012, 06:46 PM

So after the whistle last night most of the players shook hands. It seems Messi chose to ignore Ronaldo completely, not even look at him.

Imagine the faux outrage on here if Barca won and Ronaldo did that.

Posted by: Fillipo Simone Aug 30 2012, 06:57 PM

Posted by: Jack Sparrow Aug 30 2012, 08:00 PM

I have a bad habit of stereotyping footballers by nationality. So Messi's actions if true do not surprise me the least . In general Barca have the worst case of gracious winners, sore losers combo that I hate so much.

Posted by: dst Aug 31 2012, 01:24 AM

He could not see him because Messi is at a whole other level!

Cristiano has proven he's a grade-A douche, there's nothing more he can do to prove it.

and where was your favorite coach and world's most arrogant person after the match by the way? I bet he was masturbating to pictures of himself masturbating!

Posted by: kurtsimonw Aug 31 2012, 02:06 AM

Funny that you'd say that about him. When he won things with Chelsea he'd leave the pitch and let the players have all the cheers. Odd thing to do given he's so 'arrogant'.

Posted by: dst Aug 31 2012, 02:22 AM

I'm talking about his not showing up at the press conference. Surely, he did not do that so that people would talk about him the day after...

Every little thing he does, he does it so that people will talk about him... unfortunately, he gets me every time.

Posted by: kurtsimonw Aug 31 2012, 02:30 AM

Meh, I love him. Giving his League medal to a fan is something most don't do. You can say he did it so others would talk about him, oh well, it was a great thing to do.

Posted by: dst Aug 31 2012, 02:48 AM

He's such a huge pr*** most of the time that even that great a gesture does not make him look better to me.

He remains the only coach (the Only One) I've seen in any sport that deliberately tried to hurt one of his opponents... that alone makes me want to puke on his face and makes me feel shame for being a football fan.

Posted by: Fillipo Simone Aug 31 2012, 11:12 AM

Haha, so true

Posted by: Jack Sparrow Aug 31 2012, 11:18 AM

I dislike him. But I'm guessing he is one of those footballing people you despise if he's not on your team. We had our share of them in recent times Zlatan, Rino even Uncle Fester.

I dislike him coz of the obvious disrespectful attitude, I wish to go back to the days when all coaches were like Sir Bobby.

But I also don't like the style of his teams play. And I also dislike that everytime he has left the team inevitably it has fallen apart and into a heavy debt.

Posted by: dst Aug 31 2012, 12:53 PM

How can you only despise him if he's not on your team? How can anyone not despise him? The pr*** actually assigned one of his players the task to hurt and possibly take out of the game one of the opposition's players!! I think anyone who WANTS TO see things clearly, can easily tell what Del Horno was deployed to do that night...

What can one do that is worse than that in sports terms?

Posted by: Jack Sparrow Aug 31 2012, 01:06 PM

BUt he's never come out and said it. Plus as a fan you will never admit that happened and just say it was tough marking and an unfortunate tackle.

Posted by: kurtsimonw Aug 31 2012, 02:28 PM

Mourinho is one of the greatest tacitcal managers of all-time and you think he wanted to play with 10 men against Barca?

Posted by: dst Aug 31 2012, 02:49 PM

He repeatedly made nasty tackles in that game. And that was over the line of tough marking... there's no way all of that just happened. I've seen only a few matches of Del Horno and as mediocre as he was he never looked like a goon...


No he's not. He's done nothing I've never seen before. What makes him a great coach is his unique ability to lead his players and make them give everything, every game. They play or him and try harder for him and it shows. Hell he could tell them to take an opponent out of the game and they'd do it... oh wait that's what happened with Del Horno.

Posted by: kurtsimonw Aug 31 2012, 02:53 PM

Inter at the Nou Camp was an incredible tactical display. No dirty tactics, no particular star performances, he had each player sit in a zone and not chase and it worked to perfection.

Posted by: dst Aug 31 2012, 03:01 PM

I agree. I'm just saying I've seen that before. He's not doing anything new or different. That kind of defending has been the norm in Serie A ever since man-marking faded away. What makes him better than other coaches is that he brings the best out of his players game after game. Not tactically as a team, but individually. If that game was repeated multiple times, a team coached by Mourinho would be able to pull it off more often than a team coached by any other coach.

Posted by: kurtsimonw Aug 31 2012, 03:07 PM

Has there been anything 'new' in football though? Everything has been done or tried before.

Posted by: Jack Sparrow Aug 31 2012, 03:15 PM

I hate myself for saying this, but this new Barcelona style. You can point out it's 'influences' sure, but this was the final ideal.

Posted by: dst Aug 31 2012, 03:16 PM

Barcelona.

I'm not saying Mourinho had to come up with something new. Just that he's not a tactical genius or anything.

Posted by: Jack Sparrow Aug 31 2012, 03:17 PM

Go f@ck yourself, you might be the reason my girlfriend leaves me. You still copy my lines after that??!!!

Posted by: kurtsimonw Aug 31 2012, 03:31 PM

This isn't even the first Barcelona team to play this style.

Posted by: Fillipo Simone Aug 31 2012, 05:31 PM

You can't compare Cruyff's Barcelona with this one. They didn't play tika-taka and never had such a tactical line-up.

Posted by: Milan Are Brilliant Aug 31 2012, 06:43 PM

Please tell me you're not talking about the Barca game where Messi rolled around about 15 times, whilst looking out the corner of his eye to the referee after getting very little contact?

But he's a saint and does no wrong right?

Posted by: kurtsimonw Aug 31 2012, 07:53 PM

He's a dirty little player, racist to boot.

Posted by: dst Aug 31 2012, 09:56 PM

What does Messi's theatrics have to do with what Del Horno was doing in that game?

Posted by: kurtsimonw Aug 31 2012, 09:58 PM

I never get this arguement. How is being dirty worse than cheating? If you're dirty and foul - you get punished by a red card, etc. If you cheat, you don't get punished and actually benefit.

