Champions League Final - Arsenal v Barcelona

Fighting Irish

PHB wrote:

Indeed, I'm soooo sorry for being highly amused by Henry's interview and Sky goading him into it.
I feel really bad about it, please, have my apoligies.

I find it absolutely hilarious that all of Arsenal, except Lehmann, complained after the match that it woulda been different with ten men, as if somebody else was to blame. Nope, Arsenal were to blame.
Also if you're looking for somebody less gracious in defeat, watch the TV, there's this french guy on atm.


---


Was Barca's first goal offside?
Nobody's mentioned it till after the game

nope

A Dub in Glasgo

gandalf wrote:

Right the thing is I do not grudge Barca the win, I would have preferred if the Ref has some f***in common sense played the advantage, allowed the Barca goal (which it clearly was), yellow carded Lehmann

Normal procedure is to play the advantage and then when the play stops, deal with the player that commited the foul, are you suggesting Lehman did not commit an offence that deserved a red card?

Rikand

I sense mass bannings in this thread . . .


Fairplay to Barca, they stuck at it and were eventually rewarded for their patience and the sublime keeping skills of Valdez. should have been 2-2 at the end of the game,,,could have been 3-1 i suppose if that first goal had stood...who knows. Arsenal can rue some missed chances and some dodgy refereeing, no doubt lehmann should have been sent off tho

A Dub in Glasgo

p_larkin99 wrote:

I do think Cetic are a proper team, feel i have to say this!

He's just bitter that Larsoon knocked back MU

Chucky

Gandalf, Lehmann deserved the red card. Christ nobody disputes that even in the Arsenal personnel.

PHB

Right the thing is I do not grudge Barca the win, I would have preferred if the Ref has some f***in common sense played the advantage, allowed the Barca goal (which it clearly was), yellow carded Lehmann and allowed us to see what was shaping up to be a great game 11 vs 11. The ref was sub standard and shouldn't even ref a Sunday League game (and yes that included Eboues dodgy free kick, the only thing that he gave Arsenals way in that game!)

What galls me is the pathetic joy from mainly Man United fans here, you are absolutely pathetic !!!!!

Can you please explain to me any reason whatsoever why it should be a yellow card?

Paul Tergat

A Dub in Glasgo wrote:

He's just bitter that Larsoon knocked back MU

Perhaps...but i have no bitterness at all, im just glad the best team in Europe has won the biggest competition in Europe, regardless of the game itself...it would be impossible to say that either one should have one it on the night but this is often the case in finals....well done to Arsenal (unlucky though) and congrats to Barca.

gandalf

PHB wrote:

Can you please explain to me any reason whatsoever why it should be a yellow card?

Are you blind, does the phrase common sense mean anything to you :rolleyes:

Kingp35

For me Justice was done. Lehman fully deserved to be sent off and the goal should have stood as well. Yes the red card ruined the game as a spectacle but Lehman had to go.

Well done to Barcelona, they totally deserved it and I doubt anyone could say otherwise.

Well done to Arsenal for reaching the final as well though because no one would have thought they could do it.

Paul Tergat

Fair play Ashley Cole, dont like the guy but handled the question well, Shreeves on top form tonite

PHB

Bit of class there from Cole and Campbell, taking it on the chin

---

Are you blind, does the phrase common sense mean anything to you

Yeh, it refers to common sense.
What relevence does it have to football?

He fouled him, he was the last man, stopped a clear goal scoring opportunity.
The result of the advantage is irrelevent to the actual foul itself.

It's why you can get booked 5 minutes after a foul, because the ref is playing advantage.
The foul is still the same.

It was a red card offense.

What you want is for the ref not to punish Arsenal too much.
Sure give em the goal and a yellow, cause i'd like it.
But that's not how the rules work, and nor should they.

Fighting Irish

gandalf wrote:

Are you blind, does the phrase common sense mean anything to you :rolleyes:

WTF are you talking about? Lehmann should have got a yellow?

Chucky

p_larkin99 wrote:

Fair play Ashley Cole, dont like the guy but handled the question well, Shreeves on top form tonite

True True... I can't believe the Sky pundits tonight. I've totally lost respect for them.

RE*AC*TOR

Sympathy for Arsenal, i thought they were going to do it for a while there, I was rooting for them.

Fighting Irish

Lgunberb<sp?> had a great game

Chucky

Ooo, looks like the Sky guys are now retracing their steps. perhaps they had a few words said to them from above

Paul Tergat

i really feel henry showed a lack of class/professionalism in his post match interview, ok heat of the moment and all but to harp on about Etoo and Ronaldinho was out of order.

Fighting Irish

Hate to tell ya lads but the sky sports thing would be the exact same if it was RTE and the Irish team

Chardee MacDennis

cole say anything bout his future, thought he played very well.

