What has happened to the Spanish teams in the CL?

Discussion in 'UEFA and Europe' started by thepremierleague, Apr 25, 2012.

  1. thepremierleague

    Mar 14, 2001
    London
    Nat'l Team:
    England
    Thank God the constant pontificating and cliched predictions by "experts" in the Spanish, English and world media about "unbeatable" Madrid and Barcelona are now over.

    The El clasico final was a forgone conclusion before a ball was even kicked in the semis if we believed all the incessant media hype. Or Tripe?

    I for one am glad to see the "El Clasico" circus sent packing and we can finally concentrate on FOOTBALL and the Champions League final.

    There is so much egg on face in Europe we could make a Paella Omlette.
     
  2. condor11

    condor11 Moderator
    Staff Member

    Apr 2, 2002
    New Zealand
    so a clasico wouldnt have football?:confused:
     
  3. thepremierleague

    Mar 14, 2001
    London
    Nat'l Team:
    England
    The arrogance of the Barcelona and Madrid hype, and the circus of the clasico was overshadowing the Champions League and totally disrespectul to the oppenents.

    The media in Spain acted like Barcelona and Madrid had a devine right to be in the final. And at least in Chelsea's case have been totally ungracious in defeat.

    Madrid were favourites with bookmakers this morning to win the Champions League before they had even knocked out Bayern!

    It was all pure arrogance and thank god it's been extinguished.


    Bayern and Chelsea have been humble and just shut up and done the job. Good riddance. The media and papers in Italy pretty much say the same thing.
     
  4. condor11

    condor11 Moderator
    Staff Member

    Apr 2, 2002
    New Zealand
    sounds like you have a case of sour grapes, before the semis both real and Barcelona were favorites for obvious reasons

    el clasico final wouldnt have overshadowed a champions league final but added a bit more drama to it, as would any final betewn two arch rivals
     
  5. thepremierleague

    Mar 14, 2001
    London
    Nat'l Team:
    England
    How could Madrid be favourites to win the Champions League when they were 2-1 down and not even in the final yet. That was ridiculous.


    An el clasico final would have been an unbearable Spanish media circus and chest thumping decleration of superiority from their already bloated heads.

    The Barcelona camp and media were classless in defeat, and refuse to see their own faults or concepts such as plan B or trying different tactics. Oh no it was just "bad luck"

    Even Madrid papers were defending Barcelona!

    Madrid and Barcelona have learnt some valuable lessons about humility and had their faults exposed.
     
  6. thepremierleague

    Mar 14, 2001
    London
    Nat'l Team:
    England
    Of course the Spanish media felt exactly the same when Barcelona stopped a repeat of the Chelsea V Manchester CL final twice in a row.

    I agree that would have started a great wave of superiority decleration
    and chest puffing in the English media even greater than it already was that would be intolerable to Europeans.

    However the disrespect and arrogance that surrounded the Barcelona and Madrid circus this year I found distasteful. Particularly the reaction to Barcelona's defeat.
     
  7. mfw13

    mfw13 Member+

    Jul 19, 2003
    Seattle
    Club:
    Newcastle United FC
    What happened to the Spanish teams in the CL is that they discovered, the hard way, what the big English clubs discovered before them; namely that if your defending is poor, you leave yourself vulnerable no matter how good your attacking play is.

    Barcelona and Real Madrid both conceded three goals over two legs in the semis, an average of 1.5 goals per match, and were able to keep exactly ZERO clean sheets in the four matches. Not exactly watertight defending.

    Manchester United conceded five goals in its two matches against Basel (which resulted in their elimination from the CL), and then five goals again in the two legs against Bilbao which resulted in their eliminatio from the Europe League. If you need more evidence of how week their defense is, consider thet Man. United have conceded three goals or more at Old Trafford THREE TIMES this season (against Man. City, Blackburn, and Everton).

    Man. City conceded six goals in six matches in the groups stages of the CL (i.e. a goal per match), and three over two legs against Sporting Lisbon in the Europe League, keeping only two clean sheets in the eight matches (at Villareal, and home to Bayern Munich in a meaningless (for Bayern Munich) final group game.

    The point being, that virtually every "big" club in Europe has a creaky defense, and creaky defenses enable potential upsets. Imagine if these club spent even a quarter of what they do on attacking players improving their defense....
     
  8. DaveyGorgeous

    DaveyGorgeous Member+

    Jul 6, 2006
    NYC
    Club:
    Juventus FC
    Nat'l Team:
    Italy
    I agree with premierleague in that the media, the fans, everything was very disrespectful to Chelsea and Bayern. When the semis were drawn, everyone immediately thought it would be Barca-Madrid even after both Chelsea and Bayern had good first legs. In a way it was a bit disrespectful to not give these teams a chance. Yet, as he mentioned, they were quiet and humble and did their job. Well done to them I say.
     
