I will keep my fingers crossed for Liverpool; their defence has improved considerably since last year, their forwards are lethal, and their pressing game will test any opponent.
Got a tip for us?
Let us know
Become a MacRumors Supporter for $50/year with no ads, ability to filter front page stories, and private forums.
The 2018-2019 Football Thread
- Thread starter Lord Blackadder
- Start date
- Sort by reaction score
I will keep my fingers crossed for Liverpool; their defence has improved considerably since last year, their forwards are lethal, and their pressing game will test any opponent.
I sit next to a Liverpool fan. I’ll be cheering on Barcelona! We’ve had lots of office banter all day!
Liverpool need to score in this away leg, and then to keep a clean sheet at Anfield. If they can do that they probably have a decent chance even if they lose today.
The reality is that Liverpool have to beat the best team in Europe to make the final. Not an easy task, but if you want to win the champions league you are bound to face the best at some point.
The reality is that Liverpool have to beat the best team in Europe to make the final. Not an easy task, but if you want to win the champions league you are bound to face the best at some point.
Good luck.
Actually, I hope Liverpool do very well tonight; they have the talent and the tradition and the ambition.
I'll be cheering on Liverpool; actually, I'd love to see them win the PL as well.
Liverpool are the underdog here, but I have no doubt they care capable of winning it if they put in a 100% performance, if Barca are not at their best, and if we get a little slice of luck at a key moment. These are the things you rely on at this stage.
True, but keep reminding yourself that they are chasing Manchester City to the wire in the Premiership, (who have had to play at full stretch, unlike last season's canter), and they have been defeated only once all season (in contrast to City's four).
Moreover, they reached the final of the Champions League last year.
That is no mean achievement. Yes, they will have to play at their best, but their best is exceptionally good.
Ooooops.
Two-nil to Barcelona (against Liverpool) as the game reaches its seventy-fifth minute.
Two-nil to Barcelona (against Liverpool) as the game reaches its seventy-fifth minute.
Yes, you did mention the possibility of a two-nil, or three-nil, or four-nil, result if memory serves.
So three nil.
Not good - not good at all - for Liverpool.
Very, very difficult to retrieve this in the second leg.
Agreed. An away goal would have given them a glimmer of hope, but this tie is done me thinks.
I wonder what the ****s (see: specific Liverpool fans) who threw that old man into a fountain are thinking now. Must be a pain in the ass to travel all the way to Barclona to see your dream team destroyed.
Off to have a laugh and then a beer. Cheers.
Off to have a laugh and then a beer. Cheers.
Sadly a lot of the teams have animal supporters. If it's not thuggish behaviour, its racism. Hopefully one day it will be a thing of the past.
[doublepost=1556748226][/doublepost]
This guy helps.
Thuggish behaviour, racism, awarding yourself a license while in a group to behave viciously and violently using the group identity as convenient cover.
Agree with @Apple fanboy, but think it both thuggery and racism.
While teams have improved in their responses to such behaviour, I would like to see teams themselves be a good bit more proactive in policing it, discouraging it, and calling it out when it happens.
Messi is possibly the best football player to have ever lived, certainly in the top 3. There isn't an opponent out there who can be expected to stop him (fairly). Klopp took some calculated risks and they didn't pay off, I don't think anyone can really be faulted.
I'm dejected over the result, but I heartily disagree that this is a confidence-shattering failure of a season for Liverpool. There are very few better teams on the planet, and Liverpool are right where they should be if you look at money spent. Barca and Man City are richer; they have better squads and they win the top trophies. The scribblers in the media casting this project as a failure are trying to weave a narrative to sell journalism, but it's a very one-sided narrative.
The only people who genuinely see this season as an failure are fans and pundits who judge success strictly by trophies and nothing else, and dyed-in-the-wool Liverpool-haters. If you want to find "failures" I think the narrative for this season should instead focus on Real Madrid, Man Utd, and PSG - teams that are substantially underperforming despite huge expenditures. Liverpool has gone through similar phases in the past, but this season is certainly not one of those.
I'm dejected over the result, but I heartily disagree that this is a confidence-shattering failure of a season for Liverpool. There are very few better teams on the planet, and Liverpool are right where they should be if you look at money spent. Barca and Man City are richer; they have better squads and they win the top trophies. The scribblers in the media casting this project as a failure are trying to weave a narrative to sell journalism, but it's a very one-sided narrative.
The only people who genuinely see this season as an failure are fans and pundits who judge success strictly by trophies and nothing else, and dyed-in-the-wool Liverpool-haters. If you want to find "failures" I think the narrative for this season should instead focus on Real Madrid, Man Utd, and PSG - teams that are substantially underperforming despite huge expenditures. Liverpool has gone through similar phases in the past, but this season is certainly not one of those.
No, of course it is not a "confidence shattering failure of a season" for Liverpool. On the contrary, they have had an excellent season.
They reached the semi-finals and were defeated by possibly the best team on the planet, although it is a pity that Salah didn't convert the chance he had - an away goal or two would have been something to bring to the second leg; last year they reached the finals of the CL.
And this year, they are still snapping at the heels of Manchester City in the PL, who must maintain their superlative standards to win. In almost any other year, Liverpool's results in the Pl would have guaranteed them the title.
Last nights loss isn’t really a fair reflection of the game. It didn’t look that one sided on the night.
But Barca and particularly Messi are in a different class.
As for top three footballers? Hard to call
Pele for sure.
But I recall Bobby Moore’s epic game against him with fondness.
George Best was also in a different class at times. But the footballers you recall as ‘best’ vary depending on your allegiance and age!
George Best was brilliant, yes, and outrageously talented, yes, but he was erratic, and undisciplined, and was not brilliant for the sort of sustained period of time that players such as Messi, and Pele, and - in an earlier time - Puskas among others, were.
Impossible, really, we could debate that endlessly. Today's footballers are developed using methods that get more out of them, and we know more about the human body, diet, and injury treatment. And as Scepticalscribe points out, players from older eras like Puskas (or Matthias Sindelar) are harder to evaluate - not to mention players from way back in the 19th century and first decades of the 20th. This is why almost all "best player" lists are dominated by players from the era of television.
Still, among the all-time top handful of players (like Pele, Maradona), Messi is not out of place. History will ultimately decide where he fits, but I am sure it will be near the very top of the pile - and in his case we have an entire career's worth of video evidence to support it.
Indeed we do. Can’t stand the bloke but Christian Ronaldo is another talent.
Not all top talents are also nice people. Ronaldo is insufferable and possibly much worse, if certain allegations are true. But there is no doubt he is also one of the best to play the game.
Agree with both of you.
No, but somehow, I dislike him a lot less than I do Ronaldo.
Elsewhere, Arsenal - who had gone a goal behind, managed to pull two back against Valencia, and now lead 2-1.