The theatrics Barca have pulled against Mourinho teams in recent years are lightyears worse than what Jose has done in those games.

Posted by: dst Aug 31 2012, 11:02 PM

I'm not talking cheating vs being dirty. I made no comparison at all. And this is not just being dirty. Trying to kick a player out of a game does not compare to anything and has no place in the football world.

Posted by: Danny Aug 31 2012, 11:06 PM

I want to marry Falcao. The best striker in the modern game, by a country mile. The guy is a £35M of striking magic. Clinical, powerful, incredible movement.

If Chelsea had had any sense Abramovich would have flung £50M at AM and signed him sharp before the deadline.

Posted by: X-Offender Sep 1 2012, 11:40 AM

Diarra has signed for Anzhi. They paid €5 million to Madrid for his services, and the player signed a four-year contract for a wage of €5 million per season.

http://www.sportmediaset.mediaset.it/mercato/mercato/articoli/11787/pillole-di-calciomercato.shtml?refresh_cens

We were after this guy for the whole summer. He was Allegri's favorite, but like all mercenaries, he was only after the money. Clown.

Posted by: Milan Are Brilliant Sep 1 2012, 12:05 PM

That and the fact the Italian League just isn't that interesting to a lot of players these days.

Posted by: han2503 Sep 1 2012, 12:11 PM

I'm sure the Russian league is full of excitement...

We would have never offered him 5m per season. That's ridiculous money. He's not that good. The only player I could see us offering that contract was Kaka.

Posted by: Fillipo Simone Sep 1 2012, 12:26 PM

Would be a bad investment anyway. Enjoy your stay in the Russian league!

Posted by: Milan Are Brilliant Sep 1 2012, 12:34 PM

The Italian league is viewed as fairly ordinary these days, it's not that big of a catch. A lot of players would rather go to England or Spain or France or Germany to be honest.

Posted by: han2503 Sep 1 2012, 12:47 PM

I don't believe for a second that players would rather go to France over Italy. Maybe for the money of PSG but Italy still has a far more decorated football league, with bigger clubs who are far more prestigious.

Juve, Inter, Milan and even Roma and Napoli imo are far more attractive to any player than any club in the French league.

The EPL and Spain are another level altogether, Spain mostly being Barca and Real who are attractive because you know you won't win anything with any of the other clubs aside from maybe the Europa league. Germany I'm still on the fence about; Bayern is the obvious choice, but their clubs usually have success acording to trends. Right now Dortmund look great, before there was Wulfsburg, Shalke, etc

I think you forget that Italy is still imo, a top footballing nation, the exploits of the NT show this, and the fact that the country's clubs have brought in as much CL titles in the last 10 years as the EPL also attests to this fact

Posted by: William405 Sep 1 2012, 01:06 PM

+1

Posted by: Fillipo Simone Sep 1 2012, 02:34 PM

Yeah, but this year Serie A survived a major blow. Inter, Juventus and Milan transformed into teams who are not even marked as honorary "CL-contender". And I don't see this changing very fast.

Posted by: kurtsimonw Sep 1 2012, 04:12 PM

Give it 2 games before he's complaining about monkey chants at him.

Posted by: Jack Bauer Sep 3 2012, 05:34 PM

WTF. Ronaldo wants to leave Real?

http://www1.skysports.com/football/news/11827/8047996/Ronaldo-reports-dog-Real
http://www1.skysports.com/football/news/11835/8046146/Ronaldo-I-m-feeling-sad

It's time for Berlu to bring the money he was saving for emergencies

Posted by: Milan Are Brilliant Sep 3 2012, 05:41 PM

Most people on here would probably be suicidal if he came.

Posted by: KillerMax Sep 3 2012, 05:57 PM

I would welcome him. But he will probably go back to England if he does end up leaving.

Posted by: Fillipo Simone Sep 3 2012, 06:13 PM

Don't think he'll leave. But then again...who knows. England? I think he's been there, he's done that.

Posted by: han2503 Sep 3 2012, 06:15 PM

If not Spain than surely England would be the place to be. Can't imagine him coming to Italy.

Maybe PSG will make a ridiculous new record and snap him up. But he's still too young to go to the French league.

Posted by: Jack Bauer Sep 3 2012, 06:24 PM

He's probably acting like a primadonna to get a higher salary or just some ego boost. I'll be very surprised if he leaves Real. After Real, United and of course Barca is out of question, there are not many options left. City maybe.

Posted by: kurtsimonw Sep 3 2012, 06:31 PM

A few reports in England say he is good friends with Kaka' and angry that the club wouldn't let him go if they wonn't play him. If he is after a new deal, he deserves it, how many players score more goals than play games for a team. They should give him a blank cheque really.

Posted by: acid911 Sep 3 2012, 06:38 PM

+1. +100, even.

Posted by: dst Sep 3 2012, 06:40 PM

Why would Barcelona be out of the question? I don't think he wouldn't go there but yeah RM would not sell him to them. I doubt there's any truth to this rumor though. He's probably looking for a bigger contract which he deserves if you look at his record. But surely couldn't his agent do just that, show them his record? Or maybe he's already done that. I would not rule out a move to Serie A either if he left. But it's not gonna happen any time soon. I don't like his attitude one bit but of course I'd welcome him at Milan, he's just too good.

Posted by: kurtsimonw Sep 3 2012, 06:59 PM

Apparently it's the anniversary of his dad's death.

Posted by: han2503 Sep 3 2012, 07:02 PM

That would be a good reason, but it surely cannot be it since he made it clear that the problem was of a professional nature rather than personal.

I'm either thinking he wants a new contract or he feels he's done all he can at Real

Posted by: Milan Are Brilliant Sep 3 2012, 07:11 PM

Yeah, exactly.

Posted by: X-Offender Sep 3 2012, 07:13 PM

Even though he's Silvio's dream transfer, he'll remain such. We can't spend €6 million to purchase Aquilani, let alone +€50 million for Ronaldo. Not to mention the astronomical wages. I can perfectly see him at PSG, Chelsea or City.

