Champions League Draw for Last 16

First topic message reminder :

Galatasaray v Schalke

Celtic v Juventus

Arsenal v Bayern Munich

Shakhtar Donetsk v Borussia Dortmund

AC Milan v Barcelona

Real Madrid v Manchester United

Valencia v Paris St Germain

Porto v Malaga

In the first half, Arbeloa caught Evra in the thigh with his studs raised in a tackle very similiar to Nani. Why wasn't that a red card?

GSC wrote:Englands been dropping for a few years now. Chelseas CL victory, probably one of the luckiest in history, where they were visibly inferior to every opponent doesn't mask this.

yes they have been abit..(CL performances)

one major reason for this is actually ironically due to the imergence of other prem teams..

when it was liverpool, man u, chelsea and arsernal year in year out- they would just get into the quarters every year.

then when it got shaken up due to even more depth in the PL. the other teams (man cities etc) just dont have the experience.. and then off course chelsea did win when very under par in the Prem!! however totenham would have probally faired better anyway..


Anyway the standard has dropped. I admit it

But there is no reason why you cant turn that around. This happens to the other major leagues with much more consitancy. Its only our previous good consitancy that flags our league up this time

Other leagues have surpassed it though. Madrid and Barca are better, Munich and Dortmund are both heading through, AC and Juve are leading an Italian revival. The PL is no longer the force it once was, and in part its because its declined.

I think your just going over the top here dude.. The other leagues have been very inconsistant..

we have one bad yeah in 12 and its all doom and gloom!

Except its not 1 year. its a recent trend.

its standard to have these lows and highs if your another league..

you are basing the PL on its own high standards.. not the spainish., italian or german.. that do this alot more consitantly

Chelsea did win it last year, btw.

And the PL is going to be damned by its previous high standards, it has noticably declined tho.

Addressed Chelsea.

These things always go in circles. I expect the German league to be the dominant one, maybe this or next year. Barca and madrid are good sides but the rest of the Spanish league isn't that great, good granted.
Don't know too much about the Italian league

Well i think it will be a big shock if the PL goes out of the top 3 in uefas coefficient ranking for leagues(there by losing a pl spot)


So yes there is a decline because the PL has gone from 1st to 2nd

Remaining in the top 3 is clearly of vital importance..

Geramny is clearly on the up.. spainish have stayed on a level, pl lost it a bit.

I cant really see the italians bgetting ahead of the PL for a long time.

Even with the decilne. would any one bet the pl wont have at least 2 teams in the qf's next season?

Its like judging germany on one bad cup! its a silly thing to do..

You say that, but who's going to be in the CL next year

United yes

City haven't cracked the CL

Spurs might do some damage with Bale

And Chelsea or Arsenal are going to limp over the line.

Shame for Utd last night before the sending off they looked like they might just do it.

I thought ferguson got his tactics and team selections bang on, JM's subs were also a stroke of genius modric changed the game for Madrid.

Utd can feel slightly aggrieved but they did have enough chances in both legs to come away with the victory.

On another note Roy Keane came across very bitter last night

Not sure about Serie A passing the PL yet, huge teams like Inter and Milan are completely skint and having to resort to young players. Due to the economic climate in Italy which is particularly bad and the fact they don't have the billionaires backing like in England.

I think Keane was being controversial for the sake of being controversial.

CL dominance seems to go round in cycles

Italy has a spell of dominance it passed to the English teams, then Spanish and now the Germans appear to be in the ascendancy

Stella wrote:I think Keane was being controversial for the sake of being controversial.

Yeah but he didn’t need to sugar coat it... Just tell us how you really feel Roy!

I have a feeling that keane wants to shout the loudest tbh..

Keane was the king of sticking his boot in where it wasnt wanted on the pitch- now he seems to be reaching so far its going straight down his throat!

Duty281 wrote:In the first half, Arbeloa caught Evra in the thigh with his studs raised in a tackle very similiar to Nani. Why wasn't that a red card?

Yeah this was picked up on the Irish coverage after the match. Arbeloa didn't even attempt to get the ball just stuck the foot in to Evra as the counter was on. If Nani's was deserving of a red Arbeloa shouldn't have even been on the pitch!

Arbeloa might as well not have been, he is utterly useless, no idea why Madrid signed him.

For me the Arbeloa tackle on Evra was if anything worse than Nani's on him - OK, not as high, but came directly at the opponent and could see well before he got there that he wasn't making it to the ball. If that was only a yellow, no way does Nani's deserve a red.

