March 28, 2024, 05:05:42 PM

Poll

Who is your favorite UEFA Champions League Team

PSV Eindhoven
2 (11.1%)
Chelsea
7 (38.9%)
AC Milan
2 (11.1%)
Liverpool
5 (27.8%)
Manchester City
0 (0%)
FC Porto
0 (0%)
Roma
0 (0%)
Bayern Munich
0 (0%)
Juventus
0 (0%)
Borussia Dortmund
0 (0%)
PSG
1 (5.6%)
Manchester United
1 (5.6%)
Ajax
0 (0%)
Real Madrid
0 (0%)
Lyon
0 (0%)
Barcelona
0 (0%)
Atletico Madrid
0 (0%)
Napoli
0 (0%)
Schalke
0 (0%)
Inter Milan
0 (0%)
Galatasaray
0 (0%)
CSKA Moscow
0 (0%)
Benfica
0 (0%)
Tottenham
0 (0%)
Shakhtar Donetsk
0 (0%)
Valencia
0 (0%)

Total Members Voted: 18

Author Topic: UEFA Champions League Thread  (Read 297951 times)

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Offline asylumseeker

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Re: UEFA Champions League 2014/2015
« Reply #2310 on: June 06, 2015, 08:48:00 AM »
Carlos Tevez and Lionel Messi bring two sides of Argentina to Berlin
Marcela Mora y Araujo (The Guardian)



A man passes a wall painted with a portrait of Carlos Tevez in Barrio Ejército de los Andes, better known as Fuerte Apache, in the outskirts of Buenos Aires.

Argentina’s football fans have been asking each other one question since the semi-finals: “Who do you want to win, Tevez or Messi?” The rivalry between them has been the subject of media scrutiny for some years now, and there’s something particularly poignant about these two facing each other at this highest level of club competition, at this stage in their careers.

It is not the first time they have met in a Champions League final: Tevez’s Manchester United were beaten by Messi’s Barcelona in 2009, the year after Tevez, in his debut season in the Champions League, lifted the trophy in United’s shirt but wrapped himself in an Argentina flag just in case anyone was wondering about his patriotism.

The following morning Messi addressed a press conference back in Catalunya, on the eve of an international friendly, and took the time to sing Carlitos’s praises having watched the match on TV. “A phenomenon” he told us.

Messi himself had emerged as a potential Champions League superstar way back in 2005, and against Tevez’s United in 2009 produced a superlative performance, sliding and gliding through defenders and opponents almost twice his size.

Both players made their World Cup debuts in 2006, coming on within less than 10 minutes of each other in the second half of the now legendary match against Serbia & Montenegro. Both scored that day, and then each lived through the demise of the dream, defeated on penalties by Germany in the quarter-finals at this very Berlin stadium where they now meet again, this time as rivals.

The question of how Argentina produces so many of the world’s elite players is one that crops up often, and the answer probably lies more in a combination of several factors rather than a single magic formula. The 1986 World Cup-winning manager Carlos Bilardo used to say: “Look at any big club in the world, at any high level competition, at any Champions League final and who will you see playing there? An Argentinian.”

As it happens, Tevez and Messi are examples of two very different ways in which Argentina grooms youth players. Tevez was born into abject poverty, scarred after being accidentally scalded by boiling water aged 10 months, abandoned by his mother and, following the death of his father, raised by an aunt. In his teens he changed his name from Martínez, adopting his step-father’s Tevez. His moves from club to club have tended to be controversial, but he has somehow won the hearts of fans everywhere he has played.

Left out of Argentina’s squad for the 2014 World Cup despite an excellent season with Juventus, he inspired demonstrations back home. Many felt one of the reasons for his exclusion was a clash of sorts with Messi, or at the very least an inability for the two players to combine successfully on the pitch.

Messi on the other hand left Argentina at a very young age. Cradled by an extremely supportive family, his father insisted that the entire clan relocate to Barcelona, the club who had lured the young talent over the Atlantic. “What father wouldn’t do that?” he asked me once, clearly unaware of the many kids who cross continents and embark upon a lonely and scary life away from home chasing a distant dream.