Posted by: Fillipo Simone Sep 3 2012, 08:04 PM

+1


Silvio is known for his "exemptions". He could be splashing some personal money for this.

Posted by: han2503 Sep 3 2012, 08:34 PM

lol, are you guys seriously contemplating a C.Ron move to Milan???????

We can barely afford to pay for the ball boys right now!

Sure Silvio would fund it, just like he was so happy to fund Ronaldinho's move, but what does getting such a big name do? The wages are taken from Milan's balance sheet, not Silvio's personal account.

And personally, if Silvio is happy enough to flaunt money at a flashy transfer like Ronaldo, then I would have preferred it had that money gone to good use and we kept Silva

Posted by: Rossoneri7 Sep 3 2012, 08:50 PM

His contract expires on June 2015, where he pays 24% tax on the 'old' Beckham rule. Since 2010, all contracts were against 43% tax for foreign players .. Don't see why Ronaldo would be discussing that, as he is the highest paid in Europe I believe - including marketing rights?

On the latter, has the fact that he isn't playing for il club piu'titolato al mondo ever crossed your mind?

Posted by: han2503 Sep 3 2012, 08:57 PM

Yeah, I'm sure he's chomping at the bit to get on board the sinking ship

Posted by: Jack Sparrow Sep 3 2012, 08:59 PM

Yes, from all the rumours I've read it's all about Ronaldo not feeling the love at Madrid.

- He wants the club to really back his bid for Ballon d'Or and protect him from the press, the way Barca and the team does for Messi. But RM isn't known for doing that. Neither the management nor the fans. They'll value their homegrown heroes, and so Casillas is who is reportedly having the fans, the management's and the political backing.

- He would like a contract extension as soon as possible since his contract ends at 2015. Real are thinking things through because at the moment they really have their wages stretched, and the new 43% ( or is it 52%?) tax slab are making them hesitate. There are too many players there (ahem..Kaka) on higher wages than ought to be.

- He's had a falling out with Marcelo who is de-facto leader outside of Casillas (over Sergio Ramos even ) and the club not supporting him in the matter irks him.

- The weakest rumour I've heard is of the 'ill-treatment' of his friends Kaka and Carvalho by the management. As far as I can tell, they're both highly valued by Perez and in fact Perez is furious at Mourinho for the way Kaka is being treated. But this would mean Ronaldo is angry at Mourinho which I doubt a lot. Since Mourinho always becomes best pals with his top players. Further more, I've never heard Ronaldo being known as having 'personal' affection for any of his team mates off the pitch- unlike say our Zee or Rino or Paolo. His greatest strength and weakness has always been that he puts himself first.

It would cement his legend you know. He would be to Milan what Cantona was to Man Utd. And among all the top clubs in Italy it is Milan that has been known to best deal with superstars, until that turd Cassano that is.

But of course, I'm not being realistic. We can't get him. We could afford either his wages or his transfer fee...not both.

Posted by: Milan Are Brilliant Sep 3 2012, 09:05 PM

Plus the likelihood is Milan at this moment in time is probably not realistically big enough for him. Would be a hell of a signing though, but in reality the only time it's going to happen is in FIFA or Football Manager and even then, that's if you use cheats...

Posted by: Rossoneri7 Sep 3 2012, 09:07 PM

He'd be an imbecile to decline such a proposal

Posted by: Jack Bauer Sep 3 2012, 09:39 PM

There is no chance in hell it will be Milan looking at the salary alone. He's earning £11m per season there, only Eto'o and Zlatan earn more in the world of football. He would ask at least 15m from us.

Posted by: han2503 Sep 3 2012, 09:55 PM

Ar you sure about that jackie?










Ohh, wait you said off the pitch right? My bad

Posted by: Zed.D Sep 4 2012, 10:14 AM

The only Italian club I can theoretically see Ronaldo at is Inter. Silvio can take his dreams and stuff them up his ***. I'm tired of people talking about him that way. the guy's done showing off in football with mega money signings and such. can't, isn't allowed to, whatever. it's over.

Posted by: Jack Sparrow Sep 4 2012, 10:54 AM

I'm glad this problem is happening, and finally Madrid are facing the music.

Till now for Ronaldo's salary of 10 million, they were forking out 15.5 millon a year, now they'll have to pay close to 30 MM. Read the wage sheet and weep.

Posted by: Milan Are Brilliant Sep 4 2012, 01:39 PM

To be honest if I were Ronaldo & Messi I'd be extremely upset Wayne Rooney earns more than us.

Posted by: han2503 Sep 4 2012, 02:33 PM

Does Rooney really earn more than them??

How much does he earn?

Posted by: dst Sep 4 2012, 02:38 PM

He does? I did not know that. That means RvP earns more than them too cause I read he got the same contract as Rooney!?

Posted by: X-Offender Sep 4 2012, 02:50 PM

No, they don't. Ronaldo is paid under the old Beckham law, so Madrid have to cash out "only" 15.5. million per year for him, not 30 million. The new law of 50% of taxes applies to footballers signed this year and onwards.

Posted by: dst Sep 4 2012, 03:16 PM

So what do you guys think is CR's price? He's amazing and he's the reason they can match Barcelona. But everyone has a price, what do you think that is in his case?

I'd say for 120m I'd let him go.

Posted by: Jack Sparrow Sep 4 2012, 03:34 PM

Exactly. So a new contract being signed will end up costing them more than the old one. And at the moment, they already have Kaka on their books.

Posted by: X-Offender Sep 4 2012, 05:15 PM

You mean if they renew his contract? Oh yeah, surely.

Posted by: Milan Are Brilliant Sep 4 2012, 07:08 PM

If the figures today I saw are correct he earns £250k a week, Ronaldo earns like £220k & Messi earns £190k.

