The European Competitions Thread

[Atomiswave 6,117]

RM already 3 goals ahead........Eden with an assist.

[Special Juan 28,141]

Hazard just looks to be safe and within himself at RM, I don't think he will reach the heights he did with us, I have a care home feeling about him.

[Special Juan 28,141]

Courtois megged again

[Vesper 30,181]

9 minutes ago, Special Juan said:

Courtois megged again

I just turned it on, where are they playing at?

some tiny stadium

Real's training ground?

[Special Juan 28,141]

Just now, Vesper said:

I just turned it on, where are they playing at?

some tiny stadium

Real's training ground?

That is where Real Madrid train

[Vesper 30,181]

1 minute ago, Special Juan said:

That is where Real Madrid train

yes

Estadio Alfredo Di Stéfano is a multi-purpose stadium in Madrid, Spain. Named after former Real Madrid footballer Alfredo di Stéfano, the stadium is currently used for football matches, serving as the home of Real Madrid Castilla; the reserve team of Real Madrid; and, according to unconfirmed rumours by club members, will be used by the club's women's football section starting in 2020–21

[Vesper 30,181]

I wonder how COVID-19 is going to effect the billion euro renovations of Camp Nou and Santiago Bernabéu

 

 

[Vesper 30,181]

Ramos stole Messi's beard

[killer1257 3,282]

Ramos stole Messi's beard

That looks like prime Messi lol

Gesendet von meinem SM-G920F mit Tapatalk

[Vesper 30,181]

Real Sociedad  v Osasuna 

http://hdstreams.club/total/ch4.php

https://www.totalsportek.com/real-sociedad/

[Vesper 30,181]

Hearts begin legal action against SPFL as Premiership relegation is confirmed

https://www.theguardian.com/football/2020/jun/15/hearts-legal-action-spfl-relegation-scottish-premiership

Plan to restructure leagues failed to receive enough support

Now all other avenues are closed, we are left with no choice’

Hearts have started legal action against the Scottish Professional Football League after the collapse of reconstruction talks sealed their relegation from the top flight.

The club will pursue several million pounds worth of damages from the SPFL, a matter amplified by the 2020-21 Championship being reduced to a 27-game season. Legal challenges to the abandonment of league seasons in France and Belgium have also strengthened Hearts’ resolve.

Hearts were four points adrift with eight fixtures to play when coronavirus halted the season. A subsequent, highly controversial SPFL vote allowed its board to determine placings as final. After that transpired, expanding the Premiership from 12 to 14 teams was widely discussed but never thought likely to receive the necessary level of support. That route was formally shut down by the SPFL on Monday, with Hearts, having had QC’s working quietly on their case for a number of weeks and due to submit papers to Edinburgh’s court of session within the next 48 hours, wasting no time in confirming their next step.

“Now that all other avenues are closed, we are left with no choice but to proceed with a legal challenge,” Hearts said in a statement. “The club has tried throughout these last few months to avoid this course of action but we must now do the right thing by our supporters, our employees, our players and our sponsors, all of whom have been unwavering in their commitment and support. We can hold our heads up high as we have acted at all times with integrity, common sense and with the best interests of Scottish football at heart.

“While many weeks have been wasted in trying to find a solution, we must now formally challenge this outcome. The club can confirm that the necessary steps have been taken to begin this legal challenge. Given that this is now an active legal matter, the club will be offering no further comment at this time.

 

snip

 

 

[OneMoSalah 8,886]

19 minutes ago, Vesper said:

Hearts begin legal action against SPFL as Premiership relegation is confirmed

https://www.theguardian.com/football/2020/jun/15/hearts-legal-action-spfl-relegation-scottish-premiership

Plan to restructure leagues failed to receive enough support

Now all other avenues are closed, we are left with no choice’

Hearts have started legal action against the Scottish Professional Football League after the collapse of reconstruction talks sealed their relegation from the top flight.

The club will pursue several million pounds worth of damages from the SPFL, a matter amplified by the 2020-21 Championship being reduced to a 27-game season. Legal challenges to the abandonment of league seasons in France and Belgium have also strengthened Hearts’ resolve.

