Agreed.
\
Seriously? that's.. lame.

Arsenal - Barca , a draw but very very good game, i really liked it

Well done to Inter, they're keeping the Italian 4th CL spot alive. Italian football needs them to do well, especially with Bayern doing well in the CL this year and the German representatives in the Europa League doing well.

+1 each to Barca and Arsenal.

That was a very good game.

For real...

What a shame!

It depends on long ago. Pirlo of 2006?




You can't touch this!

That Pirlo? I'd say he was probably as good as Xavi is now. but you know consistency wins.

As far back as I can remember, Xavi has been awesome. his vision and ball control is second to none and his passing accuracy can only be matched by a f*cking machine!

Come on CSKA!!


Why not?


Are f***ing machines so accurate? If so I should get Max one!

Messi gets all the praise, but there's a very good reason he excels so much - he has Xavi and Iniesta behind him.

They are the true architects of Barca's brilliance, and while Iniesta shades it between the two for me, Xavi showed last night just how ridiculously good he is.

If Messi is worth £225M or Euros, Iniesta and Xavi must be worth similar values.

Xavi is criminally under rated, as is Iniesta. Both play very similar games - Xavi with his slightly deeper lying grace, balance, vision and composure, Iniesta with his forays forward with guile, cunning, awareness, and a turn of pace and dribbling.

Supply Messi from those two and you have a nigh on unstoppable football machine.

The biggest shame is Xavi is nearing the twilight of his career.

Pirlo at his absolute peak wasn't as good as Xavi is now.

Xavi, along with his two Barca buddies, is part of the greatest football dynasty in the world - Pirlo, for all his brilliance of yesteryear, couldn't hold a candle to any of them.

That's why you are not a referee. The question is if it's a penalty, but it cannot be a question if it's red when given a penalty. When the referee decides to give a penalty, the rest speaks for himself while whistling for a penalty means in this case a golden scoring oppurtinity is taking away by the defender = red card. Cannot argue about it, I also find it harsh LOOKING, but it is the right decision. Kudos to the referee.

I've been whoring Walcott for years to anyone who'd listen. He's an exceptional talent curtailed by injuries, but his pace is just ridiculous and he's dangerous in the last third.

Agree with everything except the 1st sentence. how exactly is he criminally underrated? the guy is showered with praise after every game in which he shines. people appreciate him even if they don't support the team he plays for. he may be a little underrated but not 'criminally underrated'.



Only of you're a loser...



Some argue that Pirlo at his absolute peak (ie the 2006 World Cup) was as good as Xavi is now and I think it's a valid argument. I know Italy won that title as a team, but they wouldn't have done so without Pirlo.

So I guess we'll have to wait and see Xavi's World Cup performances before passing the final judgment but if his form for Barca in La Liga and CL, and his form for Spain in the Euro 2008 means anything, then he's the most amazing (and consistent) CM I've ever seen.

That's just not true. Pirlo at his peak was really amazing (and very underrated).

I didn't say he wasn't really amazing, I said Xavi is better.

Xavi, and Iniesta, aren't human. They're absolutely incredible footballers and I believe they were cultivated in outer space by aliens using the genes of Maradona, Gullit, Pele, Muller, Garincha and others.

I'd have given the penalty because Puyol stopped Fabregas shooting. But there's a few reasons I wouldn't have given the red card. One of which is that Puyol made no movement to try and stop Cesc shooting - Cesc actually kicked Puyol in the leg - and Cesc never had control of the ball.

I agree with Danny on Xavi/Pirlo, except for the 'Pele' part, most overrated player ever, by an incredible distance.

that was my way to say I don't agree

Pirlo was really really really amazing

Because it's Messi everyone ejaculates all over. So many forget that Xavi and Iniesta are his equal or even superior.




I'd argue that he doesn't even need a superb world cup to prove himself. He's done it consistently at every level below that, and given Spain V Germany is hardly a final we could never expect to see in the summer I'd argue Euro 2008 proved Xavi as much as he needs to.

Then we'll just have to agree to disagree.


























Whereby I take you into a dark alleyway and pummel you hard into submission and you eventually agree with me

Whether he's overated or not, when you say his name it's a symbol of brilliance (be it accurate or otherwise) so people know what you're trying to say

Daisuki da yo.

Pirlo at his best = Xavi.
Xavi at his best = Iniesta.
Iniesta at his best = Nobody compares at the moment.

Iniesta better than Xavi ?
Xavi better than Pirlo ?
Nobody better than Iniesta ?

I think you're over rating Xavi and Iniesta !

Iniesta at his best = Gerrard !

You're all trying to compare different players, sure they're all essentially CMs but they're all different and great in their own way. Especially Iniesta, he's not a typical CM like Pirlo and Xavi, he's a dribbler, has really great pace, he plays on the wing for Barca most of the time. Where as Pirlo and Xavi are architects more then anything.

