2017/18 UEFA Champions League

NIMAN

The Golden Miller wrote: »

Im comparing a prevalent siege mentality, not ethos, of a certain section of the fans in the two clubs.

Nor did I said Madrid cheated. Soft draws 2 years on the bounce, and officials stepping in for them v Bayern, as they did for much of the domestic season last year. How much "healthy debt" do you reckon they are in these days?

How much debt are most of the worlds top clubs in?

Why are you picking on one team to vent your anger on?

Why do you hate them so much? When did it start, when you were 10, 20, 30?

Have you a tendency to like Barca over them? Do you like Celtic? Do you call them Royal Madrid the odd time? Do you think Franco is still watching them from his grave?
You sound like some of the people I know and work with, who hate a foreign football club for what I can see is very little reason.

I wouldn't mind if they had a history of boring football but Madrid are great entertainers, something that is very rare in the modern football world. I have never seen them play for a 0-0 draw, never. That is something amazing in the modern game.

irishman86

Bret Hart wrote: »

They've not won a away game in the competition this year. Liverpool will have the job completed after the 1st leg,just as they did in the two previous rounds.

Just like Barca
Jesus christ buddy are you that stupid or just taking the piss

irishman86

The guy that tipped Ronaldo not to score is offering tips :pac:
Please people dont use his tips, he has never got one right #BetAware

irishman86

NIMAN wrote: »

How much debt are most of the worlds top clubs in?

Why are you picking on one team to vent your anger on?

Why do you hate them so much? When did it start, when you were 10, 20, 30?

Have you a tendency to like Barca over them? Do you like Celtic? Do you call them Royal Madrid the odd time? Do you think Franco is still watching them from his grave?
You sound like some of the people I know and work with, who hate a foreign football club for what I can see is very little reason.

I wouldn't mind if they had a history of boring football but Madrid are great entertainers, something that is very rare in the modern football world. I have never seen them play for a 0-0 draw, never. That is something amazing in the modern game.

There is no way hes 20 and commenting like this buddy, think smaller
*Please let me be right in this case as otherwise its just sad
**I miss AIG at least he was funny

KingdomYid

Will have to root out my Roma shirt for those two games. Hopefully an Italian team in the final.

NIMAN

People were cheering on Juve and extolling all their virtues the other night, forgetting that they had league titles taken off them for bribing and cheating their way to them.
Far more serious than Real Madrid have ever done.

Proper cheating, not just getting the odd dodgy decision from a ref, which in reality, if you study most teams games, you could argue every top team gets occasionally.

But hey, why let that get in the way of your irrational hatred.

The Golden Miller

NIMAN wrote: »

How much debt are most of the worlds top clubs in?

Why are you picking on one team to vent your anger on?

Why do you hate them so much? When did it start, when you were 10, 20, 30?

Have you a tendency to like Barca over them? Do you like Celtic? Do you call them Royal Madrid the odd time? Do you think Franco is still watching them from his grave?
You sound like some of the people I know and work with, who hate a foreign football club for what I can see is very little reason.

I wouldn't mind if they had a history of boring football but Madrid are great entertainers, something that is very rare in the modern football world. I have never seen them play for a 0-0 draw, never. That is something amazing in the modern game.

I don't think it's uncommon not to like Madrid. Infact I'd say Barca are a far more popular club in Ireland in general. Unlike the other big clubs, Madrids success has been directly built by the Spanish tax payer, which is why they've always been the biggest, richest and most successful of all the big clubs. I also don't think it's uncommon to not like a club who still has a colonial hangover siege mentality throughout a large section of their fanbase. In fact, another poster who actually goes to Spain just pointed that out too.

The Golden Miller

irishman86 wrote: »

The guy that tipped Ronaldo not to score is offering tips :pac:
Please people dont use his tips, he has never got one right #BetAware

Apart from calling the whole tournament last year, aye? You should also go through my posting history, I only said two weeks ago Liverpool would stuff City on the break

mickmackey1

NIMAN wrote: »

People were cheering on Juve and extolling all their virtues the other night, forgetting that they had league titles taken off them for bribing and cheating their way to them.
Far more serious than Real Madrid have ever done.

Proper cheating, not just getting the odd dodgy decision from a ref, which in reality, if you study most teams games, you could argue every top team gets occasionally.

But hey, why let that get in the way of your irrational hatred.

Take no notice of Golden Troller, he was causing problems in the tennis thread until we got shot of him.

NIMAN

The Golden Miller wrote: »

I don't think it's uncommon not to like Madrid. Infact I'd say Barca are a far more popular club in Ireland in general. Unlike the other big clubs, Madrids success has been directly built by the Spanish tax payer, which is why they've always been the biggest, richest and most successful of all the big clubs. I also don't think it's uncommon to not like a club who still has a colonial hangover siege mentality throughout a large section of their fanbase. In fact, another poster who actually goes to Spain just pointed that out too.