Heck, if referees aren't even being consistent themselves within a game, never mind the difference between referees coming out of different countries, there really is a problem.

mystiroakey wrote:I have a feeling that keane wants to shout the loudest tbh..

Keane was the king of sticking his boot in where it wasnt wanted on the pitch- now he seems to be reaching so far its going straight down his throat!

Keane is a genuine A grade opinionister of the Irish kind. He shoots from the hip, he says what he thinks..........and, he had actually things to say. He 'tried' to make the converstions in that room interesting and meaty...and he failed miserably because the other three guys were in 'professional' mode...a little chit that way, a little chat that way...and nothing getting said for fear of corporate lawyers turning up and telling them they shouldn't have said it.

They were also far too conscious of the audience they were talking to, not wanting to offend most of them who felt the red wasn't red. When Keane spoke.... silent shock all round!!!!! "You is not meant to say that, Keano. That's not right when you are sitting in Man U's homeground." So a retreat to inane noise for a couple of minutes and then credits. That's not entertainment...it's paint drying.

Catch any Irish sports show where they use a panel to discuss the beginning, middle and end of a sporting event and you get entertained because the talk goes on longer, the guys genuinely have something more to say than the cliches, and most importantly, they're not afraid to say it. Spice it up.... that after game show was a dirge with a ex 'moneyman' not having a clue how to get it going

If we all agreed to that being a red, Keane would have said it wasn't one. Being different for the sake of it, is pointless.

I likie keane he is a geniune bloke.(most of the time!)

But I think in this case he disagreed just to get his voice heard..

Come on that wasnt a red card..

mystiroakey wrote:I likie keane he is a geniune bloke.(most of the time!)

But I think in this case he disagreed just to get his voice heard..

Come on that wasnt a red card..

That's the fun. The other guys should have had the courage to round in on him. To turn dry-rot chit chat with no substance - none - into something sparky that the game before it demanded. The chat on Brtish TV is much too much sanitised and grey. Nothing gets said.

That was a classic game of sorts in that the red dictated the result so much... and nothing gets said? Only a light dusting of hmms and haas?

It's obvious why Keane said it was a red...to rile the ass-kissers. And why did he want to rile the ass-kissers? Because he has his own history, both as a player and as a past Man U player (with history with the very same boss that was on the touchline) The others knew all this and didn't stretch him for a moment. They didn't task that up to him ...and he'd have loved the bite of engagement; and the after game show would have been as 'interesting' as the game itself. But no...too corporate grey, not paid to get hot under the collar.

In an Irish studio someone would have accused Keane of letting his history colour his views... and then sparks would fly. Say what you think...like we do here

Obviously the future of Rooney is going to be in question from now on but all I keep hearing from united fan i know is, 'sell rooney, we've got welbeck'.

I can't understand these people, I'm actually in hysterics listening to them. Yes, Welbeck is a good player and is good at hold up play and running with the ball but whenever he gets near the box he suddenly becomes woeful, his finishing is of league one standard and if you talk to united fans with knowledge, they will all accept the reason united went out is because madrid took their chances, higher chance conversion rate, whereas welbeck & rvp to an extent continually fluffed everything.

Welbeck is not a replacement for Rooney. Welbeck will never be world class or have the ability rooney possesses. I'm sick and tired of listening to andy townsend brown nose welbeck on itv every game. The same thing happens with jamie redknapp when talking about welbeck. If those two and united fans think the future is welbeck and that his finishing ability for a striker, cos that's what he is paid for, is going to lead them to a haul of trophies then they need to think again.

Welbeck has two good feet and his work rate and energy are excellent but for me there are serious question marks about his ability to play through the middle as a main striker, like you said his finishing is below standard, it’s hard to think that Henandez is not even getting a look in considering his one of the best natural finishers at the club potentially in the league.

Rooney is head and shoulders above welbeck in every way, utd fans will always look on DW with rose tinted glasses as he came up through the academy which is becoming less and less common for a club that was built on its youth programme

Nice to see the controversial decisions going against Manure at Old Trafford for a change.

To be fair the challenge was open to interpretation. It could have been a yellow or a red. Thankfully it was a red

Soldier tell me your thankful when the PL only has 3 CL teams and Liverpool finish 4th

Finish fourth?

You sound like Brendan Rodgers

Well Chelsea won it last year???? No fears in that regard.