Both Tevez and Messi had enough raw talent at a very young age to be spotted and groomed by the very best. Newell’s, where Messi started off, is renowned for the number of elite players who have emerged from its youth system. Tevez was raised by the famous youth coach Ramón Maddoni, who started offering dinner every Monday for any kid who wanted to stay after training, in part because he knew Tevez might not get a proper meal at home. One would be hard pushed to choose between Newell’s or Maddoni’s academies, highly regarded for shepherding young players through the key ages when so many habits and skills are formed.

As the two young men turn into veterans, they confront each other almost as polar opposites. One of the main criticisms levelled at Messi in Argentina over the years has been his apparent lack of the patriotic fervour that Tevez displays so often, the fact that he has rarely (although more so now than a few years ago) been able to deliver in his country’s colours the out-of-this-world quality he so consistently reaches with Barcelona. Tevez on the other hand plays with the same hunger in practically every game he plays, no matter whose shirt he wears.

A special battle is about to take place, and also a lovely illustration of how there is no set formula, no single way to ensure a world-class talent is allowed to thrive, but rather, that this magical game of football takes all sorts.

Offline asylumseeker

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Re: UEFA Champions League 2014/2015
« Reply #2311 on: June 06, 2015, 08:51:40 AM »
Sylum, like you ended up spending some time in the same?  ;D

Prepare to join me, if the result goes contrary to popular expectation.   :)

Offline asylumseeker

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Re: UEFA Champions League 2014/2015
« Reply #2312 on: June 06, 2015, 09:00:09 AM »
Juventus plan to keep it real against Barcelona in Champions League final
Daniel Taylor (The Guardian)


Even before we get to that point when the ribbons are attached to the trophy and the Brandenburg Gate is lit up in the relevant colours, the occasion should not pass without recognising what potentially is going to be lost. Xavi Hernández is on his way from Barcelona to Qatar and Andrea Pirlo may also be heading for the Middle East now this is confirmed as his valedictory performance at Juventus. Gianluigi Buffon still appears to be going strong, at the age of 37, but the Champions League is losing two members of football royalty.

Not that the generation below is doing too badly. When the names of Lionel Messi, Neymar and Luis Suárez were mentioned to the Juventus coach, Massimiliano Allegri, he just smiled knowingly. “How do you stop them?” he asked. All three are playing at the point of maximum expression and Messi can become the first player to score in three Champions League finals. It is easy to understand why graffiti has appeared on Jesse Owens Allee, the boulevard peeling away from the Olympiastadion, bearing the telephone numbers of some of the people scouring the city for a ticket.

The honest answer to the question Allegri posed is that if Messi is at his devastating best it is difficult to see how Juventus can prevent Barcelona from collecting this trophy for the fifth time and reaffirming their status as the outstanding team of the 21st century. That would still be halfway to Real Madrid’s total, and two short of Milan, but it would at least put them level with Liverpool and Bayern Munich. It is Barça’s fourth final in 10 years and they have had the best passing statistics in this competition in every season since 2007-08. Gerard Piqué described the current team as “one of the best sides in the history of the club” and it was revealing to see how keen he was to stress the way Luis Enrique had made it one of his priorities to improve them defensively. Amid all the dazzling qualities of their attackers, it tends to be overlooked this team conceded only 21 goals in 38 games in La Liga.

This season Barça’s average possession in the Champions League is actually their lowest since Uefa started collecting this data in 2003. Yet it is still 60.95% in their favour and all the drop shows is the slight shift in pattern since the new coach came in and Xavi started being eased out. Barcelona still play keep-ball but they are now encouraged to move it forward more quickly and they generally look better for it.

“It’s a different team,” Piqué said. “I hate comparisons and I didn’t like it when we were not winning last season and everyone kept comparing us to Pep Guardiola’s teams. Some people will think we are playing better and some people will prefer the old team. All we can say for sure is that it’s working. We have won the league, we have won the cup and now we are in the final of the Champions League. Now we are 90 minutes away from perfection.”