PHB

http://www.skysports.com/skysports/feedback/enquiry/1,,,00.html

I recommend everybody go there and let their feelings heard, finally might get some change

StickyMcGinty

gandalf wrote:

Right the thing is I do not grudge Barca the win, I would have preferred if the Ref has some f***in common sense played the advantage, allowed the Barca goal (which it clearly was), yellow carded Lehmann and allowed us to see what was shaping up to be a great game 11 vs 11. The ref was sub standard and shouldn't even ref a Sunday League game (and yes that included Eboues dodgy free kick, the only thing that he gave Arsenals way in that game!)

What galls me is the pathetic joy from mainly Man United fans here, you are absolutely pathetic !!!!!

i'm a liverpool fan and i was neutral at the start, but started rooting for barca, only after eboues dive, and barca having that goal disallowed. thought barca had terrible luck in the first half

under the proper rules of the game, barcas goal should have stood AND lehmann should have been sent off, so that went arsenals way.

eboue was a disgrace, he looks talented but that dive, and another time when he was rolling around on the ground like he'd been shot, he looks like a right feckin eejit!

the referee was crap though, at least he wont be at the world cup

Chucky

Cool, the Real Madrid website congratulates Barca!

Paul Tergat

Fighting Irish wrote:

Hate to tell ya lads but the sky sports thing would be the exact same if it was RTE and the Irish team

ah ye, theres an obvious bias there, as Merson is looking like he may go mental whereas Gullit looks more calm and brings a fairer view....it would be the same if an Irish team made the European Cup Final (:p ) or if it was the national team itself, but i bet in Spain it will be the reverse, with the commentators actively Barca!

A Dub in Glasgo

http://img391.imageshack.us/img391/9628/larss8ha.jpg

StickyMcGinty

what did the sky pundits say??

Paul Tergat

VinnyL wrote:

what did the sky pundits say??

What didn't they say....Merson not happy with the referee basically, but as suggested Geoff Shreeves was desperate for reactions from as many Arsenal players as he could get! It is biased yes, but it is an English boradcast after all.

eirebhoy

Fighting Irish wrote:

Hate to tell ya lads but the sky sports thing would be the exact same if it was RTE and the Irish team

How??? The ref almost single handedly won the bloody Champions league for Arsenal and they are still complaining. It was a sending off, it was a goal and it was one of the most blatent of dives that lead to Arsenal's goal.

I don't understand why the analysts are making it out like it was either a red card and no advantage or no red card and advantage. It should have been advantage and a red card. Lehmann took a player down to stop his team from conceding a goal. So they should just give Barca the advantage and let Lehmann stay on the pitch? Nonsense.

If Barca lost tonight they would have had every right to complain, Arsenal have absolutely no right.

And Larsson is one of the few Celtic players that Rangers fans admire:
http://www.gersforum.co.uk/forum/viewtopic.php?t=7886

mchurl

Terrible performance by the refereee and still Barca manage to win. The best team in Europe this season won the tournament and for that im happy. For the Lehmann sending off, the goal should of stood and then the ref should of went back and sent Lehmann off as the rules state, and as for Eboue's dive for the Gooners goal, the less said the better. During the game he also gave some terrible decisions and booking Henry for a clean tackle was one of them.

Thrilled for Barca though and im happy they won out. Henry was also very un-professional in his post match interview slating Ronaldinho and Eto'o. In fact Eto'o scored and henry missed two relativly easy chances so for him to slate Eto'o is totally wrong.

zAbbo

VinnyL wrote:

what did the sky pundits say??

We wuz wobbed

Paul Tergat

eirebhoy wrote:

How??? The ref almost single handedly won the bloody Champions league for Arsenal and they are still complaining. It was a sending off, it was a goal and it was one of the most blatent of dives that lead to Arsenal's goal.

I don't understand why the analysts are making it out like it was either a red card and no advantage or no red card and advantage. It should have been advantage and a red card. Lehmann took a player down to stop his team from conceding a goal. So they should just give Barca the advantage and let Lehmann stay on the pitch? Nonsense.

If Barca lost tonight they would have had every right to complain, Arsenal have absolutely no right.

And Larsson is one of the few Celtic players that Rangers fans admire:
http://www.gersforum.co.uk/forum/viewtopic.php?t=7886

mate that wasnt my quote,

i agreed with what he said though!

i fully agree that Barca were screwed in the first incident but the ref didnt give Arsenal any free-kicks during the game, and in fairness there should have been an awful lot more awarded!

Slash/ED

In spite of the refs best attempts to hand Arsenal the win, the better team won. Ronaldinho and Henry were the two worst players on the pitch though, Ljunberg and Deco were the outstanding performers I thought.

Chucky

Has anyone managed to get into http://www.fcbarcelona.com/ ?

