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Champions League Quarter Final Draw


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Here's the thing about UEFA Country Coefficients (for clubs): even when we were crushed 4-0 and the likelihood of la remontada seemed remote, in the back of my mind was this salient fact: Spain is far and away #1, sitting pretty at #1. France is only #5. 

Fact (per the UEFA coefficients): La Liga is the most competitive league in the world. By far. Barca has been the best team in this league for the past decade (7 times La Liga Champions the past 11 seasons, 4 times Champions of Europe within this time frame. No other team has more than 2) this current decade has seen the best club football ever played by the best team of all time IMHO). Ligue 1 is much less competitive. 

There's a reason why La Liga teams do TREMENDOUSLY well in Europe.

Hence the team that emerges victorious in La Liga (campeon de la liga) is already BY DEFAULT and BY DEFINITION already among the Top 1, 2 or at least top 3 in Europe and the World. La Liga champions have already run the gauntlet of the toughest European domestic league and are battle hardened and tested to do well in Europe.

What I'm saying is that you don't suddenly plummet all the way down from your position atop the perch as the HISTORICALLY Greatest Team the world has ever seen just because you get beaten by the best French club in a weak French league.

EVERYTHING had to go right for PSG to do what they did in the first leg. Unai Emery got his tactics completely wrong in Camp Nou. If he had went all out attack and controlled the midfield like in Paris, a comeback may really have been impossible. PSG may only have advanced on the away goals rule ;)

As it is, HISTORICALLY great clubs do HISTORIC THINGS/FEATS. Hence the remontada. This PSG team, as good as they are.......no one will remember them in a few years. Least of all their plastic "Ici c'est Paris" fans :)

Therefore, simple statistical analysis would tell you that (even when down 4-0) it would be UNLIKELY that it'd be a FRENCH team that'd knock us out. Far more likely that it'd be a fellow Spanish team, a German (#2 country coefficient (clubs) team (Bayern lol) or even an English (#3) team.

Bayern's an interesting aberration statistically. They do so well both domestically and in Europe that they helped skew the stats in Germany's favor almost singlehandedly. Amazing stuff.

You have to go all the way back to 2010 to when a country (Italy, #4) outside the top 3 won the Champions League. All the way back to 1993 to when France (#5) won the European Cup/Champions League.

Statistically, this tells you that Leicester has more of a chance at winning it all than Monaco :) The league is that much stronger.

Look, it may or may not be fair, but the fact remains that the right to rule the football universe has been bestowed upon the Barcas, the Real Madrids, the Bayerns etc. Yes, it is very much a hegemony in their favor, in that regard. I'm sure we'll see someone do a "2012 Chelsea" in the future. But there's a reason why those are very much the exception rather than the norm.

I know that some of you are very much against the idea of an El Clasico Final. I respect that. For the sake of the beautiful game of FOOTBALL that we all love, though, I think that we DESERVE one :) In our lifetimes, will we ever again see the likes of Cristiano Ronaldo and Lionel Messi ever again? Such goalscoring record breaking colossi of our times, that we get to tell our children about? Helming the most prestigious and greatest teams not just of this generation, but of all time. Their goalscoring feats will never ever be broken.

Ronaldo will be 33 next year, that much closer to being less of a factor in Real Madrid. So while I fully respect how some of you feel about "the El Clasico to end all Clasicos", I think that FOOTBALL itself/herself DEMANDS ONE while they are still in their prime. It's what FOOTBALL  herself in all her beauty has been BUILDING TOWARDS. This is it. The Ultimate HISTORIC Realization of the Beautiful Game, o jogo bonito.

I'd like to revise what I said about Bayern getting the best of Real Madrid. This feels like one of those years: even when Real Madrid doesn't play that well, they manage to grind out victories. The fact that they have a deep bench bodes them well in La Liga and the Champions League. Bayern's largely untested in the domestic league. Don't forget them getting beat 5-0 on aggregate by Real Madrid a few seasons ago. That wasn't an aberration. Don't think Zidane's that great a coach but sometimes charisma and being well liked and respected by your players outweighs tactical nous. They want to play well and do it FOR you.

Bale WANTS that Final in Cardiff. He'll play his heart and lungs out.

Why oh why couldn't the El Clasico Final be in a SEXIER city lolz? :)

HISTORICALLY, we've never had an El Clasico Final. History, as well as records (comebacks and otherwise) are meant to be rewritten and broken.

