I still can't believe Lanus aren't using their best player, Var. Maybe he'll come in for the second half to shake things up..
Well, it looks like it ends here... cheated their way through the group stage, cheated their way through knockouts (quarterfinals + semifinals)...... it was a nice run for Lanus, but this is as far as their fairytale goes... Congrats to Gremio, who are far more deserving of the trophy. Hopefully they represent us well in the CWC
Ref completely missed the Lanus player stepping on a Gremio player on the ground after the whistle. Where is VAR ?
Hmmm.. Okay, let's see if Lanus make one final push, which will make them vulnerable in the back. It should be an interesting 20 minutes or so.
Gremio has been happy with just defending most of the 2nd half. It's not easy to regain momentum after you've given it away.
Respect to Lanus for a good campaign by a "neighborhood team" as it calls itself. Grêmio however was indisputably superior in this return leg and except for Bressan's expulsion, with its 1-2 win after a 1-0 win at home, is the new champion of the Libertadores with total merit and absolute justice. No controversial refereeing, wins away, no VAR issues (that favored it), all culminate in Grêmio's tricampeonato, after a long period of team building and planning. Renato Gaúcho has raised his pedigree considerably; he has proven to be a meticulous student of the game and of opponents (which reminds me of another one-time Grêmio manager, who now manages the best NT in South America). Perhaps he can dream of one day managing Brazil .... in the future. Grêmio now heads back to Brazil to celebrate - and then to the United Arab Emirates for the Club World Cup.
Congrats to Gremio fans! And I don't know if you knew, but there's a club Almagro (30 blocks away from where i'm writing) that claims there's a friendship between you guys, lol, so when you're done celebrating please clarify if its a myth or if there's some truth to it... Probably because of the club colors.
Sorry, don't remember having heard about this Almagro team. Maybe the friendship is between the hinchadas ? The red card to Ramiro was deserved. You don't get a yellow and slaps the ref hand away. Stupid. And the penalty was obviously deserved. But the refereeing was top notch, unlike the one in Porto Alegre. I don't remember anytime getting angry with the ref, even after the penalty and when we were under pressure.
Arthur is an awesome player. He decidedly deserves a place at Tite's team. He finds space where there is none. His injury certainly contributed to Grêmio being pressured most of the second half. Fortunately I don't think it was anything serious. Doesn't seemed like muscle nor bone. Just a torsion. Hope so.
Renato Portaluppi got the titles, but he had already done good jobs before. Lost a Libertadores on penalties to LDU. Took Grêmio in 18th in July and took to 4th place back in 2010. In 2013 became coach in June I think and got the team to 2nd place
Congrats to Gremio for getting past Pachuca.. it seems this team only knows how to score golazos. Even the goal that was disallowed was a fantastic finish Good luck vs. Real! Pull off the upset!
Gremio suffered far too much against a Pachuca well past its prime, after selling Chucky to PSV and having Medina return to Monterrey. Solid defensively, but the midfield was controlled for most of the match by the Mexicans, I don't see how Gremio can stop Real in the final.
Yeah, but RM also did lose to Girona and Betis this season.. They also tied vs. Levante and Bilboa, while barely scraping wins vs. scrubs like Alaves and Malaga. They're hardly unstoppable. If Gremio wakes up on the right side of the bed, they could pull off the upset.
Gremio was also missing one of their most important midfielders. So there is that. Defense is how you stop Real. They can try and hit them on the counter. But yeah, it was always going to be an uphill battle no matter the CONMEBOL team. Having said that, RM are not in great form and might have their head on El Clasico. Gremio will play as if their lives depended on it.
just tore his ankle ligaments. enough to miss the whole Club World Cup but let's hope it wont affect the rest of his career...