Paul Tergat

It's a great reflection on the Barca squad that Iniesta and Larsson came on and played very well...and of course Belletti to score the winner

Paul Tergat

Chucky wrote:

Has anyone managed to get into http://www.fcbarcelona.com/ ?

good luck with that

okidoki987

Why doesn't the top match of the season have a ref from Germany or Italy?
We were unlucky. :rolleyes:
10 men for 72 minutes was always going to be tough.
Leading for more minutes then Barcelona.
Henry didn't play that well but still a class act.
(Why doesn't he chip the goalie instead of trying to place the ball) but Key Q is will he stay or go?
I feel he will stay as we have a good young team there and he wants to win the CL with Arsenal.
Cole, Bergkamop and Pires will go.
Roll on the WC

mchurl

p_larkin99 wrote:

It's a great reflection on the Barca squad that Iniesta and Larsson came on and played very well...and of course Belletti to score the winner

Barca's three subs contibuted hugely to their victory, Iniesta had a great game in midfield when coming on, Larsson had two assists and Belleti scored the winner. IMO this shows that Barca had not only a better team than Arsenal, but a better squad. Also i fell Rijkaard tatically outclassed Wenger. When Arsenal fell behind, Wenger done nothing to change it. He should of taken a risk and taken off a defender for Reyes or RVP.

Chucky

Slash/ED wrote:

In spite of the refs best attempts to hand Arsenal the win, the better team won. Ronaldinho and Henry were the two worst players on the pitch though, Ljunberg and Deco were the outstanding performers I thought.

On the contrary I believe Henry and Ronaldinho played magnificantly. Deco was up to his usual diving but still played okay. Finally, Ljunberg played with his all - Great player.

Chucky the tree

Christ there are some bitter people on this forum. I suppose united fans have to vent there anger on someone\something.

Alot of people seem to be delighted Arsenal lost because of the biased commentating on sky sports. Arsenal dont have a choice over what they say.

Hardluck Arsenal, and to there fans. I was in a similiar enough position last season at half-time, not a good feeling!

The ref was a disgrace aswell, he got most of his decisions wrong.

Chucky

Chucky the tree wrote:

The ref was a disgrace aswell, he got most of his decisions wrong.

Oh shut up! I'm sick of idiots like you. And it's 'their' not 'there'.

Paul Tergat

Chucky the tree wrote:

Hardluck Arsenal, and to there fans. I was in a similiar enough position last season at half-time, not a good feeling!

you can't compare it to that, you were 3-0 down at half time and won, Arsenal were 1-0 up and lost, totally different!

evad_lhorg

with eleven.... I think arsenal would have had it. with ten i didnt think it would last long and i was gettin confident towards the last 20minutes. as soon as the goal went in i knew it ws gonna end soon.

barcas defense was so weak they couldve been destroyed by a full team but it's all ifs and buts now.

Chucky

evad_lhorg wrote:

barcas defense was so weak they couldve been destroyed by a full team but it's all ifs and buts now.

Barca's defence was great - Puyol was magnificant! He made so many important tackles against Henry.

Paul Tergat

mchurl wrote:

IMO this shows that Barca had not only a better team than Arsenal, but a better squad.

Ye i dont think anyone will dispute that, player for player they are the best, and maybe with adding Henry next season??:rolleyes:

mchurl wrote:

Also i fell Rijkaard tatically outclassed Wenger. When Arsenal fell behind, Wenger done nothing to change it. He should of taken a risk and taken off a defender for Reyes or RVP.

I don't think you can criticise Wenger (i really don't like him) but any decision he made would have been scrutinised...if they had brought on a striker and they then lost it would have been " oh...well he could've played tight and got to extra-time first". it can't be stressed enough how much decision making is changed when you do down to 10 so early...he could have done with 9 subs to change the whole team who looked v tired!

zokrez

- Advantage should have been played - goal given and red card to Lehman. Tough though it may seem.

- There is no way a referee who is deemed to be not good enough for World Cup should be allowed officiate.

- very thin line between Barc first goal - should be video ref introduced although i would give the goal in the position.

- Ridiculous that Henry was yellow carded - there should have been at least 2 yellows on players who crashed into Henry.

- Henry let himself down in post match interview very badly (typical french ?)and I cant see how he could go to Barcelona after his comments. This WILL be blown out of proportion. He will either back track or grovel.

- Poor Pires , must be very disappointing to have to go off after 20 minutes (unlike Kewell who couldnt wait to get off )

- Senderos and others including Reyes (at least he got on) & Berkampf with Pires, Cole & Campbell getting picked.

Paul Tergat

Chucky wrote:

Barca's defence was great - Puyol was magnificant! He made so many important tackles against Henry.

as well as a good few fouls too, he is a class act though....i remember watching him playing right back in the early Barca days and not thinking much too him!

eyerer

heh, some bannings indeed
happy barca won, imo the best team in europe this season

felt bad for lehmann as he's been playing so well lately, but i didn't see if it was intentional.
felt worse for pires, looked gutted and was taken off through no fault of his own

Chucky

I remember them days too but right now he's so sharp and pumped up for every game they play.

Ronan|Raven

Anyone have a link to the goals? Didnt get to see the game,

WhiteWashMan

thierry henry wrote:

next time I might learn how to dive maybe

hopefully he will have a look at aboue's dive that earned them the first goal?

Paul Tergat

eyerer wrote:

heh, some bannings indeed

Why?