Hearts were four points adrift with eight fixtures to play when coronavirus halted the season. A subsequent, highly controversial SPFL vote allowed its board to determine placings as final. After that transpired, expanding the Premiership from 12 to 14 teams was widely discussed but never thought likely to receive the necessary level of support. That route was formally shut down by the SPFL on Monday, with Hearts, having had QC’s working quietly on their case for a number of weeks and due to submit papers to Edinburgh’s court of session within the next 48 hours, wasting no time in confirming their next step.

“Now that all other avenues are closed, we are left with no choice but to proceed with a legal challenge,” Hearts said in a statement. “The club has tried throughout these last few months to avoid this course of action but we must now do the right thing by our supporters, our employees, our players and our sponsors, all of whom have been unwavering in their commitment and support. We can hold our heads up high as we have acted at all times with integrity, common sense and with the best interests of Scottish football at heart.

“While many weeks have been wasted in trying to find a solution, we must now formally challenge this outcome. The club can confirm that the necessary steps have been taken to begin this legal challenge. Given that this is now an active legal matter, the club will be offering no further comment at this time.

 

snip

 

 

Anne Budge is being really bitter about this. Hearts if they werent in a relegation spot would never in a million years have talked about this and the restructure didnt receive enough support so dont see how they can complain.

3/4s of Scottish football fans can see this but she cant.

Partick Thistle got done a bit of a shitter though in the division below they had a game in hand and if theyd have won that theyd have not been in the relegation spot. Think Stranraer maybe in similar position but Hearts are not doing this for the good of the SPFL its so they dont go down. 100%. 

Be interesting to see how quickly their laughed out of court.

[Vesper 30,181]

Reconsidered: Just how good was Kaka against Manchester United in 2007?

https://theathletic.com/1869135/2020/06/14/reconsidered-kaka-ac-milan-manchester-united-michael-cox/

This is a series re-assessing the most famous individual performances of the modern era. Some will be legendary displays by established world-class players, others will be once-in-a-lifetime cameos that have nevertheless gone down in history.

It’s easy to look back on historic performances through rose-tinted spectacles or to revise our memories of particular displays based on what came afterwards. A second look at such games from a greater distance can be revealing.

This week, we’re looking at a fixture 13 years ago — Kaka’s performance in the Champions League for AC Milan against Manchester United at Old Trafford.

---

Why this game?

Put simply, this was when Kaka confirmed that he was the world’s best player.

What was the context?

In 2007, football desperately needed a new superstar. The previous era of legendary players was over: Zinedine Zidane had retired, Ronaldo has been discarded by Real Madrid and was a bit-part player for Milan, the likes of Luis Figo, Rivaldo and Pavel Nedved were now in their mid-30s, and Ronaldinho wasn’t concentrating on his football. The reigning Ballon d’Or winner was Fabio Cannavaro, as he had captained Italy to World Cup success the previous year, but a centre-back doesn’t get everyone’s juices flowing.

It felt like there were three candidates to become the next equivalent of Ronaldo, Figo or Ronaldinho — brilliantly skilful, ruthlessly efficient attackers. One was Cristiano Ronaldo, who had returned from his World Cup 2006 feud with Wayne Rooney a different beast, and was now the symbol of Manchester United. Another was Lionel Messi, probably the most gifted teenager European football had witnessed since the Brazilian Ronaldo.

And then there was Kaka, who was three years older than Cristiano Ronaldo and five years older than Messi. He had turned 25 two days before this contest at Old Trafford but was still considered an emerging talent, a couple of years off his peak (despite consistent performances for a few seasons).

He hadn’t been at Milan for their 2003 Champions League success, his starring first-half performance in the 2005 final was rendered irrelevant by the Italian club’s subsequent collapse against Liverpool, and Brazil’s World Cup 2006 campaign ended in disappointment. Kaka’s previous Ballon d’Or finishes had been 15th, ninth and 11th. He still needed a particular moment to demonstrate he was the best around. This semi-final first leg was it.

The previous year, Kaka had faced Messi in a friendly between Brazil and Argentina at the newly built Emirates Stadium in London. International friendlies are routinely described as “meaningless”, but contests between those countries always mean something. And much had been made of Kaka scoring the final goal in a 3-0 victory: taking advantage of a poor Messi touch, then roaring away from him on a 70-yard dribble before rolling the ball home. It was a “Know your place, Kid” moment.