Juventus will certainly need to show all the great Italian traits of defensive parsimony and a lot depends on Andrea Barzagli now Giorgio Chiellini has been forced out with a calf problem. On that front, the biggest concern should be that Barzagli has been struggling with an injury of his own recently. The 34-year-old has 51 caps for Italy and was in the squad when the Azzurri won the World Cup at this stadium in 2006, with Buffon and Pirlo in the starting lineup. He is nicknamed The Wall and there is no real sense that Chiellini’s absence has to be a grievous setback. Leonardo Bonucci, Juve’s other centre-half, talked at length about Barzagli’s qualities. “After a difficult season, he is back to being one of the best defenders in the world,” Bonucci said.

Juventus can be encouraged by the way they eliminated Real Madrid in the semi-finals with a performance of great balance and distinction – soaking up considerable pressure and being clinical when they had their own chances – and they have been sensible in their approach to Suárez and the game’s other side issues. Chiellini, pre-injury, made it clear there was no lingering grudge about the bite that ended Suárez’s World Cup and Patrice Evra strategically did not appear when Juventus held their media day in Turin.

Suárez, Juventus had concluded, is one of those players it is best not to wind up in the media, as Roy Hodgson inadvertently found out during the World Cup on the back of some careless remarks about the Uruguayan not having yet shown he was a world-class performer. “Just in case I wasn’t motivated enough,” Suárez later wrote in his autobiography. That, incidentally, is why he dedicated Uruguay’s victory over England and his two goals to “those who doubted me”.

The buildup to this final has been controversy free and neither team has tried to unsettle the other. Allegri did say that Barcelona “had faults and weaknesses like all teams” but Buffon also made the point that Juventus were maybe ahead of themselves and had not really expected to reach this final in their first season with a new manager. “We thought it would take two or three years,” Buffon said. “It has been an unexpected surprise but a nice surprise.”

Buffon was asked whether Barcelona were favourites. “They have Messi, Neymar and Suárez, plus Iniesta in midfield – of course they are favourites.”

Offline asylumseeker

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Re: UEFA Champions League 2014/2015
« Reply #2313 on: June 06, 2015, 09:15:44 AM »
Carlos Tevez ready to rip up Lionel Messi’s Champions League script
Barney Ronay (The Guardian)


He is a controversial and enigmatic figure but the former Manchester United and City striker is a force of nature and a player who won’t be cowed by the biggest club game in world football

One of the best things about football has always been the sense that it is above all, a slightly wild activity, a matter of rare human extremes. Even among the captive princes of the modern game this is still a business of frantic, compelling moments, its popularity rooted in something raw and authentic that still manages to peep out through the glaze of corporate inanity.

At which point: enter Carlos Tevez, king of the wild, oddly compelling moment, who on Saturday evening will play in his third Champions League final; and who is arguably the pivotal player in an otherwise slightly one-sided looking collision in Berlin of the great and the merely very good.

With this in mind it seems an ideal moment to consider what we might call The Tevez Paradox. Here is a player who just keeps on doing terrible, terrible things. Who has been described as a rotten apple, who once refused to come on to the pitch while employed by Manchester City. Here is a man who went on strike in Brazil and has demanded a move at his last three clubs. But who remains beloved by supporters anywhere he has been, a trophy magnet, an ultimate team man, and a player for whom great things, and bad things, and slightly mad things really do seem to be an essential part of the job.

In English football, Tevez’s best wild, compelling, toxic moment was probably his first wild, compelling toxic moment, the winning goal at Old Trafford that kept West Ham United in the Premier League eight years ago.

It is, looking back, a perfect little spritz of pure uncut Tevez. Gobbling up a loose ball Tevez plays a sniping little one-two, barges past a strangely sad and haunted-looking Wes Brown and then clips the ball on the volley past Edwin van der Sar before scuttling off in that familiar frenzy of triumph, a man apparently still immersed in the same all-consuming game of football he seems to have been playing off and on, in between minor inconveniences like sleeping and eating and changing continents, for the last 30 years or so. Never mind the consequences of that goal, not least the £10m in reparations to Sheffield United. By the time West Ham paid up, Tevez had already moved on, won the Champions League, teed up another rancorous transfer and generally stumbled about trampling the rose beds, failing to pay the milk bill, sweeping the crockery into the bin and leaving a gorgeously muddled trail of blood and entrails in his wake.