  9. condor11

    condor11 Moderator
    Staff Member

    Apr 2, 2002
    New Zealand
    did Chelsea "respect" Benfica when the draw was made?
     
  10. DaveyGorgeous

    DaveyGorgeous Member+

    Jul 6, 2006
    NYC
    Club:
    Juventus FC
    Nat'l Team:
    Italy
    I think the media, fans, analysts, etc., in general, were more respectful to Benefica in their clash with Chelsea than they were to Chelsea when they were paired with Barca. I don't think these two cases are analogous. It was not assumed Chelsea would move on against Benefica as it was with Barca against Chelsea. This was the case even after Barca lost the first leg. And, even if they weren't considered the favorites anymore by betting odds, etc., it never felt like it. You still kept hearing predictions of a 3-1 or 2-0 win at Camp Nou.

    In general, you did not hear about others making the final as much as you heard of a Barca-Real final as soon as the semis were drawn. I feel like you couldn't get away from the billing of a "classico CL final." And this comes from a neutral spectator, as I support no team from the EPL, La Liga or Bundesliga, mind you.
     
  11. thepremierleague

    Mar 14, 2001
    London
    Nat'l Team:
    England

    Exactly. Of course Chelsea were not at the level of 2009, but they are very experienced and had been on a good run and knew this was it for many of them. Barcelona were hyped beyond belief like they only had to beat Leyton Orient.

    In many ways the disprespect of Bayern was even worse considering how good they are!


    Even after the defeats the French and Italian papers said heroic Chelsea, Barcelona flopped, good defensive display etc

    The Spanish media was mostly crying Anti-football, bad luck, unjust and
    refused to acknowledge any flaws in their tactics against defensive teams.

    The arrogance is just ugly. Total refusal to give Chelsea any credit.

    At least Mourinho has called Chelsea heroes. But then again he did mastermind the same thing with Inter :D
     
  12. BocaFan

    BocaFan Member+

    Aug 18, 2003
    Queens, NY
    I think you're not grasping the definition of "favourites". Madrid were given a better than 50% chance of advancing 24 hours ago, and rightly so. They got an away goal, had just defeated Barca away, have been playing better football than Bayern for most of the season and the upcoming match was being played in the Bernabeu where they have been unbeatable against anyone not name 'Barca'.
     
  13. la saeta rubia

    Aug 1, 2010
    Argentina/España
    Club:
    CA River Plate
    Nat'l Team:
    Argentina
     
  14. thepremierleague

    Mar 14, 2001
    London
    Nat'l Team:
    England

    Have you seen Spain play? They may win but it's the most boring team I've ever seen. Slow passes in triangles all day. They kept winning 1-0 every single game in 2010. It was like watching Italy with more passing.


    Chelsea normally don't play like that. Spanish fans seem to care more about how they look than winning.
     
  15. RichardL

    RichardL BigSoccer Supporter

    May 2, 2001
    Berkshire
    Club:
    Reading FC
    Nat'l Team:
    England
    I've always been quick to raise a suspicious eyebrow at claims of English media arrogance from overseas, so I'll return the favour and ask which Spanish media sources you saw/read exhibited this attitude.


    Again, I assume these were Spanish bookmakers you were quoting odds from, not British ones.

    If not, I fail to see how William Hill quoting Real Madrid as favourites would be an example of Spanish arrogance.
     
    unclesox repped this.
  16. condor11

    condor11 Moderator
    Staff Member

    Apr 2, 2002
    New Zealand
    of course you mean Northern Hemisphere rugby, Southern hemisphere is completely different:D
     
  17. condor11

    condor11 Moderator
    Staff Member

    Apr 2, 2002
    New Zealand
    keeping possession is probably the hardest thing to do in football

    and no Chelsea does not usually play like that, which says a lot about Barcelona
     
  18. condor11

    condor11 Moderator
    Staff Member

    Apr 2, 2002
    New Zealand
    you only had to watch the first leg to know why barca were still favorites

    they lost away 1-0, and missed a whole lot of chances, its not unreasonable to expect them to do the business at home

    now if they had lost 1-0 away in the first leg, then im sure they wouldn't have been seen as favorites for the return match
     
  19. gummy-bear83

    gummy-bear83 Member

    May 24, 2010
    Piombino, Tuscany.
    Club:
    Juventus FC
    Nat'l Team:
    Italy
    Its' a bit off topic but I must reply to you...Italy scored more goals in 2006 than Spain did in 2010.:cool:
     
    unclesox repped this.

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