Barcelona....Best team in Europe?

[BringBack_leGin]

Scholes challenge was a disgrace. Both feet off the ground, completely wildly fast, nowhere near the ball and he scissored the guy. Could have seriously hurt the guy. Should have got a straight red. I'll be delighted when the little shit retires, completel and utter scumbag.

 

[mil1lion]

The only thing i would like Barca to improve on in the summer is the defence. Although if they do decide to get someone in the Henry role, i wonder if they should consider David Villa there. I know he plays in the middle but so did Henry before he arrived. I think he could play there, especially seeing as the wide strikers play pretty narrow anyway. Ribery is great, but i'm not sure he can get as many goals as Henry. He'll probably get similar assists, but its a big ask to do as well as Henry has this season.

 

[Shanks]

I didn't see Scholes challenge, wasn't even aware. After the 2nd goal, I went to play CoD4 !!

But if its like a typical Scholes challenge, then no doubt it probably did deserve a red.

I thought the ref played a good game last night. Very well indeed.

 

[BringBack_leGin]

The only thing i would like Barca to improve on in the summer is the defence. Although if they do decide to get someone in the Henry role, i wonder if they should consider David Villa there. I know he plays in the middle but so did Henry before he arrived. I think he could play there, especially seeing as the wide strikers play pretty narrow anyway. Ribery is great, but i'm not sure he can get as many goals as Henry. He'll probably get similar assists, but its a big ask to do as well as Henry has this season.

I've thought about Villa in that role as well, but one thing Henry brings that the other Barca forwards don't is a bit of power to the attack. I think Henry has earned one more season as first choice there, and I'd like to see Bojan slowly introduced.

 

[BringBack_leGin]

I didn't see Scholes challenge, wasn't even aware. After the 2nd goal, I went to play CoD4 !!

But if its like a typical Scholes challenge, then no doubt it probably did deserve a red.

I thought the ref played a good game last night. Very well indeed.

you abandoned a great football game to play computer games?

for shame :doh:

 

[DEFchenkOE]

Don't get me wrong, Henry has had a great season, probably his best in 3-4 years or so, but he is coming towards the end of his career, and has now won the world cup, european championship, premier league, fa cup, copa del rey, la liga, and now champions league. You can hardly get a more complete set of medals in football. I just wonder how hungry he will be. I'm not saying bench him completely, but he will need to be pushed I feel. Although i'm sure he'll be motivated for the 2010 WC.

Just think back to Barca's last CL win in 06, after that they kept the team the same and it went very stale, still played great football but didn't deliver much until this season after the pre-season shake up. It's how Guardiola handles this that will be key.

I do think Villa could play the lwf position, lots of times for Valencia he is down that side anyway cutting in. Would be a good option to buy him as he would also be comfortable in the central striking position when needed.

 

[deselina]

barcelona hardly buy spanish players. most just come from their own youth set up, although maybe they will need to change that now since a lot of their promising players were being tempted by big contracts that barcelona werent allowed to give them thanks to spanish law.

i hope barcelona focus more on their defense in the transfer market, this will allow bojan more playing time for the aging henry and we might see another superstar in the making gai assulin to finally make his debut.

muniesa is said to be a great prospect in the cb department so hopefully they will buy a new leftback and another dm/cm option to keita and toure. fabregas will be perfect.

 

[Bobishism]

The ideal replacement for henry would be ribery. If he joins i beleive this barca team will be very close in becoming the best team in history of football (no joke).

Ribery----Eto----Messi

Iniesta---Yaya----Xavi

Puyol----marques----Pique---Alves

Valdes

PS: Pique was unreal last night and throughout the whole season. No idea why united sold him.

Need better defense, but yeah.

 

[Shanks]

you abandoned a great football game to play computer games?

for shame :doh:

Well in my humble opinion, it wasn't a great game of football, no where near in fact.
It was pretty slow, bordering on boring for the neutral, so gaming it was!

