El Clásico - Sunday 29th November

monkey9

What a finish

Bandit12

Get the **** in there.

PHB

That is an unreal finish, unreal. Defence got confused due to Pique's forward run, nobody tracking him, CB in no mans land, outstanding goal.

adox

Class goal. Great cross, great finish.

bluefinger

nice finish. why wasn't he on from the start

seany2929

Great goal by Ibra

ronbyrne2005

sorry havent read all threads but any streams available. I have sky sports but family are watching some sh1te.

D2D

ronbyrne2005 wrote: »

sorry havent read all threads but any streams available. I have sky sports but family are watching some sh1te.

I've put a link in the streams thread, use any mediaplayer one, I'd say

Anyway, Barca down to 10

kenon

Stupidity from Busquets.

Raskolnikov

Raskolnikov wrote: »

50/50 chance of a red here I reckon.

Ooo-er.

Jako8

See you Busquets.

kenon

Benzema on for Ronaldo.

D2D

Ronaldo off Benzema on
Keita off Yaya on

daithijjj

ronbyrne2005 wrote: »

sorry havent read all threads but any streams available. I have sky sports but family are watching some sh1te.

All of the streams are gone to the dogs, i had to end up watching this on french stream coz nobody else is.

http://mixlivetv.com/articles/b7857755.html

kinaldo

Barca will be delighted to see the back of Ronaldo. He's had a very good game overall, let down by poor finishing.

Good stream here: http://www.justin.tv/telemundo03

D2D

Great run by Messi. Pique misses an open header

Jako8

Brilliant skill by Messi.

Almost 2-0, Pique missed a header.

D2D

Puyols having a great game tonight, praying I don't jinx him

D2D

Raul coming on for Arbeloa

Jako8

Good play.

Good enough chance for Abidal.

D2D

Abidal misses but great build up from Barca. You wouldn't know there down to 10

Bandit12

Good game now. End to end.

D2D

Nasty tackle on Puyol by Marcelo. He gets a yellow

D2D

Benzema skys it from 6 yards

kenon

Yeh I thought a yellow was fair for that. Not a red as was suggested by Gerry.

D2D

2mins + added time left

What a save from Casillas from Messi

Jako8

Great save.

EDIT: Diarra sent off. A frustrated looking tackle. Real down to 10.

kenon

Messi should be scoring that. Stunning pass from Alves.

D2D

Lass sent off

10 on 10

monkey9

Dare_2_defy wrote: »

Lass sent off

10 on 10

Keith Andrews is at home now watching this match thinking 'F*ck off, you French prIck, you've lost'

bUILDERtHEbOB

FFS, stream froze at the 88th minute.

D2D

Barca get the 3 points

Bandit12

Deserved from Barca.

el rabitos

big win, real didnt take their chances in the first half. delighted

Glico Man

Great stuff from Barca.

A win for them and the 'Pool today = :D:D

eZe^

Slash/ED wrote: »

I really hate when Barca play without a central striker, ugh. But f-ck it, it's only Real anyway...

You're dead right, and what a difference he made. When Barca have a target man upfront the entire team plays more efficiently. His hold up play is absolutely breath taking. What a monster. Fast becoming my favourite player.

monkey9 wrote: »

I can't believe Madrid haven't scored there. Great play by Kaka

Kaka scared the sh*t out of me the whole game tbh. Not C. Ronaldo, but Kaka, it's the mixture of passing and running skill that he has. He cut us open with beautiful crosses and runs all night.

Headshot wrote: »

did i just hear the commentator say pique is one of the best defenders in the world now

He most certainly is...

Raskolnikov wrote: »

Underwelming stuff so far.

Thought it was absolutely fantastic, end to end stuff with 4/5 good chances for both teams.


I can't believe people aren't praising Messi just because he didn't dribble past 10 players and score a goal. He did everything Rooney gets praised for tonight and more, tackled like a mad man, sprayed the ball around midfield, held up the ball and brought team mates into the game. Absolutely brilliant, pity he couldn't take his one good chance at the end.

Favourite moment was Iniesta telling Ronaldo to 'kieta' (shut up) repeatedly. :D

M.O.M - Puyol, consistently mocked and berated as an error prone CB, tonight he showed he can is a man mountain at the back. Flawless game from him and Pique imo, they mopped up and did very well especially as Alves' kept going walkabout. Special mention to Valdes too.

