Champions League 2017/18

[El Gato]

This Madrid team are strong but 2011 Barca would beat them 7 times out of 10 games.

Haha, strawman argument prima sort. No need to take lessons from Liverpool and Arsenal fans living in the past, lol. Don’t even see why you feel the need to. You’re more than capable of beating Madrid 50% of the time right now. Pity 80% of the world don’t seem to care when it happens at Spanish turf.

 

[serghei]

Haha, strawman argument prima sort. No need to take lessons from Liverpool and Arsenal fans living in the past, lol. Don’t even see why you feel the need to. You’re more than capable of beating Madrid 50% of the time right now. Pity 80% of the world don’t seem to care when it happens at Spanish turf.

Really? Barca fans and Madrid fans care very much what happens in La Liga, or else they'd be dumb as bricks. How the hell could you not care what happens in the competition that is 80% of the season of a football club season in terms of games?

At the moment, the premiere football club competitions are CL, La Liga and Premier League. That's what I follow, with some derbies from other competitions from time to time.

 

[FC B]

I've seen 50-50 opinions on most forums I've checked.

Craciunescu and Porumboiu said it wasn't a penalty.

 

[FC B]

bayern were awful at home against sevilla. the only team that can really stop real now is liverpool. both roma and bayern would get abused by real

Most likey yes, I'd prefer a LFC-Mierda semifinal with the first game on Anfield.

 

[serghei]

Craciunescu and Porumboiu said it wasn't a penalty.

I said it wasn't as well. But I understand someone saying it was, because the circumstances were there. What's funny is people saying Suarez dived vs PSG and the ref robbed them by giving the penalty, but now saying it was a stonewall pen. in a similar action. Where there is obvious contact but the player falls down theatrically.

But this is mostly on redcafe. Where they have an active anti Barca propaganda.

 

[El Gato]

Really? Barca fans and Madrid fans care very much what happens in La Liga, or else they'd be dumb as bricks. How the hell could you not care what happens in the competition that is 80% of the season of a football club season in terms of games?

At the moment, the premiere football club competitions are CL, La Liga and Premier League. That's what I follow, with some derbies from other competitions from time to time.

You’ll find they only care once there is clear competition. Once competition is wrapped up as early as it is they shrug and throw the result under the rug as a statistic that it is. No emotional attachment in the slightest. Which is why I kind of like Zidane’s priorities of preparing for what the big games that actually matter and remaining careful in not downplaying anything. He’s instilled the narrative where the CL is THE competition and losing the league isn’t nearly as much of a shame as it should be for a club of this calibre if you perform on the other end. It works wonders for La Liga’s quality to have a big team appear vulnerable.

Also, no it’s a lot of rubbish that people flipped on the Suarez dive. Its basically this:
[tw]984174149659656192[/tw]

 

[KingLeo10]

Haha, strawman argument prima sort. No need to take lessons from Liverpool and Arsenal fans living in the past, lol. Don’t even see why you feel the need to. You’re more than capable of beating Madrid 50% of the time right now. Pity 80% of the world don’t seem to care when it happens at Spanish turf.

talking about the past yet you'd be the first to remind everyone of the 30 some ligas and 9 european cups before you all started winning the european competition again. are you going to tell us next that the 2012 league title was irrelevant for you guys? or the 2011 copa that was celebrated by a parade in madrid during the height of barca's success?

CL is more prestigious than la liga, no one denies that. let's see you acting this smug when you no longer have the talent to prioritize CL AND actually have a chance to win it.

 

[BarcaOG]

You’ll find they only care once there is clear competition. Once competition is wrapped up as early as it is they shrug and throw the result under the rug as a statistic that it is. No emotional attachment in the slightest. Which is why I kind of like Zidane’s priorities of preparing for what the big games that actually matter and remaining careful in not downplaying anything. He’s instilled the narrative where the CL is THE competition and losing the league isn’t nearly as much of a shame as it should be for a club of this calibre if you perform on the other end. It works wonders for La Liga’s quality to have a big team appear vulnerable.

Also, no it’s a lot of rubbish that people flipped on the Suarez dive. Its basically this:
[tw]984174149659656192[/tw]

tbf that's a fair point. that penalty in favour of suarez was soft.

 

[El Gato]

talking about the past yet you'd be the first to remind everyone of the 30 some ligas and 9 european cups before you all started winning the european competition again. are you going to tell us next that the 2012 league title was irrelevant for you guys? or the 2011 copa that was celebrated by a parade in madrid during the height of barca's success?

CL is more prestigious than la liga, no one denies that. let's see you acting this smug when you no longer have the squad to prioritize CL AND actually have a chance to win it.

No I wouldn’t. Many would, but I don’t. I like leagues that are more even and actually like us being behind Atleti for once. I’m far from a model socio on these things. Naturally I’d rather it happened not by us being shit in comparison to other seasons, but to me it’s ok if it serves a bigger purpose. Valencia won’t get better without actually having a shot or even actually finishing above the big 2.
2012 and 2011 titles were landmarks for a trophy less Madrid side. Dont compare raisins to watermelons lol.

 

[FCBfan22]

It started in the 1960...