Thats what I alluded to earlier, that Irish people seem to feel the need to support Barca, as we are meant to be a rebellious people, left leaning, hug a Palestinian etc.

Many are and for that reason prefer Barca, thinking of them as some sort of spirit of good against the mighty Madrid club, funded by Government (I'd love to see all the proof of this by the way, I've never seen it other than the city buying Madrids old training ground from them years ago, which was prime city centre land and very valuable), Franco helped them win all their leagues and early ECs, blah, blah, blah.

Now you can of course choose to believe all this if you want. I myself have never felt the love for Barca. I do enjoy watching them play the game as they tend to do it well, but by God they know how to dive, cheat, intimidate refs, and get dodgy decisions like the best of them. A club that also seems to be able to find whatever money they need to buy the top players as well, but of course when Madrid do it, they got the money in a shady manner, Barca didn't.

Its quite obvious you have your mind made up. I try to look at foreign clubs from a neutral standpoint. I can see many, and indeed EPL clubs, that have flaws, dodgy fans, crooked pasts, corruption, cheating etc at their core. But hey, if you want to think one club has the monopoly on all this, no-one will convince you otherwise.

Enjoy the semi's.

irishman86

KingdomYid wrote: »

Will have to root out my Roma shirt for those two games. Hopefully an Italian team in the final.

Bought the special edition Totti one while in Rome
The perfect opp to be a plastic fan and fish it out :cool:

irishman86

mickmackey1 wrote: »

Take no notice of Golden Troller, he was causing problems in the tennis thread until we got shot of him.

Rafa Nadal ?
Theres a tennis thread:eek:

ERG89

mickmackey1 wrote:

Take no notice of Golden Troller, he was causing problems in the tennis thread until we got shot of him.

Serves him right.
Ugh that pun is a 48 hour ban minimum

spiralism

NIMAN wrote: »

Thats what I alluded to earlier, that Irish people seem to feel the need to support Barca, as we are meant to be a rebellious people, left leaning, hug a Palestinian etc.

Many are and for that reason prefer Barca, thinking of them as some sort of spirit of good against the mighty Madrid club, funded by Government (I'd love to see all the proof of this by the way, I've never seen it other than the city buying Madrids old training ground from them years ago, which was prime city centre land and very valuable), Franco helped them win all their leagues and early ECs, blah, blah, blah.

Now you can of course choose to believe all this if you want. I myself have never felt the love for Barca. I do enjoy watching them play the game as they tend to do it well, but by God they know how to dive, cheat, intimidate refs, and get dodgy decisions like the best of them. A club that also seems to be able to find whatever money they need to buy the top players as well, but of course when Madrid do it, they got the money in a shady manner, Barca didn't.

Its quite obvious you have your mind made up. I try to look at foreign clubs from a neutral standpoint. I can see many, and indeed EPL clubs, that have flaws, dodgy fans, crooked pasts, corruption, cheating etc at their core. But hey, if you want to think one club has the monopoly on all this, no-one will convince you otherwise.

Enjoy the semi's.

Personally i think both of them are a shower of *****. Barca used to be a good bit more likeable in the days of sponsorless jerseys and when they were more of a plucky underdog to the Madrid machine, but now they're just as bad as each other.

No time for either of them, id rather see Atletico win the title over either of them any day.

Harry Palmr

Both the Spanish giants are loathsome for different reasons, Barca are not more than a club and their Unicef **** is stomach churning, Real Madrid will always be Franco's team and that's that really.

Meanwhile what's it like to be a Man Utd supporter with the prospect of both City winning the league at a (stumbling) canter and Liverpool winning a 6th Big Ears?

keith_sixteen

Hector Savage wrote: »

Pity about AndersonIsGod , I didn't agree with him but liked his posts for the entertainment value at least ...

I'd tend to agree. People often had a problem with the style he posted in but few, if any could argue with the substance of his posts. Says a lot.

Harry Palmr wrote: »

Both the Spanish giants are loathsome for different reasons, Barca are not more than a club and their Unicef **** is stomach churning, Real Madrid will always be Franco's team and that's that really.

Yes, stomach churning that Barca would give all that money to charity. And Real, Franco's team? Easy to find reasons to loathe other teams. Liverpool's closet certainly aint skeleton free in that regard.

Harry Palmr wrote: »

Meanwhile what's it like to be a Man Utd supporter with the prospect of both City winning the league at a (stumbling) canter and Liverpool winning a 6th Big Ears?

Wow, name already on the trophy?

Harry Palmr

keith_sixteen wrote: »

I'd tend to agree. People often had a problem with the style he posted in but few, if any could argue with the substance of his posts. Says a lot.



