Real fans are talking about how lucky we are. The irony when looking at their UCL campaign last season.
I thought they were still crying about playing Valencia when they weren't complete garbage in December. Those fans are a joke, spend millions assembling a team full of the world's top players with some on the bench to spare and then cry about not playing teams in their worst run of form or Celta's bench players. Pathetic bunch.
Total meetings: 12 Lucho wins: 9 Cholo wins: 1 Draws: 2 La Liga 11-Jan-2015 : J18 - Lucho 3-1 Cholo 17-May-2015 : J37 - Cholo 0-1 Lucho --- Lucho clinched Liga title 12-Sep-2015 : J3 - Cholo 1-2 Lucho 30-Jan-2016 : J22 - Lucho 2-1 Cholo 21-Sep-2016 : J5 - Lucho 1-1 Cholo 26-Feb-2017 : J24 - Cholo 1-2 Lucho Copa del Rey 21-Jan-2015 : Qf-1 - Lucho 1-0 Cholo 28-Jan-2015 : Qf-2 - Cholo 2-3 Lucho --- Lucho advanced 4-3 aggregate 1-Feb-2017 : Sf-1 - Cholo 1-2 Lucho 7-Feb-2017 : SF-2 - Lucho 1-1 Cholo --- Lucho advanced 3-2 aggregate UEFA Champions League 5-Apr-2016 : Qf-1 - Lucho 2-1 Cholo 13-Apr-2016 - QF-2 - Cholo 2-0 Lucho --- Cholo advanced 3-2 aggregate
^^^ Gotta admit, I didn't think Lucho had been this successful against Cholo. I suppose Barca's two KO defeats to Cholo in the Champions League stick out like a sore thumb but only one of those defeats was with Lucho in charge. And Lucho also was not in charge in that 1-1 Liga title decider at Camp Nou, another result that sticks out mightily.
It was not a beautiful win by any stretch, but after 3 sketchy halves against them in the Copa and 2 bad halves against PSG I thought we showed some improvement (well not great improvement as some MAtS heroics were required, but had much more measured possession, and did not look like we were getting over run too often), and I thought that the 3-4-3 was pretty inspired even though I was scratching my head with Mathieu and Rafinha starting.
Dont get me wrong but the 3-4-3 and Lucho´s "brilliance" in tinkering AGAIN in this game was not what won the 3p in the end. Lucho is still relying on luck and Messi to bail him out. It was a crapshoot game and heroic performance by MATS in 1st half that lead to the result, could easily have been a doorslam in the face after first half. Funny things are the other way around, being dominated but getting the results, seems to have been the curse before. I still hope this boost the team in some way.
Sorry I had to edit and take the piss, hope Lucho reads this (I also put Messi in the losses and draws just to be fair) Total meetings: 12 Messi wins: 9 Cholo wins: 1 Draws: 2 La Liga 11-Jan-2015 : J18 - Messi 3-1 Cholo 17-May-2015 : J37 - Cholo 0-1 Messi --- Lucho clinched Liga title 12-Sep-2015 : J3 - Cholo 1-2 Messi 30-Jan-2016 : J22 - Messi 2-1 Cholo 21-Sep-2016 : J5 - Messi 1-1 Cholo 26-Feb-2017 : J24 - Cholo 1-2 Messi Copa del Rey 21-Jan-2015 : Qf-1 - Messi 1-0 Cholo 28-Jan-2015 : Qf-2 - Cholo 2-3 Messi --- Lucho advanced 4-3 aggregate 1-Feb-2017 : Sf-1 - Cholo 1-2 Messi 7-Feb-2017 : SF-2 - Messi 1-1 Cholo --- Lucho advanced 3-2 aggregate UEFA Champions League 5-Apr-2016 : Qf-1 - Messi 2-1 Cholo 13-Apr-2016 - QF-2 - Cholo 2-0 Messi --- Cholo advanced 3-2 aggregate
Well I already mentioned the MAtS heroics, and Messi (& GOMES) bailout, but it is also easy to forget we could have easily had two goals scored in the first half ourselves. The one we put in the back of the net which was called back, and the one which Luis Suarez normally scores (or certainly puts on target most of the time) which he shot wide when he'd gotten behind the defense. Plus there was Messi's great free kick which required a great Oblak save. So our two ricochet goals in 2nd half may flatter us a bit, we're not winning beauty contests, but looked we more solid in possession and in midfield today, mainly by playing Roberto as a 4th mid rather than out of place at RB (though I kinda wish we'd sat Roberto for Rakitic starting). Give Lucho some credit. He also owns Cholo aside from that 1 CL loss in Lucho's 2.6 years.
Yes, but you take out Messi contribution, we're still behind RM even if they didnt win their 2 spare games. The only time Messi didnt score recently is in CL game against PSG and we lost. Other than that, I think he scored or assisted in about every matches this year.
fans mentality has changed. We won so many trophies the past decade so now for many, winning is more important than how we are supposed to win it, our football philosophy and style. A Pink Floyd lyric, in particular, has always stuck out for me when thinking of current Barcelona: "Did you exchange a walk-on part in the war for a lead role in a cage?"
So now we are 1 point behind. Real has one game in hand but they will face Celta Vigo which is not easy so they will drop point. With this the el clasico will decide who will win
Playing against ATM or Real always motivates our players even though we lack proper tactics. Beside that ATM didn't win any games this season against the top 6 teams. So I won't think what we did was that special. Also, I won't think our players will be as motivated against smaller teams (think of Leganes) which we dropped most points against. Clasico won't decide anything, continual work in every game is what will make us win the league.
And rightly so. All those wins apart from maybe 1 or 2 were difficult as hell to get even when they only had 9/10 men. Plus they owned Barca in 2014 so badly it naturally takes a while to heal those wounds, even though Barca has bossed them in La Liga for 3 full seasons now.
I think the fact we have had the upper hand for 3 seasons under Lucho states that maybe we can be a bit more confident when facing cholos team these days...obviously it's never going to be a walk in the park
Yes and how many times in last many years where RM actually beat Barcelona by more than 1-2 goals margin? even at our worst, they hardly able to outplayed Barca completely. But when Barca is clicking, they can beat them 4-0. 6-2. 5-0, no matter its home or away. But then against team which you expect Barca to win easily, they'd drop more points and conceiding more goals than they did against RM.
If they have a 4 point lead by Clasico time, a loss would probably decide the league. Even a tie IMO . There will be 5 games left after that.
Don't say that! Nothing's guaranteed. I thought they'd drop 2 or 3 when they went behind 2-0 at Villarreal, and we saw how that ended...