I think that at their very best Pirlo and Xavi are equal, the reason why Xavi edges it is because he's more consistant these days, while Pirlo has been hot and cold ever since the 06 WC

Although Pirlo was a lot more consistant before that, when the entire Milan team was actually up to par. Xavi has a better team around him so it's easier for him to make everything look so easy, Barca's movement is just out of this world same goes for the Spanish NT, for a player like Xavi that is the most important thing. While Pirlo has this Milan team to contend with and the Italian NT, which thanks to Lippi is just as bad. Look at Milan's games, Pirlo get's the ball and there is no movement ahead of him, it just leaves him with no options, not to mention that Pirlo is usually made to act as the sole DM while Ambro is gallavanting in the opposition's box and Rino is running around without purpose

Kurt at his best = still annoying

If that was true about Gerrard, and the form Rooney is in, there would be no need to play the World Cup. But it's not the case. Gerrard has been terrible this season.

As for overrating them, I don't think so. Iniesta is possibly the best player in World football right now and I think he's noticably better than Xavi, meainly due to his range of passing. So no, I don't believe there is a midfielder better than Iniesta right now. Except for Milner of course, but then it's unfair to compare people against somebody that clearly isn't human.


And damn good at it.

You, me and Rooney all agree on this.

And I trust Rooney given he played against the guy.

I was gutted when I realised he wasn't fit for the Arsenal match.

Iniesta is simply the perfect footballer.

And Xavi is not far behind him - but enough to 'notice' as you put it.

I love both Xavi and Iniesta, even more so because they're overshadowed by Messi. I think the latter is an amazing player but the former two are equally good. It's exactly how I felt before with Barcelona, with Deco and Ronaldinho in the respective positions.


Hell yeah

CSKA 0-1 Inter. Sneijder free kick on 6 minutes. Horrible goalkeeping by Akinfeev.

Inter goal lul,Akinfeev reliable lolol ,it was really a simple free kick from sneijder.

Odiah sent off.

Jose and Inter look set to be in the Semi Finals. Good news for Italian football.

Barcelona: Valdes, Dani Alves, Abidal, Marquez, Milito, Busquets, Keita, Xavi, Pedro, Messi, Bojan.

Arsenal: Almunia, Sagna, Clichy, Silvestre, Vermaelen, Diaby, Denilson, Nasri, Rosicky, Walcott, Bendtner.

Interesting that Pep didn't go with Henry up top, thought he might with Zlatans absense. Very good move by Wenger to bring in Silvestre for Gallas, Campbell wouldn't stand a chance.

Veyr much loking forward to this.

Those La Liga defenses make Messi look ridiculous!

Barcelona had better not relax again like they did in Emirates because I can see them conceding another 2 late goals and getting eliminated.

Ah. No wonder the gooner in the office next door left early today. Sounds like it'll be a fun one to watch tonight.

*SPOILER ALERT FOR FISHDOLL!*






Four goals... and he made half the plays he usually does...

Barcelona were incredible, they played for only 45 minutes and they still won easily... everyone had a great game! They all are ridiculous...

I can't wait for the inert matches... the merda will need something... special to eliminate Barcelona.

(Maybe Moratti should call UEFA's referee designator).

What are you talking about, they are clean!

I doubt he can make fun of Inter defenders like this though. he will most probably score, but 4? no way.

I still stand by what I said, Messi is yet to be REALLY challenged by good defenses. if he plays like this in the World Cup, I'll be the first to name him the best in history. I just know it will be nowhere as easy for him.

Very enjoyable. Watching it with Arsenal fans made it even better, especially after some of the stuff they said when Bendtner gave them the lead.

I loved the stat that came up after 70 minutes or so, Barca had nearly made triple the amount of passes. Arsenal were made to look ametuer and they basically played the way Arsene criticises every other English team of playing. Wonderful.

Inter are probably the only team in Europe capable of beating Barcelona in this context.

He has been challenged by good defences - for his country, and in the group stages against Inter. And guess what, he wasn't half as magical as he was last night.

La Liga defences are pathetic.

Don't get me wrong, he was incredible last night, and deserves praise for it, but teams aren't exactly making life hard for him.

Messi, against great defenses, is not better than any other great player I've seen in my lifetime but he makes not-great defenses looks so pathetic I sometimes feel pity for them.

There' aren't exactly many great defenses around though.

I'm not really sure what some of you guys are getting at here. A great defense doing a better job at containing a profilic striker than average or poor defenses isn't shocking.

I think what they're saying, servbot, is that there aren't any really good defenses in Spain except the one on Messi's own team. And that if Messi were playing in a league where there's more emphasis on defense or where there are teams with good defenses, he wouldn't look quite so magical.

So HT MU 3-1 Bayern and Bordeaux 1-0 Lyon.

Yay,Man united lost.

one of the goals of the season!!!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nPUFDbBc7Lg

man u out!

But he's doing the best of everyone who is facing those same defenses, including Cristiano Ronaldo, who also lit up EPL defenses a couple years ago, so it's pretty safe to say that Messi is really, really good at what he does.

I'm all for Man U hatred, but wouldn't it be better for them to be in, so A) Inter has a (perhaps) tougher competition, and losing to a team that makes a deep run looks better for Milan?

That emoticon is supposed to be "B"