Real Madrid (1) v (2) Juventus, 7.45, UCL SF

CSF

luckyboy wrote: »

That's not wholly fair on Bale. Ronaldo hasn't helped him with all the gestures and the implication that Bale should have played him in in those games mid-season. Remember at the end of last season, Bale was by far the more decisive player in the various finals and Ronaldo was reduced to knocking in penalties and stripping off (basically embarrassing himself)

Is anything not Ronaldo's fault these days?

Bale has been poor, when he is paid far too much to be allowed be poor. Bale was good last season, but not amazing. About what you'd expect from a player in a new team in a new league. This season he has been poor by any decent standard.

tastyt

Whatever about the forward players not doing the business they still created a lot of chances and scored two over the two games.

Don't understand how Ramos, varane and carvajal aren't getting abuse. Stupid penalty given away in Turin and a ridiculous free tonight on a player facing the sideline going nowhere. And they all very poor tonight. Only Marcello from the back four played well.

Varanes reputation has definitely taken a hit over the past couple of months

RobertKK

https://twitter.com/UberFootbalI/status/598596766875971584

pmy.murphy

Wrongway1985 wrote: »

So would I a great and a class act at the Euros in 2012 got my respect when he stuck around clapped and acknowledged the Irish support who had outnumbered the Italians on the night.

Hope Juventus finish it off, great to see such a famous club back where they belong and hopefully it will give Italian football the boost it needs after the decline of the two Milan clubs. And as for Buffon and Pirlo what can you say, 2 Legends, Hope I get to see them lifting that famous trophy one last time to cap off their legendary careers especially Buffon, he deserves a CL medal in his collection. Two of the greats without a doubt

CSF

Fudge You wrote: »

Do you honestly think Bale played worse than Ronaldo tonight?

Bale is getting hammered because of the attention his gets from all angles, fans, media, teammates. The price tag was too much for anyone. And he is paying the price for it, hanging over his head.
The goals in the champions league final n copa del rey final, bumped him up people's opinions last season. He has been good this year. Was anyone saying your comments when Madrid were winning 24ish games in a row? NO is the answer.

But now he is "disgraceful".
Are you on the wind up or something??

I think he was the worse of the 2 yeah. Ronaldo had a quieter game but worked his ass off throughout.

Bale has not been good all season. He has been a gigantic letdown after an encouraging first year. Have Ronaldo's standards dropped in 2015? Absolutely, but that doesn't excuse Bale being so bad. At least when Ronaldo does play bad, he usually still pops up with a goal.

GreNoLi

Can't see it happening unfortunately.

Fudge You

CSF wrote: »

Is anything not Ronaldo's fault these days?

Bale has been poor, when he is paid far too much to be allowed be poor. Bale was good last season, but not amazing. About what you'd expect from a player in a new team in a new league. This season he has been poor by any decent standard.

All Im hearing from you is that it is Bale's fault and no one else. Was Ramos, Benzema, James, Isco, Ronaldo good tonight??? But Bale's name seems to be the first on the list.
Why dont you do some analysis of the last 6-10 weeks please and tell us its still all Bale's fault

luckyboy

CSF wrote: »

Is anything not Ronaldo's fault these days?

Bale has been poor, when he is paid far too much to be allowed be poor. Bale was good last season, but not amazing. About what you'd expect from a player in a new team in a new league. This season he has been poor by any decent standard.

Why does Ronaldo score so many goals? In my view, it is because he is a driven egotist who plays in good teams and because he possesses a great physique which gives him perhaps the broadest range of ways to score a goal out of any player I have ever seen. He is also playing in an era of stricter refereeing and a more constructive interpretation of the offside law.

The combination of these factors enable him to score goals in industrial quantities. As a footballer though, he is nothing special in my view and he looks like a malign influence on his teammates to me ...

Fudge You

RobertKK wrote: »

https://twitter.com/UberFootbalI/status/598596766875971584

But Hazard didnt cost 100euro. So Bale is a disgrace.

cj maxx

Really didnt rate pogba tonight, ( 1st half anyway) . Glimpes of style but is he a more accomplised player than what i saw ?

