Champions League

[highland fox]

messi is awesome you can stick all the other midfielders up your arse he is by far the best in the world at the moment no one is near him imo

id say he was a forward,not that strong in the tackle...go on edit away

 

[Dickovforengland!]

Your kidding me right? Barca (up until the last few weeks) have been on fire, and will probably break the scoring record for the spanish league this season. They have scored 4+ goals on numerous occasions. Madrid in contrast won about 10 games in a row one nil whilst playing poorly hence why they kept up with Barca, who went on a bad run as of late. Plus Messi is the best player in the world right now, and can rip any defence aprt. Write Barca of at your peril my friend, if they reproduce their form for the majority of the season, they will be a match any english side.

Real's last 4 results in the league are 1-1, 2-0, 6-1 and 4-0

Barcelona's last 4 results in the league 2-0, 3-4, 1-2, 2-2

Barca have conceded 8 goals in 4 games in the league (only looked at the last 4 because thats what there is on bbc sport). Also conceded 2 against Lyon.

In the last 4 league games the English sides have conceded:

Man U 2
Liverpool 5
Chelsea 1
Arsenal 1

So yeah barca score goals for fun, and edge it over the English sides going forward but the difference at the back is bigger.

 

[highland fox]

imo english clubs will not fear playing barcelona,they know they can contain them at the back and have the players to expose barce's dodgy defence

 

[jb5000]

A chance that all 4 premier teams will get through to the quarters.

Platini will be in despair, and know doubt will be looking for more rules and regulations to deny the English.:icon_roll

How many english players would he be denying if he did so?

Christopher Ronald?
Ferdinand Bull?

Martin O'Neil's Villa side are practically all english and would be really benefited by the proposed new rules - as would any other club that brings on rather than buys in players, such as the City side of the late 90s.

 

[Brauny Blue]

Funny that you get all this blah blah because the English clubs are doing well.
Didnt seem to be a problem when the Italian clubs dominated, and more recently the Spanish.

 

[drummindefender]

Real's last 4 results in the league are 1-1, 2-0, 6-1 and 4-0

Barcelona's last 4 results in the league 2-0, 3-4, 1-2, 2-2

Barca have conceded 8 goals in 4 games in the league (only looked at the last 4 because thats what there is on bbc sport). Also conceded 2 against Lyon.

In the last 4 league games the English sides have conceded:

Man U 2
Liverpool 5
Chelsea 1
Arsenal 1

So yeah barca score goals for fun, and edge it over the English sides going forward but the difference at the back is bigger.

you completely ignored my point about the fact Barca have stuttered lately, but overall this season have been outstanding scoring 4+ goals in the league on 9 occassions (including two games where they have scored 6 against Atletico Madrid and Valladolid). Madrid have been consistenly over the course of the season, grinding out narrow wins and playing poorly-this was shown by the fact that when they played against a team with a bit of quality they lost.

Also, they have conceded less goals then Real Madrid in the league and the only team to have conceded less is Sevilla (23 compared to barca's 24). But i accept they have been suspect in defence recently and this could prove a factor, and also apart from Arsenal, all the english sides have conceded less goals then barca.

 

[Profondo Rosso]

Barca are certiantly the only team who can realistically challenge Man Utd. Yes, theyve had a blip recently, but so does every team sooner or later, They play such awesome football and Messi is the best player in the world atm for me. Argentina would walk the next world cup on paper with him and Aguero up front if Maradonna wasnt such a shit manager.

I definitely think itll be criminal if its not a Man Utd vs Barca final, theyve been by far the best 2 European sides this season. And it'd be too close to call for me, though i do win 160 quid if Man Utd win the quad/quintuple and itd be amazing to see a team achieve it during my lifetime, so id want Man Utd to win this year even if i generally much prefer Barca

 

[Dickovforengland!]

you completely ignored my point about the fact Barca have stuttered lately,

Thats true but like I said the only stats on the bbc were the last 4 games and I couldn't be arsed trawling through anything else.

Lately does matter though. Its no good being brilliant until the business end of the season like Arsenal when they lost Eduardo last season.

 

[Profondo Rosso]

Thats true but like I said the only stats on the bbc were the last 4 games and I couldn't be arsed trawling through anything else.

Lately does matter though. Its no good being brilliant until the business end of the season like Arsenal when they lost Eduardo last season.

The blip has only been 3 or 4 games long and they got back on track last weekend in the league and midweek in the CL, hardly a huge season ending run because of nervousness or anything. Not yet anyways, theyll end up winning La Liga easily

 

[Dickovforengland!]

I'm sure Barca will win La Liga. All I am saying is they have been leaking goals recently and both their attack and defence will be tested more thoroughly against our top 4.

If they want to win it they'll probably have to beat 2 English sides. I can't see it happening.

 

[drummindefender]

this sums up my feelings
http://www.guardian.co.uk/football/2009/mar/12/barcelona-champions-league

 

[Profondo Rosso]

I'm sure Barca will win La Liga. All I am saying is they have been leaking goals recently and both their attack and defence will be tested more thoroughly against our top 4.

Theyve only been leaking goals in the last 3 or 4 league games, and like i said i think its too early to call it a proper dip in form rather than just a small blip

yes, they conceded 8 goals in the past 4 games, but before that theyd conceded 16 goals in 22games in the league before that. And yes, while their defence may still need improvement, i still think theyre attack can break down English defences, they have easily the best attack in Europe imo, which is why vs Man UTd who have by far the best defense in Europe imo it should be a great test.