[EU] Champions League 04/05 (36 Viewers)
- Thread starter Roverbhoy
- Start date
And then there were none. After a 12-year span in the Spanish league sent six teams to the finals, there are no Liga teams in the final eight of the Champions League following the elimination of Real Madrid and Barcelona.
There's no doubt some pundits will start asking whether this heralds the demise of La Liga -- whether the Spanish League, generally thought to be the world's best in recent years, isn't all it's cracked up to be. But jumping to conclusions based solely on what happened in the second round of the Champions League is both silly and premature. You have to consider the way in which Spain's two representatives were eliminated.
Barcelona and Chelsea served up an epic battle at Stamford Bridge, as exciting as the first leg was dull. Catalan fans forever will argue that John Terry's decisive goal should have been disallowed, as Ricardo Carvalho was holding back Barca goalkeeper Victor Valdes. They're right. That doesn't mean Chelsea doesn't deserve to be in the quarterfinals, just that the gap between these two clubs has shrunk remarkably.
The encounter between these two teams was a textbook example of clashing styles. Barcelona dominated possession and threw men forward at every opportunity. Chelsea raised the barricades (particularly in the first leg) and tried to hit on the break and on set pieces. These two opposing styles reflect not just the managers' philosophies, but also the players at their disposal. It's no coincidence that if you were to merge the two teams and come up with the best lineup, the goalkeeper and all the defenders (apart from Carles Puyol) probably would come from Chelsea. The midfielders and strikers (apart from Claude Makelele and Frank Lampard) would be supplied by Barca.
Real Madrid's exit was as close as it comes, thanks to a late goal by Juventus' Marcelo Zalayeta. Credit Fabio Capello's team for putting up a good fight, but Real can only blame itself. Against a Juve side weakened by the absences of Pavel Nedved and Manuele Blasi, and with David Trezeguet at half-strength, Real shouldn't have gone out. In fact, it should have closed the deal at Bernabeu, where it failed to capitalize and settled for a meager 1-0 win.
Big changes are expected for Real this summer, but the problems still run deep, as evidenced by the January signing of Thomas Gravesen. The Dane is a solid player, but he is anything but a defensive midfielder (his shaved head and chiseled biceps just make him look like one). Anybody who saw him play for Denmark or Everton in the past few years could have told Real team president Florentino Perez that he is not the guy to restore balance to the teams' midfield. But obviously Perez felt he knew better.
Elsewhere in Champions League
Manchester United also failed to make the quarterfinals for the second straight year after reaching the final eight every season from 1996 to 2003. But Sir Alex Ferguson has little to feel badly about: United simply was outclassed by Milan. The hero of the round was Hernan Crespo, who scored at Old Trafford and the San Siro. The English media hastily labeled him a dud after last year's campaign with Chelsea (despite the fact that he scored 10 goals in 19 league appearances), but Crespo got his revenge. His willingness to work hard and accept an understudy role at Milan this year shows that he is not just one of the better center-forwards around, he's also a class act.
Arsenal came up short once again, the fifth time in the past seven years it has fallen short of the quarterfinals. Such sustained underachievement given the strength of Arsene Wenger's team is hard to explain. The problem is, most likely, tactical: In the Premiership, where straightforward 4-4-2 formations are bread and butter, Arsenal rarely faces sophisticated tactical formations. So when it matches up against a team like Bayern, brilliantly coached Wednesday by Felix Magath, it can't adjust.
Monaco failed to repeat last year's heroics, which is perhaps understandable, given the massive overhaul to Didier Deschamps' squad last summer. But credit must go to PSV which, despite losing Mateja Kezman, Arjen Robben and Dennis Rommedahl last offseason, put together a team which may be even stronger than last year's.
Bayer Leverkusen went out with a whimper against Liverpool, beaten soundly both home and away. Klaus Augenthaler has plenty of work to do, and you get the sense that, given Bayer's league position, the Champions League hardly was a priority. Still, one would have expected more against an injury-riddled Liverpool side which had to dig deep even to field a competitive starting lineup and seemed to play on raw emotion.
The less said about Werder Bremen, which was thoroughly dominated by Olympique Lyon, the better. When a team concedes 10 goals in 180 minutes, things are seriously wrong. But it's worth noting that Lyon is one of the more underrated teams. Perennial French champions with plenty of European experience, Lyon has a good blend of talent and athleticism and, in Paul LeGuen, a very tactically savvy boss. This is the club none of the big boys want to face in the draw.
Extra time
A final word on the bitter feud between Jose Mourinho and Frank Rijkaard. After the first leg between Barcelona and Chelsea, the Portuguese manager accused Rijkaard of entering referee Anders Frisk's dressing room at halftime, presumably in an effort to influence his officiating. Now that Barcelona is out, UEFA will be tempted to drop its investigation quietly and move on. That would be wrong and would set a dangerous precedent. Mourinho's accusations are very serious, and there is no escaping the fact that one of the two is in the wrong. If Rijkaard did see Frisk at halftime (a charge he denies), he should be punished severely. And if Mourinho is making baseless allegations, then it's the Chelsea boss who needs to be sanctioned. You can't simply let something like this slide.