Tevez is 31 now and in the late bloom of a fascinating career. As Juventus prepare to play the part of hopeful fall guys in Berlin there is a fair case to be made that he is the key to the contest, even more so than Barcelona’s own Argentinian No10. With Lionel Messi and this season’s Champions League there is a sense of some broader destiny in play, a kind of divine will to power. Barcelona are expected to win. Messi has been, quite frankly, on another plane altogether. It would require something remarkable, an act of utter script-shredding refusenik conviction to stop them. Now. Who does that remind you of?

Michael Ballack has spoken this week about the extreme pressures of playing this kind of final. One thing is certain. Tevez will be impervious. He is the ultimate big-game footballer, not just a player with balls, but a player with an excess of balls, balls for everyone, a bolt-on gonad in shorts and shin-pads. Tevez is the kind of player you’d pick to captain a team of earthlings away at the champions of Mars: stepping off the transport, emaciated by six years in deep space travel, you can be pretty sure within 30 seconds or so Tevez would be scuttling about like a malevolent gerbil, squaring up to the nearest giant squid, scoring a disputed equaliser and generally getting on with the business of winning at football. This is as much about craft as temperament. For all his energy Tevez is also a brilliantly certain, brilliantly clever footballer. At Manchester United he provided the balance in that wonderful front three alongside Cristiano Ronaldo and Wayne Rooney, scoring fewer goals but forming a high-class bridge between the shifting planes in attack.

At Juventus he has been able to thrum through his full range of attacking talents, an excellent passer, a tenacious dribbler and a relentless, no-fear finisher. Plus he is in a sense the perfect modern freelance footballer. What Tevez brings is portable passion, transferable conviction, just-add-water instant belief. There has been some talk he may be off to Paris Saint-Germain in the summer and this would be an excellent move, as it would for any megabucks project-club in the market for some high-grade galvanising spirit. Hiring Tevez is like hiring a catalyst, an instant flush of actual football-style passion, like booking the Sex Pistols to swear and snarl obligingly over some stiff-shirted 1970s daytime talk show.

Frankly Manchester City would have been better off keeping him, just as Argentina would surely have won the World Cup if Tevez could have been shoehorned without collateral damage into the team that decelerated its way to the final in Brazil. Never remind the bollocks: here comes Carlos, a gloriously nourishing rotten apple which has to date won the Copa Libertadores, the Brazilian championship, the Champions League, Serie A and the Premier League with two clubs, and who retains even now something pure and compelling, a rare kind of basic footballing rage.

There are so many subplots to this Champions League final, many of them Tevez-facing: the intrigue of Mascherano-Tevez, of Messi-Tevez, and beyond that the wider narrative of Messi-ism itself, a predestined notch on those claims of all-time greatness.

One thing is certain. Tevez won’t listen to any of it but will instead keep on playing that same old game of Carlos-ball in which, win or lose, he remains a brilliantly authentic presence, and an ominously decisive cutting edge.

Offline kaliman2006

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Re: UEFA Champions League 2014/2015
« Reply #2314 on: June 06, 2015, 11:39:23 AM »
One thing I miss about not being in the US is the lack of online viewing options for today's champions league final.

Does anyone on here know of any good places to watch online.

I don't mind paying


Offline soccerrama

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Re: UEFA Champions League 2014/2015
« Reply #2315 on: June 06, 2015, 12:10:04 PM »
One thing I miss about not being in the US is the lack of online viewing options for today's champions league final.

Does anyone on here know of any good places to watch online.

I don't mind paying



http://www.stream2watch.com/sports/soccer/juventus-vs-barcelona-live-stream-june-06
http://goatd.net/
http://www.rojadirecta.me/
« Last Edit: June 06, 2015, 12:16:28 PM by soccerrama »

Offline asylumseeker

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Re: UEFA Champions League 2014/2015
« Reply #2316 on: June 06, 2015, 02:18:45 PM »
Foul on Pogba or not?

Offline kaliman2006

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Re: UEFA Champions League 2014/2015
« Reply #2317 on: June 06, 2015, 02:51:03 PM »
One thing I miss about not being in the US is the lack of online viewing options for today's champions league final.

Does anyone on here know of any good places to watch online.

