El Clasico Monday 29th 8pm.

Sir Gallagher

CorkMan wrote: »

Yes, exactly all in the past, they won them amount of trophies before. I am using trophies to say:

Real Madrid > Barcelona

Barca may be attracting the limelight ATM, but they are not as great as Real Madrid in total.

I bet my da would kill your da in a fight.

MisterAnarchy

missingtime wrote: »

Xabi was unreal tonight. Every Barcelona player was.

I think you mean Xavi ? Xabi was anonymous tonight,spent 90 minutes chasing shadows.
A superb performance from Barca which was as one sided as the 6-2 football lesson they dosed out 2 years ago.Real were cruelly exposed in their weaknesses,both full backs were destroyed.
I dont think Mourinho has the defensively talented players he usually has to play his defensive game and his team were outfought ,outthough and outplayed.
Hopefull that hiding might teach him some manners.
It seems the thread has been infiltrated by the EPL ignoramaces.

Yakult

Oh so sickened I missed this game

Damn wimmins

Helix

CorkMan wrote: »

Yes, exactly all in the past, they won them amount of trophies before. I am using trophies to say:

Real Madrid > Barcelona

Barca may be attracting the limelight ATM, but they are not as great as Real Madrid in total.

villa better than arsenal then yeah?

eZe^

That game was infinitely more impressive than the Camp Nou game, I can honestly say I've never seen a team play with such ruthless intensity for 90 minutes.

Spain at the WC played amazing possession based football which essentially neutered the opposition by depriving them of the ball, Barca do the same, but tonight they were about 4 gears higher up, and had the Madrid defenders sh*tting themselves because in about 3 or 4 passes they had sliced through the entire midfield. Breathtaking.

The most enjoyable Barcelona performance I can remember in ages, especially considering we were playing arguably the best squad of players in the history of football, and one of the biggest personalities in management.


The story basically went,

Hi we're Barcelona.


And we're really good at the footballs.



We played our biggest rivals today.


And this is how their manager felt at the end of the match. :P




Biggest defeat Mourinho has ever suffered in his managerial career, with arguably his best team. In Pep we trust, the REAL special one.

flas

CorkMan wrote: »

Yes, exactly all in the past, they won them amount of trophies before. I am using trophies to say:

Real Madrid > Barcelona

Barca may be attracting the limelight ATM, but they are not as great as Real Madrid in total.

how many were won under franco's reign!?

L'prof

Helix wrote: »

villa better than arsenal then yeah?

Just comparing European Cups?

Morzadec

Greatest 90 minutes I have ever seen from a team in my life.

Almost perfect football, never enjoyed a game so much as a more or less neutral (have some money riding on Barca). Incredible stuff, hats off to Barca and Pep that was amazing

Helix

L'prof wrote: »

Just comparing European Cups?

seems to fit with the nonsensical logic being bandied about yeh

same way liverpool are clearly better than chelsea and united at the moment too

L'prof

Helix wrote: »

seems to fit with the nonsensical logic being bandied about yeh

same way liverpool are clearly better than chelsea and united at the moment too

I thought he was referring to all trophies, but I agree with what you're saying. History is history.

Peyton Manning

eZe^ wrote: »

The most enjoyable Barcelona performance I can remember in ages, especially considering we were playing arguably the best squad of players in the history of football, and one of the biggest personalities in management.

And sadly for Madrid, that's the difference right there. For longer than I care to remember, they have been an outstanding squad of players, but not a team.

It's no secret that I don't like Barcelona. They just get under my skin, but that's a discussion for a different time. Right now, there's a small comfort to be had knowing a squad of players who grew up together can produce such a masterclass against an assembly of the highest priced superstars.

But it's only a very fúcking small comfort at that

M5

Christiano who? In Barcelona, that was an absolute masterclass from barca, such a one sided game. Blown away by how far ahead barca were throughout the game

eZe^

Archimedes wrote: »

And sadly for Madrid, that's the difference right there. For longer than I care to remember, they have been an outstanding squad of players, but not a team.

I still think Barcelona have a better starting XI in almost every position, barring GK. I just meant that Madrid's squad is the biggest and best I can remember, they have two top quality players in every position, whereas Barca have some class bench players (Mascherano, Keita), but it's mainly youth and utility players (Maxwell, Adriano, Thiago), whereas Madrid will in a few weeks may have Kaka, Benzema, Diarra, and Albiol all on the bench.