Posted by: Jack Bauer Sep 4 2012, 10:27 PM

Ronaldo said on facebook that it's not about money. Hmm, the plot thickens

Posted by: Jack Sparrow Sep 5 2012, 08:46 AM

Yes. I believe Madrid and Barca worked their way around the same way Milan did. By giving him percentages of his image rights.

Posted by: kurtsimonw Sep 5 2012, 10:27 AM

One theory I read is that there's a group of players within the club who have a little too much power (allegedly the Spaniards) which Mourinho doesn't like, so is basically using Ronaldo as a way to get what he wants as he knows Ronaldo's too valuable for the management to discard to keep things as they are.

It wouldn't surprise me, there seems to be an awful lot of politics in some clubs and there's such thing as player power.

Posted by: dst Sep 5 2012, 11:20 AM

What could Mourinho want that he'll get that way? If it's (more) respect (than the "Spaniards") he's not gonna have it until he beats Barcelona 5-0 in a CL final.

Posted by: X-Offender Sep 5 2012, 02:31 PM

Eto’o (Anzhi) 20 mln
Ibrahimovic (PSG) 14,5
Rooney (United) 13,8
Yaya Touré (City) 13
Aguero (City) 12,5
Drogba (Shanghai) 12
Torres (Chelsea) 10.8
Conca (Guangzhou) 10,6
Messi (Barcelona) 10,5
Ronaldo (Real Madrid) 10

The figures are in €.

Never would have thought it, Ronaldo is only tenth.

Posted by: Fillipo Simone Sep 5 2012, 03:11 PM

Who the hell is Conca?

Posted by: Jack Bauer Sep 5 2012, 03:29 PM

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dar%C3%ADo_Conca

Some people in China are crazy to pay such sums to someone like that.

Posted by: acid911 Sep 5 2012, 04:55 PM

Yeah, I was about to post the same: who and what is this big bad Conca?! Thankfully Bauer chipped in!

Posted by: Danny Sep 5 2012, 11:14 PM

If we signed Cristiano Ronaldo in January I think I'd actually pass out.

That would be the biggest signing in our history.

Onto more realistic notions though and Falcao, the world's best striker, wants to join Real. It was thought Chelsea had agreed a deal to sign him in January, and word is he has affection for them, but nothing has been set in stone and as soon as rumours of Madrid's interest surfaced, he abandoned Chelsea quick and started w*nking at the idea of joining the Bernabau.

The clause in his contract is reportedly 55M Euros, which is not that massive a profit for AM given they shelled out only 20M less for him in the first place - but in massive debt they may have no option.

Posted by: kurtsimonw Sep 6 2012, 12:31 AM

The worrying thing is that Juve have been linked with Higuain an awful lot the past 12 months. If Madrid were to sign Falcao, that opens the door for Higuain to go to Juventus and the last thing we want is for them to have a genuine World class finisher.

Posted by: Zed.D Sep 6 2012, 09:17 AM

And where do these come from?

Posted by: Danny Sep 6 2012, 10:39 AM

Can't remember. But the player tweeted denying them, sort of. Just said his dream was to win things with AM. Thought he already had twice.

Posted by: X-Offender Sep 16 2012, 12:33 AM

So, Real lost again tonight. Barça already gone +8 points.

Posted by: kurtsimonw Sep 16 2012, 06:41 PM

Ronaldo for £160m.

Obviously won't happen since UEFA will step in as no team can afford that due to FFP, right Jack?

Posted by: Jack Sparrow Sep 16 2012, 08:22 PM

They could. If a bank advanced them a 160 million loan for 10 years, meaning the club only pays around 20 million a year as interest rates.

Why're you deliberately being so thick about FFP? It's not the bolt on the door situation you think it is. A lot of thought went into it, and it is because the big teams won't be too threatened that they sanctioned it in the first place.

Posted by: kurtsimonw Sep 16 2012, 08:46 PM

Me being thick about it? You do realise what you've just put is how the majority of trasnfers (especially big ones) are financed? That's where a large part of club debt comes from.

I do agree with your last part though - it's all about UEFA protecting their money clubs.

Posted by: Jack Sparrow Sep 16 2012, 09:47 PM

Not quite. You can call Madrid a big money club but it is very well managed and it's one of the reasons that they have so much money. Consider Newcastle a few years back. We were actually paying for transfers who had long since flopped, sold at a loss and we still didn't have the money needed to cover the original transfer fee. Then to boot, we got in players at pretty massive wages to make a run for whatever position it was. It's one thing when you take a loan to build up your team's strength, another altogether when you're taking loans just to have enough money to pay your wages.

That sort of thing is just crazy.

As for your oft-quoted argument about how and why FFP is any good. Consider my pet club Newcastle again. We were in deep debt, but considering where we ended up last season, well we didn't do it the way (and I got the feeling you were declaring it to be the only way) by buying tons of players and spending loads of cash. The honest truth is, there are excellent players out there at very good bargains, and if your club can't be arsed to get a proper scouting system in place to make the killer deals (think Udinese or Atletico) then you shouldn't complain that you're being muscled out of deals for what are obvious talents.

It's not like good players don't exist. Can the top 20 European clubs truly purchase any and all outstanding talent that is ever produced in the world. Ridiculous!

With FFP in place, the club will work it's way up the ladder the good old fashioned way. Their scouting, their coaching, their youth system, their wins etc. will get them more money and talent. Their resulting success will besides getting increased revenues and sponsorship also attract more talent. They might soon progress to challenging and dethroning a top club and becoming a genuine challenger. At which point, they become an attractive investment option, and someone comes in and plonks down enough money. Perhaps to get their own bigger stadium?

The good news is that with FFP, the big clubs can't just swoop down and buy everything that looks talented on the market. How much of big money purchasing did Madrid or Barca do this season. Or Man Utd or even City? Compared to earlier? Nothing. One, is of course there simply is no further room in their squads for talent. But the finances is another equally important factor. PSG are an anomaly. I think they have a workaround that will suit them just fine. But it's just that no one knows what it is at the moment.

