Champions League Final 2011 Build up thread

[n/a]

CL final. Smalling over rio. Someone ghost this guy. Ridiculous talk.

seriously wtf

[TF S4DK]

[King Poetic]

Funnily enough, I think smalling could do a job in midfield if Fletcher isn't fit enough. Mancs definitely need an agile destroyer. I would consider playing both of them.

[Yoshie]

I kinda agree that Smalling could be okay as an anchorman, but it's not about getting gassed off some good games paired with Vidic at OT and trying it out against Barca.

[n/a]

so some people think rafeal/fabio in midfield now smalling in midfield , for a CL final yhwhat about rooney man marking messi?

[Goddaz]

:lol:Pos

[King Poetic]

so some people think rafeal/fabio in midfield now smalling in midfield , for a CL final yhwhat about rooney man marking messi?

If Fletcher isn't fit, which midfield would you play?

[darkman]

so some people think rafeal/fabio in midfield now smalling in midfield , for a CL final yhwhat about rooney man marking messi?

lol

[Guest Portuguese]

I can't wait for this just seen that advertLooking forwárd to this final more than I did last summer's World Cup Final(that's wrong)

[BLACK VICTIM]

messi to bag a hatrick 5-0 barca

[Seydou]

Manchester United are similar to Real Madrid - Barcelona coach Pep Guardiola

:D He trying to tell you man to brace yourself for a 5-0 or 2-0.

[Colin Turnover]

I dunno about Scholes playing against Barca. Xavi and Iniesta will be doing Hollowman impressions around him all night. In saying that though, it's gonna be crucial to not lose the ball unnecessarily.I also think it would be prudent to play Hernandez and Rooney which would then mean only 2 CM's. I suppose we could line up like we did against Chelsea with Park working his arse off.Aaargh! I just can't decide how I think we should do this. Needs more thought.I know one thing though. If we go with three in the middle and Rooney up-top on his own, then were looking at 70%+ posession to Barca and chasing hollowmen for 90 mins.BUT then again with Valencia in the team, maybe him and Rooney can work something.*rubs temples*

[Hernandez Balcazar]

BELIEVE

[Trim]

Champions League sponsors Opel have produced a rather clever marketing campaign which has gone viral in Spain.Opel sent a rather sketchy looking tout (scalper) to walk the streets of the Catalan capital, near the Nou Camp, with authentic tickets for the much anticipated Champions League final between Manchester United and Barcelona.The tout was offering a single ticket for 10 euros to see a repeat of the 2009 Champions League final between Barcelona and Manchester United at Wembley on Saturday week, and no one believed him.Reports surrounding tickets for the final have recently suggested that a single ticket is being sold on the black market for €1,800 euros. Even Manchester United striker Michael Owen complained on his Twitter feed earlier this week that he would have to fork out £225 a seat for the face value price of the ticket.Barcelona fans approached by the Opel tout all questioned a ticket that was ludicrously priced, with a number of children now bitterly disappointed their fathers refused the offer of a lifetime.Eventually a couple did take up the 10 euro final ticket offer and they seemed a little shocked that they will be attending the Barcelona-Manchester United final.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lLuSH08m2N4

Barca fans that turned it down must be pisseddddd

[Guest Klitschko]

[JOHN DOE]

lmao i like that

[MEIRELES.]

so some people think rafeal/fabio in midfield now smalling in midfield , for a CL final yhwhat about rooney man marking messi?

lmfaoclueless d*cks.

[Guest Portuguese]

