Good one Chelsea, 5-1 in extra time... What, two penalties you say? God, that is just crazy! Come on, Vialli, why on earth did you play Le boeuf instead of Thome? Why...

OOLEEEEE OLE OLE OLE!!!!
OOOOLLLLEEE OOOLLLEEEEEEE!!! BARCA!!
OOLEEEEE OLE OLE OLE!!!!
OOOOLLLLEEE OOOLLLEEEEEEE!!! BARCA!!

IF THERE IS ANY DOUBT AS TO WHETHER OR NOT BARCELONA WILL WIN THE CHAMPIONS' LEAGUE, I HOPE THAT EVERYONE IN THIS FORUM .... IN EUROPE .... IN THE WORLD HAS FINALLY COME TO THEIR SENSES AND REALIZED THAT NO ONE ..... NO ONE .... CAN BEAT BARCELONA.
NOT MANCHESTER .... NOT MUNCHEN .... AND CERTIANLY NOT VALENCIA ..... NO ONE!

OOLEEEEE OLE OLE OLE!!!!
OOOOLLLLEEE OOOLLLEEEEEEE!!! BARCA!!

[This message has been edited by Woody_007 (edited 04-18-2000).]

Woody....

Gotta give you this one. I knew CFC was in trouble when the game started. The 2 quick goals were impressive. Then Flo scored and I thought Barcelona was done!!! That was an impressive comeback...3 unansered goals. I just don't see anyone beating Barcelona now.

Woody, as usual you are right. The only side which could beat them would be Man Utd, but I think they'll go out to Real Madrid (don't ask me to qualify that statement). Barca for the chamionship? Duh...

It seems I neglected to mention a certain team from Madrid ...... If Madrid do somehow beat Manchester in Old Trafford ..... then somehow beat the winner of Munchen and Porto, and end up against Barca ..... please ..... I do not want to hear any of you Madrid fans (I have not seen any on this forum, so maybe I am preaching on deaf ears) getting excited ..... I will conceed that you kicked our @$$e$ in the Camp Nou, but do not expect that Barca team you face in the CL final, or the Barca team you face in the Copa Del Rey, (3-0?? To A.Madrid??? 4-0 Final) if YOU make it to the finals, to be the same team ..... forget Real as well ... Barca would kill them.

So .... lets recap ... ManU stands as the ONLY team who has a chance of beating Barca ..... maybe Munchen .... but other than that .... Real, Valencia, Porto .... no chance in hell.

Wow! I really don't like this team but they impressed me indeed! And you know what?
Barca's best player is not Rivaldo, not Figo, not Kluivert...it is GUARDIOLA!!!

This player is amazing - he has fantastic vision and accurate passing. With him your team rules the midfield, he is a brilliant tactician.

Actually ..... the reason why Barca has playing like crap the last couple of games is because Pep missed them. The midfield possessed the ball more than the other teams in all four games, but the conviciotn and attacking poise was not there. Pep brings that to the Barca's game.

BTW ..... Pep is not a midfielder .... he is a Central Back. And he is the best in the game.

[This message has been edited by Woody_007 (edited 04-18-2000).]

I don't get much chance to see Barca play. But today Guardiola played clearly what you'd call a mediano in italian, that kinda game Albertini once played. Somewhat a quarterback. But hey, he ain't no central back. what about de Boer and that long haired dude. They don't play with 3 central defenders up back.
And Guardiola also played clearly ahead of the defenders against Italy, when he was the best on the pitch.

How old is he?

Zambrotta, today Reizeger and Guardiola played Central Defense .... Zenden and Puyol played on the wings. Rivaldo was started on the usual left flank and Zenden was used to attack the right flank with Cocu. Gabri was out on the left to help Figo, and DeBoer was with Guardiola, only a little higher in the formation. Guardiola's officail position is a central defender, although today I believe he, DeBoer and Rivaldo alternated Central Midfield. Wonderful strategy, notice Bogarde was nowhere to be found. Figo, Rivaldo and Kluivert were all over the pitch and streched Chelsea's defense out. Ummmmmmm ..... I believe after the Chelsea win, someone in this forum said that because Barca is playing at the Camp Nou, it would open their defense out, and Chelsea would score goals like crazy and still be able to stop Barca's offense. Well whoever that person is ..... Me thinks you were wrong. Except for the first ten minutes of the second half, and maybe one or two chance throughout the game, Chelsea's offense was DEAD. If it were not for Hesp, who made some lovely saves towards the end, Flo would not have scored in the first place. So .... bring on Valencia ..... I hope VanGaal sticks witht this team and strategy for the rest of the year, I don't see how Barca can lose.

