I don't rate Rooney particularly highly anyway, just another player who never quite reached the promised potential.

Hahaha a red card for that, poor football you're so ****ed!

It's not Barca ref

No fucking way that was a red card.

Wow Modric.

Well done, ref.

You ever going to do anything in big games Cristiano?

Come on now, nobody says that anymore, when people were saying it (including me), it was actually true!

Never been true. He scored in Manchester derbies, games against Arsenal, Chelsea, etc. from a young age.

Happy Madrid went through, but if someone genuinely believes there's no anti-English bias in UEFA...

tbh it was a rash tackle and studs were up. But if you think it wasn't a red, Rafael's goal line handball certainly was.

English media will probably ignore the rash of chances Utd missed and blame the referee.

Real were plain better tonight.

Really? Not sure about that.

Even Jose just said after the game "Irrelevant of the decision, the best team lost tonight, we just didn't play well". Obviously he's a class act, but I still agree with him.

And disappeared in as many. The Manchester derby was not a big game when he played for Untied though.

I don't believe that. Useless/bribed refs is the problem in my view.

I turned off the game after the red card, no reason watching bs.

hahaha

If that was not a red I don't know what is. a full force, dangerous high kick to Arbeloa's side. definitely a red. the hilarious part was Nani faking injury I wish Roy Keane was around to slap that b1tch for being such a *****.

Totally deserved win for Madrid. they won like a boss. Man U didn't even score their own goal, just a lucky double-deflection.

Ferguson totally fucked it up too with his Rooney plan which backfired embarrassingly.

Modric is CLASS. Kaka, I'm glad we didn't sign. guy's finished, just does the simple things.

MotM, Lopez.

So because he was only good in probably 2/3s of the big games it's reason to be critical? In that regard Ronaldo is easily the best player in the World then, because Messi is good in barely half the big games. While Ronaldo scores in big games for fun.

Was not full force and he was looking at the ball.


And Madrid did not even have a half-decent chance when the game was even.

Nowhere near full force, agreed. He didn't see the player and just lifted his foot to control the ball. If that's a red, every game would be a 3-0 forfeit one way or the other because you'd see 10 red cards a game. Ridiculous decision.

How did you calculate that? Maybe CR is actually better right now. But Messi has not always been as ineffective as he's been recently. And he's not as ineffective as people say anyway it's just that he has not been dominating most of the time as he used to.

They still say it.


United - City has always been massive, arguably more so when it meant more to the English based players as opposed to a lot of international elaborately named heavily played players.


Does everyone aside of English fans rate Rooney massively?


+1, without a shadow of a doubt.

Baffled at the decision. Ruined the game for me.

Good for the rest of Europe I guess, looks like the balance of power is definitely shifting away from the Premier League again.

Stop talking to idiots.


Yeah but the quality of the two teams was not comparable.


Well it wasn't that long ago that he used to be very good even if he was inconsistent.

It was full force, it doesn't show as much as other kinds of kicks. there's the weight of a whole moving body behind it. and his studs were up. how is that not dangerous?

Was looking at the ball? so what? nowhere in the rules does that exempt the player from being sent off. it says dangerous foul play = red card.

If you're talking Euro '04 I agree, since then I don't buy the hype other than a few outrageous goals. Hasn't really fulfilled that potential for me. He's like the Blake Griffin of the Premiership.

Because it's how it is. Have you seen Barca in the past month. Messi has been anonnymous in every game. Crap against Milan, crap against Sevilla, crap against Madrid, crap against Madrid reserves.


I wouldn't say that after 1 season, but I don't think outside of Man U there's any real genuine quality. If they go out, I don't see a team who can put in a realistic challenge of going far.

Milan, Mourinho and Dortmund in that order for me this season now.

I think he's a great player. I'm not following Man U regularly so he could have a dip in form that I'm not aware of? but he's a great player and great players need to play in such games. could've changed the course of the game in a moment.

Are you telling me Welbeck is better than Rooney?

For England, I agree it's Euro 2004. For Man U I don't even think he's had a season where he wasn't quality. He's United's best player and unless they sign 1 of 5 or so players, he will still be for the log term.

People keep talking about RVPs goals, I think they have a short memory, Rooney scored more in his position last season!

Nani was looking at the ball, he clearly raised his foot in order to catch the ball. I bet he didn't even see the Madrid player. I think a yellow would have been the best decision.