When Pep Guardiola leads his team out at Wembley on Saturday night to take on Manchester United and complete a momentous cycle in the club’s history, no individual could be more representative of his club and what it means. Like United, Barcelona won their first European Cup at the famous old stadium back in 1992 — and Guardiola was a member of that celebrated team.Raised in the town of Santpedor, about an hour’s drive north-west of the Catalan capital, he has been nurtured through the youth team, served as a ball boy, played for the first team and then managed the reserves before stepping into the coaching role he occupies today. Surely no one in the modern game is more identified with one club. Make mine a double: Barcelona players fling Pep Guardiola into the Rome skies following victory over Manchester United in the 2009 Champions League finalYet, in the VIP seats at Wembley on Saturday, two Dutchmen also forever attached to the club will look on with pride. Johan Cruyff revitalised the club as a player and transformed it as a coach, not least in giving Guardiola his debut against Cadiz in December 1990. The other will be Ronald Koeman, Barcelona’s man of the match at Wembley when he scored the only goal that night against Sampdoria with a free-kick in extra-time.While many are aware of the huge influence Cruyff had on Guardiola and the rise of the current team — a line-up that boasts the world’s best three players in Xavi, Andres Iniesta and Leo Messi — Koeman, too, had a unique role to play.Shortly after a gangly 19-year-old Guardiola made his first-team debut against Cadiz, he was instructed to share a room on away trips with Koeman, then one of the stars of world football. Koeman remembers their introduction well. ‘When Cruyff brought Pep into the squad, he said to me, “You are going to look after this boy. You are going to be his tutor, help him develop and make sure he learns the Dutch style of play. From now on he’s going to be your roommate”,’ recalled Koeman last week.‘Pep was a fantastic guy. He was eager to learn and he wanted to know everything. From the very beginning he was asking me everything about the Ajax youth academy. He would say, “Ronald, how do they train? What do they do? How do they play?” Fresh-faced: Guardiola (left) anchored Barcelona's midfield in 1992, helping them to a La Liga title and their first European Cup triumph against Sampdoria‘He wanted to know about the Dutch school of football. More than any other player he wanted to know about one-touch football, about positional play. He had an insatiable hunger for information and a massive interest in the game. We spent hours talking football.‘There were months when I spent more time with Pep than with my own wife! We were always in camp or in hotels with Barcelona, travelling with the team all over Europe. But what struck me with Pep was that he was a very ordinary, down-to-earth guy. ‘He was kind, he was normal and had no arrogant streaks. He did not want to behave like a big star because he was playing for Barcelona. I remember he was driving a second-hand Volkswagen Golf when he came into the squad and after three years in the first team he was still driving a Volkswagen Golf.’Koeman’s anecdote recalls another that Alexander Hleb, the former Arsenal and Barcelona player, tells about the current team. Presented with new cars by club sponsor Audi following their 2009 Champions League win, Hleb instinctively selected the biggest, most powerful one on offer before club captain Xavi reprimanded him.‘You can’t have that,’ said Xavi. ‘Our fans will think we’re too flash.’ Such a charge could never be levelled against Guardiola. While no one personifies Barcelona more than their coach, the instinct of the man himself last week was to deflect the credit towards his illustrious mentors. ‘All the coaches I had in my career were important but Cruyff was the most important of all,’ said Guardiola. ‘He was without equal on training and tactics and he helped me to understand the million details that decide why some matches are lost and some matches are won. And his way of managing the dressing room.’Dutch of class: Ronald Koeman scores the winner for Barcelona at WembleyOf Koeman, Guardiola recalled: ‘Ronald taught me lots and was one of the best players to have passed through this club. He was one of the first central defenders who was more than just a defensive player, and he was capable of playing in finals as if they were friendly matches — without nerves. He was great at getting over pressure.’Koeman agrees with Guardiola’s assessment of Cruyff. ‘He laid the foundations for what you see now,’ he said. ‘He was responsible for the major turnaround of the club, for stopping the domination of Real Madrid. ‘In the two years before I joined Barca and before it really got going, Cruyff had a massive clear-out. It was like a revolution. He sold no end of players and brought new faces in. ‘Cruyff said goodbye to big names like Gary Lineker, who was one of the best strikers in the world at the time. It was not so much that Cruyff did not rate him but he did not fit in the system he had in mind for the new Barcelona.’ Now the 4-3-3 formation that Barcelona play is ubiquitous in the world game and the enormous success of their youth system is acknowledged by even the most grudging critics. When Cruyff joined the club it was an idealistic dream in the mind of a visionary. He had seen his Ajax team do the same under Rinus Michels and win three European Cups in the Seventies and told Barcelona’s president, Josep Lluiz Nunez, that he could replicate that at the Nou Camp.‘It was Cruyff who introduced the Dutch style of attacking football into the first team and the academy,’ said Koeman. ‘Cruyff was deliberately looking for players who could play in the attacking style he had been used to in the total Dutch football of the Seventies. He brought in Michael Laudrup, he bought me and Hristo Stoichkov.The catalyst: Johan Cruyff (left) hoists the European Cup aloft alongside Michael Laudrup and Hristo Stoichkov (right)‘Barcelona said goodbye to the 4-4-2 system. Cruyff would never use that again. He introduced the 4-3-3 and later even the 3-4-3 system, with only three defenders. The way we played under Cruyff was revolutionary. In my eyes it was sometimes too attacking but that was Johan Cruyff for you. ‘Our game was full of risk. I was not even a real defender and had to move into midfield with the ball whenever possible. We also pushed right up in every game. It created fantastic games to watch but we were also punished. We left big spaces behind our defence, but Cruyff said we would win the majority of our games and he was right. We proved that in 1992 at Wembley and people called us The Dream Team.’ What makes Guardiola so impressive is that he took the model handed to him by Cruyff and other Dutch influences, Louis van Gaal and Frank Rijkaard, which produced two European Cups in 14 years, and improved on it. The date at Wembley next Saturday is an opportunity for Guardiola to win his second Champions League trophy in just three years in the job. And the defensive weaknesses that Koeman refers to, and which were evident as recently as in Rijkaard’s team of 2007, have largely been eliminated by Guardiola’s obsession with his players closing down their opponents in organised packs.Complete: Barcelona will attempt to win their second Champions League final in three years‘This Barcelona team is more complete,’ says Koeman. ‘We had team and we played fantastic football for periods, but we could not maintain the high level every week, every month for a whole year. This Barcelona team can do that. They never drop their standards, which is amazing.’It is incredible now to recall the scepticism that greeted Guardiola’s elevation from coach of the Barca B team by much-maligned former president, Joan Laporta.It came at a time of huge instability and seemed an outrageous gamble, not least when the likes of Ronaldinho were released and players such as Sergio Busquets and Pedro promoted from the extraordinary academy.Yet, this coming weekend the start to Guardiola’s coaching career, which has seen him collect seven major trophies in three years — nine if you include the Spanish equivalent of the Community Shield — can reach another landmark.At age 40, he could add his second Champions League trophy. Sir Alex Ferguson had to wait he was 57 to win his first and Arsene Wenger is still waiting at the age of 61. Guardiola stands on the brink of doing it twice — and he has barely entered middle age.RONALD KOEMAN ON HOW TO STOP LIONEL MESSIIf you give Leo Messi space and let him run between the lines, he will make the most of that freedom that he craves. So it puzzles me why all the teams who play Barcelona keep their two central defenders next to each other. If Manchester United’s centre-backs Rio Ferdinand and Nemanja Vidic play as they usually do in the final at Wembley, side-by-side along the back line, they will get into trouble. One of them needs to move into midfield at times (shaded area) or Barcelona will always have a man in addition to Xavi, Sergio Busquets and Andres Iniesta and they will give United no chance.  I would give one of United’s two central defenders the freedom to move out of his traditional position. If Ferdinand or Vidic get close to Messi and follow him into midfield, you know what he will do — drift to the flanks where he can be picked up by full-backs Fabio and Patrice Evra. Then you take the biggest danger away — Messi penetrating the penalty area through the middle. It is also surprises me that no team have tried to man-mark Messi for 90 minutes yet. That could be a good option for Sir Alex Ferguson’s side, although Barcelona must have a plan for when a team do that sort of job on their danger man. They are not stupid and will have discussed it in case it happens but it is not tried and tested.

