UEFA Champions League

I don’t get the down playing of Zidane as manager…
3 CL man.

I have not seen many of Real’s matches. Maybe the haters are right and he is not all that.
Then it states that managers are not important as long as players are quality.

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Real hadn’t won the CL in a decade until Ancelotti won it and now Zizou has done an unprecedented number of consecutive victories.

There’s quite obviously a very good manager there because he seems to get his tactics and substitutions right in the big games and that’s what matters most.

So it just negates the point that all you need is quality players because Madrid have had an abundance of those over the years and never come close to dominating Europe like they are right now.

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Well I wasn’t far off.

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The turning point was Salah going off, Klopp never had a plan B and when you bring on Lallana for Salah you know you are screwed. Plus Liverpool’s bang average midfield was shown up. Henderson and Milner couldn’t handle Kroos and Modric. Take Salah out of that Liverpool side and they look bang average, still needs two top class midfielders even with Kieta, another top class centre back, a top class GK, and another top class forward just in class one of their top 3 gets injured. They’ll get away with it in the PL but not in Europe with that side.

Real didn’t pull up trees during this CL run, they’ve just got through by their teeth in most games. They were the better team on the night, once Salah went off. Ronaldo had one of his poorest games in a Real shirt. Bale had a great game once he came on and changed the game. What a goal by the way. Karius certainly helped. But Real deserved it overall.

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Sergio “puto” Ramos being decisive for Real once again, as he knocked Salah out. Puto!

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Reading their words after the game yes.

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https://streamable.com/b4ami

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Real Madrid are something else, man.

The fact that they’ve managed to normalise winning the Champions League is incredible. It’s not just three in a row, but four in five years!

Yet i’m seeing a lot of downplaying and “they were lucky”. All teams need a bit of luck but you don’t reach those heights on luck alone. And sure they’re not up there with Pep’s Barcelona in terms of the style of football they play – but even that great Barca team couldn’t retain the trophy. You know why? Because it’s fucking difficult!

It’s absolutely amazing what Zidane and Real Madrid have done. There are levels and then there are levels.

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Zidane has to go down in history as one of the greatest managers of all time which is a hell of an achievement considering this is only his 3rd year in charge haha

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Fucking loved this from arseblog this morning:

"In the end all you could see was the pain on his face. After 90 minutes for it to end that way was something he never even thought would happen in his worst nightmares. As he scanned the crowd he tried to disguise the emotions but it was impossible.

Like a man who got up in the middle of the night to answer a phone call that could only be bad news, and who stood on an upturned plug on the way. Despair etched into his features like a full-faced tattoo of grief. The light gone from his eyes, never to return because on the biggest stage of them all, with millions watching, this had happened.

It was hard to even begin to comprehend why. What had he done to deserve this? He just wanted the ground to open up and swallow him but there’s never a random, isolated sinkhole just when you need one. All those eyes on him, watching, judging, laughing, mocking.

He thought back to moments where he knew he could have done better but that made his heart ache so badly he thought he might pass out. All he could hear was the rhythm of it, each beat like a thrash from a leather belt across his back. All of him hurt. His mind, his body, his very soul – as if he had done a deal with Satan in a previous life for something good and this was the payoff in this one.

Couldn’t the cameras point somewhere else? Look at those players over there celebrating, cavorting, filled with joy at the achievement of winning three in a row. Please, they could just leave him alone, let him get on with what was left of his life now. But no, Steadicam Steve held his equipment pointed directly at that face which told you so much without even a single word being spoken.

One day he might get over it. One day he might forget, or be allowed to forget. One day even the vaguest memory of it wouldn’t make his entire body burn with anguish and desolation. One day he might be able to speak of a heartbreak so profound it could only be expressed through a performance: a recital in which the people who came to view it could fully understand his woe because they would be close to it as the essence of it oozed from every pore.

One day he might forget that he was robbed of the chance to score the fourth goal in a Champions League final then take off his shirt, flex his muscles, and celebrate like this was a game he won single-handedly. Not now though.

Now is too soon."

:joy::joy::joy::joy::joy::joy::joy::joy::joy:

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Feel so bad for Salah really, him crying when he went off was emotional to watch, such a big game ddn’t deserve to lose a big player and Ramos is a twat, but his dirty tactics worked as Liverpool couldn’t string an attack when Salah went off.

Madrid have made winning the CL boring, someone needs to break the cycle. Arsenal 2020? :unai:

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Their wage structure has seen world class players like Kane, Eriksen and Alli increase their wages from around 80k to over 100k.
They are one of the lowest wage payers of the PL top clubs, so I don’t think they are going to get an injury prone player like Bale and pay him 200k or more.
It would also mean they won’t have any more money to be able to fill other positions. and attacking players aren’t really what they need.

Also, would a world class player leave Real Madrid, after winning the CL final for the third time in a row, to go to spurs?
It would be like swapping your Ferrari for a horse and cart.

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Yawwwnnnnnn what a surprise Madrid won the CL final, exciting competition that.

You can say Liverpool’s team is “average” or whatever without Salah, but the point is that they do have him and when he plays, they have the ability to blow teams away on the counter. He’s obviously their most potent weapon and he’s also their talisman. The team’s belief and game plan basically revolved entirely around him.

It’s sad that he went off as that was the decisive moment in the match and Madrid just knew it was their game to win from that point. Before that moment, you could tell there was a bit of fear / respect being shown to Liverpool.

But both teams knew what the outcome would be when Salah got taken off. Shame that it played out that way.

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The last two seasons, especially this season, there can’t have ever been a luckier team than Real Madrid?

This campaign was more dumbfounding than Chelsea’s in 2012. PSG often outplayed Madrid during their tie. Juventus had Real by the balls in the second leg until a last minute dramatic incident. Bayern had so many chances it should have been over in the first half of the first leg. And in the final there can’t have ever been three gift from above moments like yesterday ever before (although Madrid were well on top in midfield).

They have a brilliant team but they’ve overachieved massively in this competition this season. They pulled off a miracle cup run where it was just as much about their opposition’s fuck ups than their own brilliance.

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That’s nonsense.
Liverpool have sold genuine world class players like Suarez and Courtinho and then spent wisely to get Salah, Firmino, Mane etc.
Real Madrid have always bought their way to success.
Let’s not pretend their spending makes them like the Bournemouth of La Liga and Liverpool are the Man City of the PL.

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Yeah such stats don’t show the full picture.

That said Real not spending huge in recent years has surprised me.
Who was their last big signing?

Probably James Rodriguez off head. I could be wrong but I can’t remember them spending an extravagant sum of money on a player since him.

It’s also worth nothing though that over the next couple of seasons they’re going to need to replace CR7, Benzema, Ramos, Bale, Modric and Navas and that’s going to cost a lot of money.

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