You only have to look at Newcastle. We have held on to our main stars from last season, and even made a few solid additions. I'm not saying this means we will not go down the rankings again, but hey that would be our fault.

FFP is not the be-all and end-all solution. That could only be a wage cap. But to set a wage-cap gives a kind of parity that would hit marketing globally. I do not think it makes sense for football, they way it does for NBA or NFL which has a much more restrictive audience but still a huge draw from TV revenues.

As in..NBA markets the sport, FIFA still markets the teams.

Posted by: kurtsimonw Sep 16 2012, 09:52 PM

But they can not sustain it.

Name the top Newcastle/Udinese/Atletico players of the last 5 years. Where are they now? A few years and they're gone. FFP actually forces these clubs to sell the good players they get in a way of balancing the books, since clubs outside the CL will mostly struggle to even break even.

Posted by: kurtsimonw Sep 16 2012, 10:15 PM

Atletico 4-0 up with 7 minutes to go.

2 mins left and it's 4-3.

Posted by: acid911 Sep 16 2012, 10:44 PM

And 4-3 it remains. What a (weird) game!

Posted by: Jack Sparrow Sep 17 2012, 08:34 AM

I actually think FFP means they can sustain it. Udinese sell players, because that's their business model. It's only recently that they have started getting regular CL appearances and probably increased revenues. I think they're on the way up.

Newcastle are in a deep mess, but I think the new team is much better managed financially and if we can keep this stability going for a few more years, I don't think we will have to sell for anything but a ridiculous offer. But with FFP, the days of ridiculous offers being a dime a dozen are a thing of the past.

Atletico are badly managed. I mentioned Atletico in my earlier post, I meant Athletic Bilbao. We already know the mess Atletico, Valencia and Malaga are in. In a way it is bad management, and at the same time, also the unfair power wielded by the two big clubs in that league.

How can the Spanish federation possibly justify Barca and Madrid taking home 50% of the TV revenues!!!

Posted by: kurtsimonw Sep 17 2012, 01:45 PM

How?

The only way is CL football every year. As soon as a team misses it once they lose all that CL money and or the top players at your club. There's also the added point that with FFP UEFA would start getting involved in transfers more, teams won't be able to refuse their best players after a good season when they have UEFA saying they will get banned from Europe if they don't break even.


La Liga are happy for them 2 clubs being amongst the best so they try and keep them there.

It would be more fair if they were like England and basically spread it out evenly, but not going to happen.

Posted by: kurtsimonw Sep 22 2012, 05:39 PM

Mourinho wants to return to the EPL when he leaves Madrid.

Posted by: X-Offender Sep 22 2012, 06:21 PM

ManU perhaps?

Posted by: kurtsimonw Sep 22 2012, 07:05 PM

That's what I think too.

Posted by: Milan Are Brilliant Sep 22 2012, 07:24 PM

Would be the obvious one once Fergie retires. United fans have never really disliked him that much, aside of the initial Porto incident. Think he would be welcomed there.

Posted by: X-Offender Sep 22 2012, 09:18 PM

I really don't understand Barcelona. They sign Mascherano, use him as CB; sign Song, use him as CB. Not to mention Busquets. Why not just sign real CBs for f@ck's sake?

Posted by: Zed.D Sep 22 2012, 09:50 PM

Messi and Villa barking at each other

Am I the only one watching the Barca game? the quality of their football has dropped drastically. it has to be seen to be believed!

Posted by: Zed.D Sep 22 2012, 10:40 PM

Granada's GK is amazing! at least saved 2 or 3 goals.



Typical.

Granada miss a one-on-one, **** up two great counter attacks where they were like 3 to 2. then Xavi scores. fantastic goal though.

Posted by: kurtsimonw Sep 22 2012, 10:50 PM

They would sign someone Silva or Luiz I think, they want to have players good on the ball. The Barca idea seems to be that you can play with 11 CMs.

And Puyol is about the worst footballer ont he planet.

Posted by: Zed.D Sep 22 2012, 10:51 PM

FT 2-0

If only Granada had resisted pressure for 5 more minutes.

Barca are probably going to win the league, but I can't see them going far in the CL.

Wrong.

It's 10 CMs

Posted by: kurtsimonw Sep 22 2012, 10:56 PM

Just turned on to see Mendieta ripping into Messi. Apparently Villa tried to pass to him, it was intercepted, so Messi throw a strop.

Posted by: Fillipo Simone Sep 22 2012, 11:29 PM

Mendieta? What? Can't really follow you.

Posted by: kurtsimonw Sep 22 2012, 11:34 PM

Mendieta is in the studio on Sky coverage for us.

Posted by: Fillipo Simone Sep 23 2012, 08:29 AM

Oh, thanks on that.

Posted by: Jack Bauer Oct 7 2012, 06:31 PM

Barca - Real soon. Too bad we only will be able to see the first half before the derby.

Posted by: Jack Sparrow Oct 7 2012, 07:26 PM

Madrid one up. With Ronaldo scoring.

And then Barca equalise with Messi. Off a Pepe error!

Posted by: Jack Bauer Oct 7 2012, 07:30 PM

Both teams with horrible defence. In what world Adriano is a CB?

Posted by: Jack Sparrow Oct 7 2012, 07:38 PM

They're stuck there in CB. No pique, puyol etc. And I think they lost Alves with an injury early in the half.

Posted by: kurtsimonw Oct 7 2012, 07:47 PM

Not watching the game, have real sport to watch, but Puyol is finished. Messi's probably a better CB at this point.

Posted by: Milan Are Brilliant Oct 7 2012, 07:55 PM

Posted by: Jack Bauer Oct 7 2012, 09:38 PM

So it ended 2-2 with Messi and Ronalso scoring 2 each.

Posted by: X-Offender Oct 8 2012, 12:32 AM

You call Milan-Inter real sport?

