Champions League - Quarter Finals

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Atletico can play differently as they showed in their 4-0 against RM or at Stamford Bridge last season. But player by player apart from Koke and Godin they are all at least one or two levels below RM's quality in every position. RM are also one of the most attacking AND pacey sides around whereas Atletico are defensive and have almost no pace. Last but not least Atletico were playing at home and didn't want to concede in order to give them the best chance at the Bernabeu.
Not Atletico's best game today although they improved in attack in the 2nd half. But completely understandable why they play like this against one of the if not THE best team in the world.
 
Hellboy said:
they boo their own players when things don't go their way (aka winning by 5 goals), even Ronaldo is booed, you can understand their resentment.
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I know they have awful fans, but the fans at this game are the hardcore that probably travel europe supporting them. They deserve clapped for there effort, I know they've travel about 3 mile but tickets away at Derby games are tough to get especially such a small allocation. The hardcore deserve credit at any club.
 
Atletico's fitness really shone towards the end. Simone saw that Real was gassed and threw his attacking players forward. Even towards the 85th minute mark you could still see their players bursting foward to support each other. I think had the match lasted another 5 minutes or so, Atletico might have gotten a goal.
 
Arruda said:
Minimal? You barely can make a less minimal contact, he used his whole body to make the foul, he purposely blocked Torres' path whilst not in control of the ball.

I wouldn't be a penalty as I've now learned though, an obstruction is an indirect free kick.
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It was a classic obstruction but refs just don't give that any more.
 
I thought the Madrids game was entertaining but not for the quality of the football on offer.
 
Arruda said:
What rule? Obstructions or it being an indirect free kick?
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Obstruction being called as an indirect free kick. I've never seen it.

Honestly it's the first time I've heard of this.
 
Donut said:
Obstruction being called as an indirect free kick. I've never seen it.

Honestly it's the first time I've heard of this.
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It's still in the laws but ignored:

An indirect free kick is also awarded to the opposing team if, in the opinion of the referee, a player:

  • plays in a dangerous manner
  • impedes the progress of an opponent
  • prevents the goalkeeper from releasing the ball from his hands
  • commits any other offence, not previously mentioned in Law 12, for which play is stopped to caution or send off a player
 
It was fairly entertaining for a 0-0 draw. I remember a goalless draw between Arsenal and Real Madrid in 2006 which was actually a terrific game from a neutral point of view. Could go either way in the second leg, Atletico had the same score against Chelsea last year and beat then at Stamford afterwards.

Juventus will probably do Monaco but 1-0 is not that much.
 
Donut said:
Obstruction being called as an indirect free kick. I've never seen it.

Honestly it's the first time I've heard of this.
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It's very clear on the laws of the game. I didn't know it until today either, but frankly I rarely notice if the referee signals for a direct or indirect free kick. Only in those close to the box you can notice the difference in how they are hit and very often the players find ways to shoot after a slight touch anyway.

Inside the box the difference is far more blatant and quite frankly I think the referees almost always avoid that. Dangerous play would be an indirect free kick as well and how often you see it called inside the box?
 
Refs miss an opportunity by refusing to award indirect free-kicks. It's appropriate for so many situations and grey areas that wouldn't necessarily justify a direct free-kick or penalty.
 
Ugly game, Madrid is in good form again and finally they dominated Atletico. Varane and Modric were inmense. In Bernabeu's match I can imagine Madrid frustrated hitting the wall and Atletico scoring in a corner.
 
Arruda said:
It's very clear on the laws of the game. I didn't know it until today either, but frankly I rarely notice if the referee signals for a direct or indirect free kick. Only in those close to the box you can notice the difference in how they are hit and very often the players find ways to shoot after a slight touch anyway.

Inside the box the difference is far more blatant and quite frankly I think the referees almost always avoid that. Dangerous play would be an indirect free kick as well and how often you see it called inside the box?
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I've seen it called a couple of time in La Liga, I don't remember the last time I saw it called in the penalty area in the PL, but that may just be because you don't notice if it's called against an attacker (which is the more common situation).

 
I'm very happy for Vidal scoring the penalty. It was good to see Vidal near his best.
 
Credit to Atletico for stepping it up after getting passed off the park in the first half. Thought they were unlucky in the end, the ref couldn't wait to give everything to Real.
 
