Search results

We had lots of fluky victories that season in the league. Beating Sevilla and Betis away was sheer luck, beating Granada at home with that late Xavi strike was also pure luck, several other games as well. Osasuna away was also pure fortune. I second this.

People always consider the more recent CL champion to be the best more or less. We had recently won 2 (or even 3 if you go back to 2006) You had won exactly zilch. People also thought that Bayern was the best team in the world last year until Sergio Ramos opened their eyes.

Couldn't put it better myself. It's not that we do not respect or even fear Bayern! They are a formidable team alright, but the same applies for us as well. If anything we have had much better performances as well as results this season than they did. We have the GOAT, two awesome partners in...

@Sterlingfan: Why do you even worry about the CL, I am sure the Championship promotion play-offs beat that hands down...

Gold standard material:

Thanks for the link. Edit: Szymanski clearly states that the influence of managers is minimal at best. If it is anything more than zero, then it is difficult to even measure it since managers stay at their posts for very limited periods of time. He also makes the point that luck is probably...

I thought all of them were gripping! Especially that 4-0 :worthy:

I really don't get this, and I have heard it from Madridistas and Cules alike. El Clasico CL final will be the most EPIC club football game ever. It's a shame if this great era of Spanish football doesn't have at least one Clasico CL final! The world would literally stop spinning!

Cheers! I was under the impression that we were more or less evens vs Bayern that year.

This should be re-made with Lucho's and Pep's faces super-imposed. It will be hilariously epic: :lucho2::pep:

Win everything! :barcascarf:

Bad to hear that. Still, fingers crossed, Sevilla are the John McLane's off the UEFA Cup.

You expect a team's fans to predict defeat before a CL semis? What odds were the bookies offering, that is the real question. For me, you put your money where your mouth is, everything else is so much noise.

Can you find some of those articles that had us as favorites? You went through the QFs easily against Juve, while we needed an epic comeback versus AC Milan and away goals vs PSG.

I should have realized that that was the statement that hit you. The only reason I made that statement was to provoke all those people who tend to reduce football results down to the managerial influence as much as possible. Their starting point tends to be something like: "Manager A is better...

Real Madrid have to navigate two crucial league games versus Sevilla (a) and Valencia (h) who are both probably gonna be desperate for points along with two legs against Juventus in the space of 10 days. That is Juve's only hope.

With a clean sheet, preferably. Though 4-1 wouldn't really suck :barcascarf:

For once I agree with you. We need lots of rotation now unfortunately.

These are games from very resent seasons (even from the current one) Not from 1996, and not from irrelevant international football. It was also in reply to one poster who claimed that Bayern are "a machine" at the Allianz, hence the relevance. Do not take things out of context.

Playing 10-man Shaktar and Porto in the knock-outs is even more laughable.