[Guest Portuguese]

Ferdinand/Vidic need to actually take turns when it comes to stepping into midfield then the other becomes the Libero because there is no point of any of midfielders tracking a fasle number nine because it would leave the other two against Iniesta/Xavi/Busquets(you don't want that)

[Guest Portuguese]

Semi-finals in 2008Barcelona 0-0 Man Utd Ronaldo missed a penaltyBarcelona: Valdes, Zambrotta, Marquez, Milito, Abidal, Xavi, Toure Yaya, Deco (Henry 77), Messi (Bojan 62), Eto'o, Iniesta.Subs Not Used: Pinto, Gudjohnsen, Sylvinho, Giovanni, Thuram.Booked: Marquez.Man Utd: Van der Sar, Hargreaves, Ferdinand, Brown, Evra, Ronaldo, Carrick, Scholes, Park, Rooney (Nani 76), Tevez (Giggs 85).Subs Not Used: Kuszczak, Anderson, Pique, O'Shea, Silvestre.Booked: Hargreaves.Man Utd 1-0 Barcelona (agg 1-0)Man Utd: Van der Sar, Hargreaves, Ferdinand, Brown, Evra (Silvestre 90), Park, Scholes (Fletcher 76), Carrick, Nani (Giggs 76), Ronaldo, Tevez.Subs Not Used: Kuszczak, Anderson, O'Shea, Welbeck.Booked: Carrick, Ronaldo.Goals: Scholes 14.Barcelona: Valdes, Zambrotta, Puyol, Milito, Abidal, Toure Yaya (Gudjohnsen 88), Messi, Xavi, Deco, Iniesta (Henry 60), Eto'o (Bojan 72).Subs Not Used: Pinto, Edmilson, Sylvinho, Thuram.Booked: Zambrotta, Deco, Toure Yaya.Last final between these two teams:Barcelona 2-0 Man Utd Barcelona: Valdes, Puyol, Toure Yaya, Pique, Sylvinho, Xavi, Busquets, Iniesta (Pedrito 90), Messi, Eto'o, Henry (Keita 72).Subs Not Used: Pinto, Caceres, Muniesa, Gudjohnsen, Bojan.Booked: Pique.Goals: Eto'o 10, Messi 70.Man Utd: Van der Sar, O'Shea, Ferdinand, Vidic, Evra, Anderson (Tevez 46), Carrick, Giggs (Scholes 75), Park (Berbatov 66), Ronaldo, Rooney.Subs Not Used: Kuszczak, Rafael Da Silva, Evans, Nani.Booked: Ronaldo, Scholes, Vidic.

[Guest Portuguese]

Is it true there is another volcano/ash cloud next week?That's the only thing that has stopped Pep Guardiola as Barca coach winning the UCL

[TF S4DK]

Barcelona will train at Arsenal this week. Wenger has the CCTV and lube ready.

[Flojo]

He's such a c*nt. "We'll get him'Actually you won't because the press conference is organised by UEFA.

[TF S4DK]

Yup and people say Wenger and Arsenal are petty.

[MF Cunt]

lol at him thinking he is beyond the media, and can control everything with his fat red Scottish hand of "god"what does he think is going on? Its a f*ck*ng journalistnot a referee...