Real deserved the win over the 2 games anyway so I don't see what the fuss is about

Thing is I don't really think they did deserve to win over 2 legs.

United should have won that first leg in Madrid, though I thought it was pretty even, but last night bar a 10 minute spell when they scored two goals I thought Real were pretty poor. Even when down to 10 men, Lopez had to pull off some good saves to keep them ahead

Last night's game was very even and for a neutral, a cracker. The ref ruined it by being a little hitler.

Can't tackle with your your leg 3 foot in the air, studs showing whilst missing the ball and hitting an opposing player. Unfortunately.

Soldier_Of_Fortune wrote:Can't tackle with your your leg 3 foot in the air, studs showing whilst missing the ball and hitting an opposing player. Unfortunately.

Trying to control the ball isn't a tackle

soldier I am happy to see Madrid progress. Because they won. They didn't do anything wrong.

If the other team is down to 10 men through fault or the refs fault is immaterial..

I backed Madrid to win this from the start..

But that decision ruined the tie as Stella says!

And I am not talking about drunk Stella fueled fans!

Soldier_Of_Fortune wrote:Can't tackle with your your leg 3 foot in the air, studs showing whilst missing the ball and hitting an opposing player. Unfortunately.

He wasn't tackling, was he? Looked like was going to bring the ball down, until the Madrid player beat him to the ball. Soft red.

Well Nani should have been more careful who was around him. Player endangerment I believe the term is. It’s happened to plenty of players in the past.

Still overly harsh. he was just controlling a free ball. It wasnt a tackle.

No player gets red carded for an attempt at a over head kick!! which is much more dangerous

These decisions should be made on intent. Its up to the refs interpretation. The ref got it wrong

Soldier_Of_Fortune wrote:Well Nani should have been more careful who was around him. Player endangerment I believe the term is. It’s happened to plenty of players in the past.

It was an accident. Like when John Terry got kicked in the head in a league cup final against Arsenal a few years ago. Nobody got sent off then, and rightly so. It seems to me the only people who agree with the ref are ABU's and/or people who like to be different (Keane).

Soldier_Of_Fortune wrote:Can't tackle with your your leg 3 foot in the air, studs showing whilst missing the ball and hitting an opposing player. Unfortunately.

So should Arbeloa have been sent off in the first half for his challenge on Evra?

It was never a red for me.

Cannot see Madrid winning the cup either way. When you restrict Alonso & Ronaldo they look ordinary. Over the 2 games Utd had the better of them.

I think they will win this, well them or Bayern

They have been on some serious form tbh.. Outplaying barca, they are deffo the best left(with munich)

RE Nani, as I have said above, the challenge was open to interpretation. It could have been a yellow or a red. I was just happy a decision went against manure at Old Trafford but thats just me.

Look....we could discuss thousands of challenges and debate the appropiate punishment. But Nani should have been aware of his surroundings, how much space did he think he was goings to get?? Especially against a team of Reals quality.

Yeah, a little clumsy but not a red, well not IMO. Best to keep an open mind.

Am going to pomp for Dortmand to win it this year. Seem to be overlooked and have alot of quality in there team. Subotic and Hummels are a great CB pair. Plus with quality from the wide areas in Reus and Gotze and Lewandowski upfont. It will take a good team to beat them over two legs.

Bayern look very good and will want to make up for last year's defeat. PSG, with Ibrahimovioc, as dark horses.

Think PSG will get found out later on. They've got a good group but their not a great team that know each other's game inside out. If they were a great team they would be strolling Ligue 1 and they would have won the title last season ahead of Montpellier. Ibrahimovic is also suspended for two games, so will be difficult for them. Dortmund completely outplayed Madrid in the group games so are more than dark horses. Still think Barcelona can easily turn a two goal deficit around at home and Bayern are just Bayern aren't they. Professional.

I just hope the draw makes the best teams meet in the semi's and we don't get a poor draw with say Schalke facing Porto in the QF's etc. Would love to see Mourinho win his third Champions League. What a way to leave Madrid and Spain with two fingers up and saying 'stuff you' and then him coming back to England to rejuvinate the league and returning it to it's former heights.

Yes John.

Agreed. I am supporting Mourinhio and madrid from this point on.,

And Ronaldo has clearly grown up and all. Respect

It wasn't this bad!

http://t.co/UASZA3Mr2y

Poor kid..

He needs help! or maybe he was on acid or something