This was his chance to upstage Cristiano Ronaldo. They had met a couple of years beforehand in Milan’s 2-0 aggregate victory over United in the Champions League’s last 16, but this tie was truly hyped as a shootout between the world’s new best players. “It would be the perfect tribute to the great Eusebio, currently recovering in hospital after emergency surgery on his arteries, if two dazzling Portuguese-speaking talents lit up Old Trafford tonight,” read the match preview in The Daily Telegraph. Manchester United v AC Milan was Ronaldo v Kaka.

Ronaldo opened the scoring — albeit hardly with a moment of magic. Rising highest to meet a corner, his headed effort bounced off goalkeeper Dida’s shoulder, looped up into the air towards the net, and then Dida, under pressure from United’s Gabriel Heinze, pushed it over his own goalline. It was arguably a Dida own goal, but Ronaldo’s name was on the scoresheet.

And then came the Kaka show.

Was he as good as we remember?

This was the perfect distillation of what Kaka was all about.

Kaka wasn’t a classic No 10.

A classic No 10 is capable of pulling the strings in midfield, putting his side in control of the game before occasionally pushing forward to provide the difference in the final third.

Kaka operated in a more limited manner, partly because he had the luxury of playing alongside Andrea Pirlo, the world’s best deep-lying playmaker, and Clarence Seedorf, who linked midfield and attack from the left. A couple of seasons beforehand, Carlo Ancelotti would often field Rui Costa too, meaning Kaka could concentrate on playing as, effectively, a second striker. Kaka wasn’t primarily about guile and invention between the lines, he was almost a goalscoring centre-forward who happened to start in slightly deeper positions, before roaring through the defence to finish.

For this game at Old Trafford, Ancelotti chaperoned Pirlo with two hard-working ball-winners in Rino Gattuso and Massimo Ambrosini, while Seedorf pushed forward to the left. Up front, Pippo Inzaghi was out injured, Ronaldo was cup-tied, and therefore it was Alberto Gilardino by himself.

Gilardino was a hugely underrated centre-forward (he’s the joint-ninth all-time Serie A goalscorer) and while he wasn’t particularly prolific in 2006-07, he was excellent at making runs across the opposition defence to create space.

This was the perfect ecosystem for Kaka. The side was entirely built around his qualities. Behind him, the Brazilian could rely upon both defensive protection and passing quality. Ahead of him, he had a striker creating space. He largely had one job — collecting the ball in the final third, then sprinting in behind and finishing.

In keeping with the sense that Kaka was a centre-forward as much as an attacking midfielder, Milan started the match by launching a couple of long balls towards his head. At their first corner, they swung the ball in towards Kaka, on the penalty spot, who didn’t connect properly with a headed effort, putting it wide under pressure from John O’Shea. It’s easy to forget that Kaka was 6ft 1in (taller than, for example, a ‘proper No 9’ such as Karim Benzema) and physically strong. He was big rather than tall.

More uncharacteristically, Kaka was intent on shooting from long-range in this game.

Twelve minutes in, he collected a short pass from Seedorf and had Gilardino making a run into the channel, but tamely curled a shot at Edwin van der Sar from 35 yards. He subsequently had another effort from that same range, under pressure from two United players, which he scuffed and it trickled wide. Five minutes before half-time, he attempted a shot from even further out, which dipped and swerved before Van Der Sar unconvincingly turned it around the post. Kaka wasn’t a particularly notable goalscorer from this kind of distance, and these efforts add to the sense he was using this game to demonstrate his status as the world’s best.

In the meantime, he had already scored twice to put Milan 2-1 ahead.

His first goal was vintage Kaka: quick, efficient and devastating. He received a Seedorf pass between the lines. His first touch wasn’t simply controlling the ball, but prodding it in behind the United defence. From there, his acceleration took him past Heinze with ease, before a calm, left-footed shot was placed perfectly inside the far post. It was a brilliant goal, albeit one that was striking rather than beautiful — the key ingredient here wasn’t Kaka’s control or his finish, but his speed between the control and the finish.

That’s not to say Kaka wasn’t a hugely intelligent player, too — he repeatedly collected the ball in clever pockets of space in behind Michael Carrick, and his ability to dribble while constantly surveying the options around him ensured opponents were never sure of his intentions. His preferred choice, however, was always going in behind himself.

