QUOTE (X-Offender @ Oct 20 2021, 01:14 PM)
Everyone blaming the ref today for not giving foul on Bennacer during the goal.
I honestly didn't see it live mostly because I didn't really care at that point due to how horrible we were, but re-watching the images, yes, there is a clear foul of Taremi on Bennacer. An identical foul I hear was given by the ref in Atletico-Liverpool.
Oh well, it's just not our year in the CL...
It was a bit soft imo the push on Benna. He was also looking for it. Ifelt like the players didn't really push as hard as they would have tbh. Those last 30 minutes were a real drag. The players know that it's practically impossible to go through now. They know we have a golden opportunity in the league. And while no pro player ever goes into a game with the mindset of not wanting to win. The body language was very clear yesterday
As I said before this game was even played. The CL atm is feeling like a huge nuisance. 'm much more excited by the league games right now, and given our injury situation these extra games are going to cost us points in the league.
QUOTE (Fillipo Simone @ Oct 20 2021, 01:45 PM)
I think the referee yesterday was horrible. Irritating and unbalanced, but almost every decision was in our favor. We danced near a second yellow for a few times as well.
Look, I don't think we have a chance in CL. It's different for Sheriff who have absolutely zero pressure and can go down 0-6 easily at home and nothing happens. On the other hand Milan are still a fragile and young team and the mental balance is necessary if we want to achieve something more then last season. Look at Conte and Inter who managed to get eliminated in the group stage and concentrated on the scudetto instead.
Football also changed. In our times once a team from Italy, Spain, Germany or England was in the quarter-finals everything was possible. Every year you had a new champion. Defending the title was virtually impossible.
Now the gaps between say Real Madrid or Liverpool and say Milan or Inter are enormous. You have teams like Real or Liverpool dominating and crushing opposition in quarters or semis even with a big margin. While in the 90's and in the 00's it was still possible to win the CL or go out in style for teams like Ajax, Porto, Deportivo or PSV, nowadays it is almost impossible if you ask me. And the new regulations, like the 5 subs rule go also in favor of the big clubs.
As much as it is fun watching Milan play every Tuesday and Wednesday Euro-football again, it's just a nuisance. We have a good team for Serie A, but we're inexperienced as hell in CL and this will only serve as a nice experience for the young players and Pioli. But we had no chance. No referee is at fault, no hard group was drawn, it just come down to experience. We showed in 3 games exactly 3 different shades of inexperience and inadequacy.
I agree totally until you go to your last point.
The facts are there. Against Atletico we were totally screwed over. Once that happened I started to think this CL endeavor was going to become a chore for us. Not because I don't think we have the quality. We showed against Atletico that we're good enough to compete with our first 11 side (didn't even have that against Atletico, but that's probably as close as we've been to having a full squad this season). Circumstances have just conspired against us. Against Liverpool we were outplayed but managed to go into HT leading, that shows we have character a resiliency. Against Atletico we should have won that game hands down had the ref not decided to tip the scales. Yesterday we were bad but look at our squad. That's our biggest weakness, we don't have quality in the rotation. I think for Serie A it's good and will do the job most days, in the CL it's another level, and we struggle when we lose the first string
The CL group we couldn't have gotten a worse one, let's be honest here. Look at Man U, always getting sh!tty groups and still they struggle to get out of them. Had we had a similar group to United we would go through imo as we've shown we have the quality, just not of a super team like Liverpool or the strength in depth to compete when half our starters are out
As you said, this year's CL is a good chance to gain experience. Of course there are going to be growing pains and moments when our lack of experience will show. But going out in the groups will be good for our bid for the title imo. Especially with our medical team