₦airaland Forum

Miroslav klose: U are right. As a very patriotic bayern fan, i speak the truth. Bayern this year isnt in the class of madrid/barca.

we have a shortfall of 3 defenders. Apart from lahm, neither of badstuber, boateng, van buyten, Rafinha, contento are players that can help bayern beat a madrid or barca. out of 11 players, we only have about 7 world class players

Yes, defence is where you guys have the issue (unlike Bayern of the good old days!). Badstuber & co are simply not good defenders. Your attack, though, is world class and the recent scorelines show as much. Against Madrid, if your defence holds well, you guys have a chance. Madrid actually don't have a good defence, plus they're over-pampered in La Liga, with ridiculous penalties & red cards against their opponents. If you guys are patient, disciplined in defence and quick to attack, you can beat Madrid.

Good team effort in a tough match. Messi was special, once again. Masch was solid, once again. Pique had a few waka-waka moments. Adriano did well as LB. Xavi, Ini & Cesc bossed the midfield, although Cesc still looks a bit lost once in a while. I'm very happy that Pedro's confidence is returning. He made a number of sharp runs, shooting & taking on defenders. I'm sure he will score soon & get back to his best.

We needed this win & we got it, that's the most important thing. Hopefully, Madrid will lose/draw at least one match in March.

^^^^
You're scared of meeting Barca obviously, but it's understandable...

As a Barca fan, I hope you guys knock Madrid out in the semis (hopefully you guys don't do an Inter Milan against Marseille). A Barca vs Bayern final will be very interesting, although I have a feeling that it will be a Classico final (of course, Barca has a very difficult path to the final, but we hope to be in Munich come May).

Congrats to you guys for scoring 6 or more in the 3rd consecutive match! The interesting thing about today's win was that it was away, against a team coached by the great old king of catennaccio (remember Greece in Euro 2004): Otto Rehhagel, former coach of Bayern Munich.

I've had a very busy week so couldn't comment since...

Sad news about Abidal. I hope and pray that he makes it through and can live a normal life after the surgery. His football career is almost certainly over.

Champions league draw: We got the worst draw of anybody. Chelsea, Bayern & Madrid already know they're in the semi finals unless something goes very wrong. I hope it's the Milan that played at Emirates that shows up against us, not the Milan that beat Arsenal 4-0.

All the best to the boys against Sevilla tonight. This We need to win every match possible in the league. I'm confident Madrid will draw/lose at least one match this month. The question is: Can we take advantage?

Here is an article by Sid Lowe on Bilbao:

http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2011/writers/sid_lowe/11/23/jonas/index.html

It was nice watching the La Liga teams dominate their EL matches tonight.

Even if not all the teams eventually qualify, tonight has shown that La Liga is much more than just Barca & Real. Every La Liga team that played tonight won their match. There's plenty of quality in La Liga but EPL fans are too arrogant to acknowledge this.

I especially enjoyed watching Bilbao dominate against ManU AWAY. Bilbao has a wonderful youth academy like many La Liga teams. It is not by coincidence that they're in the Copa del Rey final, sitting at 4th spot in La Liga and now bossing ManU in Old Trafford. I hope Munain and his boys finish the job in San Mames next week.

Even if ManU eventually qualifies for the QF, this match has shown that La Liga is much more than just Barca & Real. Every La Liga team that played tonight won their match. There's plenty of quality in La Liga but EPL fans are too arrogant to acknowledge this.

Bilbao has a wonderful youth academy like many La Liga teams. It is not by coincidence that they're in the Copa del Rey final, sitting at 4th spot in La Liga and now bossing ManU in Old Trafford. I hope Munain and his boys finish the job in San Mames next week.

medjai:
2nd half:

Bring on Tello/Cuenca for Cesc and move The Don back to midfield.

Leverkusen are having a lot of the ball. If this continues, it's only a matter of time before they put in a decent cross for Keissling. We need to keep the ball more.

Lol. You actually wrote this at half time? You're a perfectionist o! We were already 5-1 up on aggregate. At half time, I just wanted Pep to take off the whole first team and bring in our youth team!

1. This match shows what resting Messi does. I wish Pep had the guts to rest Messi sometime in Jan/Feb, when he sometimes looked like he was strolling on the pitch.

2. We need to translate this ruthlessness to our league matches. We should kill of Liga teams when we go ahead, rather than letting teams come back at us, as has happened too often this season.

3. Everyone played well today, even Pique . It was a well-rounded performance. I was really impressed with Cesc, especially after Xavi & Iniesta went out.

biolabee:
Stealth whats the punishment for pique,,1 or 3 match

Cann the red card be appealed against

It's not clear yet. It looks like the Competition Committee will have to rule on it, especially after pique's comment that the red card was premeditated by the ref.

^^^^

Espanyol's own is too much

Make them go play with the Barca B boys for a few seasons.

I hate Espanyol and I am now praying for that useless team to get relegated! They always work hard to take points from Barcelona and then lie down to get whipped by Real Madrid, every season. I can't wait to see them get relegated.

I have no issues with them playing well against us, but it's very irritating to see them hardly show up against Madrid every season.

^^^^

Yeah, stuff of champions, only we didn't do this earlier in the season. If this was in January/Feb this match would have ended in a draw.

Sad to see another injury to Sanchez :-(

usbcable:
congrats

Thank you. We need to keep in sight of you guys, what's the fun in winning the league with 3 months to go?

This match was a real test of character and I'm happy the team passed the test. It was good to see us play against Messi and with Pique's sending-off, the boys put in a very good performance to overcome a stubborn Gijon side.

