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[Brian SD]

Going to sound negative here for a moment and say that I really enjoy seeing Barca lose. With the exception of Iniesta and maybe Puyol, I can't think of a single player on that team who has any class - they're all spoiled children who whine and cheat. I'm tired of seeing Valdes charge out of goal to intimidate the officials, Busquests, Alves, Villa, Mascherano and Messi (when he isn't getting his way) trying to invoke cards, rolling around on the ground and faking injuries. I have respect for their ability to play and I think they'll go down as one of the better teams in history. But I'm tired of hearing about how beautiful the system is - they only play fluent, attacking football against teams that roll over and give up. Against teams that actually pose a threat, they play very carefully and after going one ahead, they just pass sideways for the remainder. The 5-0 win against Madrid was an incredible display of footballing ability, but it's the exception and certainly not the rule with Barca and strong opposition. They lost away to Arsenal and until Van Persie was sent off for the most ludicrous red card I've ever seen, the Arse was ahead on aggregate. I have no dog in the fight with La Liga and I enjoy watching the only two worthwhile teams go at it every couple of months because it has little to no effect on the teams I do follow (in the Prem and Bundesliga). I just like seeing Barca lose. Marcelo, Ronaldo, and Ramos are children as well, but I don't hear every discussion about football digressing into praise for them as being the second coming of Jesus. Alonso and Casillas are both class acts, always love watching them put on a good display. Casillas in particular was excellent yesterday. Here's hoping for some intense matches in the upcoming CL fixtures. I have no doubt United will take out Schalke quite easily, as much as I'd like to see Schalke go through, I don't think they have the composure to beat a rock solid defense and Edwin Van der Sar. Would love to see Uchida be the man of the match, but... it's nice to want things

Relevant picture:

 

[embowafa]

Originally Posted by Brian SD

...

tl:dr

you even preemptively replied to yourself with the correct response...NICE.

 

[benecios]

http://www.sportingintelligence.com/...-teams-200401/

This has come as a massive shock, I would never expect Barca to top this list!

 

[Brian SD]

Originally Posted by embowafa

tl:dr

Bringing the class, I see.

 

[embowafa]

Originally Posted by Brian SD

Bringing the class, I see.
No excuse for that dude....he's turned into quite the player, but I've never liked his diving/antics. LOL @ including Messi in any list that has the description "whine and cheat".

 

[fritzl]

Originally Posted by Brian SD

I don't think they have the composure to beat a rock solid defense and Edwin Van der Sar. Would love to see Uchida be the man of the match, but... it's nice to want things

imo, van der sar is overrated.

the defense wasn't rock solid against chelsea in the cl.

 

[Brian SD]

I'm not a United fan (quite the opposite) but when their defense is fully fit, they make it really difficult to get any shots on target. Vidic is a rock and almost never makes mistakes. Van der Sar on the other hand does make mistakes on occasion but he always brings his A game to big matches and has good distribution. As for Messi, he's a genius, master, the best player in the world, whatever you wanna call him. But when things aren't going his way he's a huge whiner and gets away with **** that gets others sent off. Considering in the game vs Arsenal he wasn't even carded for taking a shot after the whistle was blown for offside, yet RVP was sent off for the exact same offense, it's frustrating to watch as a neutral fan. He also waves around an imaginary card which is an instant yellow. And the other Barca players don't get carded for putting their hands around the Arsenal players' necks. Let's not forget the ball he rocketed into the Madrid fans, and that it was his poor backpass that Ronaldo intercepted and eventually won the Copa del Ray for Real. He's far from perfect.

 

[fritzl]

Originally Posted by Brian SD

I'm not a United fan (quite the opposite) but when their defense is fully fit, they make it really difficult to get any shots on target. Vidic is a rock and almost never makes mistakes. Van der Sar on the other hand does make mistakes on occasion but he always brings his A game to big matches and has good distribution.

correct

and yes recently

 

[embowafa]

Originally Posted by Brian SD

As for Messi, he's a genius, master, the best player in the world, whatever you wanna call him. But when things aren't going his way he's a huge whiner and gets away with **** that gets others sent off. Considering in the game vs Arsenal he wasn't even carded for taking a shot after the whistle was blown for offside, yet RVP was sent off for the exact same offense, it's frustrating to watch as a neutral fan. He also waves around an imaginary card which is an instant yellow. And the other Barca players don't get carded for putting their hands around the Arsenal players' necks. Let's not forget the ball he rocketed into the Madrid fans, and that it was his poor backpass that Ronaldo intercepted and eventually won the Copa del Ray for Real. He's far from perfect.

Who said he was perfect? [/redherring]

But dude...you're reaching. Dude gets hacked on all game (every game) and doesn't get calls that anyone else would get because he doesn't go down easily.

You conveniently mention some "should have been" foul on Messi, but conveniently forget that the first yellow committed by RvP should should have very well been a straight red...

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Entire teams train around rotating their fouls vs. Barcelona so no one gets a card from it. if you want to interpret that as cheating and whining, then go ahead...if you're going to hate MESSI of all people for getting frustrated with these negative tactics (which is utterly laughable) I have no idea how you even stomach watching any other football around the world.

 

[the shah]

http://soccernet.espn.go.com/news/st...-fines?cc=5901 "Balotelli driving City mad with fines"

Manchester City striker Mario Balotelli is evidently having as much trouble parking his car as he has putting on a bib, as it has been revealed that his luxury Maserati has been impounded 27 times since his arrival in England. A report in the Sun has claimed that Balotelli has racked up nearly £10,000 in fines, with an average of three parking tickets per day arriving due to his lack of parking nous. A source at the club told the paper: "Mario will drive from his luxury apartment to a restaurant a few streets away and leave the car on double yellows. The other week the Maserati misfired so he just abandoned it. Staff have had to bail it out 27 times. "The valet the club uses empties the glove box of tickets every time he cleans it. Mario doesn't seem to care. It's a drop in the ocean to him. "Mario was pulled over by the police and he had £25,000 cash on the passenger seat. They asked him why and he said, 'Because I can'. He doesn't care much for authority."

like a bawss

 

[embowafa]

 

[NewYorkIslander]

City looking ace tonight, just need one goal, then the gates will open.

 

[the shah]

 

[embowafa]

^^^^

Hahahaha. Is there a more overrated basket case than this kid?

 

[Jared7]

Originally Posted by Brian SD

Bringing the class, I see.

+1, can't stand Biscuits and his blatant diving. At least make it more convincing.

In other news, we scored 2 away goals at Schalke but it should have been more. After that performance we are virtually in the final, just need to be professional at OT and finish the job. I hope we get Real in the final!