Some class photos;

Mr.Nice Guy

Great sporting theatre. The pass from Messi to Villa for what I think was the fourth goal was probably the pass of the season. Fantastic play all round. Messi in the first couple of minutes produced an audacious lob that showed more imagination and ingenuity than Ronaldo went on to show in the entire ninety minutes. I was also delighted to see Ramos get a red card - this time one that he wouldn't have wanted. Very satisfying viewing indeed.

L'prof

Archimedes wrote: »

And sadly for Madrid, that's the difference right there. For longer than I care to remember, they have been an outstanding squad of players, but not a team.

It's no secret that I don't like Barcelona. They just get under my skin, but that's a discussion for a different time. Right now, there's a small comfort to be had knowing a squad of players who grew up together can produce such a masterclass against an assembly of the highest priced superstars.

But it's only a very fúcking small comfort at that

Barcelona are a great team, Real have a great collection of players. If anybody can make them click, it's Mourinho. He needs time, but Real have never been the most patient club in the world! They have massive flaws, but I don't think there's another club out there that would expose them as effectively as Barca did tonight.

CorkMan

rossie1977 wrote: »

having franco as a fan helped too

TBH how many eastern-european countries have more than 3 european cups, need I say 9?

staker

What a whitewashing!Delighted in a sense Barcelona won for the way they play soccer.
Still can't understand Messi's yellow though, the lad did fuck all.
For the world's most foremost club "derby" the amount of petulance,play acting and deviousness on show tonight was disgusting imo.
Plus side, the total dominance by FCB and the stuff they played was truely magical

KeithAFC

Quick, some one call the police. A rape has took place.

Barcelona were brilliant.

MisterAnarchy

Archimedes wrote: »

It's no secret that I don't like Barcelona. They just get under my skin

I really dont get this anti Barcelona attitude that seems to be creeping into these forums.
You'd think Real Madrid were saints.
9 of that Barca starting 11 came through the youth academy and they play nice passing flowing football the way it should be .
Ok they can be a bit overeager in their emotions and seeking of bookings but
Real Madrid have almost zero players brought through the youth setup,and they rely on poaching players from other clubs,often in underhanded and unprofessional behaviour.They are the cuckoo of football.
It seems Barcas handling of the Fabregas transfer seems to have overshadowed all of Reals tapping ups .
I applaud them for entertaining us and playing great football.

eagle eye

eZe^ wrote: »

I still think Barcelona have a better starting XI in almost every position, barring GK. I just meant that Madrid's squad is the biggest and best I can remember, they have two top quality players in every position, whereas Barca have some class bench players (Mascherano, Keita), but it's mainly youth and utility players (Maxwell, Adriano, Thiago), whereas Madrid will in a few weeks may have Kaka, Benzema, Diarra, and Albiol all on the bench.

They don't have a top class central defender and they don't have a top class left back. Pepe is way overrated, Carvalho even last season wasn't nearly as good as he has been in the past and Marcelo isn't nearly good enough.

If you swapped around the defenders tonight it would have been a totally different game. Madrid need to sort out that defense to have any chance. We all know that Perez doesn't like to spend big money or pay big wages to defenders so it will be interesting to see what happens in January.

Frisbee

Obviously Ramos desrved the red, no doubt about it.

But I love the way Puyol goes down like a bag of spanners when he pushes him, waits a few seconds, then jumps back up to join the fray as soon as he sees the ref giving Ramos the red card.

eZe^

bernardo mac

A triumph for Team Football

Raskolnikov

Raskolnikov

eagle eye wrote: »

If you swapped around the defenders tonight it would have been a totally different game. Madrid need to sort out that defense to have any chance.

All this talk about the Madrid defence is nonsense. As mediocre as the defence was, they were left completely exposed most of the time by Alonso, Khedira and latter Diarra. Does no one think that it was incredible that a team could play three defensive midfielders and still get completely overrun in the middle of the park? Also, the way Jose had the team set up was crazy. The defence played such a high line up the park they were wide open to the counter.

eZe^

I thought Pepe was Madrid's best player by far too. He made some great tackles on Messi in the box that denied certain goals. Didn't get recover the Bojan break too? Pepe and Carvalho are a CB partnership capable of winning trophies, they are just playing a team that are simply better.

