SirBalon

I can't believe Xavi would accept that job but if he does he would go down in my estimations as a person. A disgusting thought!

Don't take this the wrong way mate, but the fact you feel the way you do about the Champions League I reckon it's because you're not European. Maybe I'm wrong, but it's just that everyone I've ever known from outside the continent of Europe has always swayed that way. That aside... Anyone can beat anyone in a one off game and Real Madrid aren't perfect, much less THIS particular Real Madrid. Their feats over the past two years are misleading everyone to believe otherwise but results (aside from their disastrous domestic season) in Europe analysed properly also show us that it's more a game of nerves and mental excercises for rivals than what's really out there. Real Madrid are more vulnerable than over the past two years and this should be a major factor in anyone meeting them in what's remaining of the tournament. The issue is that the four remaining teams all have their issues from entity size to question marks on other factors which could mean it all equals itself out in the benefit of Madrid... Who knows, we'll see soon enough! Another thing... I've mentioned it before! Due to the size of Real Madrid, how they're run, how the entity (Florentino Pérez) runs the club, the direction that club is run... If they don't win the Champions League this season coupled with the disaster domestically on all fronts, they will be the total focus of everything in the hell hole that the Spanish sports media is. Infact no credence or media coverage will hit the eventual winners of the Champions League and the Barcelona press will also hit as hard as they can for the summer months which will seem eternal to the Madrid cavern... It could mean mayhem in that entity all the way from the bottom to the very top. Barça's season will all of a sudden become one of their greatest and Real Madrid will be in total tatters. That's the way it works in Spain.

The fans applauded the team throughout yesterday's game against Valencia at the Camp Nou and gave Andrés Iniesta a massive ovation. The fans have been with the team and even though they were disappointed, I can't see Suárez directing those comments at the fans and instead aiming at the press (especially the Barcelona based press) who made some really stinging criticisms of the team's performance in the Olympic Stadium in Rome. As far as I'm concerned the criticisms on Barça's performance against Roma in the second leg were all fair seeing as they were all aimed in one argument based on complacency and not respecting their opponent that evening. Roma played well, but Barcelona are the better side and a better side with the benefit of a 4-1 head start coming into that second game. The Barcelona players can't start to try and erase the fact from that evening and it's best to keep quiet and praise the Barça fans who are 100% with the team... Only the fans matter, ALWAYS!

I remember that stuff vaguely hahaha That and many other things you just don’t see anymore. But did you have to post them in black and white??? You couldn’t find them in colour!!!

Yeah it’s brilliant news because what the club want to recreate not only with the remodelling of the stadium but also the surrounding area by making it the biggest singular sports complex on the planet dedicated to one sports club is incredible. Nothing anywhere, even the US will come close. This will put the club in an even greater stratosphere and secure the brandname’s success for a long time... Obviously this if the political situation in a Spain revolving Catalunya and the nation as a whole doesn’t collapse.

I've always felt Ramsey's leg break also stunted the maximum he may have been. I expected more from Ramsey although Ramsey has definitely evolved a lot more than Wilshere.

The main reason being that Wilshere is homegrown, an Arsenal boy that came through the academy. There are other reasons but that's the main one although I don't think any Arsenal fan denies or tries to hide the fact Ramsey has a hell of a lot of talent.

I don’t believe the players have run out of steam for something like that to happen. There are two players in question though, which are Piqué who’s been playing injured and he also made massive positional errors yesterday that have nothing to do with his injury. And also Busquets who has come back from an injury early and isn’t match fit. Busquets is after Messi the most important player in the team. He’s just not glamorous enough and doesn’t score goals for some modern fans to understand these things. Plus the league lead is way too big to be dissipated in my view. The Copa del Rey Final isn’t too far away though and the question is if they’ll have gotten over this before then because Sevilla are no mugs in cup competitions. I want to add another final thing... What occurred yesterday will have been a serious warning to any complacency in the team for what’s remaining (because complacency had a lot to do with yesterday) and also help Real Madrid in today’s game. If the gods had planned another major comeback for tonight, that’s surely dead and buried now because they’ll have been watching.

They definitely don’t keep the ball like they used to but all the same that’s no excuse for that turnaround and I’d say 90% of the players would walk into almost every elite club’s first team. Also take into consideration the incredible season they’re having and were having until yesterday. All of that can’t be forgotten and all the praise can’t suddenly just turn into doom over one result as important as that result is because of the nature of how it occurred and the tournament it occurred in.