CSF

Fudge You wrote: »

All Im hearing from you is that it is Bale's fault and no one else. Was Ramos, Benzema, James, Isco, Ronaldo good tonight??? But Bale's name seems to be the first on the list.
Why dont you do some analysis of the last 6-10 weeks please and tell us its still all Bale's fault

I actually said the same about Isco. I don't know why you're ignoring that. I thought James and Ronaldo were less bad than those 2 myself.

jacool

cjmc wrote: »

Really didnt rate pogba tonight, ( 1st half anyway) . Glimpes of style but is he a more accomplised player than what i saw ?

He is.
That was only his third game in 3 months. Assisted on the goal too.

Mars Bar

cjmc wrote: »

Really didnt rate pogba tonight, ( 1st half anyway) . Glimpes of style but is he a more accomplised player than what i saw ?

He's just back from injury and isn't match fit

CSF

luckyboy wrote: »

Why does Ronaldo score so many goals? In my view, it is because he is a driven egotist who plays in good teams and because he possesses a great physique which gives him perhaps the broadest range of ways to score a goal out of any player I have ever seen. He is also playing in an era of stricter refereeing and a more constructive interpretation of the offside law.

The combination of these factors enable him to score goals in industrial quantities. As a footballer though, he is nothing special in my view and he looks like a malign influence on his teammates to me ...

Well you're entitled to that opinion, as bizarre as it is.

Given that it's so easy I'm surprised it's not been done more frequently, but personally I expect that when Messi and Ronaldo retire, stats will become much less freakish, and records will cease to be broken weekly. There's already a thread for Messi vs Ronaldo though so let's not do that here.

dastardly00

'Disgrace' is the most inappropriately and inaccurately used word in this forum.












It's a disgrace tbh.

Fudge You

CSF wrote: »

I actually said the same about Isco. I don't know why you're ignoring that. I thought James and Ronaldo were less bad than those 2 myself.

I ignored Isco, because you had to say Bale is disgraceful this season!!!! Madness...

Why did you ignore Ramos and Benzema? they were not good tonight either.

Ronaldo worked hard tonight, but Bale didnt??? Youre crazy.

Is anything not Bale's fault the last two months???

klose

cjmc wrote: »

Really didnt rate pogba tonight, ( 1st half anyway) . Glimpes of style but is he a more accomplised player than what i saw ?

Hes only back from missing 12? games? Not the finished article by any means and can be a streaky player.

super_furry

Sadlier playing a blinder against Dunphy here.

ricero

Ritchie vs eamo epic

Headshot

tis a disgrace Joe

callaway92

German League weak...

Spanish League....WEAK!!

ahhhhhh!!!!!

klose

Haha dunphy blubbering some ****e, love it.

CSF

Fudge You wrote: »

I ignored Isco, because you had to say Bale is disgraceful this season!!!! Madness...

Why did you ignore Ramos and Benzema? they were not good tonight either.

Ronaldo worked hard tonight, but Bale didnt??? Youre crazy.

Is anything not Bale's fault the last two months???

Benzema not fit I don't think. Ramos was poor for the goal but has generally been a class act. The Bale criticism stretches back about 9 months now. I don't think he'd get away with the quality of his performances in the eyes of the English and Irish at any other club than Real where's it's just assumed on a whim that it's the club and not the player.

He's been really average. You couldn't level that criticism at Ramos, Benzema Ronaldo or even Isco so their performances tonight attract less attention.

You were probably sitting at home Ritchie

Dempsey

Sadlier is fighting two idiots

ArmaniJeanss

Sadlier banging his head off a brick ball here.
Dunply resorting to a baffling 'we were talking about this back when you were watching at home hence we are right' tactic.

cj maxx

I didnt know pogba had been out with injury . But having heard great things about him i was a bit 'meh'.
Coming bad from an injury / not match fit wxplains alot . Thanks

Headshot

It is true thou that the imbalance in Spain and Germany is dreadful.

Bayern will always win the league going forward.

adox

Great news about De Geas contract being until 2017 at Utd. :pac:

superfurry1

Dunpho: They won 6-0 you would never see that in English league.
Saddlier: Happened last weekend

brianregan09

Can we all agree that real madrid as a team were **** lets not single out anyone

luckyboy

CSF wrote: »

Well you're entitled to that opinion, as bizarre as it is.

