Magic Lamps

oh Torres and once again teh ptich is far too wet

oh fuck oscar really can control that

matic should have been booked there

wow... i am really nervous, not as nervous as may 19 of last year, but still. Accodring to German TV we play 4-3-3...

amazing work by the guys from the German TV Network Sat1 who televise the game. They donated tickets to the loudest Benfica and Chelsea fans in Amsterdam. Also on the German stream instead of ads we got a really nice football webshow. so if anyone understands German http://www.ran.de/de/fussball/europa-league/video/2012-13/benfica-lissabon-fc-chelsea-ranon-webshow-livestream-europa-league-finale.html

He is not only our top scorer but also the English player with most league goals. Also he has the best minues per goal record in the league.

You are right, but don't feed the troll.

U DON'T SAY

I always buy de Rossi on FIFA but he does not commit those crazy antics there. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I4cA0EngrhA this is just disgraceful

yeah, that is really likely^^

Cardozo is nowhere near the class of Falcao and Benfica are not able to play the same way Atletico did. Cardozo is extremely slow, slower than Luiz or Cahill and not as strong as Ivanovic. Despite his height, his major strength is his extremely cool finishing, given space and time, we can't afford to give him this and I am sure Rafa won't.

Lampard staying would be a huge boost for the entire team. There has been no one at Chelsea who does not profit from playing with Lamps.

Last time: He is there cos all of the team travel to Amsterdam. the whole squad win and lose together, the teammates that are out support the one who are playing. Also Ba and Romeu have travelled. . Surely not because of the vague hope that they will play

LOLZ. Why don't take the direct encounters like in the European competition? I remember one year in an east-european league two teams where equal on point and goals on no1 with the direct encounters both draws. So they had a play off, which was 0-0 and ended 18 to 17 in penalty shoot out.

Rafa won't be such an idiot to actually start benayoun, but it is a guarantee that he will come on at some stage. Benayoun is simply compeltely useless. he will never contribute anything a 15 year old amateur player can't do, too. With marin it is a different case. He is not only completely useless but also so über-motivated he is always likely to get a red card or so. On the other hand, Marin can - in one try out of 10 - fool the entire backline and create something out of nowhere. It is unlikely to happen, but when you are loosing, Marin has a 20% chance to ruin the game completely and maybe a 3-5% chance to change the game. With Benayoun you always can be 100% sure to lose. It is impossible that we still are favourites now. Lima, cardozo, john (who is out hopefully), rodrigo, urreta, gaitan, are all better attackers than everything we got except Lamps, mata and oscar. If we do not go 2 or 3 up before the 70th minute there is no way we can win this, unless of course they completely fuck it up.

He was still decent in Europe, vs Rubin and Basel. He out is a massive loss, esp considering that we now probably have to play Benayoun at some stage

one should always be careful with Jewish curses. Ours is a certain Yossi Benayoun on the bench, who is condemned to never win anything. Let's see which curse is stronger^^

It is never only about brute force, the faster your shot the more difficult is it to place it. As most great penalty takers, Ballack has an amazing shooting technique, hitting them very hard and precise. He might have always looked a bit crude here, playing next to Lampard, but Ballack has always been a technically accomplished player. The only German players with better skills are probably Özil and Bernd Schneider.

There is always a difference between what you say to the press what one does in training and what you actually do. Jogi Löw says they never practice corners or freekicks in training. I am pretty sure they do. Moses out is a huge blow, surely. Without him we got no useful options on the bench whatsoever...Ramires on the wing has never been a good idea this season. AS we got no real wingers a narrow formation like a 4-3-2-1 sounds a logical consequence Defense rami-Mikel(fit?)-Lamps ----Mata-----Oscar---- ----------.-----------------

Also dailyfail is yet to report on Cavani to Chelsea, so there might be something in it

That is indeed pretty unusual for a German. There is a reason why Germans are usually great penalty takers (if you are not Bastian Schweinsteiger at least): we love pens, its in the genes. At Euro 2000 when I was 6 years old, i did always wanted games to end a draw in order to have penalties, even though I did know nothing about the german history of success in shoot-outs or anything. In Germany, when people meet in the park to play a bit, they always think of rules to include penalties, such as 3 corners = penalty etc. The result is, every 12 year old boy has 20 variations of how to shoot a penalty with double feint, delayed run-up, eyes off the ball a.s.o. The fun and the confidence a German got in his effort from the spot, surely lifts the pressure a bit in whatever situation. Btw. Ballack deserves to be arrested for driving a Audi Q7, maybe the ugliest German car ever...

He fits us better than Falcao, is younger, has the right size for an EPL lone forward, surely better than Lewandowski overall... but also costs double as much. 42.5m pounds are exactly 50m, a high but reasonable price for such a special player. I think this has always been more probable than Falcao and also Lewandowski, but I won't believe anything before it's official. Hope this would not impede Lukaku's development too much. Cavani has 5 years left on the top. Remember Forlan, they are pretty similar not only in haircut and Forlan played his best season with 31 years... Of course we have to reckon that this would freeze money we could also spend on new CB, DM, DLP or winger...

and if things are not running we can bring German Messi or the deadly Benayoun from the bench... Wonder whether it is possible to win such a game with a player like Torres as lone striker... Benfica have far better balance in their team, but it consists of solid and average players, no real worldclass men...It is crucial Benitez gets his tactics spot on, then we got a chance... i feel, something is different than it has been in previous cup finals this season. Can this game fuckin start now before I start to absorb transcendental vibrations to forecast this match?!

I'd had no problem starting with Courtois next season. I've watched many of his games and IMO he is a top 5 goalie already, and will be better than Cech, who is slowly declining, before 2015. I don't get why he should be loaned within the EPL. If Atletico have such a good defense, he won't have too much to do most of the time, as he will have here, so no reason to loan him to mediocre english team. A goalkeeper has to save whatever comes towards his goal and whether that goal stands in Spain or in England does not make much of a difference.

this probably is it for Wigan