Manchester Utd vs Barcelona CL SEMIFINAL Leg 1

[dinho]

ManUUUUUUUU goan get a Messi lesson.

Messi: I'm Ready For United

http://goal.com/en/articolo.aspx?contenutoid=666982

umm why are you even commenting in this thread?...

Stop being a Troll

Buh wha de arse is dis? Boy move eh.

Toppa he's just trying to Man You.. lol

[Disgruntled_Trini]

Right now you're just another dude who bought a ticket and a jersey and your status lies in a grey area somewhere between an outside child and an ugly duckling.

yuh sad boy

[dinho]

Right now you're just another dude who bought a ticket and a jersey and your status lies in a grey area somewhere between an outside child and an ugly duckling.

yuh sad boy

nah just wilding allyuh up before the game..

but he has membership so he get a bligh.

[Disgruntled_Trini]

Past meetings in Europe

1999 Champions League, first group phase
Man Utd - Barça ... 3-3
Barça - Man Utd ... 3-3

1995 Champions League, group phase
Man Utd - Barça ... 2-2
Barça - Man Utd ... 4-0

1991 Cup Winners Cup final (in Rotterdam)
Man Utd - Barça ... 2-1

1984 Cup Winners Cup, quarterfinals
Barça - Man Utd ... 2-0, 0-3

[giggsy11]

LoL, alll yuh funny yes! Smalls dey jammin yuh from all sides!

[D.H.W]

ManUUUUUUUU goan get a Messi lesson.

Messi: I'm Ready For United

http://goal.com/en/articolo.aspx?contenutoid=666982

umm why are you even commenting in this thread?...

Stop being a Troll

Buh wha de arse is dis? Boy move eh.

stueps girl ride out with yuh shit team nah 

[D.H.W]

Barcelona v Man Utd



Barcelona striker Thierry Henry was unable to take part in training on Monday morning because of illness.

The France international, who was an unused substitute in Saturday's goalless league draw against Espanyol, was suffering from a fever.

Ronaldinho, Lilian Thuram, Jose Edmilson and back-up goalkeeper Albert Jorquera also missed training.

Man Utd team news to follow later.

BIG MATCH STATS

Head-to-heads

FC Barcelona and Manchester United have met seven times in a European club competition. Both clubs have won twice and three matches were drawn. The goal difference is 15-13 in favour of the Spaniards.

One of these encounters was the final of the 1991 Cup Winners Cup, played in Rotterdam and won by United (2-1).

The last two meetings were in the 1998-99 season, when both matches in the Champions League ended in spectacular 3-3 draws. Four players from the current Manchester United squad featured in those matches: Gary Neville, Ryan Giggs, Paul Scholes and Wes Brown; Barcelona's only survivor is Xavi.

European history

Barcelona have won the Champions Cup/ Champions League twice, in 1992 and 2006. They have also amassed four Cup Winners' Cups, three Fairs Cups and two European Super Cups.

This is the 23rd season in which Barcelona has reached the semi-finals of a European club competition. They progressed 14 times and were knocked out eight times. It is the ninth time they have reached the last four in the Champions Cup/Champions League, not including the semi-final group stage in 1991-92. They went on to reach the final four times and were eliminated four times.

Manchester United have won three European trophies - the 1967-68 Champions Cup, 1990-91 Cup Winners' Cup and 1998-99 Champions League. The final for the most recent of those was staged in Barcelona's Camp Nou Stadum, when Bayern Munich were defeated 2-1.

This is the 13th time that United have reached the semi-finals of a European club competition. They were knocked out nine times, but went on to win the trophy all three times they progressed. It is also the 10th time the Red Devils have qualified for the last four of the Champions Cup/Champions League. They went on to reach the final twice and were eliminated on the other seven occasions.

Last season, Barcelona reached the last 16 of the CL and were eliminated by Liverpool; United got to this semi-finals and were knocked out by eventually winners AC Milan.

Current European form

Barcelona and Manchester United are both unbeaten this Champions League season.

Barce have won five on the spin in this competition, and are unbeaten in 11 since the 1-2 home defeat by Liverpool on 21 February 2007. They have also won their last five home matches in the Champions League, and kept clean sheets in each of the last three at the Camp Nou.

United are undefeated in 10 CL matches, since losing 3-0 at AC Milan in last May's semi-final second leg. They have won their last three home and away, and have not conceded a single goal in those games.

Player and disciplinary info

Carles Puyol (Barcelona) is suspended for this match. Lionel Messi, Yaya Toure, Rafael Marquez and Gabriel Milito are all one yellow card away from suspension. Manchester United's Nani and Patrice Evra will also be suspended upon receiving a yellow card.

Puyol and Xavi have played 74 Champions League matches for Barcelona, a club record.

