The European Leagues & Competitions Thread V2

[HRiver 1,512]

And this is why Mourinho will always be miles ahead of Pep, we should be grateful our manager isn't as tactically inept. Pep is one of the most overrated managers period. Good to see he is once again found out.

[cosmicway 1,260]

Pep conceded three like a fool.

Good for me because there were free bet offers.

If there is a revival from Real Barcelona's champions league could be in some danger, otherwise it will take a miracle.

Suarez was poor.

[Blue-in-me-Veins 4,067]

This was me texting my boy back during the Round 16, you can even peep the date.

Might as well gloat incase Juve let me down...

[The Chels 2,502]

This was me texting my boy back during the Round 16, you can even peep the date. Might as well gloat incase Juve let me down...

The only time I'd seen Juventus play this season prior to the CL SFs was their group stages game against Atleti. They barely threatened in either of the two games and they looked quite a way off CL finalists level. I was pleasantly surprised by their performance against Real though. Barca making it all the way to Berlin has been somewhat predictable with their form this calendar year, but fair play for predicting Juve to get there. It's far from a done deal yet but hopefully they do make it.

[communicate 2,703]

That guy is too good

How in the heck u don't want that guy in us team

[DYC. 7,542]

This was me texting my boy back during the Round 16, you can even peep the date.

Might as well gloat incase Juve let me down...

Nice. Barca was my pick for the final, could not decide on a 2nd finalist. Never thought Juve would reach the semis, let alone a possible final.

Messi is such a dork.

[iseah100 5,612]

Man, if only Messi would come here.

[Fernando 6,376]

And this is why Mourinho will always be miles ahead of Pep, we should be grateful our manager isn't as tactically inept. Pep is one of the most overrated managers period. Good to see he is once again found out.

Pep found out after two semi finals?

So what has Mourinho done then?

Semi final against Atletico and eliminated to PSG.

So they both have not done that great.

[mikeholiday 209]

Guardiola thrashed again

They played attacking sexy football tho..

[Liuxas 121]

To be honest we just can't complete with elite clubs like Bayern,Real,Barca maybe even Juve. Mourinho simply need more World Class players (who can create and score fantastic goals) We can park the bus as usual, but we must be Deadly, best counter-attacking team to able to beat everyone. To do this we must sign something special this summer 2-3 WC players like 1. Varane 2. Bale/Griezmaan and maybe Koke (Pogba too expensive). .

[BlueLyon 9,359]

Bayern under Heynckess looked like most balanced team with great national spirit in there.

Guardiola realy fucked up the team IMO. From tactical to personel view. Its still very good side, but not even close to one from two years ago.

As great coach Guardiola is, he had massive massive luck to coach that barca side. At bayern he did way below expectations IMO.

[LAM09 6,554]

Bayern under Heynckess looked like most balanced team with great national spirit in there.

Guardiola realy fucked up the team IMO. From tactical to personel view. Its still very good side, but not even close to one from two years ago.

As great coach Guardiola is, he had massive massive luck to coach that barca side. At bayern he did way below expectations IMO.

Letting Jupp go was the worst thing they did IMO. They weren't fully concerned about having the ball for the sake of it, but making the most of it when they had it. They were lethal on the counter.

In addition, their squad has only improved since then, but they have gone backwards along with rivals improving.

[kellzfresh 7,226]

To be honest we just can't complete with elite clubs like Bayern,Real,Barca maybe even Juve. Mourinho simply need more World Class players (who can create and score fantastic goals) We can park the bus as usual, but we must be Deadly, best counter-attacking team to able to beat everyone. To do this we must sign something special this summer 2-3 WC players like 1. Varane 2. Bale/Griezmaan and maybe Koke (Pogba too expensive). .

People thought bayern will stand against Barcelona but the team with the better attacking quality won.

When you have a poor attack compared to your rivals, attacking them by making the game open and end to end for the sake of football is stupid. The higher quality attackers will always win in this situation. Only defend and counter can win most of the time.

All of a sudden, guardiola has no messi in attack and no robben and he can't get a shot on target. If we want to challenge the top four teams, we must have 3 high quality goalscoring players in attack while the midfielders must be quality passers with technical quality.

Maybe Gary neville was right, we may need bale on our right and Koke in midfield to put our team in the Champions League elite and scare the life out of teams with

Hazard - costa - bale/reus

Coming at their defense in full force.

[hamad138 190]

People thought bayern will stand against Barcelona but the team with the better attacking quality won.

When you have a poor attack compared to your rivals, attacking them by making the game open and end to end for the sake of football is stupid. The higher quality attackers will always win in this situation. Only defend and counter can win most of the time.

All of a sudden, guardiola has no messi in attack and no robben and he can't get a shot on target. If we want to challenge the top four teams, we must have 3 high quality goalscoring players in attack while the midfielders must be quality passers with technical quality.

Maybe Gary neville was right, we may need bale on our right and Koke in midfield to put our team in the Champions League elite and scare the life out of teams with

Hazard - costa - bale/reus

Coming at their defense in full force.

And no ribery, he only had muller and a szanced lewamdowski

[kellzfresh 7,226]

And no ribery, he only had muller and a szanced lewamdowski

Guardiola shouldn't have played with such a high line when he didn't have the quality to almost match messi, Suarez, Neymar in bayerns attack. If he had robben and ribery, them they would have probably scored.

See how Juventus stayed deep in the 2nd half against Madrid and attacked them on the counter, that's what you do when you don't have the same level of attacking quality. Any other way is a big risk that leads to trashing 75% of the time except for luck.

[CHOULO19 24,332]

If juventus win against madrid, I expect them to win champion league.

Kind of tradition anyone who beat last season champion in semifinal will become crown champion.

Very unlikely. Juve's Achilles heel is that they HAVE to build from the back with the CBs having the major share of possession. Barca's high pressing will kill them. And I say this as a Juve fan as well.

This Barca side have a lot more to prove before comparisons with Pep's Barca can be made. They dominated football, winning a ridiculous amount of trophies.

Pep's Barca dominated every match. Opponents barely had the ball. They conceded a very low amount of goals. Pep's Barca had a better defence and midfield imo. Puyol and Abidal over Mascherano and Alba for me. Prime Xavi over Rakitic. Iniesta and Alves in their prime.

As for being more effective... I think you're forgetting how often they scored. I think it's pretty evenly matched. I'm sure Messi alone scored over 200 goals under Pep.

12-13 and 13-14 Barca were a lot less effective, yeah.

I'm not comparing trophies, or even who is better overall. I'm just saying that this Barca are capable of adapting and changing when needed. If they played each other, I'd back this current team.

Im not sure I agree, while this Barca are a lot more exciting the sheer amount of control on games the 2011 side had was borderline illegal.

In midfield is where the game will be won, 2011 Busquets, Xavi and 2011 Iniesta >>>>> current Busquets, Rakitic and current Iniesta.

Midfield is of course settled but this team can actually defend, while with 2011-13 Barca, every attack they conceded looked like a dangerous chance. I think if they played each other this team can defend fairly well again the old team and still create a lot of chances on the counter.

[mikeholiday 209]

Very unlikely. Juve's Achilles heel is that they HAVE to build from the back with the CBs having the major share of possession. Barca's high pressing will kill them. And I say this as a Juve fan as well.

I found that rather strange tbh. Buffon just doesn't hoof the ball up at all times. I guess im just not used to it.

[Special Juan 27,104]

What a game that was, and what a player Messi is.

An absolute joy to watch.