Given that it's so easy I'm surprised it's not been done more frequently, but personally I expect that when Messi and Ronaldo retire, stats will become much less freakish, and records will cease to be broken weekly. There's already a thread for Messi vs Ronaldo though so let's not do that here.

I didn't say it was easy. You'd need to have the skills, mentality, physique, good teammates etc to get within an asses roar of what he and Messi are doing goals-wise. Reliably scoring a goal a game for 300-odd games is an incredible achievement, and I just listed out the factors that enable Ronaldo - in my view - to achieve that. As a player and a leader, I'd personally rather Raul in his prime. He'd only get .5 or so goals per game, but he wouldn't be monopolising all the set-pieces, shooting from ridiculous angles in open play, begrudging teammates tap-ins, scoring a pointless 5th goal when you are beating Almeria 4-0 as it is, and he wouldn't have been hiding in a game like tonight ...

Arsenal went backwards after signing Ian Wright (40 goals a season) back in the day. His tally was achieved at the expense of Alan Smith, Kevin Campbell etc who used to score much more often pre-Wright. Big selfish stars can emasculate their teammates and I suspect Ronaldo does this ...

adox

Cringeworthy interview with Bale on RTE.

CSF

luckyboy wrote: »

I didn't say it was easy. You'd need to have the skills, mentality, physique, good teammates etc to get within an asses roar of what he and Messi are doing goals-wise. Reliably scoring a goal a game for 300-odd games is an incredible achievement, and I just listed out the factors that enable Ronaldo - in my view - to achieve that. As a player and a leader, I'd personally rather Raul in his prime. He'd only get .5 or so goals per game, but he wouldn't be monopolising all the set-pieces, shooting from ridiculous angles in open play, begrudging teammates tap-ins, scoring a pointless 5th goal when you are beating Almeria 4-0 as it is, and he wouldn't have been hiding in a game like tonight ...

Arsenal went backwards after signing Ian Wright (40 goals a season) back in the day. His tally was achieved at the expense of Alan Smith, Kevin Campbell etc who used to score much more often pre-Wright. Big selfish stars can emasculate their teammates and I suspect Ronaldo does this ...

I've heard he kidnaps stray animals and runs his own extermination from his mansion garage too.

Did you honestly just criticise Ronaldo for scoring a pointless 5th goal? What?

CSF

adox wrote: »

Cringeworthy interview with Bale on RTE.

What was said? Missed it.

The_Kew_Tour

Delighted for Juve!!

For the year that's in it many a football fan will hope they win it now.

superfurry1

adox wrote: »

Cringeworthy interview with Bale on RTE.

Really dislike Tony o Donohue now horrible questions

adox

CSF wrote: »

What was said? Missed it.

You missed loads of chances. What will the fans think? Do you think you will see out your contract? That sort of stuff.

Uncomfortable to watch.

Pro. F

Forget about the pressure; forget about Ronaldo sulking; the fans being idiots and forget about the price tag - I thought Bale played well tonight. He got on the ball a lot, and he got into great positions and got decent shots away time and again. It didn't go in for him tonight, but these things happen. On another night he would have scored one or two.

Now consider all the things I said to forget about. Most players' games would suffer with those distractions, but Bale is still playing very well in spite of it all. He's a special player.

luckyboy

CSF wrote: »

I've heard he kidnaps stray animals and runs his own extermination from his mansion garage too.

Did you honestly just criticise Ronaldo for scoring a pointless 5th goal? What?

It's that desire to always get on the scoresheet no matter what that underpins his freakishly high seasonal tallies. You are aware that pre-Ronaldo, the big Spanish teams would customarily rest their stars in the early rounds of the Copa Del Rey etc. They'd also take off key players to rest them when a game was clearly won. Not now though, and Ronaldo has driven that change. He insists on playing 90 minutes of every game, which can be counter productive.

Ronaldo has actually been playing through a chronic ankle injury for the best part of a year now and simply will not stop. His single mindedness and obsessive nature is not good for him in the long run, huge goal tallies or not ...

Barr

So glad its not an all Spanish final again ... right team got through in the end.

Shanotheslayer

luckyboy wrote: »

Ronaldo has actually been playing through a chronic ankle injury for the best part of a year now and simply will not stop. His single mindedness and obsessive nature is not good for him in the long run, huge goal tallies or not ...