There's no doubt some pundits will start asking whether this heralds the demise of La Liga -- whether the Spanish League, generally thought to be the world's best in recent years, isn't all it's cracked up to be. But jumping to conclusions based solely on what happened in the second round of the Champions League is both silly and premature. You have to consider the way in which Spain's two representatives were eliminated.
Barcelona and Chelsea served up an epic battle at Stamford Bridge, as exciting as the first leg was dull. Catalan fans forever will argue that John Terry's decisive goal should have been disallowed, as Ricardo Carvalho was holding back Barca goalkeeper Victor Valdes. They're right. That doesn't mean Chelsea doesn't deserve to be in the quarterfinals, just that the gap between these two clubs has shrunk remarkably.
The encounter between these two teams was a textbook example of clashing styles. Barcelona dominated possession and threw men forward at every opportunity. Chelsea raised the barricades (particularly in the first leg) and tried to hit on the break and on set pieces. These two opposing styles reflect not just the managers' philosophies, but also the players at their disposal. It's no coincidence that if you were to merge the two teams and come up with the best lineup, the goalkeeper and all the defenders (apart from Carles Puyol) probably would come from Chelsea. The midfielders and strikers (apart from Claude Makelele and Frank Lampard) would be supplied by Barca.
Real Madrid's exit was as close as it comes, thanks to a late goal by Juventus' Marcelo Zalayeta. Credit Fabio Capello's team for putting up a good fight, but Real can only blame itself. Against a Juve side weakened by the absences of Pavel Nedved and Manuele Blasi, and with David Trezeguet at half-strength, Real shouldn't have gone out. In fact, it should have closed the deal at Bernabeu, where it failed to capitalize and settled for a meager 1-0 win.
Big changes are expected for Real this summer, but the problems still run deep, as evidenced by the January signing of Thomas Gravesen. The Dane is a solid player, but he is anything but a defensive midfielder (his shaved head and chiseled biceps just make him look like one). Anybody who saw him play for Denmark or Everton in the past few years could have told Real team president Florentino Perez that he is not the guy to restore balance to the teams' midfield. But obviously Perez felt he knew better.
Elsewhere in Champions League
Manchester United also failed to make the quarterfinals for the second straight year after reaching the final eight every season from 1996 to 2003. But Sir Alex Ferguson has little to feel badly about: United simply was outclassed by Milan. The hero of the round was Hernan Crespo, who scored at Old Trafford and the San Siro. The English media hastily labeled him a dud after last year's campaign with Chelsea (despite the fact that he scored 10 goals in 19 league appearances), but Crespo got his revenge. His willingness to work hard and accept an understudy role at Milan this year shows that he is not just one of the better center-forwards around, he's also a class act.
Arsenal came up short once again, the fifth time in the past seven years it has fallen short of the quarterfinals. Such sustained underachievement given the strength of Arsene Wenger's team is hard to explain. The problem is, most likely, tactical: In the Premiership, where straightforward 4-4-2 formations are bread and butter, Arsenal rarely faces sophisticated tactical formations. So when it matches up against a team like Bayern, brilliantly coached Wednesday by Felix Magath, it can't adjust.
Monaco failed to repeat last year's heroics, which is perhaps understandable, given the massive overhaul to Didier Deschamps' squad last summer. But credit must go to PSV which, despite losing Mateja Kezman, Arjen Robben and Dennis Rommedahl last offseason, put together a team which may be even stronger than last year's.
Bayer Leverkusen went out with a whimper against Liverpool, beaten soundly both home and away. Klaus Augenthaler has plenty of work to do, and you get the sense that, given Bayer's league position, the Champions League hardly was a priority. Still, one would have expected more against an injury-riddled Liverpool side which had to dig deep even to field a competitive starting lineup and seemed to play on raw emotion.
The less said about Werder Bremen, which was thoroughly dominated by Olympique Lyon, the better. When a team concedes 10 goals in 180 minutes, things are seriously wrong. But it's worth noting that Lyon is one of the more underrated teams. Perennial French champions with plenty of European experience, Lyon has a good blend of talent and athleticism and, in Paul LeGuen, a very tactically savvy boss. This is the club none of the big boys want to face in the draw.
Extra time
A final word on the bitter feud between Jose Mourinho and Frank Rijkaard. After the first leg between Barcelona and Chelsea, the Portuguese manager accused Rijkaard of entering referee Anders Frisk's dressing room at halftime, presumably in an effort to influence his officiating. Now that Barcelona is out, UEFA will be tempted to drop its investigation quietly and move on. That would be wrong and would set a dangerous precedent. Mourinho's accusations are very serious, and there is no escaping the fact that one of the two is in the wrong. If Rijkaard did see Frisk at halftime (a charge he denies), he should be punished severely. And if Mourinho is making baseless allegations, then it's the Chelsea boss who needs to be sanctioned. You can't simply let something like this slide.