If selected, Gary Neville and Paul Scholes will both make their 100th appearances in the Champions League; Neville made his CL debut in a 3-1 defeat at IFK Gothenburg on 23 November 1994, Scholes' first taste of CL action was in the home 2-2 draw with Barcelona on 19 October 1994.

Cristiano Ronaldo is this season's CL top scorer with seven goals.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport2/hi/football/europe/7356114.stm

[freakazoid]

BRING ON THE BRITS, i seeing plenty freekicks

[trinipepper]

Go barca  drop some goals on man u..!!! la liga vs premier ... let us   and be merry for de bacchanal deya ..

[Grande]

Hopefully Thierry get better in time, need him for this one

[Filho]

Hopefully Thierry get better in time, need him for this one

I was thinking the same thing. All the talk about his poor form, noone will be more motivated to play manU than the ex-Arsenal man. His EPL experience could prove invaluable and he will have a psychological impact on the ManU defense. Similar to how Gudjohnsen came on against Liverpool last season and was unplayable. too little to late at the time, but that EPl experience can be a big help.

[Jumbie]

FYI. For the peeps in canada, TSN will have both CL games (Tue and Wed) cook allyuh cassava and saltfish and get ready. Go barca.

[7 blessings]

United last met Barcelona in the Champions League in 1998 when their group encounter at the Nou Camp ended in a 3-3 draw.

Dwight Yorke was MOM that game with two goals and an assist while Rivaldo was on fire for Barca

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8nJoW8NTP3g

highlights worth a look - that game was voted as one of the best CL games ever played

Was a real dread game in true. I download it the other day...no commentary...only stadium noise....and it was still engrossing.

eh heh way u download dat from hoss? Is long time i wah taken a classic game when Yorke and Cole was strike partners...one ah the deadliest partnership ever in Europe.

But on another note...hope Barca pull it off dis wednseday!

[giggsy11]

Ah love all this hate, good vibes for Wednesday! Keep it comin hators!

[D.H.W]

stueps it have rel Man utd haters on dis forum lol i was now typing about giggsy u beat me to it lol

[giggsy11]

stueps it have rel Man utd haters on dis forum lol i was now typing about giggsy u beat me to it lol

If again! dey aint even studyin dat 'other game' at anfield aka 'sh!t on a stick'!

[dinho]

it have real man u lovers on de forum too...

man talking bout 'vidas' and 'roo' like dey pitch marbles lol..

i want to see if cristiano ronaldo go turn up, since is ah big game nuh.

allyuh remember what gattuso do he last year??   

[D.H.W]

stueps it have rel Man utd haters on dis forum lol i was now typing about giggsy u beat me to it lol

If again! dey aint even studyin dat 'other game' at anfield aka 'sh!t on a stick'!

[giggsy11]

it have real man u lovers on de forum too...

man talking bout 'vidas' and 'roo' like dey pitch marbles lol..

i want to see if cristiano ronaldo go turn up, since is ah big game nuh.

allyuh remember what gattuso do he last year??   

You better hope one of yuh two teams make it tuh the finals.

[giggsy11]

 
blogs.guardian.co.uk/sport > Sid Lowe 

Henry attracts few homages in Catalonia as form and fitness fade

Thierry Henry will miss the semi-final clash with Manchester United, but Barcelona fans won't miss him
Sid LoweApril 22, 2008 12:29 AM

If Thierry Henry thinks Barcelona fans will fret about his absence, thanks to the fever that kept him out of training yesterday, from tomorrow's Champions League semi-final first leg against Manchester United, he will be disappointed - almost as disappointed, in fact, as they have been with him.

Some 35,000 people attended Henry's presentation as a Barça player last summer, gathering to see him perform a few keepy-ups. The feeling now is that he has done little else; he certainly has not been worth €24m (nearly £16m at the then rate of exchange). Nor has he been the player he was in the Premiership. He has snapped at suggestions that he should aspire to be so. "You can forget all about the Arsenal Henry," he said. "This is the Henry you'll see from now on."

That is not the message Barça fans want to hear; this is not a player with whom they are enamoured. Nor is Barcelona's notorious "entourage" impressed, the media regularly attacking him - although Johan Cruyff, the former coach and unofficial presidential adviser, a kind of Cardinal Richelieu to Joan Laporta's Louis XIII, has defended him. The vice-president Ferran Soriano said Henry was not for sale. A decent offer and that could change.

Henry has scored 14 goals in 40 games, seven in the league - a goal fewer than Lionel Messi, despite playing over 1,000 minutes more, and, in the league, seven less than Samuel Eto'o, who has missed over half of the season. Nor has he always been available, suffering with an achilles problem and chronic back pains brought from London. One newspaper declared: "The man who was supposed to solve the problems of Ronaldinho's absences has become a problem in his own right."

