Matthijs de Ligt

[Poor_Sunyol]

He was the transfer I really wanted this summer.

 

[serghei]

La liga is more about winning against clubs weaker than you.
Barca can lose against RM and AM, but be more consistent against Getafe and Levante due to a Messi factor and we will win it every year.

So, La liga is about: who will make less mistakes against Mickey Mouse opponents.

Champions league is about winning against teams of your strength when their is no room for a bad night.

Also, there is another: vacation mode factor/no need for urgency.
If you lose against Getafe, NOTHING will happen.
You will get 37 new chances until the end of a season.

So, to some extent: league competitions will show who is the best over 30-40 matches, but that competition to some extent doesn't have an element of danger, a sudden death and "this is a do or die night", where if you lose: you are KO'd for this season.

Since Barca's players are technically the best, of course that La liga suit them more than a sudden death dangerous CL matches.
And especially since our team is filled with 10s of mentally fragile schoolboys who crumble like teen girls under pressure.

La liga is a competition for technique and consistency.
Champions league is a competition for warriors, fighters, motivated teams, mentally strong players, clutch players, players who can deliver in the 90th minute when you are losing 0:1.

When you look at those mental factors, it is really a no surprise that our schoolboys team have 0:16 goals ratio in the last 5 big CL away matches.

Atletico 2:0
Psg 4:0
Juve 3:0
Roma 3:0
Liverpool 4:0

And that we are often losing to technically inferior, but more motivated and aggressive teams (like Atletico who sucks over 38 rounds, but are masters of KO natches where you need a fighting spirit).

Cl is not only about luck.
It is about luck, warriors, motivation and mental strength.

Our current team doesn't have any of those for years.

A lot of valid points here, but...

Consistency against the small teams is important for a title winning campaign, but that alone won't get you the championship. The title winning team is almost always the one that gets the most points vs the top 6 of the league.

You make it sound as if simply beating the likes of Levante consistently gets you La Ligas. Not quite the full picture.

We did way more than that to establish this kind of dominance in Spain.

 

[Andrew M]

True! The Champions league has a bigger status than any national competition, obviously. Nobody would discuss that hopefully.

But the conversation was about the probability of the best team winning, and that probability is obviously higher in a league format than in a knock-out format.

But my point is that to declare that the best team does not win is in many ways an effort to discredit and undermine the sporting integrity of the competition. Like it's some overblown crapshoot.

Truth is, Premier League aside, the domestic trophies are pretty meaningless at this point, which is why there's always rumblings about a super league.

No-one cares if Bayern win another Bundesliga; no-one cares if Barca win another Liga; no-one cares if Juve win another Serie a; no-one cares if PSG win another Ligue 1.

The most impressive tournament to win will always be the one with the best teams and, as of right now, that is the Champions League.

Because teams like Juve, Bayern, Man City and Barca have been dominating their leagues by battering shitty minnows every week but failing to play well when it matters in CL there has been this BS argument gaining momentum that the CL is just a lottery and not a metric of how good a team you are which, in my eyes, is utter shit. Pep is some kind of genius and therefore if he cannot win it without Messi it means the competition is all about chance and fluke. Or maybe it's because in a two legged affair against a good team his tactics are shit?

I know it might be painful to accept as Barca fans but Real Madrid winning the CL 3 times in a row is very impressive indeed.

 

[malvolio]

Because teams like Juve, Bayern, Man City and Barca have been dominating their leagues by battering shitty minnows every week but failing to play well when it matters in CL there has been this BS argument gaining momentum that the CL is just a lottery and not a metric of how good a team you are which, in my eyes, is utter shit. Pep is some kind of genius and therefore if he cannot win it without Messi it means the competition is all about chance and fluke. Or maybe it's because in a two legged affair against a good team his tactics are shit?

I know it might be painful to accept as Barca fans but Real Madrid winning the CL 3 times in a row is very impressive indeed.

nobody said that the CL is not a metric of how good a team is. but should we consider the CL winner as the no 1 team overall in Europe? real doesn't do jack shit all year round, kicks into gear once the KO stages start and voila, you have three in a row.

juve, barca, bayern or city dominate their leagues overall. they usually do the double and beat their title rivals consistently in the league/cups. it's not just battering minnows, like you said.

don't forget that we were one volcano eruption away from being the first team that wins the CL three times in a row.