Posted by: X-Offender Oct 8 2012, 01:31 AM

By the way, did Adriano really play as CB? Wow...

Posted by: kurtsimonw Oct 8 2012, 02:56 AM

I was actually watching my NFL team at the time of posting.

Posted by: X-Offender Oct 8 2012, 03:03 AM

Ah, OK.

Posted by: Milan Are Brilliant Oct 8 2012, 08:21 AM

Goes some way to settling the debate then

Posted by: Jack Bauer Oct 8 2012, 03:45 PM

It won't ever be settled. It's like the palestinian-israeli issue

Posted by: X-Offender Nov 10 2012, 11:51 PM

Malaga losing their second consecutive game at home against third-rate teams. How we were barely able to scratch a draw at home against these guys pretty much describes how crap were were against them.

Posted by: Jack Bauer Nov 25 2012, 11:43 PM

So after Real lost to Betis (1:0) yesterday, is it over?

Posted by: X-Offender Nov 26 2012, 12:15 AM

Barça are 11 points ahead, so I'd say probably yes. And I don't think Atletico can keep up with them. La Liga is already pointless.

Posted by: kurtsimonw Nov 26 2012, 12:36 AM

La Liga was pointless before the season started. Now Jose's won it even I don't care.

Posted by: han2503 Nov 26 2012, 06:09 PM

If he doesn't win the CL this season with them I think he's out of there.

City or Man U being his next destination me thinks

Posted by: Jack Sparrow Nov 26 2012, 06:21 PM

Shocking...even Atletico are above Real at the moment..and by 8 points too. Jose really get his butt handed to him in the early part of the season.

Posted by: X-Offender Nov 27 2012, 12:27 AM

Posted by: Kazdoodle Nov 27 2012, 03:44 AM

Hey guy's how is Valencia CF doing (if you didn't guess, My fave La Liga team)

Posted by: kurtsimonw Nov 27 2012, 04:20 AM

Got destroyed 4-0 in Malaga this weekend.

Posted by: dst Nov 27 2012, 04:26 AM

So just once is enough? You just diminished SAF's career in one sentence.

Posted by: Kazdoodle Nov 27 2012, 04:28 AM

Damn, though i will say i am pretty good with malaga, have a soft spot for em Followed em a little even a tad before they got bought out.

Will be interesting to see how both do in the CL.

Posted by: Jack Sparrow Nov 27 2012, 10:07 AM

Thank god I still have you. I do dislike Jose. But nowadays he doesn't bother me as much as he used to. It's like Madrid showed him there are egos far greater than his.

Posted by: X-Offender Nov 27 2012, 02:30 PM

+1

Posted by: kurtsimonw Nov 27 2012, 03:54 PM

I wanted him to be the 1st to win titles in England/Italy/Spain. He's done it. I no longer care about La Liga again. Not sure what it has to do with SAF.

Posted by: dst Nov 27 2012, 04:30 PM

You said La Liga is pointless which I don't understand. So just because RM won last season they don't "have to" do it again? Maybe that's not what you meant.

Though I'm sure that must be Mou's attitude anyway, especially now that RM are far behind. If they lose the title he's going to come out and say that they don't care as they won it they year before and proved their superiority. The same way he avoided talking about the game they lost 5-0 to Barcelona and he talked about how he had eliminated them in the CL semi-finals the year before with Inter. I hate this pr*** with all my guts!

...

Posted by: kurtsimonw Nov 27 2012, 04:33 PM

It's pointless to me. I don't care what anyone else thinks about it. I watched it the past 2 years because I wanted Mourinho to do what hasn't been done. Now it's been done and he's won everything in Spain I just don't care about the league anymore.

Posted by: Zed.D Dec 9 2012, 09:21 PM

Messi levels Muller's record with a decent albeit routine goal.

Posted by: Milan Are Brilliant Dec 9 2012, 09:31 PM

Woah, we had headline articles all over the place this week over here about him picking up an injury. Yet he plays a few days after?

This weekend belongs to Falcao though, wow.

Posted by: Zed.D Dec 9 2012, 09:34 PM

And he breaks Muller's record... and Fillipo's heart. sorry mate

Posted by: Fillipo Simone Dec 9 2012, 09:38 PM

Ah well, what's there to do. Ha - Müller still has a better ratio though.

Posted by: Zed.D Dec 9 2012, 09:40 PM

Not sure I knew that. he must have had an incredible season back then.

Posted by: kurtsimonw Dec 12 2012, 01:36 PM

Posted by: han2503 Dec 12 2012, 02:08 PM

Posted by: kurtsimonw Dec 12 2012, 03:17 PM

http://uk.eurosport.yahoo.com/blogs/world-of-sport/messi-record-broken-1972-145443536.html

Posted by: X-Offender Dec 12 2012, 05:02 PM

Haters gonna hate.

Posted by: Fillipo Simone Dec 12 2012, 05:27 PM

Argh, I hate that expression

Posted by: han2503 Dec 12 2012, 06:05 PM

Haters gonna hate

Posted by: kurtsimonw Dec 12 2012, 06:36 PM

Especially when there's no hating being done!

Posted by: X-Offender Dec 12 2012, 10:12 PM

Posted by: Zed.D Dec 16 2012, 09:39 PM

Barca 1-1 Atletico Madrid.

Falcao scored with a great cheap. then Adriano scored an absolutely amazing goal. gave me goosebumps.

Posted by: Jack Bauer Dec 16 2012, 09:56 PM

Yeah, good goal: http://youtu.be/2jeUwcoyZoE

Since Madrid lost points again (2-2 at home with Espanyol) and remain in third place 10 points behind, only Atletico win can keep the league kinda alive.

Posted by: Zed.D Dec 16 2012, 10:17 PM

Messi scores a good goal too. game over I guess.

La Liga has become a one horse race now.

Posted by: kurtsimonw Dec 16 2012, 10:19 PM

La Liga's been a 1 horse race pretty much for the last few decades aside from a few seasons.

