CL Quarter Final: Barca - Atletico 0-2

Lahoz confirmed, what we knew all along. Refs decide situations based on feelings, not always on the rules. That's why football will always be the most unfair sport, because every ref sees situations differently, so we'll never have the same level of decision making, where nobody gets an advantage or disadvantage.

https://twitter.com/x/status/2042135618625405316
 
Until we get two good CBs in the team, we arent going deep.

Last year we had Inigo, and it helped us to go to the Semi's. We should have had an addition at the CB position this summer, but instead Inigo left. Lol.

There has to be two signing in the CB position. Senesi is a must. I would even wager to go for Konate. But we need two good defenders.
 
Loki said:
Lahoz confirmed, what we knew all along. Refs decide situations based on feelings, not always on the rules. That's why football will always be the most unfair sport, because every ref sees situations differently, so we'll never have the same level of decision making, where nobody gets an advantage or disadvantage.

https://twitter.com/x/status/2042135618625405316
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What about var then? They called him for Cuba but nothing for Atleti handball in the box.
 
Loki said:
Lahoz confirmed, what we knew all along. Refs decide situations based on feelings, not always on the rules. That's why football will always be the most unfair sport, because every ref sees situations differently, so we'll never have the same level of decision making, where nobody gets an advantage or disadvantage.

https://twitter.com/x/status/2042135618625405316
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His decision to award Cubarsi only a yellow was based on feeling also.
Anyway, the ref didn't robb us last night. We fucked it up ourselves.
 
First off, its never good to meet a team youre better at but where theres not too much margin so often in such short time. By rule of law not all will go your way. Youre not that much better that youll win every match. It just happens.

And then yesterday was a combination of a lot of unfortunate individual events. Barca score a beautiful goal and its offside by a few centimers. A foul leading to playing with 10 men for 50 minutes, a worldie free kick that opened the scoring, and then Barcelona even with 10 men controlled proceedings and Atleti get them on a semi-counter...

Barcelona worked their ass off and really deserved a goal. It could have come in the very last minute but Olmo made a mess of it.

Honestly it would be a farce if Atletico advance. Barcelona are the thoroughly better team. I would have 100% picked them to advance if theyd lost 1-2. Now its gonna be difficult. I still believe.
 
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Draconifire said:
Last year we had Inigo, and it helped us to go to the Semi's.
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Who are we kidding, it was the draw that got us to semis last year. And Inigo was terrible vs Inter.
Get PSG in the first KO round, last year or this year, and it's curtains.
Inigo was another washed up player we got for cheap. He overachieved under Flick, like many others, but he wouldn't start for any team wanting to win CL.
 
malvolio said:
Who are we kidding, it was the draw that got us to semis last year. And Inigo was terrible vs Inter.
Get PSG in the first KO round, last year or this year, and it's curtains.
Inigo was another washed up player we got for cheap. He overachieved under Flick, like many others, but he wouldn't start for any team wanting to win CL.
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PSG won the title, if you wanna make a point about how it was the draw, maybe not represent the Winners as average R16 opponent. lol.

It wasnt the draw at all. They were a minute from the final, about to beat an Inter team that had just come off beating Bayern.
 
YamalGOAT said:
PSG won the title, if you wanna make a point about how it was the draw, maybe not represent the Winners as average R16 opponent. lol.

It wasnt the draw at all. They were a minute from the final, about to beat an Inter team that had just come off beating Bayern.
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Any of Liverpool, Bayern PSG, Madrid etc would have eliminated us in first KO round. We played EL level teams in first two rounds and then got Inter who were a notch above, but not that good.
 
malvolio said:
Any of Liverpool, Bayern PSG, Madrid etc would have eliminated us in first KO round. We played EL level teams in first two rounds and then got Inter who were a notch above, but not that good.
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Why do you mention the KO round? It doesnt make any sense. If you finish your group/table well, you obviously wont get those teams in the first KO round. And who is "etc" ? If you consider Barca to have been the 5th best team last year, that would mean QF-stage. But to say Real Madrid would definitely have beaten them is ludicrous. Same for Bayern. Theres just 0 evidence for that. Inter were a notch above but not that good? Hello, they beat Bayern. Haha.


You can spin it in whatever way you want, but Barcelona were definitely a top 4 team last year. And are also this year.
 
YamalGOAT said:
Why do you mention the KO round? It doesnt make any sense. If you finish your group/table well, you obviously wont get those teams in the first KO round. And who is "etc" ? If you consider Barca to have been the 5th best team last year, that would mean QF-stage. But to say Real Madrid would definitely have beaten them is ludicrous. Same for Bayern. Theres just 0 evidence for that. Inter were a notch above but not that good? Hello, they beat Bayern. Haha.


You can spin it in whatever way you want, but Barcelona were definitely a top 4 team last year. And are also this year.
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Because groups are not always taken seriously by big teams. Look where PSG and Tottenham finished this season. Happened in the past with Madrid losing in groups to some bums and then winning the competition.