What was his best moment?

Kaka’s second goal — infuriatingly missed on the live broadcast, as a replay was being shown — was truly spectacular.

From a long Dida ball downfield, Kaka managed to hold off Darren Fletcher and get his head to the ball, then lobbed it over Heinze. Next, with Patrice Evra rushing across to cover, Kaka nodded the ball past him, sending the Frenchman crashing into Heinze.

From there, Kaka finished smoothly past Van der Sar, and on ITV’s broadcast, Clive Tyldesley launched into one of his memorable monologues (see also Ronaldinho’s poked effort against Chelsea in 2005) that left you convinced you were watching something special.

“Here’s Kaka, he’s seen off Fletcher… he’s seen off Heinze… it’s wonderful from Kaka! Absolutely magical! He played them on his own, and he beat them all. Kaka has struck twice in this first half… all his own work! Stunning goal!”

What might we have forgotten?

In light of Kaka charging inside from the left flank, beating three Manchester United players and finishing, it’s worth remembering that the home side were without Gary Neville, Rio Ferdinand and Nemanja Vidic through injury. Of their first-choice backline, only Evra played.

More pertinently, Milan ended up losing on the night, 3-2. Wayne Rooney equalised from a brilliant Paul Scholes scoop through the defence and then scored a superb late winner when taking on an early shot from an inside-right position, bringing to mind Ronaldo’s opener in his famous Old Trafford hat-trick for Real Madrid in 2003.

What happened next?

Milan won the second leg, 3-0. Kaka opened the scoring, latching onto a Seedorf knock-down and blasting home from the edge of the box. Seedorf thumped in the second midway through the first half and Gilardino added a late third.

They subsequently defeated Liverpool 2-1 in the final. Inzaghi was the hero on the night in Athens, scoring both goals, but Kaka had won the free-kick for the first and played the assist for the second. There was no doubt he was Milan’s star man, and he finished ahead of Ronaldo and Messi by a long distance in the Ballon d’Or voting that December.

Kaka peaked at 25. He had another couple of decent seasons with Milan, but never shone at Real Madrid, for whom he signed in 2009 for a world-record fee (which barely stood for two weeks before Cristiano Ronaldo joined them too). He was playing in MLS by age 32 — Messi and Ronaldo have both won Ballons d’Or at that age.

For a period, though, Kaka was unquestionably the world’s best — proven by this performance.

[communicate 2,703]

13 hours ago, Vesper said:

Reconsidered: Just how good was Kaka against Manchester United in 2007?

https://theathletic.com/1869135/2020/06/14/reconsidered-kaka-ac-milan-manchester-united-michael-cox/

This is a series re-assessing the most famous individual performances of the modern era. Some will be legendary displays by established world-class players, others will be once-in-a-lifetime cameos that have nevertheless gone down in history.

It’s easy to look back on historic performances through rose-tinted spectacles or to revise our memories of particular displays based on what came afterwards. A second look at such games from a greater distance can be revealing.

This week, we’re looking at a fixture 13 years ago — Kaka’s performance in the Champions League for AC Milan against Manchester United at Old Trafford.

---

Why this game?

Put simply, this was when Kaka confirmed that he was the world’s best player.

What was the context?

In 2007, football desperately needed a new superstar. The previous era of legendary players was over: Zinedine Zidane had retired, Ronaldo has been discarded by Real Madrid and was a bit-part player for Milan, the likes of Luis Figo, Rivaldo and Pavel Nedved were now in their mid-30s, and Ronaldinho wasn’t concentrating on his football. The reigning Ballon d’Or winner was Fabio Cannavaro, as he had captained Italy to World Cup success the previous year, but a centre-back doesn’t get everyone’s juices flowing.

It felt like there were three candidates to become the next equivalent of Ronaldo, Figo or Ronaldinho — brilliantly skilful, ruthlessly efficient attackers. One was Cristiano Ronaldo, who had returned from his World Cup 2006 feud with Wayne Rooney a different beast, and was now the symbol of Manchester United. Another was Lionel Messi, probably the most gifted teenager European football had witnessed since the Brazilian Ronaldo.

And then there was Kaka, who was three years older than Cristiano Ronaldo and five years older than Messi. He had turned 25 two days before this contest at Old Trafford but was still considered an emerging talent, a couple of years off his peak (despite consistent performances for a few seasons).