I don't mind paying



http://www.stream2watch.com/sports/soccer/juventus-vs-barcelona-live-stream-june-06
http://goatd.net/
http://www.rojadirecta.me/


Thank you

Offline Bitter

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Re: UEFA Champions League 2014/2015
« Reply #2318 on: June 06, 2015, 04:29:23 PM »
I think Juventus played too cautiously for too long in this game.
A very sluggish start, and a much better 2nd half. but they didn't really put up the fight i expected.
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Offline kounty

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Re: UEFA Champions League 2014/2015
« Reply #2319 on: June 06, 2015, 05:46:20 PM »
was rootin for Juve but... It was a great game.

Offline 100% Barataria

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Re: UEFA Champions League 2014/2015
« Reply #2320 on: June 06, 2015, 06:02:34 PM »
Shot of Dani and Adriano was priceless, enjoy your job guys  :beermug:
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Offline asylumseeker

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Re: UEFA Champions League 2014/2015
« Reply #2321 on: June 06, 2015, 06:32:06 PM »
<a href="https://www.youtube.com/v/VoVtbN2zjtE" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" class="bbc_link bbc_flash_disabled new_win">https://www.youtube.com/v/VoVtbN2zjtE</a>
Somewhere in his contract there might be a clause against certain types of dangerous activity ... I wonder if he engages in any?

Offline Flex

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2015/16 UEFA Champions League Thread.
« Reply #2322 on: August 28, 2015, 07:33:43 AM »
Group A
Paris Saint-Germain, Real Madrid, Shakhtar Donetsk, Malmo

Group B
PSV Eindhoven, Manchester United, CSKA Moscow, Vfl Wolfsburg

Group C
Benfica, Atletico Madrid, Galatasaray, FK Astana

Group D
Juventus, Manchester City, Sevilla, Borussia Monchengladbach

Group E
Barcelona, Bayer Leverkusen, AS Roma, BATE Borisov

Group F
Bayern Munich, Arsenal, Olympiakos, Dinamo Zagreb

Group G
Chelsea, FC Porto, Dynamo Kiev, Maccabi Tel-Aviv

Group H
Zenit St Petersburg, Valencia, Lyon, Gent

MATCH DATES:

Matchday 1: Sept. 15, 16
Matchday 2: Sept. 29, 30
Matchday 3: Oct. 20, 21
Matchday 4: Nov. 3, 4
Matchday 5: Nov. 24, 25
Matchday 6: Dec. 8, 9

FULL FIXTURES

« Last Edit: August 28, 2015, 07:47:21 AM by Flex »
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Offline soccerman

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Re: 2015/16 UEFA Champions League Thread.
« Reply #2323 on: August 28, 2015, 09:28:13 AM »
What allyuh think is the group of death?  To me it looks like group F

Offline Mad Scorpion a/k/a Big Bo$$

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Re: 2015/16 UEFA Champions League Thread.
« Reply #2324 on: August 28, 2015, 09:43:14 AM »
No real group of death here in my eyes.  I think B might turn out to be the toughest to qualify from.  if VFLW sell De Bruyne then maybe not.

Offline asylumseeker

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Re: 2015/16 UEFA Champions League Thread.
« Reply #2325 on: August 28, 2015, 09:44:54 AM »
What allyuh think is the group of death?  To me it looks like group F

I doh see one. Think there's a reasonable balance across the groups. D would be compelling but at the moment Gladbach are struggling in the league. Roma and Juve have had disappointing starts to Serie A competition; Juve in particular is seeking to establish a new identity with the departure of key players. If Roma steps up, then E (with Barca and Leverkusen in the mix) is at least three teams deep.

I would say, doh sleep on Group B. Wolfsburg, CSKA and PSV are capable of making it interesting for the presumptive favorites, Man Utd.

I like the draw. I think there's something to recommend each group.

Offline soccerman

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Re: 2015/16 UEFA Champions League Thread.
« Reply #2326 on: August 28, 2015, 09:56:48 AM »
Is it the top two from each group that advances? I forgot.