Barca was not a top 4 team last season and aren't one this year. La Liga performance is doing all the heavy lifting regarding our status in world football.
 
malvolio said:
Get PSG in the first KO round, last year or this year, and it's curtains.
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To be fair, last year that goes for all teams. This year, for most teams as well. They're on their peak right now, while we struggle with finances and injuries.
 
malvolio said:
Because groups are not always taken seriously by big teams. Look where PSG and Tottenham finished this season. Happened in the past with Madrid losing in groups to some bums and then winning the competition.

Barca was not a top 4 team last season and aren't one this year. La Liga performance is doing all the heavy lifting regarding our status in world football.
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This should be clear to everyone. We have not been elite in CL for around 10 years. And by competitive I don't mean getting some quarters or a semifinal here and there with some easy draws.
 
Loki said:
To be fair, last year that goes for all teams. This year, for most teams as well. They're on their peak right now, while we struggle with finances and injuries.
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Get Madrid's or PSG's opponents from this season and it ends early.
 
For the return leg, it's crucial that Flick gets his lineup spot on. For me, that means absolutely just ONE of Rashford or Lewandowski MAX. Otherwise our press is non-existent (it's already suffering because of Raphinha absence obviously). Fermin instead of Olmo (no brainer in that #10 role at least) should also help our press some, but the most important thing for me would be, with Balde back I would LOVE to see Cancelo, one of the best players to play against a parked bus, start at LW (I think this is a crucial call Flick has to make, if we're to have any real chance of turning this around), with Fermin, Yamal and Lewandowski. I would only play Olmo later in the match (he seems to have a better impact when coming off the bench anyway), but only to replace Lewandowski and go with the false nine option, if/when Lewa can't go on.

De Jong (and Bernal) hopefully back, we need a Pedri-De Jong masterclass in midfield. With Bernal also playing a part, since both Pedri and De Jong might struggle with fitness at some point. Also crucial so that Garcia doesn't have to play there, so he can replace Cubarsi in defense.

So I'd go with a lineup of

GK: Joan
RB: Kounde (even though I don't like him, especially right now, but still better than risking Araujo in a big CL game again).
RCB: Garcia
LCB: Martin (same thing as with Kounde, with the bonus that I don't think Martin can bounce back and improve to the point of ever being good enough, but still, in this situation, better than risking Araujo)
LB: Balde

RCM: De Jong (I would absolutely look to bring in Bernal at some point, if he'll also be back and especially if De Jong won't be ready for the whole match)
LCM: Pedri (let's hope the rumours regarding the 'precaution sub by Flick are true, cause we need our magician desperately)

RW: Yamal
CAM: Fermin
LW: Cancelo

ST: Lewandowski.

Bernal and Olmo to come on at some point as subs. And possibly, depending on the game state, also Rashford, Ferran and Gavi, who needs to get at least 60, if not 90 minutes (replacing Pedri in that game obviously) against Espanyol to get into the groove and then on Tuesday I could maybe see him helping with our intensity in the last 20 minutes (as for him in a more overall sense, I would look to play him primarily in La Liga until the end of this season to slowly get back to full fitness, but he could still be a limited time asset against Atletico too).
 
Atletico can't be beat by 2-3 goals at home. The tie is over. They beat us at home and on Metropolitano they are like 2 times better. While we usually are much stronger at home.
 
Gaudi said:
Good, like I said we must focus on La Liga we ain't winning CL with this defenders, attacker and, sorry but also, defensive setup no matter what.
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Yes, unfortunately, Flick's style is very good for managers like Simeone. So open at the back that AM can just focus on defending since they know they can score 2-3 goals anyway with just a few attacks per game. Teams like AM who struggle so much to attack positionally, when you gift them the chance to be 1 vs 1 with just one or two passes so often, that's playing right into their hands.

But despite Flick's risks giving opponents an easy time on the counter, the fact remains. This squad is nowhere near good enough to be able to fight on 3 fronts on a season by season basis.

2-3 injuries to the wrong players in the wrong games and we're done for the count. It's that simple.

We've had the Xavi tenure also. We saw what we can do in CL vs superior teams with a different approach to Flick ball as well. Neither worked, we have too many average players in the first 11 for this high level of football.
 
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No chance we overturn this. Atlético will park a bus and kill us on the counters, and our mentally deficient defenders have no chance of keeping a clean sheet.

Also, I expect there to be maybe 60 mins of actual football. Pathetico will be absolutely insufferable. Even if we get a red card in our favor, i still struggle to see us scoring 3-4 goals that we would need.
 
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malvolio said:
Who are we kidding, it was the draw that got us to semis last year. And Inigo was terrible vs Inter.
Get PSG in the first KO round, last year or this year, and it's curtains.
Inigo was another washed up player we got for cheap. He overachieved under Flick, like many others, but he wouldn't start for any team wanting to win CL.
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The Inter loss was more attributed to fatigue.
No Balde & Kounde. Plus, our backline of Cuba - Inigo was overplayed the whole year. It was bound to show up during such a crucial game and point in the season.
That's the reason why I wanted us to get another CB, cuz sure as hell Araujo & Christensen weren't reliable. And it came true.

Even though Inigo might not be world-class, he was good enough, if we had a proper backup for him the whole year, we probably would have saved atleast 1 more goal in that tie.
 
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