Posted by: X-Offender Dec 16 2012, 10:45 PM

Barça's winning streak this season has been impressive.

Posted by: Zed.D Dec 16 2012, 10:46 PM

Messi scores another. it's interesting, tonight he was rather poor, but still got 2 goals. most player can only dream of scoring 1 goal per game, he usually scores 2.

Posted by: han2503 Dec 17 2012, 10:16 PM

How can this league be considered the "best in the world" when it's already been decided before we even adjourned for the winter break?

Posted by: Jack Bauer Dec 17 2012, 10:38 PM

I don't think somebody considers it "best in the world".

When you have a two team league and one of them fuckes up early while the other not losing points at all, it gets ugly.

Posted by: han2503 Dec 17 2012, 11:04 PM

Well some people are blinded by the stars of Barca and Madrid, while being blinded to the rest of the league's mediocrity.

For me the EPL is hands down the best league right now

Posted by: Jack Bauer Dec 17 2012, 11:13 PM

I don't think other teams are too bad, and you can see that they are doing well in europe recently, it's just the gap between therm and top2 is just too big and the league is not doing anything to close it, on the contrary.

Yeah, EPL is number 1 without doubt.

Posted by: han2503 Dec 17 2012, 11:41 PM

Still Valencia, Athletico, and whoever the flavour of the season is. They're all teetering on the edge most of the time, and they usually sell off their best players either to Barca and Madrid or the EPL sides. They do well in Europe because of the Europa League. Sort of like what the German teams do as well, which is how they took that 4th spot off Italy.

Italy imo, have stronger teams then La Liga outside of the top 2 of course. But their problem has always been that they didn't give a sh!t about the UEFA Cup and still barely do about the EL. I remember a case, I think it was 05 or something close to that. And this was the year at Italy's peak imo before the steady decline began.

Donadoni was coaching Livorno at the time and because he sent out a strong side in the UEFA Cup game the pesident went into a rant about it. Teams in Italy have always done this, and I expect to see the same thing from Napoli, Lazio and Inter when we're at the business end of the season because making the CL next year is more important than having a good run in the 2nd rate competition. And this backwards thinking is what got Italy in this mess. The fact is that Italian teams have done as well as the Spanish sides in these last 10 years if I'm not mistaken in terms of CL wins. 2 for us and 1 for Inter while Barca got all 3 for Spain. German teams have not won it once during this time. Yet they have more representation in the competition because they did better in UEFA Cup/EL

Posted by: X-Offender Dec 19 2012, 03:15 PM

http://www.independent.ie/sport/soccer/barcelona-coach-tito-vilanova-to-step-down-due-to-illness-3331995.html

Posted by: kurtsimonw Dec 19 2012, 04:17 PM

Sad news.

Easily replaced though, I could be Barca coach.

Posted by: han2503 Dec 19 2012, 06:20 PM

Maybe we should send over Allegri. Test that theory

Posted by: Zed.D Dec 19 2012, 10:34 PM

Good one han!

Posted by: Bluesummers Dec 19 2012, 10:49 PM

He is a uefa pro liscenced coach now comon

Posted by: han2503 Dec 19 2012, 11:49 PM

If I take a course and study I could become licenced as well. Does not mean I'm any good at it.

Posted by: acid911 Dec 22 2012, 11:44 PM

Can't wait for Danny to show up and tell us how he was right. Malaga defeated (or should I say outclassed) Madrid today, and while I always am a bit wary of sides that are at the cusp of breaking in with the big boys, I think it can be safely said that we did good qualifying from the CL group, as we did.

Posted by: han2503 Dec 23 2012, 12:14 AM

Madrid have been terrible this season though.

They've been more up and down in their performances than a yo-yo.

Malaga are a good side, no one denied that. But the simple fact is that we should have done better in that group. They are a good side, but not THAT good. The fact is that our performances have been bordering from terrible to shameful all season long.

I can't even think of one single game where we had a great performance, irrelevant of the final result.

Posted by: Jack Bauer Dec 23 2012, 01:50 AM

Madrid are pathetic this season, don't think I have ever seen them that much behind so early into the season. I mean 16 points from the top and 7 points from second place and we are still in December. Madrid fired coaches in the past for less, the only thing that might save Mourinho is winning CL. Add to that, the sudden benching of Casillas, and already rocky relationship with some players, management and fans.

Posted by: Bluesummers Dec 23 2012, 04:13 AM

Mourinho is done, his decision with casillas today showed he's lost his mind and the dressing room.

Posted by: kurtsimonw Dec 23 2012, 05:08 AM

It's a power struggle.

It's basically Ronaldo, Mourinho and a few others against the Spanish lot the rumours suggest. It's also why Ronaldo was supposedly 'unhappy' before, it's Mourinho trying to take control. The benching of Casillas is just another step in that direction. Problem is I'm not sure he'll get his way at Madrid.

Wherever he goes will possibly end up with Ronaldo too.

Posted by: han2503 Dec 23 2012, 02:46 PM

It's so strange to read about this. Usually Mourinho teams are known for their collective team spirit. How they fight for each other and most importantly how they fight for Mourinho. Gives you a really good indication of the problems at Madrid.

I can only think of 2 places where both might go: City or PSG.

Posted by: kurtsimonw Dec 23 2012, 03:51 PM

City look nowhere near as strong this season and if they win nothing it's a decent excuse to sack Mancini. I think the problem Jose has with Madrid is they're all winners, they've all been successful without him so may not buy into what he says. Porto, Chelsea and Inter were a different story. City would work for him I think.

Just shows how if players/manager/management aren't on the same page how it can even effect the very top teams.

Posted by: han2503 Dec 23 2012, 04:31 PM

Who knows, I just always saw Mourinho teams as being so united because he's such a good man manager. Forget winning the players all still love him no matter what. Chelsea had a bad last season with him yet all the players still worshipped the ground he walked on. And the Inter players literally drove Benitez away because they were so unhappy that Jose left.