Perhaps it was written in the stars that Barca would do the remontada. Maybe the celestial constellations and bodies bore witness million of years ago to the fact that, yes, this is the season we finally get to witness THE El Clasico (not El Clasico Final, mind, just THE El Clasico). Maybe part of me WANTS Real Madrid in the Final or even Semi Final. Ronaldo's on the wane. Messi will be 30 this summer. Chalk it up to the football romantic in me. Let's just celebrate the fact that we're alive to witness this truly historic time in our beloved sport. What better way to cap off this truly unprecedented Spanish run in European and World football? The intensity, pageantry and passion in the match/matches will be positively frightening. Hold on to your hats.

May the best team (Barca) win :)

 

 

ScreenHunter_9574 Mar. 18 18.26.jpg

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The end of the Messi/Ronaldo snoozefest can't come soon enough. From the games to social media, from diving to tax evasion, what a throughly boring and detestable duo they have become. It's beautiful at times, but overall it just boils my piss.

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2 hours ago, Luis Suarez said:

Here's the thing about UEFA Country Coefficients (for clubs): even when we were crushed 4-0 and the likelihood of la remontada seemed remote, in the back of my mind was this salient fact: Spain is far and away #1, sitting pretty at #1. France is only #5. 

Fact (per the UEFA coefficients): La Liga is the most competitive league in the world. By far. Barca has been the best team in this league for the past decade (7 times La Liga Champions the past 11 seasons, 4 times Champions of Europe within this time frame. No other team has more than 2) this current decade has seen the best club football ever played by the best team of all time IMHO). Ligue 1 is much less competitive. 

There's a reason why La Liga teams do TREMENDOUSLY well in Europe.

Hence the team that emerges victorious in La Liga (campeon de la liga) is already BY DEFAULT and BY DEFINITION already among the Top 1, 2 or at least top 3 in Europe and the World. La Liga champions have already run the gauntlet of the toughest European domestic league and are battle hardened and tested to do well in Europe.

What I'm saying is that you don't suddenly plummet all the way down from your position atop the perch as the HISTORICALLY Greatest Team the world has ever seen just because you get beaten by the best French club in a weak French league.

EVERYTHING had to go right for PSG to do what they did in the first leg. Unai Emery got his tactics completely wrong in Camp Nou. If he had went all out attack and controlled the midfield like in Paris, a comeback may really have been impossible. PSG may only have advanced on the away goals rule ;)

As it is, HISTORICALLY great clubs do HISTORIC THINGS/FEATS. Hence the remontada. This PSG team, as good as they are.......no one will remember them in a few years. Least of all their plastic "Ici c'est Paris" fans :)

Therefore, simple statistical analysis would tell you that (even when down 4-0) it would be UNLIKELY that it'd be a FRENCH team that'd knock us out. Far more likely that it'd be a fellow Spanish team, a German (#2 country coefficient (clubs) team (Bayern lol) or even an English (#3) team.

Bayern's an interesting aberration statistically. They do so well both domestically and in Europe that they helped skew the stats in Germany's favor almost singlehandedly. Amazing stuff.

You have to go all the way back to 2010 to when a country (Italy, #4) outside the top 3 won the Champions League. All the way back to 1993 to when France (#5) won the European Cup/Champions League.

Statistically, this tells you that Leicester has more of a chance at winning it all than Monaco :) The league is that much stronger.

Look, it may or may not be fair, but the fact remains that the right to rule the football universe has been bestowed upon the Barcas, the Real Madrids, the Bayerns etc. Yes, it is very much a hegemony in their favor, in that regard. I'm sure we'll see someone do a "2012 Chelsea" in the future. But there's a reason why those are very much the exception rather than the norm.

I know that some of you are very much against the idea of an El Clasico Final. I respect that. For the sake of the beautiful game of FOOTBALL that we all love, though, I think that we DESERVE one :) In our lifetimes, will we ever again see the likes of Cristiano Ronaldo and Lionel Messi ever again? Such goalscoring record breaking colossi of our times, that we get to tell our children about? Helming the most prestigious and greatest teams not just of this generation, but of all time. Their goalscoring feats will never ever be broken.

Ronaldo will be 33 next year, that much closer to being less of a factor in Real Madrid. So while I fully respect how some of you feel about "the El Clasico to end all Clasicos", I think that FOOTBALL itself/herself DEMANDS ONE while they are still in their prime. It's what FOOTBALL  herself in all her beauty has been BUILDING TOWARDS. This is it. The Ultimate HISTORIC Realization of the Beautiful Game, o jogo bonito.

I'd like to revise what I said about Bayern getting the best of Real Madrid. This feels like one of those years: even when Real Madrid doesn't play that well, they manage to grind out victories. The fact that they have a deep bench bodes them well in La Liga and the Champions League. Bayern's largely untested in the domestic league. Don't forget them getting beat 5-0 on aggregate by Real Madrid a few seasons ago. That wasn't an aberration. Don't think Zidane's that great a coach but sometimes charisma and being well liked and respected by your players outweighs tactical nous. They want to play well and do it FOR you.