He hadn’t been at Milan for their 2003 Champions League success, his starring first-half performance in the 2005 final was rendered irrelevant by the Italian club’s subsequent collapse against Liverpool, and Brazil’s World Cup 2006 campaign ended in disappointment. Kaka’s previous Ballon d’Or finishes had been 15th, ninth and 11th. He still needed a particular moment to demonstrate he was the best around. This semi-final first leg was it.

The previous year, Kaka had faced Messi in a friendly between Brazil and Argentina at the newly built Emirates Stadium in London. International friendlies are routinely described as “meaningless”, but contests between those countries always mean something. And much had been made of Kaka scoring the final goal in a 3-0 victory: taking advantage of a poor Messi touch, then roaring away from him on a 70-yard dribble before rolling the ball home. It was a “Know your place, Kid” moment.

This was his chance to upstage Cristiano Ronaldo. They had met a couple of years beforehand in Milan’s 2-0 aggregate victory over United in the Champions League’s last 16, but this tie was truly hyped as a shootout between the world’s new best players. “It would be the perfect tribute to the great Eusebio, currently recovering in hospital after emergency surgery on his arteries, if two dazzling Portuguese-speaking talents lit up Old Trafford tonight,” read the match preview in The Daily Telegraph. Manchester United v AC Milan was Ronaldo v Kaka.

Ronaldo opened the scoring — albeit hardly with a moment of magic. Rising highest to meet a corner, his headed effort bounced off goalkeeper Dida’s shoulder, looped up into the air towards the net, and then Dida, under pressure from United’s Gabriel Heinze, pushed it over his own goalline. It was arguably a Dida own goal, but Ronaldo’s name was on the scoresheet.

And then came the Kaka show.

Was he as good as we remember?

This was the perfect distillation of what Kaka was all about.

Kaka wasn’t a classic No 10.

A classic No 10 is capable of pulling the strings in midfield, putting his side in control of the game before occasionally pushing forward to provide the difference in the final third.

Kaka operated in a more limited manner, partly because he had the luxury of playing alongside Andrea Pirlo, the world’s best deep-lying playmaker, and Clarence Seedorf, who linked midfield and attack from the left. A couple of seasons beforehand, Carlo Ancelotti would often field Rui Costa too, meaning Kaka could concentrate on playing as, effectively, a second striker. Kaka wasn’t primarily about guile and invention between the lines, he was almost a goalscoring centre-forward who happened to start in slightly deeper positions, before roaring through the defence to finish.

For this game at Old Trafford, Ancelotti chaperoned Pirlo with two hard-working ball-winners in Rino Gattuso and Massimo Ambrosini, while Seedorf pushed forward to the left. Up front, Pippo Inzaghi was out injured, Ronaldo was cup-tied, and therefore it was Alberto Gilardino by himself.

Gilardino was a hugely underrated centre-forward (he’s the joint-ninth all-time Serie A goalscorer) and while he wasn’t particularly prolific in 2006-07, he was excellent at making runs across the opposition defence to create space.

This was the perfect ecosystem for Kaka. The side was entirely built around his qualities. Behind him, the Brazilian could rely upon both defensive protection and passing quality. Ahead of him, he had a striker creating space. He largely had one job — collecting the ball in the final third, then sprinting in behind and finishing.

In keeping with the sense that Kaka was a centre-forward as much as an attacking midfielder, Milan started the match by launching a couple of long balls towards his head. At their first corner, they swung the ball in towards Kaka, on the penalty spot, who didn’t connect properly with a headed effort, putting it wide under pressure from John O’Shea. It’s easy to forget that Kaka was 6ft 1in (taller than, for example, a ‘proper No 9’ such as Karim Benzema) and physically strong. He was big rather than tall.

More uncharacteristically, Kaka was intent on shooting from long-range in this game.

Twelve minutes in, he collected a short pass from Seedorf and had Gilardino making a run into the channel, but tamely curled a shot at Edwin van der Sar from 35 yards. He subsequently had another effort from that same range, under pressure from two United players, which he scuffed and it trickled wide. Five minutes before half-time, he attempted a shot from even further out, which dipped and swerved before Van Der Sar unconvincingly turned it around the post. Kaka wasn’t a particularly notable goalscorer from this kind of distance, and these efforts add to the sense he was using this game to demonstrate his status as the world’s best.

