Hala Levante! When they missed the penno I thought they missed their chance to win. Thank goodness Madrid is absolute dogshite. Now I hope we can take advantage of the scum, though I wouldn’t bet on it.
Just watched the highlights, and both of Levante's goals were really nice. I guess Militao's red card was deserved going by the book, but part of me thinks the contact may have been more accidental than anything. The forward basically crosses in front of him and I can see it being hard to stop a full run to avoid contact. Then again, defenders often use the accidental on purpose move to stop plays. Also the PK for Levante was pretty questionable if it was really inside the box. Really close call and this is where VAR sucks IMO because it's changing a call that is not really clear. But just a reminder for the people who keep repeating that Madrid has the ref in their pockets.
The notion that any team has the officiators in their pockets is absolutely ridiculous nowadays. I mean some referee’s are downright shite tbh, but that has little to do with a hidden agenda against a team in particular and more with their ineptness or sometimes simply bad luck. No one complains when questionable calls go their way... Anyway, at the end of the day I couldn’t care less what happens to Madrid or how they lose as long as they do. Scum.
What's going on with Ramos? I saw that he wasn't on the team today but also not listed as injured. No Ramos and another defender gets sent off in the 8th minute. Surprised LPB came as close as they did to getting a point.
Good question. He does have some classic ongoing contract extension drama. I don’t know why that would stand in the way of him starting though. All I know is, he’s the only true leader on that team and their best defender by a long shot. So whatever’s going on, long may it continue.
@celito You think Palmeiras has a chance against Bayern? I’ve read they have a very quality team despite the Libertadores performance.
I'd say a punchers chance. But at least we can counter ... that is ... when we can get the ball out of the back (because against River 2nd match we couldn't). So I guess if Bayern are playing a high line we can possibly exploit that. Even though our campaign looks fantastic stat wise, we really only played questionable opposition up until the SF. We have a couple of good young prospects in the team, but their lack of experience is probably gonna show. Things are pretty crazy in Brazil. 2nd year in row that Libertadores Champs had managerial change mid season. And it will be 3rd year now that the league champs will also be a team that had a managerial change mid-season.
DFB Pokal 4th division RW Essen advance to the quarterfinals after defeating Bayer Leverkusen 2:1 after extra time! It was actually 0:0 after 90 minutes and Leverkusen scored for 0:1 just before the 105’ halftime mark. Great fight back by the Regionalliga club. EDIT: Bayern Munich conquerers Holstein Kiel also advance to the quarters, beating Darmstadt on penalties. Köln play on Wednesday away to second division Jahn Regensburg.
More DFB-Pokal Crazy turnaround in Dortmund v Paderborn. Dortmund lead 2:1 deep in injury time. Paderborn attacking, claim handball, ref waves play on. Dortmund immediately counter and score for 3:1. VAR tells ref to review on video and although no handball is called he rules a foul on the follow through clearance., Dortmund goal chalked off, Paderborn converts the penalty. On to extra time. Now Dortmund scores in e.t. for 3:2. 100'
Sevilla into the final 4 of Copa del Rey. Could still have a Seville-derby CdR final in the same year that we have the Basque derby CdR final. Of course, Barca will have something to say about that...
Helmond Cup update: VfB Stuttgart 1:2 Borussia Mönchengladbach Next: Saturday 6 February Bundesliga, 20. Spieltag Borussia Mönchengladbach v Köln ( )
Barca still not going to extra time but I can hope these last minutes. HELL YEAH, joining Koln in the 2-2 ET realm. Hope both teams can prevail in ET!