The chairman of UEFA's referee's committee says coaches are indirectly to blame for the kind of incidents that prompted Anders Frisk to retire and described Chelsea's Jose Mourinho as 'the enemy of football'.
Swede Frisk retired from refereeing with immediate effect on Friday having received death threats after Barcelona's 2-1 first-leg win over Chelsea in the Champions League last month.
'It's the coaches who whip up the masses and actually make them threaten people to death,' Volker Roth told the daily Aftonbladet. 'We can't accept that one of our absolutely best referees is forced to quit because of this.'
'People like Mourinho are the enemy of football.'
Mourinho accused his Barcelona counterpart Frank Rijkaard of trying to influence the match by speaking to Frisk during halftime of the match at the Nou Camp.
Frisk's dismissal of Chelsea striker Didier Drogba early in the second half made matters even worse and Chelsea skipped the mandatory press conference after the match. Mourinho's conduct is now being investigated by UEFA.
The London club won the second leg 4-2 to claim a 5-4 aggregate victory and a place in the quarter-finals.
'It's obviously not okay for a coach to put this much pressure on a referee as Mourinho did in this case,' said Swiss referee Urs Meier, who was the subject of media fuelled hate campaign by British fans after disallowing England's 90th minute goal in the Euro 2004 quarter-final against Portugal.
'He (Mourinho) has to be punished. UEFA and FIFA have to protect referees from attacks like this.'
Danish referee Kim Milton Nielsen told the paper: 'When you're in Mourinho's seat you've got to take more responsibility and not make statements that will shed water on the mill for the hooligans.'
Swede Frisk retired from refereeing with immediate effect on Friday having received death threats after Barcelona's 2-1 first-leg win over Chelsea in the Champions League last month.
'It's the coaches who whip up the masses and actually make them threaten people to death,' Volker Roth told the daily Aftonbladet. 'We can't accept that one of our absolutely best referees is forced to quit because of this.'
'People like Mourinho are the enemy of football.'
Mourinho accused his Barcelona counterpart Frank Rijkaard of trying to influence the match by speaking to Frisk during halftime of the match at the Nou Camp.
Frisk's dismissal of Chelsea striker Didier Drogba early in the second half made matters even worse and Chelsea skipped the mandatory press conference after the match. Mourinho's conduct is now being investigated by UEFA.
The London club won the second leg 4-2 to claim a 5-4 aggregate victory and a place in the quarter-finals.
'It's obviously not okay for a coach to put this much pressure on a referee as Mourinho did in this case,' said Swiss referee Urs Meier, who was the subject of media fuelled hate campaign by British fans after disallowing England's 90th minute goal in the Euro 2004 quarter-final against Portugal.
'He (Mourinho) has to be punished. UEFA and FIFA have to protect referees from attacks like this.'
Danish referee Kim Milton Nielsen told the paper: 'When you're in Mourinho's seat you've got to take more responsibility and not make statements that will shed water on the mill for the hooligans.'
I said dont include them because they happened so long ago...
And as for you...
Henreee was awful in the 1-1 draw at Highbury, he scored Arsenal's goal, and it was a brilliant goal, but taht was it, he didnt perform, He SUCKED against Chelsea, I cant believe your saying he played well, all he did was score a quickly-taken controvesial free-kick!!
As for Liverpool, wow he beat a poor Liverpool team? So what? Liverpool's defense last season was laughable, if I remember correctly they lost 4-0 against so crap team that was eventally relegated!!
Where was he in the 4 games (include 2 CL games) against Chelsea?
Where was he in the 2 games against United this season?
Where was he last season in the 3 games against United, including the FA Cup Semi-Final?
Where was he in the 2 games against Bayern Munich?
Where was he for France in the World Cup '02 and Euro 2004?
Where has he been in EVERY season in the CL for Arsenal?
And as for you...
Henreee was awful in the 1-1 draw at Highbury, he scored Arsenal's goal, and it was a brilliant goal, but taht was it, he didnt perform, He SUCKED against Chelsea, I cant believe your saying he played well, all he did was score a quickly-taken controvesial free-kick!!
As for Liverpool, wow he beat a poor Liverpool team? So what? Liverpool's defense last season was laughable, if I remember correctly they lost 4-0 against so crap team that was eventally relegated!!
Where was he in the 4 games (include 2 CL games) against Chelsea?
Where was he in the 2 games against United this season?
Where was he last season in the 3 games against United, including the FA Cup Semi-Final?
Where was he in the 2 games against Bayern Munich?
Where was he for France in the World Cup '02 and Euro 2004?
Where has he been in EVERY season in the CL for Arsenal?
