It should’ve been a foul at least, but nothing more. The drawn blood came from an accidental trailing arm that was part of a natural movement. People are bigging up a Smalling event.
Well Smallimg has been very vocal in the past few days saying that he's faced Mbappe and Ronaldo and Messi didn't worry him at all ... Bearing those comments in mind and the replays I really think he meant to clean him out ..
The commentators seem to think Messi getting smashed in the face by Smalling was hilarious. No doubt they would have been equally amused if Pique had smashed Rashford in a similar manner.
He did what Ramos does, he went to clear the ball, but he also made sure he left something on the player at the same time.
Chris Smalling did what he did, but what was sickening is that the commentators were lauding it as proof that Premier League defenses are so much tougher than anyone else’s and that Barca are not used to the aggressiveness and pace. In fact, Smalling said these very words right after the game; they showed his interview on TNT and when the interviewer asked him, “You left Messi with a little something extra,” Smalling replied that “Yeah, we wanted to show them the aggression that they are not used to.” In any case, Messi will definitely not be playing this weekend even if he had wanted to — which is good. But reports saying he had trouble breathing at halftime as well: “And speaking to reporters post-match, Busquets revealed his fear that Messi has broken his nose because of the contact. "I think Messi has a broken nose," he said. “It was a big hit on him. There was a lot of blood and I'm not sure if there's a fracture or not. "There was a cut on his eyelid. He was uncomfortable and it bothered him while playing but Leo always plays on with this sort of injury in the best way possible." Spanish newspaper AS, meanwhile, reported that Messi struggled after his clash with Smalling because he was struggling to breathe. Their report claims that Messi underwent tests at half-time against United but say the attacker will be fit for the return clash. The problem, it is claimed, left him struggling to inhale air throughout the rest of the game and he will undergo X-rays in the coming days to determine the full extent of the blow.” —— https://www.express.co.uk/sport/foo...elona-Man-Utd-Champions-League-Chris-Smalling
Replays showed his nose was smashed to one side ( lobsided) . I’m guessing his face will be black and blue tomorrow and if so I hope they advertise the photos EVERYWHERE
They wish and they can always pretend 2009 & 2011 finals never happened. We hit 5 in those 2 finals and they only got 1 from offside goal.
Pathetic refereeing letting United commit fouls over and over without consequences and giving cheap fouls as soon as Pogba theatrically went down. How Smalling wasn't red carded or even yellow is beyond me. Biased ref. VAR is useless if refs are shit.
Well then read again. This is what I said: Now think about today’s game again and compare it with the Roma away last season. Does it look similar? Do you think our coach/team showed any improvement from that match? We were pressed exactly like that game and were struggling to get out of our own area. Only difference was thatDzeko is not playing for Manchester United today. My question on improvement was focused on how we approached the game when our opponent pressed us high up the pitch. No outlet for counterattacks and no speed in our 3 forwards. Due to this, we were suffocated in our own area, for large parts of the game. Given some speed, in such cases, will relieve a lot of pressure and keeps our opponent in check. However, the way United were pressing us yesterday, we were giving them back the ball right away as we had no other option than to try and come out of our area with ball on our player’s feet. Maybe my point didn’t came across as explicitly as I imagined as several of you didn’t get my point.
Not maybe a statement performance, but away QF wins in CL are not to be overlooked. Very good win, our odds of making semis increasing significantly.
In the mean time Uefa bans Ramos for talking about professional yellows. Uefa is so biased that it's amazing. Hitting player head before the ball, breaking nose, red all day every day.
The 1-0 is a fair result overall. More goals were there for both sides, and United will regret not taking their chances as they could obviously be in a much different position going into Camp Nou. They left spaces to try and take chances and press up, and will have to be more daring in Leg 2. It's always interesting to see where sides try to use most of their energy against Barca pressing wise. For United, it was a 20 or so minute stretch before and after half. Barca were not as sharp with the ball as planned, and again United will regret not taking advantage of a "bad night" by FCB standards. It's not often Busquets will be one of the worst on the pitch in control. A more responsible job in possession - coupled with goal precision - should see Barca through, and perhaps comfortably, in Leg 2. United had a big opportunity, and left 1-0 down.
Spoiled fans. On a related note, the club was only able to sell about 11,500 tickets for the Copa del Rey final. They had to release the other 2,500 from their allocation to Penya supporter clubs globally. Very spoiled fans.
🚑 [MD] | Lionel Messi performed the medical tests today and there is no danger.Big relief! pic.twitter.com/gsw8fvuVEV— BarçaTimes (@BarcaTimes) April 11, 2019
Not that it matters but I've watched several replays of the goal and I can't definitively see Luke Shaw touching the ball. Does anyone have a replay that shows it?
Amazing replay of the build up to the goal being scored, have to click open the link I'm afraid: In Manchester the move began with Piqué at the back and ended with Luis Suárez’s header being turned past his own goalkeeper by United defender Luke Shaw. In between Stegen, Rakitic, Busquets, Arthur, Jordi Alba, Coutinho, Messi, Semedo and Lenglet were all involved in a move that saw Chris Smalling touch the ball briefly for United. https://www.fcbarcelona.com/en/foot...d?hootPostID=522d844eb2e7783f635167e07dd0ba56
It's funny because when LPB regularly put in performances like last night in the CL people laud their amazing ability to dig out a result even when not playing well. When we do the same our own supporters slag the team off for being terrible.
Saw one yesterday, cannot find it, surprised that there are not some good still photos too. I went to look for it again today and the problem is that nearly all the video angles have the goal on the left, so Suarez is heading towards the camera, and we lose track of the ball's path. The good angle I found yesterday when trying to confirm if it was a Own Goal or heading in regardless of who may have touched it, was from the other side, behind Suarez.
I think the criticism is fair though. Last season I think many here were not happy with the performances vs Chelsea nor the 1st leg vs Roma (at least during the game). Ended up being a predictor. I think playing well is more associated with Barca as function of winning because of the way we play. We can't rely on crosses for example to bail us out. And can't rely much on speed either and go full bunker counter attack mode.
I don't think we should underestimate how much the Atletico game took out of the team, having 2 play 2 high intensity games back to back was always going to be difficult. To come away with 2 wins and no goals conceded from those matches is impressive . Although I agree with you that going forward we will need to play better.
Our QF opponents have ore to be worried about for the return leg. They lost at home without an actual shot on goal. We have an away goal. Those are positives, obviously we have to still finish the job but its not a bad scenario.