In the meantime, he had already scored twice to put Milan 2-1 ahead.

His first goal was vintage Kaka: quick, efficient and devastating. He received a Seedorf pass between the lines. His first touch wasn’t simply controlling the ball, but prodding it in behind the United defence. From there, his acceleration took him past Heinze with ease, before a calm, left-footed shot was placed perfectly inside the far post. It was a brilliant goal, albeit one that was striking rather than beautiful — the key ingredient here wasn’t Kaka’s control or his finish, but his speed between the control and the finish.

That’s not to say Kaka wasn’t a hugely intelligent player, too — he repeatedly collected the ball in clever pockets of space in behind Michael Carrick, and his ability to dribble while constantly surveying the options around him ensured opponents were never sure of his intentions. His preferred choice, however, was always going in behind himself.

What was his best moment?

Kaka’s second goal — infuriatingly missed on the live broadcast, as a replay was being shown — was truly spectacular.

From a long Dida ball downfield, Kaka managed to hold off Darren Fletcher and get his head to the ball, then lobbed it over Heinze. Next, with Patrice Evra rushing across to cover, Kaka nodded the ball past him, sending the Frenchman crashing into Heinze.

From there, Kaka finished smoothly past Van der Sar, and on ITV’s broadcast, Clive Tyldesley launched into one of his memorable monologues (see also Ronaldinho’s poked effort against Chelsea in 2005) that left you convinced you were watching something special.

“Here’s Kaka, he’s seen off Fletcher… he’s seen off Heinze… it’s wonderful from Kaka! Absolutely magical! He played them on his own, and he beat them all. Kaka has struck twice in this first half… all his own work! Stunning goal!”

What might we have forgotten?

In light of Kaka charging inside from the left flank, beating three Manchester United players and finishing, it’s worth remembering that the home side were without Gary Neville, Rio Ferdinand and Nemanja Vidic through injury. Of their first-choice backline, only Evra played.

More pertinently, Milan ended up losing on the night, 3-2. Wayne Rooney equalised from a brilliant Paul Scholes scoop through the defence and then scored a superb late winner when taking on an early shot from an inside-right position, bringing to mind Ronaldo’s opener in his famous Old Trafford hat-trick for Real Madrid in 2003.

What happened next?

Milan won the second leg, 3-0. Kaka opened the scoring, latching onto a Seedorf knock-down and blasting home from the edge of the box. Seedorf thumped in the second midway through the first half and Gilardino added a late third.

They subsequently defeated Liverpool 2-1 in the final. Inzaghi was the hero on the night in Athens, scoring both goals, but Kaka had won the free-kick for the first and played the assist for the second. There was no doubt he was Milan’s star man, and he finished ahead of Ronaldo and Messi by a long distance in the Ballon d’Or voting that December.

Kaka peaked at 25. He had another couple of decent seasons with Milan, but never shone at Real Madrid, for whom he signed in 2009 for a world-record fee (which barely stood for two weeks before Cristiano Ronaldo joined them too). He was playing in MLS by age 32 — Messi and Ronaldo have both won Ballons d’Or at that age.

For a period, though, Kaka was unquestionably the world’s best — proven by this performance.

At his peak Kaka was brilliant. Technical with blistering pace. 

[Atomiswave 6,117]

59 minutes ago, communicate said:

At his peak Kaka was brilliant. Technical with blistering pace. 

Injuries fucked him up proper sadly.....Essien suffered what 2 ligements? And still could game fairly well.

[Fernando 6,585]

On 6/14/2020 at 3:17 PM, Vesper said:

I wonder how COVID-19 is going to effect the billion euro renovations of Camp Nou and Santiago Bernabéu

 

 

Dang that looks amazing. 

[Atomiswave 6,117]

35 minutes ago, Fernando said:

Dang that looks amazing.

Looks mighty expensive too.

[NikkiCFC 8,323]

 

[Atomiswave 6,117]

1 hour ago, NikkiCFC said:

 

8 fucking times in a row speaks for itself....it should be renamed to Bayern league. To have 9 titles yes so young is crazy though.

[NikkiCFC 8,323]

Italian cup final is so boring. 

In general, football is not the same for me after the break.