Posted by: Jack Bauer Dec 23 2012, 06:18 PM

People are now speculating that Mourinho wants to be fired and benching the captain was a message to the management. Apparently, If he's fired now he will get 20m, if he's fired in the end of the season 'just' 5m. He was very heavily criticized by the spanish press today.

Posted by: Fillipo Simone Dec 24 2012, 01:57 AM

If there is truth in this, he's even worse. Naah, what am I saying, Mourinho is the worst.

Posted by: Zed.D Dec 24 2012, 08:33 AM

No surprises here. hes a great coach who's won more than many other coaches can only dream of, but he can be a real **** when circumstances demand it.

I hope he doesn't go back to Inter.

Posted by: Fillipo Simone Dec 24 2012, 11:12 AM

No, he's done that. I think his options are: a) NT (unlikely), PSG and c) the EPL (most likely).

He can be? He is. He's an obnoxious ****. always, from day one up until now.

Posted by: kurtsimonw Dec 24 2012, 01:15 PM

And yet the Madrid/Barca games were fairly contested this season, no coincidence it's when Guardiola's left.

Posted by: han2503 Dec 24 2012, 07:11 PM

Weren't they also fairly contested last season? At least the majority of them...

Don't remember exactly but I can't seem to recall any big blow out from the Classicos of last season, certainly not to the extent of the ones from Mou's first season there, which were epic.

Posted by: kurtsimonw Dec 24 2012, 09:34 PM

Wasn't last seas where it exploded on the touchline and Jose got a ban and a few players were sent off?

Posted by: Jack Bauer Dec 24 2012, 09:56 PM

You mean when Mourinho showed class and assaulted Vilanova? I think it was in the supercup game.

Posted by: dst Dec 25 2012, 05:24 PM

It all happened because Pep's presence reminds him of the 5-0.

Posted by: han2503 Dec 25 2012, 07:14 PM

Don't know...

I was genuinely asking as I can't remember. There have been so many Classicos in these last few seasons that they just blend together

Posted by: X-Offender Jan 13 2013, 12:50 AM

Madrid drew tonight, Kaká was actually sent off.

Posted by: Milan Are Brilliant Jan 13 2013, 01:04 AM

Amazing how much they rely solely on one guy.

Posted by: Jack Bauer Jan 13 2013, 01:34 AM

This season they look like sh!t both with him and without him.

Posted by: Fillipo Simone Jan 13 2013, 02:45 AM

Mourinho in self-destruct mode. Thought everything the guy touches turns to gold. Seems that Real is even harder to crack then anyone would expect.

Posted by: kurtsimonw Jan 13 2013, 05:00 AM

Jose's basically got all the control he needs. He has Ronaldo on his side, that's what matters.

Posted by: Rossoneri7 Jan 13 2013, 07:38 AM

Agreed.

Mourinho is used to winning, yet they have been drifting off that path in the league. And Mourinho has nothing; ie his eggs are all grade A. His current club is the biggest in Europe.

I think his ego is imploding for being a mere mortal

Posted by: han2503 Jan 13 2013, 10:53 AM

I think it's just a matter of Jose knowing that he's leaving at the end of the year. And with this knowledge he intends to take down as many people with him as possible.

Posted by: dst Jan 14 2013, 05:51 AM

For once I'm with him, he's not winning, they're not winning... I love it!

Posted by: Fillipo Simone Jan 14 2013, 12:57 PM

Posted by: Jack Bauer Jan 17 2013, 07:27 AM

http://youtu.be/Rj6VCm3gFv8

Posted by: kurtsimonw Jan 17 2013, 07:47 AM

Posted by: kurtsimonw Jan 19 2013, 09:41 PM

Sociedad, thumbs up.

Posted by: Zed.D Jan 19 2013, 10:02 PM

+1.

Posted by: X-Offender Jan 19 2013, 10:06 PM

Yep, we can beat them.

Posted by: acid911 Jan 19 2013, 11:10 PM

Good thing they'll not come near our undefeated record for a while, then. Sociedad are my club of the day!

Posted by: kurtsimonw Jan 20 2013, 09:57 PM

Valencia 0-5 Madrid.

Half-time.

Posted by: acid911 Jan 30 2013, 09:05 PM

Only thing better than watching a TRON film is watching CRON when he is on fire. Fiery start by Madrid!

Posted by: X-Offender Jan 30 2013, 09:59 PM

Great first half.

Posted by: Jack Bauer Jan 30 2013, 10:11 PM

Real played better so far but their defence is so mistakes prone.. Made two big ones already and gave Cesc an easy goal.

Posted by: Jack Bauer Jan 30 2013, 10:20 PM

How did Ronaldo missed that?

Posted by: X-Offender Jan 30 2013, 10:31 PM

Eh? Barça have been dominating the entire game. Madrid are absolutely clueless.

Posted by: Jack Bauer Jan 30 2013, 10:32 PM

In the first half? Not really.

Posted by: X-Offender Jan 30 2013, 10:38 PM

They weren't as good as in the second, but saying Madrid played better is an exaggeration.

1-1, by the way.

Posted by: Jack Bauer Jan 30 2013, 10:41 PM

Don't thinks so, Barca had a very mediocre first half while Madrid looked more dangerous. In the second, yes, Barca returned to their regular game, though now are paying the price for all those misses.

Posted by: Jack Bauer Jan 30 2013, 10:44 PM

BTW, I have seen La liga very little this season but surprised that Villa is not getting more chances.

Posted by: han2503 Jan 31 2013, 11:02 AM

There's a lot of talk of him going to Arsenal

Posted by: Kazdoodle Jan 31 2013, 02:49 PM

I remember Earlier there was a little talk of him going to Liverpool, But we can wait and see

Wouldn't mind the guy here, Would be pretty exciting.

Posted by: Jack Bauer Feb 3 2013, 09:17 AM

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yDpQ9B5X93M

I think it's Madrid's worst league season since 2003–04.