Bodhisopha

"Mourinho created the blueprint to beat Barcelona". :pac:

That was as close to footballing perfection i have ever seen. Some of the passing in tight situations (it's not like Real didn't work hard to close them down) was immense. A case of a team - give or take a few - of world class players playing to the absolute best of their ability. There is not a team around today that would've stopped Barca tonight in that form. Obviously scorelines would vary but none would stop them. I have always hated the term "unplayable" but as a team, Barca were the nearest to that i have ever seen.

Bodhisopha

An unwelcome comment no doubt, but i loved the shows of petulance between the Spanish internationals tonight, i felt it highlighted the passion involved in the tie.

Galvasean

Not so special now eh? :pac:

JerryHandbag

Best performance I've ever seen. Found myself shaking my head in disbelief at the quality of Barca at times. Surely Mourinhos biggest defeat as manager of any team?

Bodhisopha

JerryHandbag wrote: »

Best performance I've ever seen. Found myself shaking my head in disbelief at the quality of Barca at times. Surely Mourinhos biggest defeat as manager of any team?

By two goals, yeah.

Bodhisopha

flahavaj wrote: »

"Barcelona are gonna kill them" - Eamonn Dunphy.

Comfortable Real win it is so.

"Well Eamonn, you're the la liga expert..." - Bill O'Herlihy.

3hn2givr7mx1sc

I have a very large dislike for Barcelona and Messi in particular, despite him being a great player. He just annoys me for no reason, think it's 'cos everyone seems to gon on like he's a saint when he's very fcuking far from it. Was pointed out in the thread when he dived, I think there was 3 posts referencing to it, and one of them was questioning the logic behind the lack of posts. If Ronaldo had have done that, there would have been at least a page of comments calling him petulant/a disgrace/cheat/diver etc. take your pick, I agree that he needs to cut the petulance from his game, but I haven't seen him utright dive in a number of years admittedly I haven't seen many of his game for Real, but in his latter years for United he rarely dived. Went down easily, yes, there's no doubt about that, but outright dived, no, I personally haven't seen any(I await the YouTube videos;)).

Anyway, Barca destroyed Real tonight, 9 out of the 11 players being homegrown is also very impressive, but I'm still dissappointed Real didn't win(I dislike them less than I do Barca:pac:).

Sir Gallagher

There seems to be a lot of united fans hatin' on Barca... interesting.

tolosenc

staker wrote: »

Still can't understand Messi's yellow though, the lad did fuck all.

He feigned being elbowed in the face. The rule book says that trying to deceive the ref is a booking. So many go unpunished in this day and age.

MisterAnarchy wrote: »

I really dont get this anti Barcelona attitude that seems to be creeping into these forums.
You'd think Real Madrid were saints.
9 of that Barca starting 11 came through the youth academy and they play nice passing flowing football the way it should be .
Ok they can be a bit overeager in their emotions and seeking of bookings but
Real Madrid have almost zero players brought through the youth setup,and they rely on poaching players from other clubs,often in underhanded and unprofessional behaviour.They are the cuckoo of football.
It seems Barcas handling of the Fabregas transfer seems to have overshadowed all of Reals tapping ups .
I applaud them for entertaining us and playing great football.

For me, it's a combination of the smug attitude they have, and the fact that they seem to be above criticism. "Ok they can be a bit overeager in their emotions and seeking of bookings" - at times it borders on bringing the game into disrepute, but of course, they have a good academy so they should be let away with it. Real do it and they're the villans. And the whole "Real just spend money whereas Barca bring players through the youth system" argument is a bit ridiculous. In a summer which saw Ronaldo move for £80m, Barca completed possibly the most ridiculous transfer in history in the Ibra deal. €40m for Villa, as well as just buying up talented players from all over when they're kids(Messi, Iniesta).

baz2009 wrote: »

I have a very large dislike for Barcelona and Messi in particular, despite him being a great player. He just annoys me for no reason, think it's 'cos everyone seems to gon on like he's a saint when he's very fcuking far from it. Was pointed out in the thread when he dived, I think there was 3 posts referencing to it, and one of them was questioning the logic behind the lack of posts. If Ronaldo had have done that, there would have been at least a page of comments calling him petulant/a disgrace/cheat/diver etc. take your pick, I agree that he needs to cut the petulance from his game, but I haven't seen him utright dive in a number of years admittedly I haven't seen many of his game for Real, but in his latter years for United he rarely dived. Went down easily, yes, there's no doubt about that, but outright dived, no, I personally haven't seen any(I await the YouTube videos;)).