Offline palos

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Re: 2015/16 UEFA Champions League Thread.
« Reply #2327 on: August 28, 2015, 10:16:22 AM »
Incredible how Manchester United always gets an easy first round group
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Offline Mose

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Re: 2015/16 UEFA Champions League Thread.
« Reply #2328 on: August 28, 2015, 11:02:31 AM »
Incredible how Manchester United always gets an easy first round group

Actually we don't, but nobody ever notices when we get tough groups.
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Offline asylumseeker

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Re: 2015/16 UEFA Champions League Thread.
« Reply #2329 on: August 28, 2015, 11:24:43 AM »
Is it the top two from each group that advances? I forgot.

Correct.

Offline Peong

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Re: 2015/16 UEFA Champions League Thread.
« Reply #2330 on: August 28, 2015, 12:22:10 PM »
Incredible how Manchester United always gets an easy first round group

Actually we don't, but nobody ever notices when we get tough groups.

When last Man U get a tough group?

Offline Mose

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Re: 2015/16 UEFA Champions League Thread.
« Reply #2331 on: August 28, 2015, 12:24:37 PM »
Incredible how Manchester United always gets an easy first round group

Actually we don't, but nobody ever notices when we get tough groups.

When last Man U get a tough group?

If there was an easy way to track the group assignments over the years it would be easy to find out.
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Offline Mad Scorpion a/k/a Big Bo$$

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Re: 2015/16 UEFA Champions League Thread.
« Reply #2333 on: August 28, 2015, 01:13:19 PM »
lol

Offline Peong

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Re: 2015/16 UEFA Champions League Thread.
« Reply #2334 on: September 30, 2015, 02:27:57 PM »
Man City vs Bor. Moen. goin good.  End to end stuff and a saved penalty.

Now a 90th minute penalty in front of a hostile crowd and Aguero bury it like a boss.

From the time City went behind they open up the throttle on Gladbach.
Waves of attacks, Aguero was aggressive, the Gladbach defenders played well too except for the penalty.
« Last Edit: September 30, 2015, 02:41:17 PM by Peong »

Offline Deeks

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Re: 2015/16 UEFA Champions League Thread.
« Reply #2335 on: September 30, 2015, 05:11:02 PM »
I watched Astana(Kazakstan) vs Galatasaray. What a game 2-2. Astana score in the last 4 mins. First second round Eur CL played in Astana. Astana is a decent team. knock the ball around pretty nicely. Need more punch in mid field. Has quite a few foreigners on their team. Actually their skipper is Black. Don't know which African country he is from. They also has a forward from DR Congo. Not a bad player also.

Offline Peong

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Re: 2015/16 UEFA Champions League Thread.
« Reply #2336 on: September 30, 2015, 06:02:33 PM »
Is Borat an Astana fan?
He should make an appearance.

I saw the end of that game.  Astana goalie do some madness and turn a cross into his own goal.
The Astana equalizer was nice though the defender should have done better to clear the header.
« Last Edit: September 30, 2015, 06:06:24 PM by Peong »

Offline Deeks

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Re: 2015/16 UEFA Champions League Thread.
« Reply #2337 on: September 30, 2015, 07:42:56 PM »
Is Borat an Astana fan?
He should make an appearance.

I saw the end of that game.  Astana goalie do some madness and turn a cross into his own goal.
The Astana equalizer was nice though the defender should have done better to clear the header.

That would be crazy if Borat would make an appearance. The Astana supporters were non-stop to the end. What you think about the astro turf the game was played on?

Offline Peong

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Re: 2015/16 UEFA Champions League Thread.
« Reply #2338 on: October 01, 2015, 11:38:24 AM »
I didn't notice nah.  Maybe my feed wasn't crisp enough. 

 I see some high quality assists in yesterday's games.
Isco to Cristiano, Gaitan to some fella, and Mata to smalling.
« Last Edit: October 01, 2015, 12:38:42 PM by Peong »

Offline Deeks

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Re: 2015/16 UEFA Champions League Thread.
« Reply #2339 on: October 01, 2015, 02:59:02 PM »
I didn't notice nah.  Maybe my feed wasn't crisp enough. 

 I see some high quality assists in yesterday's games.
Isco to Cristiano, Gaitan to some fella, and Mata to smalling.

yes, the pitch was plastic in a retractable roof stadium. The roof was opened, so it was slippery at times.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Astana_Arena

 

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