Champions League Draw 20th March

[Rog]

Originally Posted by sanblaster

Not a very good day to say that, is it? :P


Anyway, which better manner to measure Spanish's supremacy in the Champion's League than counting the overall titles of its clubs and comparing with the rest of the countries? We've got 12, Italy and England 11. End of.

yeah and the first 3 or 4 of the 12 came when there were only 8 invited clubs participating.we never took part in the first one either. Over the last 5 years english clubs have been dominant as the above stats show. Having said that i thought Barca were very good and snuffed Utd out and deserved to win by more than 2 goals

[//\/\/]

Originally Posted by IsiliRunite

I am sad. Chelsea could have beaten a United team that flat

yeah; but think of what a stinker of a match it would've been. again!

[Rog]

Originally Posted by jole

I really dont want to open Croatia topic with u again Rog.

ok, i wthdraw my croatia comment- was unnecessary. But over the last 5 years the premiership has been better as the stats clearly show

[Eikman]

lovely. just lovely.

also, i want to marry iniesta. best midfielder in the world right now? i think so.

[matt]

At the end of the day, who really gives a shit which league is better. I enjoy watching the Premier League and I enjoy watching La Liga. Both have great games and both have shit games. Whether one is stronger than the other is irrelevant really.

[Rog]

It's all to do with giving the finger to Platini............the more successful we are the better i like it and the worse he likes it.

[big screen satellite]

Originally Posted by IsiliRunite

I am sad. Chelsea could have beaten a United team that flat

erm no, because Chelsea play flatter than an omelette

look at the first leg against Barca

on Wednesday anyone could have beaten United, not taking credit away from Barca who played very well... but United do not and have not played like that all season, and hence are English Premier Champions...

it was just the wrong game to play your worst football of the season in (except for the home defeat by Liverpool, which for me was worse...)


as for the Spain talk... let them wallow in their glory

The uefa club coefficients still have England higher ... here

come back when 3 out of 4 of your teams are in the semis each year....

Barca / Real.... then that's it... might as well be the Scottish league....

[sanblaster]

Jejejeje, you know what, it's been like that all year in the spanish radio gatherings. Every team (except Espanyol and Atlético de Madrid, in the second half of the season both) have looked way behind their usual level. Even in Europe, except against Chelsea (who played a nice, balanced, attack prone () 4-5-1) they outclassed every rival. I'm far from an objective person in this talk, but I think this season it has always been Barça's merit to make their rivals look like they underperformed. Just look at the possesion rates every match or how Henry is the attacker with more balls stolen from rivals.


By the way, I still can't understand how you rate more the presence in semis and finals than the number of championships won. It scapes me.


Unless I decide to stretch a bit more the periods you take as reference and start in 1998, in which case I'll be delighted to inform you that England and Spain have had 7 appearances both in the finals, and in the same period Spain has had representatives of its league in the semis in 14 occasions with the likes of Villarreal and Valencia apart from Barça and Real Madrid. England had them in 16 occasions, which doesn't quite grant that honorific EPL supremacy title you're boasting in here so happily.


In other words, I think you Rog and BSS are talking a big pile of bollocks. Without neither malice nor hard feelings from this end.

[big screen satellite]

Originally Posted by sanblaster

By the way, I still can't understand how you rate more the presence in semis and finals than the number of championships won. It scapes me.

tbh the Champions League despite its name is still a knock out cup competition, the best team in Europe generally wins it, but in the end its a cup final and on the day Barca won and won well... History is written and their name is on the cup - end of

are Barca the best team in Europe - yes probably

is the Spanish league better than the English league no one can officially tell - based upon rankings of teams the EPL is better, as England are ranked higher...

Rafa Benitez doesn't even think the best team in England won the EPL, but Man United are the best team in England (having won the title three years running) Barca are probably the best team in Spain, having won the three trophies they have (United have won three trophies this season also)

IMHO I believe winning your home league, in no matter what country (and this goes against my comments on the SPL) is much more important than anything else. Well it is for me, as I believe the EPL is a harder and more deserving trophy than the Champions League.

If the Champions League was simply a league then we would find out each season who the best team in Europe is... Barca drew two semi finals to qualify to the final, whereas United won both ties... 6 points vs 2 points in a League system... but that's kinda irrelevant

Barca won and i've not said anything that they didn't deserve it in a one off game...

[Rog]

Originally Posted by big screen satellite

tbh the Champions League despite its name is still a knock out cup competition, the best team in Europe generally wins it, but in the end its a cup final and on the day Barca won and won well... History is written and their name is on the cup - end of

are Barca the best team in Europe - yes probably

is the Spanish league better than the English league no one can officially tell - based upon rankings of teams the EPL is better, as England are ranked higher...

Rafa Benitez doesn't even think the best team in England won the EPL, but Man United are the best team in England (having won the title three years running) Barca are probably the best team in Spain, having won the three trophies they have (United have won three trophies this season also)

IMHO I believe winning your home league, in no matter what country (and this goes against my comments on the SPL) is much more important than anything else. Well it is for me, as I believe the EPL is a harder and more deserving trophy than the Champions League.

If the Champions League was simply a league then we would find out each season who the best team in Europe is... Barca drew two semi finals to qualify to the final, whereas United won both ties... 6 points vs 2 points in a League system... but that's kinda irrelevant

Barca won and i've not said anything that they didn't deserve it in a one off game...

I agree totally with you Matt. I too have had nothing but praise for Barca's final performance......but when that starts getting extrapolated to 'the spanish league is the best' then i have to take issue with it as over the last 5 years it patently isn't.