Almost! It’s not quite to that extend as the PSG debacle was even more crazy with a 4-0 advantage, no away goal for Barça to dream about at home in the return leg and then PSG went and scored an away goal themselves. That comeback is hostorical and at top end football like this I doubt it will ever be repeated. But again, considering this is Barça and their European pedigree coupled with the experience those players have at the highest level of the game, it’s only natural for all this to occur and for people to feel that way.

The reaction is instant and completely normal in my opinion. Losing from a 4-1 advantage for a club like Barcelona expects a big media biting session to be honest. What occurred is completely abnormal but merited. But it will be forgotten soon.

I have no idea if it’s happened before to Barcelona but I guarantee you that I had an inkling in the back of my mind that it was possible even if I thought it was a long shot. There was something about recent Barcelona displays that didn’t sit well for me. Anyway... It’s done and now Barça have to analyse this, fix it and move on. There are two very important titles to be won and I can tell you another thing... Real Madrid had better win that Champions League because if they don’t, all the focus will be lifted off Barcelona and all hell will break lose with Real Madrid because the reality of the matter is the facts of this season.

Massive loss! That’s the main issue on having been eliminated right now to be honest. It’s not about not winning in Barcelona’s case because this is football and football matches are won and lost which HAS to be accepted and is the reality (and long may it last). The problem is the modern rivalry between the two clubs which supersedes the sport itself.

Nobody said it was easy to win the Champions League and I’ve never heard it said before by anyobody. What’s for sure is that it’s a lot harder to win a league title and even more so in one of the bigger leagues seeing as this is not France we’re talking about here. The Champions League is commercialised and marketed a lot more outside the continent of Europe and it has to be because it sells well and it’s how the money is created to pay the clubs who participate in it which isn’t small amounts. Plus, due to it’s marketability, winning and participating in the Champions League makes a club’s life a hell of a lot easier to market the entity outside the continent which is what brings in the £€$¥ to the clubs. It’s mainly about money and secondary about anything else which is a given anyhow.

Ernesto Valverde is an excellent coach mate and a perfect fit for what Barcelona need. It seems you’re basing a whole season on the Champions League and if this is the case then this is absolutely mental. I know football fans outside Europe feel that the be all and end all is the Champions League and also adding to the fact the size of FCB and that they always set out to compete to win every competition. If Barcelona are in such a bad state, then Real Madrid who currently sit in 4th spot in La Liga and got knocked out by Leganés in the Copa del Rey (almost knocked out by third tier side Fuenlabrada in the previous round) must be almost about to fold as a club! There was a combination of factors as to why Barça capitulated last night and Valverde (who isn’t without some blame) was the least culpable. The biggest issue was complacency and that was part of the reason as to why I said there was more to this tie than meets the eye. Unbeaten in La Liga, in the Final of the Copa del Rey and in the QF of the Champions League having only conceded 3 goals until then in that competition... Complacency and a lack of respect was the biggest virus sitting in the background ready to strike if all the usual steps weren’t taken. At 4-1 from the first leg you can’t be eliminated because Barça aren’t Paris Saint-Germain with all due respects. Busquets isn’t ready to play and it was obvious yesterday that he isn’t match fit which affected Iniesta’s display as he feeds off him, while Piqué (fundamentally) and Semedo were terrible. There were NO decent displays yesterday from any Barcelona player and they didn’t show up in Rome to face a quarter-final clash and this tells you how bad those two were.

If that was Piqué's only mistake yesterday, it'd be ok. But he made countless errors that almost resulted in goals and Džeko's headed goal was also his fault.

True mate, but you know as well as I do that Barcelona possibly winning the double (La Liga and Copa del Rey) can end up almost being a nothing situation if Real Madrid win the Champions League. Because of the nature in which things work in Spain, the mechanics surrounding everything to do with football will go along that route. That's what's incredible in my opinion because in real terms, no matter how Real Madrid's season is painted, it's been a total mega disaster, but the Champions League will be like that nice lick of paint over an ugly collapsing wall.

Nah, the Russians are the only bad guys.

Al-Qaeda, Taliban and now ISIS. What can the West come up with next to justify benefits?

Yes'm but Asad is the only secular leader in the Middle East. We don't need to meddle anymore!

I like the way in which the US and the UK are playing the moral high ground on the nastiness Asad has done to his own people in Syria and blaming Russia for providing these weapons to Asad. How about the US and the UK providing the weapons to the scumbags Saudi Arabia which are being used to clean out Yemen!

Totally agree with everything in that and that's something I throw at him too as there have also been other people in the Motorsport world with the same issues. It's something he has to sort out because that's not the way to go and under that criticism I agree. But that's not being dirty! He was dirty today though and why I said I hope he is punished accordingly. Thanks for the accent