And he's been winning nearly every game for them... Injured? Some man.

CSF

luckyboy wrote: »

It's that desire to always get on the scoresheet no matter what that underpins his freakishly high seasonal tallies. You are aware that pre-Ronaldo, the big Spanish teams would customarily rest their stars in the early rounds of the Copa Del Rey etc. They'd also take off key players to rest them when a game was clearly won. Not now though, and Ronaldo has driven that change. He insists on playing 90 minutes of every game, which can be counter productive.

Ronaldo has actually been playing through a chronic ankle injury for the best part of a year now and simply will not stop. His single mindedness and obsessive nature is not good for him in the long run, huge goal tallies or not ...

His obsessive nature is what made him the footballer and the athlete that he is. He was never blessed with what Messi was naturally. He has become what he is due to that attitude. It's mostly a good thing. Not always (the Arbeloa thing was shocking), but mostly. Real would be nuts to try and stifle the drive within him that makes him the phenomenon that he is.

eagle eye

Real are simply trying to pack in too many attacking players into a team. Looking at that team tonight they had Kroos, Rodriguez, Isco and Bale who are all attack minded midifielders and then Ronaldo and Benzema on top of that.

They need somebody who can sit behind those players. Modric was a huge loss too but he alone is not going to sort out the problem. I thought they played very well tonight given the glaring holes in that team.

They need to get rid of Bale as the fans despise him and I don't think you can expect Kroos and Rodriguez to work in the same side as they both want to do the same job. Kroos can and has been playing deeper but they would be as well off with a solid box to box midfielder or a defensive one than playing him that deep because you are losing out on so much of his ability when you play him there.

Anyways I'm delighted for Juve and for Pogba, Vidal, Pirlo, Buffon and Tevez especially. They have the midfield to take control of any game I think. It's going to be very difficult to stop Barca but I hope they find a way to.

Turtwig

That was so cruel interviewing Bale. The guy was even holding back tears for feck sakes.

Also, WHAT THE ACTUAL FCK RTE? Were Real Madrid playing Real Madrid or something?

luckyboy

CSF wrote: »

His obsessive nature is what made him the footballer and the athlete that he is. He was never blessed with what Messi was naturally. He has become what he is due to that attitude. It's mostly a good thing. Not always (the Arbeloa thing was shocking), but mostly. Real would be nuts to try and stifle the drive within him that makes him the phenomenon that he is.

Agreed. Ronaldo couldn't do what he does and score with such incredible regularity without being who he is, warts and all. But I do think that emasculates Bale. Benzema is such an unselfish foil for both. Bit like your Lineker/Beardsley or Owen/Heskey partnerships. One guy will end up getting most of the goals but the other guy will be laying them on. In my view, having already got Ronaldo, Real Madrid didn't need and should never have bought Bale. Perez is so blind like that. His galactico policy of 2000-5 ultimately failed (in my opinion) because he kept buying players for his front six and eventually emasculated the Figos of the team ....

CSF

luckyboy wrote: »

Agreed. Ronaldo couldn't do what he does and score with such incredible regularity without being who he is, warts and all. But I do think that emasculates Bale. Benzema is such an unselfish foil for both. Bit like your Lineker/Beardsley or Owen/Heskey partnerships. One guy will end up getting most of the goals but the other guy will be laying them on. In my view, having already got Ronaldo, Real Madrid didn't need and should never have bought Bale. Perez is so blind like that. His galactico policy of 2000-5 ultimately failed (in my opinion) because he kept buying players for his front six and eventually emasculated the Figos of the team ....

It's upto Bale to leave his own stamp on the team IMO. Benzema certainly has.

luckyboy

CSF wrote: »

It's upto Bale to leave his own stamp on the team IMO. Benzema certainly has.

But Ronaldo should try to facilitate that process, rather than be marking his territory. The Barca front three dovetail so much better because there isn't that competitive jealousy between them ...

fryup

niallo27 wrote: »

Classico final is the dream final for me. Two great attacking sides that have no fear of each other. What more could you want. Bit of play acting won't spoil it.

but it does,

delighted Juve got through

Alfred Borden