After one recent game he was described as a "relic", a reporter remarking that "to describe Henry as pathetic would be an understatement". The Barcelona newspaper Sport gave him four out of 10 for his display in the Champions League quarter-final second leg against Schalke, saying he had performed "as flatly as he has done of late". El Mundo Deportivo shrugged: "No. There's no way of getting him to play well. Not even the Champions League could reactivate him."

That Henry has not had the impact anticipated is hardly surprising: he has too often played in an unfamiliar left-sided role as the Barcelona coach, Frank Rijkaard, remains faithful to the 4-3-3 tradition, passed down by Cruyff, which once cost Gary Lineker, another centre-forward forced to play wide, so dearly.

"If I play on the left, you'll see the Henry who plays on the left," the Frenchman said recently. "I have lost my attacking reference points by being on the wing. I'm just the guy that plays on the wing at Barcelona. I start 60 metres from goal, I run more than ever before and I'm not succeeding in one-on-ones because I'm shattered." Rijkaard merely shrugged. "He's playing OK there," he said.

Henry also complained that he has been unable to see his daughter, Tea. During one press conference he returned to the same theme again and again - to the exasperation of the local press. Asked what he could do to improve he snapped, "Get my daughter here with me," refusing to countenance any other reason for his dip in form, despite subsequently revealing his tactical concerns.

While Henry has a point, his complaints have not fallen on sympathetic ears. His professionalism and his desire not to get drawn into the Eto'o-Ronaldinho civil war have won him the respect of most team-mates, as has his desire to be a father figure to Bojan Krkic, who is likely to replace him against United. But the media and supporters have grown tired not just with his displays but also with what they see as self-indulgence and a propensity to whinge, on and off the pitch.

When, yesterday, one Catalan journalist was asked what kind of fever had kept Henry out of the weekend's 0-0 draw with Espanyol, he snapped: "An 'I can't be bothered' kind of fever." That might have been unfair but it said much.

"What was he doing leaning on the post just watching the move that led to the goal?" asked El Mundo Deportivo after the Schalke game; Sport picked up on Henry's "constant moaning". He is, as one headline put it, "the man who's never happy". And that is not just because he looks set to sit out the biggest game of his Barcelona career.

[Small Magician aka Wazza]

blogs.guardian.co.uk/sport > Sid Lowe 

Henry attracts few homages in Catalonia as form and fitness fade

Thierry Henry will miss the semi-final clash with Manchester United, but Barcelona fans won't miss him
Sid LoweApril 22, 2008 12:29 AM

If Thierry Henry thinks Barcelona fans will fret about his absence, thanks to the fever that kept him out of training yesterday, from tomorrow's Champions League semi-final first leg against Manchester United, he will be disappointed - almost as disappointed, in fact, as they have been with him.

Some 35,000 people attended Henry's presentation as a Barça player last summer, gathering to see him perform a few keepy-ups. The feeling now is that he has done little else; he certainly has not been worth €24m (nearly £16m at the then rate of exchange). Nor has he been the player he was in the Premiership. He has snapped at suggestions that he should aspire to be so. "You can forget all about the Arsenal Henry," he said. "This is the Henry you'll see from now on."

That is not the message Barça fans want to hear; this is not a player with whom they are enamoured. Nor is Barcelona's notorious "entourage" impressed, the media regularly attacking him - although Johan Cruyff, the former coach and unofficial presidential adviser, a kind of Cardinal Richelieu to Joan Laporta's Louis XIII, has defended him. The vice-president Ferran Soriano said Henry was not for sale. A decent offer and that could change.

Henry has scored 14 goals in 40 games, seven in the league - a goal fewer than Lionel Messi, despite playing over 1,000 minutes more, and, in the league, seven less than Samuel Eto'o, who has missed over half of the season. Nor has he always been available, suffering with an achilles problem and chronic back pains brought from London. One newspaper declared: "The man who was supposed to solve the problems of Ronaldinho's absences has become a problem in his own right."

After one recent game he was described as a "relic", a reporter remarking that "to describe Henry as pathetic would be an understatement". The Barcelona newspaper Sport gave him four out of 10 for his display in the Champions League quarter-final second leg against Schalke, saying he had performed "as flatly as he has done of late". El Mundo Deportivo shrugged: "No. There's no way of getting him to play well. Not even the Champions League could reactivate him."

That Henry has not had the impact anticipated is hardly surprising: he has too often played in an unfamiliar left-sided role as the Barcelona coach, Frank Rijkaard, remains faithful to the 4-3-3 tradition, passed down by Cruyff, which once cost Gary Lineker, another centre-forward forced to play wide, so dearly.