Bale WANTS that Final in Cardiff. He'll play his heart and lungs out.

Why oh why couldn't the El Clasico Final be in a SEXIER city lolz? :)

HISTORICALLY, we've never had an El Clasico Final. History, as well as records (comebacks and otherwise) are meant to be rewritten and broken.

Perhaps it was written in the stars that Barca would do the remontada. Maybe the celestial constellations and bodies bore witness million of years ago to the fact that, yes, this is the season we finally get to witness THE El Clasico (not El Clasico Final, mind, just THE El Clasico). Maybe part of me WANTS Real Madrid in the Final or even Semi Final. Ronaldo's on the wane. Messi will be 30 this summer. Chalk it up to the football romantic in me. Let's just celebrate the fact that we're alive to witness this truly historic time in our beloved sport. What better way to cap off this truly unprecedented Spanish run in European and World football? The intensity, pageantry and passion in the match/matches will be positively frightening. Hold on to your hats.

May the best team (Barca) win :)

 

 

ScreenHunter_9574 Mar. 18 18.26.jpg

Barça v Real Final isn't good for either club or Spanish football.  It would cause too many issues and isn't worth the hassle.

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58 minutes ago, SirBalon said:

Charlotte Church should be singing in private for me! :ph34r: (at least the Charlotte Church from 5 or 6 years back)

You mean 5 or 6 years back in appearance or 5 or 6 years back when she wasn't a loon?

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Still find it hilarious that we of all clubs have stopped England from being yet another total disaster in the Champions League. All of the predictable drivel beforehand about how we'd "embarrass England" as well. English sides have been woeful in this for years. I don't get what any poor performance from us would have done to really have any impact on the overall co-efficient.

I do think Atletico will probably knock us out mind.

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On 3/17/2017 at 11:09 AM, Cicero said:

Atletico are a different beast in Europe. Toss up between them as I like Atletico and I want Leicester to pull off a DiMatteo. 

Personally hope Ancelotti and Bayern get their revenge on Real. 

Juventus vs Barca was the tie I desperately wanted to see. Dybala vs Messi. Higuain vs Suarez. Juventus may have the best defence in Europe and a more balanced team, but with MSN, anything can happen. 

Monaco vs Dortmund should also be an exciting fixture. 

 

All great ties!

yeah until they face real madrid... fucking bottlers

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I've been saying that Juve should win this tournament since the season started, and in my opinion this is the worst draw Barcelona could have got.

 

I've seen Barcelona a bit this season and they've genuinely only won because of that front 3. They've grinded out all the games I've seen them in aside from the 6-1 win against PSG. That first leg though I felt that Barcelona were too easily defended and didn't create too many opportunities. This is why I think this draw is good for Juventus. With the best backline in the world, Juve are capable of defending against that front 3 moreso than PSG and even with injuries, Rugani and Benatia are still very very good. They also have 2 forwards who can damage Barcelona's backline which really hasn't been that good this year. Its obviously a tie that can go either way but I can't see any other winner than Juve here myself. Juve doesn't play eye candy football and are quite rigid but they get the results because they are a brilliant side. Juve also excel in big champions league matches. This was a good pick for them in my opinion.

 

The Monaco vs Dortmund match is very interesting, I think it will be interesting to see if the winner of that matchup has a chance of reaching the final. 

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49 minutes ago, LaSambadeStGermain said:

I've been saying that Juve should win this tournament since the season started, and in my opinion this is the worst draw Barcelona could have got.

 

I've seen Barcelona a bit this season and they've genuinely only won because of that front 3. They've grinded out all the games I've seen them in aside from the 6-1 win against PSG. That first leg though I felt that Barcelona were too easily defended and didn't create too many opportunities. This is why I think this draw is good for Juventus. With the best backline in the world, Juve are capable of defending against that front 3 moreso than PSG and even with injuries, Rugani and Benatia are still very very good. They also have 2 forwards who can damage Barcelona's backline which really hasn't been that good this year. Its obviously a tie that can go either way but I can't see any other winner than Juve here myself. Juve doesn't play eye candy football and are quite rigid but they get the results because they are a brilliant side. Juve also excel in big champions league matches. This was a good pick for them in my opinion.

 

The Monaco vs Dortmund match is very interesting, I think it will be interesting to see if the winner of that matchup has a chance of reaching the final. 

No way!