BTW ... Zambrotta, Guardiola is 29.

"Figo, Rivaldo and Kluivert were all over the pitch and streched Chelsea's defense out. "

Ok, now I'm strictly 'neutral' here ( http://www.soccergaming.com/ubb/smile.gif), but in these past two European Cup games for Barcelona Rivaldo has been, IMO, quite ordinary. Granted, I don't get to seem him week in and week out, but I went into the past two games against Chelsea expecting to be blown away with the skill and tenacity of the Fifa World Player of the Year.....I come out of the tie feeling that Figo should have won that award. Rivaldo was nothing special - I was so disapointed, at Stamford Bridge he was invisible and today, well he made one or two good passes, scored a penaty and a deflected free kick and missed a penalty in the dying seconds of regulation - this is the world player of the year? Like I said, I don't get to see him week in and week out, and I've seen the highlight reel goals and plays, but these were two BIG games and he wasn't doing much. In fact he was doing the same 'wandering' that he did in the World Cup Final....no doubt he's an incredible talent, but from what I've seen of him in 'big games' he's a disapearing act.....a big game choker perhaps.....

But Luis 'Don't touch me or I'll fall' Figo was great (appart from the fact that when ever anyone even blew on him he would fall down or complain)....IMO Figo's the best player on Barca...

I just don't get Barca! First the lose 3-1 to chelsea then they lose 3-0 to oviedo, and now the win 5-1 over chelsea!!!!!

Ok, let's just remember that with 10 minutes to go Chelsea was in and Barca was out, so let's not make it seem like it was no contest. I've seen a few Barca games recently and have to agree Figo has been better than Rivaldo.

As to Guardiola, he is classed as defensive mid in the PN ranking, (number 2 European at that position behind Keane).
Here is the usual Barca set-up as published in PN:
Hesp
Abelardo F.ge Boer
Puyol Bogarde
Guardiola Cocu
Xavi
Figo Rivaldo(Gabri)
Kluivert
Well I cant reproduce the diagram for some reason in this forum page. If you can hit the edit message you can see it then, I also have diagrams for the other teams in quarter finals, if anyone needs them ask...

[This message has been edited by PolishPower (edited 04-18-2000).]

[This message has been edited by PolishPower (edited 04-18-2000).]

I am one of those who said Chelsea would win both matches, but having eaten my humble pie......let me say WOW! I PRIDE ON MYSELF ON BEING A RELATIVE EXPERT ON TACTICS, BUT I DID NOT UNDERSTAND ONE THING, THAT BARCA EMPLOYED. BUT IT WAS PURE GENIUS. I have to watch that game again because I have to figure out how that midfield nullified Chelsea's. I can't recall a single tackle by the midfielders, so somewhere in there Barca used a zone scheme that is revolutionary. Now to the questions: Thome wasn't used because Desailly's favoured position is to the right and LeBoeuf is a natural left -of central stopper, de facto, Desailly replaced Thome IF YOU UNDERSTAND WHAT I SAID.
Rivaldo disappearing: I guess scoring twice and setting up Figo's away goal isn't good enough for some people. I understand your point though but don't write off Rivaldo without recognising that Chelsea do not attack generally thru their left flank which means the right side attacker always has more options. And I think some of us get carried away with Figo's skill. Have a look at the game and you'll see he had maybe three moments, most of the time he was been told how bad the Chelsea players were fouling him. I have never seen a player so well liked by referees. I can't be sure but I think he is the most fouled player in Spain and in the Champion's League. I have more to say but I am tired and bloody depressed by that shalacking........................zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz z

what is PN???

I didn't see Rivaldo score, I saw a penalty and a deflected free kick, but I certainly didn't see Rivaldo score(not even mentioning he missed a penalty that would have decided the match without overtime).

And 1 assist in 2 games......WOW

I'd also want to comment on the match. The only way that Barcelona was dangerous was when they through a ball in the air and some guy would header it. Now I'm not saying that this is a bad tactic or a cheap way of winning. But Chelsea could and should have prevented it.