[youtube]5JPIX1GIGo4[/youtube]

 

[JackaL]

Haha, strawman argument prima sort. No need to take lessons from Liverpool and Arsenal fans living in the past, lol. Don’t even see why you feel the need to. You’re more than capable of beating Madrid 50% of the time right now. Pity 80% of the world don’t seem to care when it happens at Spanish turf.

Is that the reason why El Clasico TV rights are sold all over the world and they even played in the afternoon in December?

 

[serghei]

You’ll find they only care once there is clear competition. Once competition is wrapped up as early as it is they shrug and throw the result under the rug as a statistic that it is. No emotional attachment in the slightest. Which is why I kind of like Zidane’s priorities of preparing for what the big games that actually matter and remaining careful in not downplaying anything. He’s instilled the narrative where the CL is THE competition and losing the league isn’t nearly as much of a shame as it should be for a club of this calibre if you perform on the other end. It works wonders for La Liga’s quality to have a big team appear vulnerable.

Also, no it’s a lot of rubbish that people flipped on the Suarez dive. Its basically this:
[tw]984174149659656192[/tw]

Doesn't fit the narrative. Zidane himself said they prepare to win everything and that even himself is more excited to win the league as it's more difficult, and he can't explain why they find it easier to win the CL than La Liga. And he wasn't even asked about it, he just said it unprovoked so a polite answer that was not.

I think fans make the CL more special than it is actually. Many great managers don't view it that special or plan for it in a special way during the season. It's just that many teams in the CL are kind of out of the title fight in their countries (3 out of 4 semifinalists) so kind of CL becomes all there is to fight for come march.

Madrid go through a period where everything goes for them in CL. Ref calls, offside goals, rivals crumbling, penalty shootouts going in their favour, Ronaldo scoring when it matters most, just barely surviving in off nights (Dortmund away, Juve home, Bayern home) and so on. It's not planned or anything. It's just the small margins in the competition going in their favour some seasons in a row. It will end pretty soon.

 

[El Gato]

Is that the reason why El Clasico TV rights are sold all over the world and they even played in the afternoon in December?

Hypothetically - you think nobody would buy Classico rights if it was just a yearly guaranteed fixture and both teams were in separate leagues? Classico isn’t representative and isn’t about proving who is best in Spain. Not anymore anyway. People would still watch it if Barca played in a Catalan or French league. If Real had a guaranteed match with Man United counting towards some form of a trophy the rights would be bought all the same.

Again, people don’t pay attention to the winner of La Liga nearly as much unless Atleti has a chance. Just look back at the interest prior to Simeone era. Even back when Seville had Renato, Kanoute et al neutrals didn’t truly care who won the league more than they cared who was the better of the two teams in H2H.

 

[Cule4life]

Hypothetically - you think nobody would buy Classico rights if it was just a yearly guaranteed fixture and both teams were in separate leagues? Classico isn’t representative and isn’t about proving who is best in Spain. Not anymore anyway. People would still watch it if Barca played in a Catalan or French league. If Real had a guaranteed match with Man United counting towards some form of a trophy the rights would be bought all the same.

Again, people don’t pay attention to the winner of La Liga nearly as much unless Atleti has a chance. Just look back at the interest prior to Simeone era. Even back when Seville had Renato, Kanoute et al neutrals didn’t truly care who won the league more than they cared who was the better of the two teams in H2H.

That's cause EPL's marketing and money distribution is better. No to mention language barrier.

Also majority of football fans are casuals who gravitate towards EPL because of the exciting "kick and rush" football. The only thing they know about Barca and Real is Messi vs Ronaldo. I would rather prefer knowledgeable fans watching La liga. But again then money is generated from casuals and La liga needs that money. It's a tricky situation.

 

[El Gato]

Doesn't fit the narrative. Zidane himself said they prepare to win everything and that even himself is more excited to win the league as it's more difficult, and he can't explain why they find it easier to win the CL than La Liga. And he wasn't even asked about it, he just said it unprovoked so a polite answer that was not.

That really depends on your interpretation of what he says. I mean he says so many things that he needs to say to keep the media mouths shut, that it’s hard to keep track of his actual opinion, unless you assume he is bullshitting about some things. And the pragmatic way is to assume he prefers the CL, based on the amount of passion team shows for it. He’s just good at navigating the Spanish media by not ever talking about refs, frequently agreeing with journos assumptions and making it seem like everything he does tactically is transparent to the viewer. Recommend reading some transcripts actually to get a feel of how he likes to keep nosey assholes at bay.

I think fans make the CL more special than it is actually. Many great managers don't view it that special or plan for it in a special way during the season. It's just that many teams in the CL are kind of out of the title fight in their countries (3 out of 4 semifinalists) so kind of CL becomes all there is to fight for come march.

Like who, lol. Name one. Fergie treasured it and to this day Keane goes on mild rants on ITV on how pussy and impassionate players have become about it since they started crashing out and couldn’t cut it abroad anymore. Any manager who thinks a trophy basically making you the best team on the continent that year is not special, is a moron. It is universally the most iconic televised sports competition on the globe. It’s how many of today’s iconic clubs got famous and obtained their international fanbaselike Liverpool. Only the major internationals carry more prestige.