Anyway, Barca destroyed Real tonight, 9 out of the 11 players being homegrown is also very impressive, but I'm still dissappointed Real didn't win(I dislike them less than I do Barca:pac:).

+1

Xavi6

Love this image -



More here.

grenache

I agree with the football perfection analysis, it was as close to it as is possible tonight. Why anyone could hate Barca though is beyond me - they bring through mostly their own players, dont accept sponsorship and are majority owned by the fans. Compared to Madrid and their "galacticos" they are a much more likeable team. Even Madrid's name, 'Royal Madrid' is enough to put me off them!

Mr Alan

Sir Gallagher wrote: »

There seems to be a lot of united fans hatin' on Barca... interesting.

Imo It's a combination of their old boy Ronaldo being at their biggest rivals and the fact that Utd like to think they are the top team in Europe, when in reality, they ain't fit to lace Barcas boots, and haven't been for quite some time.

I'd also imagine the sight of Pique in the centre of their defence must drive them mad, such a good player-gonna be the centre half of his generation imo, keeping Evans over him was sheer lunacy.

Basically I think it's jealousy.

Le King

Unbelievable stuff. Messi, Iniesta, Villa and Xavi were all sublime. One of the best performances I've seen. Ramos looked like a rabbit in headlights for the match. Real Madrid's best players were Pepe and Di Maria who can come out with some credit. Di Maria looked to be putting in a good shift, he tracked back well and wanted the ball, unlike Ronaldo, Xabi Alonso, Khedira, Diarra and Marcelo. Benzema was a bit isolated, so I feel a bit harsh criticizing the lad but he was very ineffective with what he got and never made any great movement.

Arbeloa and Ramos were a disgrace. Ever since Arbeloa got on all he done was try shove players over or knick at a guys feet. Mourinho made some shocking substitutions, bringing on a defensive midfielder with no clue on how to pass a ball on for a creative attacking player who was poor but it's better than having 7 players sitting in your own half, particularly when your 2-0 down.

Ronaldo looked completely uninterested, often shrugging his shoulders and shaking his head at his team mates when he wasn't doing a thing himself. He worked hard in the first half but his head went right under after Villa's first.

Watching Xavi playing with the ball is mesmerising. The way the guy can create space in just crazy. Villa's work rate was savage. The guy is real class, his runs were superb and he made Sergio Ramos and Carvalho look incredibly average. Messi was excellent too, along with Iniesta his passing was top notch. I thought he definitely deserved a goal with his shift today.

Well done Barca, I was in Madrid on Saturday and all I heard was how they were going to destroy you and how Barcelona are a "lucky" (lol, yes a guy said that to me) side. I don't particularly like Barcelona, but Madrid are such a toxic entity that I had to cheer for Barca tonight. Delighted for them, a special night for Barcelona's fans to remember. Real Madrid looked like boys against you. You won with a great brand of beautiful football. Football and Barcelona were the winners today. Thank god for that. For the first and last time I can proudly say Força Barca. Well done.

From an Anti-Madrista

Dolph Starbeam

baz2009 wrote: »

I have a very large dislike for Barcelona and Messi in particular, despite him being a great player. He just annoys me for no reason, think it's 'cos everyone seems to gon on like he's a saint when he's very fcuking far from it. Was pointed out in the thread when he dived, I think there was 3 posts referencing to it, and one of them was questioning the logic behind the lack of posts. If Ronaldo had have done that, there would have been at least a page of comments calling him petulant/a disgrace/cheat/diver etc. take your pick, I agree that he needs to cut the petulance from his game, but I haven't seen him utright dive in a number of years admittedly I haven't seen many of his game for Real, but in his latter years for United he rarely dived. Went down easily, yes, there's no doubt about that, but outright dived, no, I personally haven't seen any(I await the YouTube videos;)).

Anyway, Barca destroyed Real tonight, 9 out of the 11 players being homegrown is also very impressive, but I'm still dissappointed Real didn't win(I dislike them less than I do Barca:pac:).

I'm probably up there with the biggest Messi fans on here, i know he's not a saint, but he is one of the best players to ever play the game and i am greatful that we get the chance to watch him every week, getting booked for a dive when Carvalho raised his arm into face is very harsh, Carvalho was the lucky one not to see red, he definatley knew what he was doing. Again, i know he is no saint but he does try stay on his feet most of the time, look at most players in Spain, for Barca, Xavi, Iniesta any of them they all go to ground easily, not exactly diving but they just go down under a slight touch, there is a difference. You are wrong about Ronaldo too

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O2bX_lt91As

Thats one example from the last few weeks but he has been at it quiet a bit this season too. the reason there wasn't a page of people criticising Messi like they would do if it was Ronaldo is because most people know Messi does not do that every week.