That's it, Busquets is usually colossal in big games, but he has been close to being sent off on so many occasions. Yaya deserves his place back as the midfield enforcer.

Madrid's best player was Kaka, for reasons I've already mentioned. Alonso was cack tbh, shown up by every other creative midfielder on the pitch tonight. Benzema was non existent when he came on too, and even worse was Higuain, which is strange, cos he relishes scoring in big games.


Guardiola is some manager, he has out foxed every big manager he has come up against so far in his career. It just proves that the pain staking effort he goes to in explaining how his team should react to every possible situation works. I love him, if he keeps it up maybe the likes of Man United would be interested in his services as an able replacement to Sir Alex.

Anyway, that victory was absolutely HUGE, that was our hardest game of the season right there, and we came through it unscathed, while being down to 10 men. Zlatan, prove the doubters wrong son!!! :D:D Can't score in the big games is it!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!? =P





Fairplay to Madrid btw, they did the same thing as last year, only now their team is much much more effective, and you could see that. They'll be a frightening prospect when they properly gel, and I still think they're a good bet for the CL this year. Oh how sweet it would be to beat them in the Bernabeu in May... :D



FORCA BARCA!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Headshot

pique world class, I dont agree with that myself tbh

he is a great defender but to put in the same bracket as Carvalho, terry, Rio (before the injuries) who are/were WC players is over the top tbh

eZe^

Defensive lynch pin of Spain's record breaking national side. Heart of the first ever treble winning side in Spain. Also the central defender in the side who has the best defensive record in La Liga and the Champions League this season...

Sounds like he could be considered up there with the world's elite CBs alright tbh.

Headshot

eZe^ wrote: »

Defensive lynch pin of Spain's record breaking national side. Heart of the first ever treble winning side in Spain. Also the central defender in the side who has the best defensive record in La Liga and the Champions League this season...

Sounds like he could be considered up there with the world's elite CBs alright tbh.

so your saying he's up there with Carvalho for example

I do have a sweet spot for him, an ex man utd player for one but im not a fan of people using the WC bracket loosely

you give him credit for all that above, you do know theres a goalie behind him too

the way barca play they keep the ball so well and with brilliant DMs like Keita or yaya in front of the defence it does make life easy for the CB's

Iang87

never overly rated pique myself til last season he was just quality towards the end of last season.

The dude has won, 2 leagues and 2 champions leagues in 3 or 4 years. Bad players dont get those honours

Eire-Dearg

eZe^ wrote: »

Defensive lynch pin of Spain's record breaking national side. Heart of the first ever treble winning side in Spain. Also the central defender in the side who has the best defensive record in La Liga and the Champions League this season...

Sounds like he could be considered up there with the world's elite CBs alright tbh.

I've seen him about 5/6 times this season, and he's blew me away everytime. He's an absolute rock. He's come along leaps and bounds since joining. I really didn't think he was all that good, last year I knew he was playing and in the CL he was doing brilliantly, and since then he's really impressed me and I think he is one of the best CBs in the world along with Carvalho and so on.

Headshot

Iang87 wrote: »

never overly rated pique myself til last season he was just quality towards the end of last season.

The dude has won, 2 leagues and 2 champions leagues in 3 or 4 years. Bad players dont get those honours

mate I can blow that argument out of the water with one name

Djimi Traoré

eZe^

Headshot wrote: »

so your saying he's up there with Carvalho for example

I do have a sweet spot for him, an ex man utd player for one but im not a fan of people using the WC bracket loosely

you give him credit for all that above, you do know theres a goalie behind him too

the way barca play they keep the ball so well and with brilliant DMs like Keita or yaya in front of the defence it does make life easy for the CB's

I'd say he's not far off being at the same level as Carvalho, and by the end of both of those players careers I'd bet my left arm that Pique will have won more silverware with both club and country, and will in general be heralded in the same regard as another Spanish legend - Fernando Hierro.

Also, the day people give Valdes credit for being the fantastic keeper he is, is the day that the Santiago Bernabeu is moved to be situated on the moon.

Iang87 wrote: »

never overly rated pique myself til last season he was just quality towards the end of last season.

The dude has won, 2 leagues and 2 champions leagues in 3 or 4 years. Bad players dont get those honours

Give him a few more season, he'll eventually win people over...