 

[Poor_Sunyol]

I know it might be painful to accept as Barca fans but Real Madrid winning the CL 3 times in a row is very impressive indeed.

Yes and no. If you sacrifice your league performance just to win the CL then it is kind of cheating. Teams that win their domestic league and the CL are the real deal.

 

[Gilberto]

Yes and no. If you sacrifice your league performance just to win the CL then it is kind of cheating. Teams that win their domestic league and the CL are the real deal.

Which is why this Liverpool side really impressed me. IIRC they have had the 3rd highest point total in de Premier League ever (and somehow still didn't win the league but that's besides my point) AND won the Champions League. However, it is was only because of our own incompetence that they had a chance to beat us in the CL in the first place...

 

[Zidane82]

Yes and no. If you sacrifice your league performance just to win the CL then it is kind of cheating. Teams that win their domestic league and the CL are the real deal.

Really ... I’d prefer us to be winning the CL every year to the league and coppa del whatsit .

 

[Gilberto]

I always wonder if Real Madrid give up on the league before the season even starts and put all their eggs in the CL basket right away, or only when it is january and they realise they will probably not be winning the league anyway.

 

[Newcomer]

Which is why this Liverpool side really impressed me. IIRC they have had the 3rd highest point total in de Premier League ever (and somehow still didn't win the league but that's besides my point) AND won the Champions League. However, it is was only because of our own incompetence that they had a chance to beat us in the CL in the first place...

Liverpool ditched their national cups quite early though.

Manchester City was definitely the better team between the two english sides.

Also, Liverpool scraped through the group stages. They had 3 defeats in the group. It was not the best side but they did the job in the knock out games.

 

[Newcomer]

I always wonder if Real Madrid give up on the league before the season even starts and put all their eggs in the CL basket right away, or only when it is january and they realise they will probably not be winning the league anyway.

Real Madrid doesn't give up on the league from the beginning. It is only when they are so far behind that they focus only on the CL. They know they'll always get top 3 even if they have a bad season in the league.

 

[Ernesto GOATverde Tejedor]

I always wonder if Real Madrid give up on the league before the season even starts and put all their eggs in the CL basket right away, or only when it is january and they realise they will probably not be winning the league anyway.

You've been reading too much Madridista propaganda my friend

 

[Ernesto GOATverde Tejedor]

Yes and no. If you sacrifice your league performance just to win the CL then it is kind of cheating. Teams that win their domestic league and the CL are the real deal.

The league is the barometer. You only have to look at the COPA America to see that tournament football is just ridiculous, based on referee decisons, lucky draws, luck, penalties. Real were never the best team in the world in any of their CL wins.

 

[VN10]

Cant wait to see him flop and become irrelevant in the next few years lol

While such a thing is very unlikely, he will probably become one of the best defenders in the world, it is also a sad way of living your live. I hope you are young, otherwise live ain't treating you well is it? Negative Nancy.

 

[Raketa10]

While such a thing is very unlikely, he will probably become one of the best defenders in the world, it is also a sad way of living your live. I hope you are young, otherwise live ain't treating you well is it? Negative Nancy.

[MENTION=23569]VN10[/MENTION] are you still optimistic or have you accepted the fact he is going to Juve?

 

[VN10]

[MENTION=23569]VN10[/MENTION] are you still optimistic or have you accepted the fact he is going to Juve?

We were very close though, he wanted to come to Barca even if it meant that he would earn less than at PSG/Juve.
But Barca hasn't put much energy in making him feel wanted or showing that he's seen as a (important) part of their sportive plan + the insane difference in financial rewards, will probably make him go to Juve.

I've heard that Raiola is still in contact with Barca, hoping Barca will still put a little bit more effort into De Ligt, but also that it's very likely that he will join Juve.

If what I've heard is true, then nobody - even here - would blame De Ligt.

Barca really is slacking.
And if they accept Neymar back, I'll rethink my loyalty.
I do not want to be a fan of a club that has no personality and lost all of its original beautiful qualities such as developing home grown players.