Disgraceful stuff from Ramos at the end too, he had a poor game but then made a wild swipe for Messi, so wild he missed Messi and caught Lass iirc, then went and pushed Puyol and Pique in the face, meeting them at the next Spain training camp will be awkward.

DOC09UNAM

Mr Alan wrote: »

Imo It's a combination of their old boy Ronaldo being at their biggest rivals and the fact that Utd like to think they are the top team in Europe, when in reality, they ain't fit to lace Barcas boots, and haven't been for quite some time.

I'd also imagine the sight of Pique in the centre of their defence must drive them mad, such a good player-gonna be the centre half of his generation imo, keeping Evans over him was sheer lunacy.

Basically I think it's jealousy.

You'd know all about that Al, the auld jealousy thing, it must be an ever-present for all you ABU's

Dolph Starbeam

tolosenc wrote: »

And the whole "Real just spend money whereas Barca bring players through the youth system" argument is a bit ridiculous. In a summer which saw Ronaldo move for £80m, Barca completed possibly the most ridiculous transfer in history in the Ibra deal. €40m for Villa, as well as just buying up talented players from all over when they're kids(Messi, Iniesta).

Its not that ridiculous, as Sky pointed out before the game, of the 2 squads for the game, they said the ammount the players were bought for, Real Madrid's total was £390 million compared to Barca's £130 nillion, quiet a big difference. Also spotting someone like Messi or Iniesta when they are 13 or 14 and training them into the players they are today is not as easy as you make it sound.

Le King

Mr Alan wrote: »

Imo It's a combination of their old boy Ronaldo being at their biggest rivals and the fact that Utd like to think they are the top team in Europe, when in reality, they ain't fit to lace Barcas boots, and haven't been for quite some time.

I'd also imagine the sight of Pique in the centre of their defence must drive them mad, such a good player-gonna be the centre half of his generation imo, keeping Evans over him was sheer lunacy.

Basically I think it's jealousy.

Alex Ferguson made a clear mistake in letting Pique go. But at the time Evans looked the better prospect. Also in the Premier League especially when you play for Manchester United who play so high up at time, you have to have some pace. Pique was a very slow defender and when he played often got exposed from balls over the top or a player knocking the ball by him. Barca's back line sit back much more, they are just so good at keeping the ball it's a player like Pique's dream team. Pique, arguably suits Spanish football far better too. I don't think he would be the top defender he is today at Manchester United as he is at Barca.

As a United fan, I dislike both Barca and Madrid. But I hate Madrid more. I don't understand how a United fan could shout for Madrid in a match like this. I like to think, that at United, we are about the football. We we played Barca, we at least tried to have a go. We got slaughtered, but at least we tried, unlike Liverpool and Inter. Real Madrid tried to contain and attack. Mourinho will be murdered tomorrow for those tactics, its clearly showing huge defensive lunacy when you bring on a 3rd player to sit back in midfield when your 2-0 down. I support football, I don't care about Ronaldo or Pique. I hope they do well for themselves and all that but I support football. Bottom line, that's why I hoped Barca won tonight. Any neutral supporting Madrid is not a lover of football. Football won tonight. That's all I care about.

Were not the top team in Europe right now. I know that, so does any other United fan. Hindsight is easy Alan, making judgements on a player who wanted to go back to his home town club when we had a centre half who looked a bit better was a hard decision. It's easy for you to look back at that. Stop turning this into a United vs Liverpool thread. Some people want to talk about how class Barca were, not how strange or bitter or stupid or dumb or blind United fans are because the only one who is being delusional right now is you. You can't paint a fan base with the one brush.

Agree with me or not but I clearly am not "going mad". All I wanted to do was watch the team who play the most beautiful football, play football. I don't have an agenda here and I think I speak for most when I say football won. So let's not turn this into a cringe worthy United vs Liverpool debate and let's digest a masterful performance.

finbarrk

Well said le King. And I'm a Liverpool fan.

Muff_Daddy

MisterAnarchy wrote: »

I really dont get this anti Barcelona attitude that seems to be creeping into these forums.