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Real should have capitalized on that first half performance, they were all over Atletico, that burst down the right from Varane that created one of their chances was electric. I was also impressed with how James has adapted to that midfield role and Carvajal was a constant threat down the right.

Juve vs Monaco was a decent game, I think overall Juve will have too much for them anbd Vidal was at his best tonight, but Monaco have the nucleus of a good young team with Kondogbia, Fabinho, Bernardo Silva, Martial and Carrasco.
 
Ramos really is an odd case. Its extraordinary, that he gets a way with red card incidents on a regular basis. He is a very good defender, but with consequent punishment he´d picked up at least 20 more red cards during his career. We´d look at him in a completely different way. Not as top CB, but as maniac. Dunno why the UEFA/spanishFA never ban him afterwards for his antics.
 
[QUOTE="Devil may care, post: 17366248, member: 48107"
Juve vs Monaco was a decent game, I think overall Juve will have too much for them anbd Vidal was at his best tonight, but Monaco have the nucleus of a good young team with Kondogbia, Fabinho, Bernardo Silva, Martial and Carrasco.[/QUOTE]
I was impressed with Monaco's crossing at time. I think people will just assume Monaco will cave at home like they did against Arsenal but I sort of fancy them to beat Juve. Long-term, I'd add Dirar (worked hard today), Kurzawa and Abdennnour to that nucleus.
 
Poor quality, but is that Mandžukić trying to strangle that other fellow, or that other fellow somehow ended with Mandžukić's arm between his teeth?
 
It almost felt like Simeone told his team not to concede so they dropped really deep and even in situations where they could compete for the ball in the middle in the first half they didn't. Madrid played really well, fast and direct and created lots of openings. The loss of Felipe Luis continues to haunt Atletico as none of the new signings have show to be of any quality at LB. Siquera just gave them nothing. Significantly better second half by Atletico finally showing up for the match.

I think its fair to say Gabi is done. He used to have a massive impact defensively but nowadays you aren't even sure he's on the pitch. Honestly think they need to move on from him and Tiago if they're to continue to compete at the very top of the game.

That Atletico team lacks balance. They are just too poor an offensive side to have any sustained success. They only play with 2 attackers which cause a stagnant offence. Not to forget they replaced Diego Costa with the vastly inferior Mandzukic who's too slow to be of any impact on a counter. They need a striker and another attacker imo.

Real's a team that lack balance too, its so offensive its crazy. However that doesn't matter much for them as they dominate the vast majority of the matches they play in.

The Monaco match made for fun viewing. Monaco did what was expected, sat back and tried to break, and in the first half it was working a charm. Some pretty loose passing by juve meant that they continued to get the ball in positions where they can counter and break. Luckily for them, Buffon is still one of the best around. But all in all Juve controlled the match and had loads of chances and they couldn't take them. The tie is still open but I expect Juve to make it through as now Monaco are going to have to play cause they are behind.
 


Mandzukic says:
"Yesterday's game was hard, both teams gave their all. But, to me, there's no big argument, no bite, nothing."

Law of the playground, two to tango, nothing happened - take it however you want. But it doesn't sound like Atletico plan to kick up a fuss.

Carvajal after the match said: "I didn't bite anyone. I didn't try to bite anyone."

Mario Suarez: "The ref was bad. You can't put a Serbian ref in charge of a match like this - with all due respect. I hope the ref in the return leg will be better."
He went onto twitter afterwards to apologise for any offence he might have caused.

It'll be interesting to see who is the ref at the Bernabeu.
 
Krovv said:
What happened to Felipe Luis? Was a top CL player last year and has completely disappeared this year at Chelsea?
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He's barely played. Tbh its hard to drop Azpilicueta atm. However Cahill has been poor. I think Chelsea will have a better defense with Terry and Ivanovic in the center and Azpilicueta and Felipe as fullbacks.
 
Jackson will be playing!!!

He's been injured for about 3 weeks, hope he's 100% and we're not rushing him.
 
No surprises in the Barça 11. Mascherano preferred to Mathieu, Dani Alves banned.

Ter Stegen, Montoya, Piqué, Mascherano, Jordi Alba, Busquets, Rakitić, Iniesta, Messi, Suárez, Neymar
 
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