"If I play on the left, you'll see the Henry who plays on the left," the Frenchman said recently. "I have lost my attacking reference points by being on the wing. I'm just the guy that plays on the wing at Barcelona. I start 60 metres from goal, I run more than ever before and I'm not succeeding in one-on-ones because I'm shattered." Rijkaard merely shrugged. "He's playing OK there," he said.

Henry also complained that he has been unable to see his daughter, Tea. During one press conference he returned to the same theme again and again - to the exasperation of the local press. Asked what he could do to improve he snapped, "Get my daughter here with me," refusing to countenance any other reason for his dip in form, despite subsequently revealing his tactical concerns.

While Henry has a point, his complaints have not fallen on sympathetic ears. His professionalism and his desire not to get drawn into the Eto'o-Ronaldinho civil war have won him the respect of most team-mates, as has his desire to be a father figure to Bojan Krkic, who is likely to replace him against United. But the media and supporters have grown tired not just with his displays but also with what they see as self-indulgence and a propensity to whinge, on and off the pitch.

When, yesterday, one Catalan journalist was asked what kind of fever had kept Henry out of the weekend's 0-0 draw with Espanyol, he snapped: "An 'I can't be bothered' kind of fever." That might have been unfair but it said much.

"What was he doing leaning on the post just watching the move that led to the goal?" asked El Mundo Deportivo after the Schalke game; Sport picked up on Henry's "constant moaning". He is, as one headline put it, "the man who's never happy". And that is not just because he looks set to sit out the biggest game of his Barcelona career.

Great Article... useless cocky french ass

Go back to Le Arse and rekindle yuh career

[dinho]

Just in case you guys forgot what happened the last time you were so enthusiastic about a CL semi final tie..

[Grande]

I think Rijkaard more interested in grooming Krkic and Dos Santos as attackers instead of putting Henry there

Barca fans being too hard on Thierry...surely they can't expect a deluge of goals from him because he ain't striking and is pretty much playing left wing and while it is unfamiliar, I find he doing fine in dat position. That is a great position to exercise the kind of vision he has. How many assists has he given so far?

[giggsy11]

Just in case you guys forgot what happened the last time you were so enthusiastic about a CL semi final tie..

Who is the Gatusso on Barca? 

[Small Magician aka Wazza]

Omarldinho f**k you...

Study yuh Russian side semi 2moro...   yuh pathetic..yuh have 2 squads... what a true fan you are...

Besides...CR7 played 50+ games to Gattusso 30+

Who would be fresher?

[dinho]

Omarldinho f**k you...

Study yuh Russian side semi 2moro...   yuh pathetic..yuh have 2 squads... what a true fan you are...

Besides...CR7 played 50+ games to Gattusso 30+

Who would be fresher?

lol.. it take yuh long enough..

[Small Magician aka Wazza]

Omarldinho f**k you...

Study yuh Russian side semi 2moro...   yuh pathetic..yuh have 2 squads... what a true fan you are...

Besides...CR7 played 50+ games to Gattusso 30+

Who would be fresher?

lol.. it take yuh long enough..

lol.. heat of the moment

May the best team prevail

[D.H.W]

  things gettin a little  heated man poking fire to get burn, wed go have rel gunman talk i could see it now 

[Bourbon]

United last met Barcelona in the Champions League in 1998 when their group encounter at the Nou Camp ended in a 3-3 draw.

Dwight Yorke was MOM that game with two goals and an assist while Rivaldo was on fire for Barca

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8nJoW8NTP3g

highlights worth a look - that game was voted as one of the best CL games ever played

Was a real dread game in true. I download it the other day...no commentary...only stadium noise....and it was still engrossing.

eh heh way u download dat from hoss? Is long time i wah taken a classic game when Yorke and Cole was strike partners...one ah the deadliest partnership ever in Europe.

But on another note...hope Barca pull it off dis wednseday!

http://rapidshare.com/files/46369285/United_vs_Barca_98_99.part1.rar.html
http://rapidshare.com/files/46389813/United_vs_Barca_98_99.part2.rar.html
http://rapidshare.com/files/46465364/United_vs_Barca_98_99.part3.rar.html
http://rs115cg2.rapidshare.com/files/46475100/United_vs_Barca_98_99.part4.rar.html

And the Barca at home leg
http://rapidshare.com/files/47514577/Barca_vs_United_98_99.part1.rar.html
http://rapidshare.com/files/47533624/Barca_vs_United_98_99.part2.rar.html
http://rapidshare.com/files/48748725/Barca_vs_United_98_99.part3.rar.html
http://rapidshare.com/files/48860465/Barca_vs_United_98_99.part4.rar.html

I neutral about this game...i back both teams. Given form and confidence and other factors...i can see Manchester United taking the tie...but i wont be vex if Barcelona pull through. Once chelsea suck some salt.....and whoever win dis game win the whole thing....i good.

[D.H.W]

thanks bourbon