Been thinking about this for a while. Barcelona are so fcuking good, and are really making a sh!te of other people's favorite teams and players at the moment. People hate Barcelona the same way people hate the handsome bloke who steals your girlfriend.

The huge wankfest people have over Barcelona is very annoying too, 'I'd have Messi's babies' and all that lark. Watching Barca play is fantastic. Hearing someone blabbering on to you about Barca for 15 minutes isn't.

Davaeo09

Honestly what's will all the hating guys?
We've just watched the most enthralling football spectacle in a long time and people are arguing about ****e! Its absolute lunacy!
Even if you do hate Barca, just look at how the scored those 5 goals! Sublime skill!
Relax, life is too short to be so negative about things that really don't matter THAT much at the end of the day.

Great to see Barca finally getting to silence Mouriniho. Can't see any team in the world being able to get any where near Barca this season. The team as a whole just functions so well. There's a real class and togetherness about the team, how can that not be admired?

Xavi, Iniesta, Messi and Villa are such a formidable force.. and with Pedro growing the way he is he will be right up there challenging for world player of the year and such.

3hn2givr7mx1sc

MOG7 wrote: »

.

Just can't bring myself to like Messi or Barca, they seem to have developed a superiority complex over the last few seasons.

Yeah, Jesus that was just plain embarrassing for Ronaldo.:pac:
I've seen Messi do it a lot, tbf, don't see Barca every week, but any time I do see them Messi does have a bit of a dive. Wouldn't give out about him in particular, there are plenty worse out there, Nani is an example close to home(happy now Al?;)), but for the thread that's in it he deserves to be shown up for it more than he has been.

So technically Messi dived to get Ramos sent off?:pac:
That was fcuking hilarious from Puyol there at the end as well, I'd feel de-masculinised(?) if another man pushed me that far.::P

bernardo mac

re.Ronaldo/Messi comparisons. Messi does not possess the obnoxious Ronaldo hubris.

Le King

baz2009 wrote: »

Just can't bring myself to like Messi or Barca, they seem to have developed a superiority complex over the last few seasons.

Yeah, Jesus that was just plain embarrassing for Ronaldo.:pac:
I've seen Messi do it a lot, tbf, don't see Barca every week, but any time I do see them Messi does have a bit of a dive. Wouldn't give out about him in particular, there are plenty worse out there, Nani is an example close to home(happy now Al?;)), but for the thread that's in it he deserves to be shown up for it more than he has been.

So technically Messi dived to get Ramos sent off?:pac:
That was fcuking hilarious from Puyol there at the end as well, I'd feel de-masculinised(?) if another man pushed me that far.::P

I have love for Messi because of his football, the only reason I slightly dislike Barca is Sergio Busquets cheating so really I don't mind Barca I just don't like Busquets. It's kind of like us when we had Ronaldo, a lot of people hated us anyway but when Ronaldo was rolling around we lost a bit of credit. But Messi is just an unbelievable football. The guy is so humble too, I can't really picture a day when I could ever hate him because he brings something special to the game. I often sit in awe watching the guy but I saw how humble he was in a couple of documentaries I'd find it near impossible to hate the guy.

I understand while people hate him though. But I couldn't bring myself to it. Also a lot of the game is gone this way now. Maybe I've just grown to accept the simulation nature that looms over the beautiful game nowadays.

Guys like Xavi, Iniesta, Villa, Pedro, Puyol, Pique, Valdez and Messi don't seem to look like they have a superiority complex about them. You don't show that much passion and pride when you think your already better than someone. If anything Mourinho and Ronaldo are more smug than anybody else. I don't hate either of them either too, I'm just making a point.

Barcelona feel like a family, Real Madrid look like co-workers. That's something I greatly admire about Barcelona and I don't think they are given enough credit for that.

Bodhisopha

When comparing Ronaldo and Messi as players i don't give a fúck about who play-acts the most. I judge them on their ability and things like Messi's second assist for Villa tonight.

But...... while we're on the subject, i cannot tell you the amount of times i have seen contact made on Messi while skipping past defenders in the box, throwing him off his stride for him to stay on his feet only to see the ball roll out wide or into the keepers arms. Messi is no angel (why should he be?) and the commentators are sickening sometimes in their insistence that he is, but he is nowhere near Ronaldo in that regard. Players like Rooney and Gerrard in particular are closer to Ronaldo in that respect.

Just the truth, as i see it.