After years of performing consistently at a high level I think it's normal to play poorly [in bigger games].

Ronaldo is right now the best. normally he's second best to Messi in my opinion, but he's having the best form of his life while Messi has slowed down significantly.



I wonder why he faked injury? usually when a player knows he's fucked up and is about to receive a booking or get sent off does that.

What's your definition of full force? He was not running at full speed and he did not push his leg towards the player as when tackling. It was definitely dangerous I did not say differently but that was a yellow card, never a red.

The rules mention intent that's what I'm talking about.

Townsend made a brilliant point. What is the difference between Nani trying to control the ball and catching Arbeloa and Diego Lopez coming out, missing the ball, and punching Vidic in the head? Both of them had the intent to get the ball, both of them didn't see their 'victim' and both of them didn't get the ball. One was a red card, the other not even a free kick.

That's a ridiculous point IMO. I've never see a GK sent off or even yellow carded for trying to punch the ball and instead hitting someone in the head like Lopez did. I've seen many players yellow carded or sent off as a result of a similar offense to that of Nani.

Goalkeepers are given more immunity within the penalty area than players outside of it. everything happens so fast when a cross is coming in and the area is crowded. mistakes like that happen.



Can we get an expert's opnion on this and be done with it? I think it was dangerous and worthy of a red.

So? That just proves the refs are making mistakes. What the hell is the difference between Lopez punching Vidic in the head without seeing him and Nani kicking Arbeloa without seeing him? (except the former is far, far more dangerous). Just shows the lack of logic in football. Neither are red cards. There's no intent in either and Nani's wasn't dangerous, Lopez' was.

If Nani's is a red, Lopez' is a red, every overhead kick is a red.

UefaLiga

I just checked Gazzetta, Corriere and Mediaset: they all say it wasn't a red.

First time I've stopped reading one of your posts

I think he was right personally. On the subject of ITV pundits, does Roy Keane ever actually have an opinion? I get the impression he waits for the others to agree, then just disagrees with it for the sake of doing so, no matter how ridiculous.

I just dislike the guy as a commentator to be honest. Yeah Keane seems to want to play up to his football name as a pundit.

Not very interesting games tonight. The Juve one is pointless, whilst PSG will most probably walk over Valencia.

I'm watching the Juve game, them winning again tonight would be another good thing for Italy

Silva as PSG captain just doesn't feel right. He should be our captain

+1.

1-0 Juve. tie really and truly over now. switching to PSG now! too bad Verratti and Ibra are not playing.

Valencia are playing really well.

The PSG game is a total yawnfest.

EXACTLY what I wanted to say here. they remind me so much of Milan circa 2006-2009. knowing who the manager of both teams was/is, it's no surprise. they seem to be too reliant on Ibra to score their goals, didn't create anything noteworthy in the minutes I watched. won't blame Carlo for this one, it seems to be an issue with every team the guy plays for, unless it's called Barca.

EDIT> oh you meant the game is a yawnfest not just PSG.. I agree with that too!

I haven't seen this PSG side play, but they seem such a soulless team. Go go Valencia!

Hats off to Valencia, fantastic performance tonight. Only lacked that something upfront to score. PSG, what a piss-poor performance. They're nothing without Ibra.

I was rooting for Valencia, really wanted them to score another to take it to ET and then win. but they just couldn't break PSG's solid defensive wall.

Well, I hope we draw PSG IF we make it to the next round. would love to see our ex-Milanisti back.

If we somehow manage to make it through, PSG would be on the same list of "wants" with teams like Porto/Shalke. And it's not simply about Ibra, they're usually bad with him on the pitch as well. Just a bunch of overpaid guys running about.

Bayern/Dortmund/Real would be the ones I'd be seriously worried about facing.

PSG might be a bit soulless I agree but every team always relies on its star players.

It's actually slightly ridiculous to suggest a criticism of Utd is they're weaker without RVP, or Liverpool are weaker without Suarez.

Of course they are!

We're weaker without Boateng. Inter are weaker without Milito. Juve C*nto.

Point is you can't really slag PSG off for missing their star player.

He's their centrepiece as he was ours as he was Juve's as he was for everyone he's played for bar Barca.

I actually think PSG are a very, very dark horse for this whole thing.