Here are my thoughts on some individuals:

Masch: Solid as ever at the back. He has been our most consistent defender this season.

Pique: Waka-waka has taken her toll on him ;-) I don't know what Pique's problem is, but he really needs to sort himself out. I feel he should have had a yellow card, not red though.

Adriano: Good performance. He worked hard and was instrumental in the 1st goal. However, Mendy got past him far too often.

Keita: Had a good shift in defensive midfield. Scored a great goal to ensure we won the match.

Pedro: Still needs to get his form back. Was not confident enough to shoot or take on players. Forgettable performance.

Xavi: Old wine getting better with age. He took control of the match, dribbling, passing and scoring a lovely goal to set a personal scoring record for Barcelona.

Iniesta: Great game to control the match alongside Xavi. We need the Don un-injured for the rest of this season.

Cuenca: Had a good 1st half, but faded a bit in the 2nd half.

Tello: Another good performance from him, taking on defenders confidently and causing Gijon problems after he came in.

Fabregas: Had an ineffectual performance. I think he needs to sit out a match or 2 to improve his form.

Pep: I was surprised he didn't start with Sanchez. The front line didn't threaten Gijon enough in the 1st half as a result. He also took a gamble not to bring in Puyol immediately Pique got his red card. Things could have gone very wrong if Gijon scored a 2nd goal, but thankfully they didn't and Pep's gamble worked well in the end.

Gijon:
Barral: He came to Nou Camp and scored with his 2nd touch! Good game and kept the Barcelona defence worried.

Clemente: Good attempt at trying to contain Barcelona and hitting on the counter-attack. Please beat Real Madrid as Gijon did (without Clemente) last season, to make La Liga more interesting ;-)

Botia: Was solid in defence once again and I hope Barcelona will exercise the buy-back clause on him, which expires in the summer. This guy is now ready for Barcelona's first team after 3 seasons away from the Nou Camp.

Good win by the boys. I wish we played this well against all the small teams we drew against earlier in the season. So long as we don't allow the gap to get wider, at least the team won't have to do the guard of honour for Madrid in April. It's still Madrid's league to lose sha.

I'm happy Messi got his fifth yellow. Finally, Pep has to play without him, against Sporting Gijon. I'm sure Messi will come back stronger, which is what many of us have been advocating when saying Messi should be rested. Busquests unfortunately will also miss the Sporting match, so Pep has to shuffle things around a bit.

StarBoard:
Surprised you view Stoke as a barometer to measure the EPL.

How many times have you heard EPL fanboys say stuff like "Let's see Barca [play their passing football on a cold, windy night in Stoke" or "Messi cannot perform against EPL opposition - let's see him play o a cold, wet night in Stoke". Well, Valencia proved that there's no big deal about Stoke,

As for measuring EPL, our barometer is ManU, the best team in EPL history, whom we have beaten comprehensively in 2 UCL finals

Or you can add Man City, the soon-to-be-crowned EPL champions, who could not qualify from their UCL group

Or use Arsenal, the Barcelona-of-EPL, which got thrashed by "Old Milan"

^^^^
And Valencia actually rested a number of regulars. The EPL boys will come out with a new mantra next season.

The oldest player on the pitch is an Arsenal player! So much for "young boys against old men"

Whichever team wins, Emirates is the true winner. Sponsor of both sides.

3-1 win away at Leverkusen. Good job by the boys. Now, we should concentrate on the league for the next few weeks and look for an opportunity to rest Messi.

mukina2:
if only leverkusen had played like this in the first half . . .

Lol! Playing defensive only cost them 1 goal in the 1st half. Trying to attack cost them 2 goals in the 2nd half

swtchicgurl:
fredooooo, i'm the one dat wants the link  

incase of next tym  

Whenever Barca plays, the video links are posted on twitter @barcastuff

Tie is over 3-1. All haters go get running belle again  

Kiessling on - one of the best strikers in BL

mukina2:
na your money?

didadavid:
Godamit, am leaving the viewing center now. I hate Barca.

U paid money to go watch a team you hate? SMH

Post, not crossbar.

Na referee cause am abi

Alexis Barca's MOTM so far.

1 moment, 1 goal. Normal service resumed.

Another strange line-up by Pep: Adriano in attack? Cuenca or Tello could start in attack or Thiago plays in midfield and Cesc pushes up.

Anyhow sha, I'm confident of a win.

Cheers

I just did some checks.

If we keep the league gap to 10 points, then the boys will NOT have to do the guard of honour for Madrid. However, if we allow the gap to widen to 13 points, Madrid can actually win the league IN CAMP NOU with a draw. And besides, there will be UCL semi-finals the week before and the week after the Classico. We cannot afford to have Madrid lift the league trophy a few days before our UCL semi final match (I'm hopeful we will be in the semis and that the semis won't be another Classico - too much tension in those).

We still have to maintain our concentration in the league and aim to win all remaining matches or at least match whatever Madrid does. Otherwise, it will be a disgraceful end to the league season, as it was in Rijkaard's last season. I'm hopeful that the boys will now be relaxed in the league matches (we know we're not trying to win it any more) and play to their strengths.

Mwhile, it's like the team can't stop having bad luck: Pique had a car accident. Fortunately, he walked away without any injury.

We should beat Leverkusen home & away. A win tomorrow means the team can be more relaxed in the 2nd leg.

The most ludicrous penalty was by Kolo Toure. The mumu ran from the centre circle and ran oput of steam halfway top the ball. Na real kolo penalty!

Congrats to Zambia - most neutrals supported them due to the 1993 disaster.