The worst draw for Barcelona without a shadow of a doubt in the Champions League would've been Atlético Madrid, but for sure Juventus is an extremely difficult draw for Barcelona and even though on paper Barça have more in midfield and up front, Juve also have one of the finest front lines anywhere and they can score against anyone because they're that good.  Juventus' style of play suits Barça a lot more than Atlético's in this tournament.

Infact the closest style matchup is Atlético Madrid v Leicester City...  Atleti have much better and more experienced players on paper, but Leicester right at this moment since Ranieri was ousted are showing as much aggressive football as Atlético show when on their game which is why I reckon they'll cancel each other out and it will be down to errors.  Simeone loves that type of football because he doesn't give a damn on how its done or if it's stylish or not.  He'll care about shutting up shop and grinding down the opponent physically.

Leicester will find it hard but apart from them (because I think it's too much) any of the teams remaining in tournament can win it.

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Just now, SirBalon said:

No way!

The worst draw without a shadow of a doubt in the Champions League would've been Atlético Madrid, but for sure Juventus is an extremely difficult draw for Barcelona and even though on paper Barça have more in midfield and up front, Juve also have one of the finest front lines anywhere and they can score against anyone because they're that good.  Juventus' style of play suits Barça a lot more than Atlético's in this tournament.

You may be right given how their last matchups have gone in the UCL but Barca have knocked Atletico out of every competition in Spain this year.

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2 minutes ago, LaSambadeStGermain said:

You may be right given how their last matchups have gone in the UCL but Barca have knocked Atletico out of every competition in Spain this year.

In general Barça do very well against Atleti in Spain even in Simeone's era.  The Champions League is a different kettle of fish though and there's a different tension to it when Spanish teams play in it.  Look at the period where Real Madrid couldn't muster a win for love nor money against Atleti in Spanish domestic football for a few years and yet in the Champions League they can't beat Real (although except for the ones that weren't finals) they've (Atleti) been extremely unlucky.

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17 hours ago, SirBalon said:

No way!

The worst draw for Barcelona without a shadow of a doubt in the Champions League would've been Atlético Madrid, but for sure Juventus is an extremely difficult draw for Barcelona and even though on paper Barça have more in midfield and up front, Juve also have one of the finest front lines anywhere and they can score against anyone because they're that good.  Juventus' style of play suits Barça a lot more than Atlético's in this tournament.

Infact the closest style matchup is Atlético Madrid v Leicester City...  Atleti have much better and more experienced players on paper, but Leicester right at this moment since Ranieri was ousted are showing as much aggressive football as Atlético show when on their game which is why I reckon they'll cancel each other out and it will be down to errors.  Simeone loves that type of football because he doesn't give a damn on how its done or if it's stylish or not.  He'll care about shutting up shop and grinding down the opponent physically.

Leicester will find it hard but apart from them (because I think it's too much) any of the teams remaining in tournament can win it.

It's a very interesting match-up and I thought all along last year there was a hint of Atletico about us. Not exactly the same teams obviously but we've both got similar characteristics to our game. This could be an issue for us though as I think they'll probably be better prepared for us than anyone else would. Sevilla had no answer to us last week. Atletico probably will and I think their quality will shine through.

My god I'm excited for it though. It's still a month away. We've still not forgotten what happened 20 years ago and I think that'll add spice to a fixture that would've already had it.

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I wouldnt say free pass to Atletico but I think they probably have gotten the easiest amongst the available. I think Atletico will go to the next round over Leicester but thats what I thought about Leicester all of last season but they proved me wrong by winning the title so you never know. 

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We are probably still the weakest of the 8 sides left but we are playing again like the team that won the league last year. When Sevilla drew us I said they might as well have had a bye into the next round. Since we've sacked Ranieri we have looked pretty much exactly what we were last year and that's no rollover even at this level.

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There's (potentially) just 16 games left for Barca this season. At least 13 (hope Barca progresses in the Champions League vs Juve)

Juventus are tough opponents, may even have the best defense in Europe. The fact that the second leg is at the Camp Nou is absolutely crucial. Barca has been unstoppable in the Champions League at home, conceding only one goal.

Barca at Camp Nou in the UCL this season:

Barca 7-0 Celtic

Barca 4-0 Man City

Barca 4-0 Gladbach

Barca 6-1 PSG

Neymar, well what else can you say about him? We wouldn't even be in the Quarterfinals without him.
 
Next season's kit (at least it's not the monstrosity that was the "horizontal stripes" season).
 
They certainly don't make jerseys like they used to! My fave in recent years is probs the 2009-2010. Good classic clean design. At least back then they didn't neglect the design of the shoulders and arms on the jersey. UNICEF was better too :-)
 
From UNICEF to Qatar Foundation/Qatar/Airways. Says it all really.
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

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