[EU] Champions League 2008/2009 (20 Viewers)

[Nicholas]

Arsenal-Barcelona final I hope for as a neutral,the two best one touch footballing teams in Europe.

 

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[Bjerknes]

For the sake of football; not another Chelsea - Man U final. I wouldn't watch it.

Hear hear.

It would be a disaster for football.

 

[bianconero]

He sure is.




Nay, he'll be a much better player than SWP under Arsene's guidance, but he won't be that star player people are waiting for. He will however in my opinion develop into a key player for Arsenal, he's already a very useful weapon against teams who adopt a high line.

Ineffective against United then!

Do we know who has first home leg: it could be desisive.

 

[Henry]

Dunno what was up with Porto today, manu played decently but with more pressing the outcome could have been very different. I hope Arsenal kick, bite, and punch their way to the final.

 

[GordoDeCentral]

Amauri is a chihuahu, whereas Drogba is a dobberman.

i like you and all, but i would ban you for this

 

[bianconero]

i like you and all, but i would ban you for this

I'd vote for you to be a Mod.

I was right those, that's what hurts.

 

[GordoDeCentral]

no way, Amauri is younger faster with more bite better heading AND more of a team player

if amauri played with the kind of quality drogba has around, hed be twice as effective

 

[Rollie]

Amauri played better and obviously more in the first half of the season, because of his injuries in '09. During the period when he was at his best, Seba was basically getting ZERO minutes... so imagine Amauri latching on to the crosses and through balls of Seba and say David Silva, or Diego. Throw in a decent RB, pray for a healthy Camo, and maybe some more time for DC... Amauri will finally be getting abundant quality service!! I think he's going to be a monster next year.

 

[Bjerknes]

I certainly agree with that.

 

[chester]

The Arsenal I saw yesterday surely has a chance against the ManU of yesterday.
Van Persie and Fabregas are two players that can make the difference, for manU, if Ronaldo doesn't do it, no one does at the moment, Rooney, Giggs, Scholes, Carrick, all seemed unable to make a difference yesterday.

 

[only-juve]

The Arsenal I saw yesterday surely has a chance against the ManU of yesterday.
Van Persie and Fabregas are two players that can make the difference, for manU, if Ronaldo doesn't do it, no one does at the moment, Rooney, Giggs, Scholes, Carrick, all seemed unable to make a difference yesterday.

100% arsenal will pass United,

Since the group stage i've been saying that arsenal have a shot to this years title and am pretty sure they'll get to the final....

 

[cunninlynguists]

100% arsenal will pass United,

Since the group stage i've been saying that arsenal have a shot to this years title and am pretty sure they'll get to the final....

With all the respect, they lack killer instinct.
If we had played AS Roma and Villareal, we would have gone through as well.
I've watched them play yesterday and they need a dozen of chances before they finally score, and that's not the first time.

 

[pitbull]

hell, disgusting.

there have never been two teams of one city in the finals (chelsea and arsenal), there have never been the same final for two years (chelsea and manure) and there have never been barcelona vs manure final. so i will go with usual Arsenal - Barcelona final and cheer for Venger, as i love his tactics, he`s one smart motherfucker.

 

[only-juve]

With all the respect, they lack killer instinct.
If we had played AS Roma and Villareal, we would have gone through as well.
I've watched them play yesterday and they need a dozen of chances before they finally score, and that's not the first time.

You're right about arsenal being not that great this season, but one thing that i've noticed in the past is that best teams don't usually win the CL ( best team being this season Barca so far). One mistake, losing of form or Injury to a key player can make the team lose a game ==> the title.

How many times we've lost the final when we deserved to win it (remember the madrid final) we we're the better side by faar and still we lost the final and the title. Arsenal been lucky so far (in the knockout stage), luck IMO play's big part in this competition specially when teams reach that far in the competition. Man united are not the same Man united of last season, they've lost 4-1 to liverpool and 2-1 to the same arsenal so am pretty sure that arsenal can handle them well when those two teams meet.

As for the final, its a 90 (or 120) minutes game anything can happen. It can reach the penalties shootout and from there its a 50-50 chance....

 

[blondu]

4 of the best 5 teams are in the Semis to be honest.
With 4 of the best five players in the world: Messi, Ronaldo, Essien, and Bentner.

wtf?....anyway, again 3 english teams in the semi's...i hope i'll see a barca-arsenal final..again.

 

[SoulSiick]

Guys did u see that :

 

[cunninlynguists]

Guys did u see that :

lol stupid stadium

 

[Fred]

100% arsenal will pass United,

Since the group stage i've been saying that arsenal have a shot to this years title and am pretty sure they'll get to the final....

I remember you saying that ages ago when we were in such terrible form. Everyone ridiculed you including myself for the prediction at the time, all of a sudden it isnt so impossible. Bold prediction

 

[chester]

I really liked the reaction of Wenger everytime Arsenal scored, shaking his both arms like a little child, looking around him to see if nobody noticed it and then quicly back to his chair, was funny to see.

 

[Alen]

If we had played AS Roma and Villareal, we would have gone through as well.

We would have surely eliminated Roma, and maybe even Villareal ( i say maybe because we were going to play without Sissoko and Amauri and because our form is really bad), but we were surely going to lose against Manchester with our current team and form.

Arsenal actually has a chance against ManU. They don't fight for anything in England, they can rest the entire starting XI before the CL matches, and they can concentrate completely on CL. They survived the CL stages where they were missing their best players and now with their best players very well rested, hiting the right form, they can eliminate Manchester and even win the final.

CL has always been about luck. Since there is no second chance most of the time, the timing of the matches is extremely important.
In 2007 Milan had a pathetic period from September-March. They got Celtic in the first knock-out round and they needed extra time to eliminate them. Then they got Bayern and they drew 2:2 on the first match.....And then they hit the right form.
What if they got Barcelona/ManU/Liverpool etc in the first rounds instead of getting Celtic and Bayern? They'd have surely been eliminated. But on the contrary, they won the whole thing.

The same could be said about Arsenal this year.

But this shouldn't be an excuse for those who dislike Milan (like me :smile: ) or dislike Arsenal. We all know that CL is like this, that luck plays huge part and we know that this isn't a long championship where consistency is the most important.
The CL is a competition where timing, where one moment, is the difference between playing in the semis or losing in the 1/8 finals, between winning and not winning the whole thing.

To sum up, no-one should underrate Arsenal's achievment so far in CL and their chances till the end. Imo, every team left in the competition now has 25% chances to win this year's edition of CL.