 

[kcmei]

defenders dont come much better than pique and as for marques I rate him very very highly but his downfall is that he believes that too and often his over-confidence makes him complacent. Puyol is getting older but i thought he is a very attacking player but can also defend. Alves is also one of the best wing backs in the game

 

[Petyr]

I wasn't for Barca (only because of Berbatov) but they fully deserved to win.

I find Barca's philosophy superior to United's, or to put it otherwise, Cruyff's philosophy superior to Ferguson's. Ferguson is one of the best managers but Cruyff's (tradition of) understanding of the game is more attractive. Barca is arguably the only team in the world that never would play anti-football in order to win some cup, even if this were the biggest cup. By contrast, Ferguson sacrified United's attacking style in many of the European games, he was ready to play defensively and to use negative tactics only and only to win. He was punished for this. The greatest teams do not play on counter attacks, they do not try to stifle the opposition and do not rely on luck.

I think that no-one of Ferguson's great teams was as good as Cruyff's dream team or this team of Barcelona. Barca show that skill and intelligence may be way more important than physical power and that's good for the game, after all football isn't rugby.

 

[SpurSince57]

scholes challenge on busquets in the 2nd half was more deserving of a red.

Or Ronaldo's accidental-on-purpose elbowing Puyol in the back of the head? What a **** he is.

 

[donny1013]

Or Ronaldo's accidental-on-purpose elbowing Puyol in the back of the head? What a **** he is.

According to fat head Andy Gray that was a fair challenge. What a **** he is!

 

[SpurSince57]

Initially, it was, and at first sight you wondered why the ref blew up, let alone why he dished out a card—but it was absolutely obvious from the replay that he deliberately brought up his elbow after that initial contact. Ronaldo all over, like that little kick at Daws at the Lane.

 

[stemark44]

I wasn't for Barca (only because of Berbatov) but they fully deserved to win.

I find Barca's philosophy superior to United's, or to put it otherwise, Cruyff's philosophy superior to Ferguson's. Ferguson is one of the best managers but Cruyff's (tradition of) understanding of the game is more attractive. Barca is arguably the only team in the world that never would play anti-football in order to win some cup, even if this were the biggest cup. By contrast, Ferguson sacrified United's attacking style in many of the European games, he was ready to play defensively and to use negative tactics only and only to win. He was punished for this. The greatest teams do not play on counter attacks, they do not try to stifle the opposition and do not rely on luck.

I think that no-one of Ferguson's great teams was as good as Cruyff's dream team or this team of Barcelona. Barca show that skill and intelligence may be way more important than physical power and that's good for the game, after all football isn't rugby.

Agree with every word and a great post.

 

[Shanks]

I've seen Scholes tackle and it wasn't as bad as I was expecting it to be. Ronaldo's sneaky elbow was worse on Poyul. A fair booking considering he had just came on.

 

[donny1013]

La Liga, Copa del Rey and Champions League, first time ever a Spanish team has done that. A goal difference of +76 in the league. Beating Real Madrid a staggering 6-2 at the Bernabeu. Knocking out Chelski who some thought would wipe the floor with them. Beating the European Champions Man Yoo in the CL final when for some reason they came into the game as under dogs. Messi, Henry and Eto'o scoring an amazing 99 goals between them so far this season. Messi also the top scorer in the CL with 9. Without doubt the best team in Europe.

 

[spursandbarca]

underdogs according to biased British media.

 

[donny1013]

underdogs according to biased British media.

True, it was only pundits like Gullit that knew what Barca were really about that made them favourites.

 

[CaptainCat]

Who thought Chelsea would wipe the floor with Barca? I think people expected it to be a close game (proven right), with possibly Chelsea sneaking through (2 minutes from being right), but I don't remember hearing anyone say that Chelsea would thrash Barca. Same with Man Utd v Barca. Most people thought it could go either way.