1 put Poyet in, not for his offensive skills but for his headers

2 put Petrescu in for Lambourde, Lambourde was playing miserable and all the crosses came from his side of the pitch

I'll add that Figo was able to begin that dribble(that led to a penalty(off course, it's Figo) and the red card of Babayaro) because Chelsea was already esatblishing themselves for another cross, Figo brilliantly took advantage of that and the rest is history.....

Bye Bye to english dream. Man U - Chalse final.

It seems once again that there are still Rivadlo haters out there. So lets see .... in the first game vs Chelsea, yes .. except for one free kick and setting up Figo's goal, Rivaldo was nowhere to be found. However, I cannot understand how you guys can say he was nowhere to be founf agian yesterday. Without a doubt Figo and Guardiola were Barca's two best players, with Rivaldo and Dani dehind. But Rivaldo was everywhere. I do not know if you guys were watching the right game, but I remember him breaking Lebouf's ankles and then firing wide in the 20th minute or something like that. Then he had a clear break on DeGoey and somehow managed to shoot it right at him. He scores two goals, it the catalyst for the penalty at the end of time (which he missed), and then scoring the second penalty shot. Just becuase he didn't score a hat-trick and do a bicycle kick to finish it off, does not mean he sucked. I think he had an off game, because if he had been playing properly, he would have netted at least three more after his free-kick. I think you said yourself Neutral, you saw the highlight reels and you were expecting something like that today. Well he played brilliantly and Figo was brilliant.

antithesis - I do not think that there was anything special that Barca did to control possession like that (70-30) ... it was Chelsea who laid back in the first half, and by the time they tried to recover (first ten minutes of the second half) they still had to sit back for the rest of the 35 minutes and make sure Barca did not score. They went away from their game they played at Chelsea, that and the marking at the back was superb for Barca (notice Bogarde was nowhere to be found!!!) Reizeger, Puyol, DeBoer, Zenden, Guardiola, Gabri and Cocu all played double roles for Barca and played it magnificently. If only they played like this all year, who could beat us?? By the way ... I get what you said .... I'm just too tired to respond.

SnakeEyez - I have no comment .... I am too tired to repsond.

The ManU - Real game is gonna start ..... think I go find some M&M's ..... MMMMM.




[This message has been edited by Woody_007 (edited 04-19-2000).]

OLE
OLE
OLE
OLE
OLE
ANDALE ANDALE
ARIBA ARIBA
http://www.soccergaming.com/ubb/biggrin.gif http://www.soccergaming.com/ubb/biggrin.gif http://www.soccergaming.com/ubb/biggrin.gif http://www.soccergaming.com/ubb/biggrin.gif http://www.soccergaming.com/ubb/biggrin.gif http://www.soccergaming.com/ubb/biggrin.gif http://www.soccergaming.com/ubb/biggrin.gif
Leboeuf and 2 veg do it again !!!

PN is Pilka Nozna, a pretty good soccer weekly out of Poland than I get here in USA.

come on with the english superiority now, eh. haha! i couldn't be happier. tomorrow will be arsenal and leed's turn.

GShakan,
I think the English superiority thing was made up by the media and Man U fans http://www.soccergaming.com/ubb/smile.gif
I think Arsenal will go through, and I think Galatasary will also make it through (I predict a 1-1 draw).

Well .... I actually like Arsenal and I hope they win the UEFA cup ..... but who predicited this??? ManU's back four (??? If you can call them that) looked like Barca's over the past two weeks (excluding yesterday). Poor Keano .... he and Solskear (sp??) are the only two guys I like on ManU and they just did not have it. I guess it was just one of those days for Keano. Now the rest of the ManU team looked like Watford today .... well .... maybe not.
GOOD BYE MANCHESTER .... I GUESS BARCA IS GOING TO HAVE TO KICK MADRID'S SORRY LITTLE BUTTS. Too bad ... was really looking forward to a Keane - Guardiola matchup.

Too bad for Cinderella (Porto) too .... Oh well .... I hope Jardel stays there .... good things ahead for them. Bye Bye Porto.

Ohhh .... more M&M's ..... MMMMMM.

Rivaldo set up Figo's run???????

WHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAAHA.........WHAHAHAHAHAHAHA ..........WHAHAHAHAHA...

haven't had such a good laugh in a long time(pls put Conan O'Brien back on the dutch tv, I really need some laughs)

ER????? WHAT ARE YOU TALKING ABOUT??