Headshot

eZe^ wrote: »

I'd say he's not far off being at the same level as Carvalho, and by the end of both of those players careers I'd bet my left arm that Pique will have won more silverware with both club and country, and will in general be heralded in the same regard as another Spanish legend - Fernando Hierro.

Also, the day people give Valdes credit for being the fantastic keeper he is, is the day that the Santiago Bernabeu is moved to be situated on the moon.

valdes is a fantastic shot stopper, that's all i can give him
he did rescue ye a couple of times tonight thou

getting back to pique, I though puyol rescued him a couple of times tonight with his awesome last ditch tackling

monkey9

Headshot wrote: »

mate I can blow that argument out of the water with one name

Djimi Traoré

He didn't win two league titles though

Warper

Great win and a great match - they definitely saved the best for last. Messi was immense, the amount of times he passed 3/4 defenders from the tightest of spaces. There isnt a player that can touch him.

Puyol, Pique and Valdes also played brilliant. Puyol is a legend - the commentator came out with a funny line - when he said something like "we have the most skillful players in the planet and we have Carles Puyol, the man from the mountains, he looks like a caveman". It wasnt disrespectful btw.

Utd must be sick of letting Pique go. He was a tower at the back again tonight. Remember this is only his second full season and is already one of the best defenders in the world. Anyone that doesnt rate him is someone that doesnt see him play. He is at the heart of the defense for the best club side in the world and arguably the best international side in the world - yet he is not world-class??????

I was also impressed by Madrid - they can only get better. Kaka is an outstanding talent and Ronaldo will be better once fully match-fit. They have shored up their defense and obviously have one of the best squads in the world. They will be in the shakeup for the CL along with Barca and Chelsea.

It really is great watching Barca play though. There isnt a side in the world that can match their passing. Even with 10 men they stroked the ball around brilliantly. The only downside is Henry is well past his sell-by-date.

Headshot

monkey9 wrote: »

He didn't win two league titles though

im sure I can find a bad player that has won the league a couple of times
its a stupid argument tbh. bad players also win trophies

gimmick

Yeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeesssssssssssssss!!!!

Absolutely ecstatic after that.

Messi tonight showed he is the complete player. He wasn't at all flamboyant, but showed his work ethic in a massive game. The fact he was being niggled and double man marked makes his performance all the more outstanding.

But the real praise has to go to Puyol. As mentioned above, he does not get the credit he deserves, but his tackling tonight was inch perfect. Incredible. He lead from the back and had the best game I have seen from him in years.

With regard to Pique. I cannot think of any team in world football at present who would not have him. He reads the game brilliantly. His tackiling looks easy. His control and instincts are second to no defender in football at the moment. And he is only a kid by centre halves standards.

I wanted to punch Busquets for being an idiot.

Ibras goal - pure class.

Dani Alves' ball for Messi towards the end - ridiculous.

Valdes again shows he is one of the most under rated keepers in the world.

As for Real - Marcelo was rubbish. Absolute muck. Kaka frightened the life out of me. Alonso was non existant. Pepe - I cannot stand him. They played a damned good game though and had it not been for Puyols MOTM perfornace, they would be swanning off with the 3 points and the braggings rights.

Great game.

Slash/ED

I'd take Pique over Terry and it isn't even particularly close. Puyol and Pique are both world class centre backs who don't get any credit because of the lazy, and wrong, sheer myth that Barca have a bad defence. They don't and the record backs that up, it's just a lazy tag the British and Irish media throw at them without watching them play. Pique gets better every game, he is an absolute rock and Puyol is just the perfect captain in the back. People who don't rate those two don't watch them play week in week out, simple as that.

As I said, the centre forward made all the difference. Disjointed first half where Real had the best of it, swept them away in the second. Ibras goal was pure class and I'm delighted he's making me eat my words about his signing, his substitution literally changed the match from being Reals to Barca being on top. Alves ball for Messi's chance was just ridiculous also.

Messi, Valdes, Pique and Puyol were all utterly outstanding. Valdes used to be a weak link but he's really improved also over the last couple of seasons, not making the mistakes he used too and is just a really solid presence in goal. Great second half performance, fantastic game. Worryingly, Real actually look like a good team now also...

eZe^

Pep is the first Barca manager to ever win three successive clasicos!

you Guardiola!