Anyone who said I was talking nonsense that Barca win because of Messi, can I ask what happened lasy night? Messi didnt get a sniff and Barca just end up passing it back and forth. And that performance sums up what Barca would be like without Messi, absolutely dire. I actually hate their football now. Big well done to Milan
He did stand up, I am not a fan but last night he stood up and played a great role. Xavi could take note on how to play a direct pass every now and and again. Their "beautiful" football lets them down because they dont play a pass that might be risky and end up losing it. The prince was also very good last night. He really is a player who has grew into a top class player
Yea, I quite liked Montolivo and I even tried to defend him a few times on here when his fiorentina form dipped for a couple of seasons (but he had previously shown his quality when Fiorentina were in CL). He was massive last night. I know what you mean. I very rarely find Barcelona exciting now. And it irritates me when people say the only way you can stop them is to get every man behind the ball. That may be true but Barcelona invite teams to play that way as they are so slow to verticalize possession. They give teams so long to get back and re-organise. At times it feels as though some of their players are paid going by their pass completion rate. Boateng has talent but for me he is a player whose ego drips too much into his game. The amount of times he shoots from impossible distances on his bad foot is ridiculous, especially when there is often a good passing option on.
It was. His hands had no business being up there. But who cares, it's poetic justice that Barcelona lost due to a referee mistake.
Is there a good shot of the hand ball or did you guys get a good look to know for sure? I watched the replay and just couldn't see it well enough. It looks like it hits him in the face, but it may have hit his arm first, I just can't tell.
We have an after CL show here in Serbia where our best refs review the dubious calls, and they said this was a handball after watching the review from every possible angle.
The true English football supporters do generally respect Italian players. Obviously their are some ignorant supporters who just support BPL.
This one makes it look like it hit his face, because of the angle I guess. Barca clearly handled it first, although that was outside of the box.
Wow,fair play to Milan for winning and so convincingly as well.I'm glad they won,always nice to see the underdog come out on top and it's good for Serie A too.It might also shut up a few noobs in the press who say Italian football is rubbish,dead,etc.
Some of them even mention Mexes's handball as further proof Milan was lucky, even though there was an offside call before it.
The more I look at it, the more I think it actually wasn't a handball. I didn't think it was possible for the ball to stop like that hitting his face, but if you watch the video above it looks like it's going at the right side of his face and maybe wedges in between the face and shoulder. It can't just transfer magically to his other arm after hitting his face on the right side. Sure his hands had no business being up there, but it still has to make contact to be a handball. Alba did Milan a huge favor by actually punching it right into his path, lol.
Napoli are fielding a second string, its -10 and snowing in Plzen.....Should be a drab affair from the "champions of Italy" PROBABILE FORMAZIONE NAPOLI (3-5-2): De Sanctis, Gamberini, Rolando, Britos; Maggio, El Kaddouri (Behrami), Donadel, Dzemaili, Zuniga; Pandev, Calaiò.
Cant blame them , this is closest shot they have to scudetto as it gets. Dont see them close like this again with Milan, Inter recovering or losing Cavani.Juve going far in CL, and them having just serie a to focus might help them achieve the unthinkable of winning serie a.
Maybe a practice session. Dzemaili, Donadel, Calaio were starting lol, thats as bad as it gets of an attemp to qualify.