Yes, stomach churning that Barca would give all that money to charity. And Real, Franco's team? Easy to find reasons to loathe other teams. Liverpool's closet certainly aint skeleton free in that regard.



Wow, name already on the trophy?

I said prospect, nothing more.

Billy86

Skylinehead wrote: »

When Jupp Heynckes wasn't in charge....and I do think Real are weaker this year. Just look at Wednesday.

Oh yeah, it's absolutely far from a given in either direction and should be a fairly cracking tie. If Ramos had got a further ban going off last night, it may well have even been looking rather bleak for Madrid. What Heynckes has done in his two stints at Bayern has been fantastic, and I much prefer the style they play under him than Guardiola (nothing against Pep there, I just really love how Heynckes sets them up).

irishguitarlad

Harry Palmr wrote: »

Both the Spanish giants are loathsome for different reasons, Barca are not more than a club and their Unicef **** is stomach churning, Real Madrid will always be Franco's team and that's that really.

Meanwhile what's it like to be a Man Utd supporter with the prospect of both City winning the league at a (stumbling) canter and Liverpool winning a 6th Big Ears?

Yeah and now they're Mariano Rajoy's favorite team, doing lots of dodgy dealings with Pérez. I would love to see Atlético win the spanish league again, when you think about It what they did was incredible. The amount of decisiones that Barca and Madrid get in their favor is crazy. Also when you see the economic gap between them and barca and Madrid, It was very impressive.

Mr.Nice Guy

Was this stat posted? It's amazing.

https://twitter.com/AdamJosephSport/status/984687142508019712

irishman86

Mr.Nice Guy wrote: »

Was this stat posted? It's amazing.

https://twitter.com/AdamJosephSport/status/984687142508019712

But he never does it in the big games

Berserker

Really looking forward to the Real v Bayern tie. I fancy Bayern in that one. If Real manage to get through, I fully expect them to pull a massive performance out of the bag in the final and win another CL.

Plenty of people, including the bookies, seem to think that Liverpool will win this easily but i'm not so sure. The pressure is on them for the first time in the tournament and they must win the first leg, in my opinion. Roma have been exceptional at home in the CL, keeping clean sheets against the likes of Barca, Shaktar, Chelsea & Atletico. They are well capable of turn Liverpool over at home.

Mr.Nice Guy wrote: »

Was this stat posted? It's amazing.

https://twitter.com/AdamJosephSport/status/984687142508019712

He is an incredible footballer. Don't care what anyone says, the PL doesn't have a footballer that can match him. He produces the goods year in, year out, at the very highest level.

Berserker

Berserker wrote: »

Really looking forward to the Real v Bayern tie. I fancy Bayern in that one. If Real manage to get through, I fully expect them to pull a massive performance out of the bag in the final and win another CL.

Plenty of people, including the bookies, seem to think that Liverpool will win this easily but i'm not so sure. The pressure is on them for the first time in the tournament and they must win the first leg, in my opinion. Roma have been exceptional at home in the CL, keeping clean sheets against the likes of Barca, Shaktar, Chelsea & Atletico. They are well capable of turn Liverpool over at home.

Liverpool are still only third favorites and given the 2 favorites are playing each other in the semis I dont think the bookies are over estimating thier chances

Berserker

Deleted User wrote: »

Liverpool are still only third favorites and given the 2 favorites are playing each other in the semis I dont think the bookies are over estimating thier chances

I am talking about the semi final ties. They are 7/12 and Roma are 53/10 on the betting site I am looking at.

Fromvert

Is the Bundesliga particularly awful this year and are Bayern actually a team to fear? Outside of Bayern the other German teams have stunk up Europe. The seven qualifiers for Europe are below, where they finished last year, where they are now and how Europe went for them.


1st (1st) - Bayern - In the semis.
2nd (6th) - Red Bull - Finished behind Porto and Besiktas (lost 5-0 and 8-1 to Liverpool and Bayern in the last 16) which doesn't scream finishing behind quality. Went out to Marseille in the quarter finals of EL.
3rd (3rd) -Dortmund - 2 pts in their group against APOEL! Get dumped out by RB Salzburg in the last 16 of EL.
4th (7th) Hoffenheim - Knocked out by Liverpool in the CL qualifiers, come bottom of their group in the EL.
5th (18th) - Koln - Third in their EL group and out
6th (11th) - Hertha - Bottom their EL group and out
7th (15th) - Freiburg - Knocked out in EL by Domzale in qualifying (had to google them, they're Slovenian)

Bayern finished behind PSG and ahead of Celtic and Anderlecht, beat Besiktas and Sevilla in the knockout stages. They're running away with the Bundesliga (the teams they're beating seem to be terrible when compared to their European counterparts). I think Real roll them.

AidoEirE

Something i never got is why city sold dzeko, always thought he was a solid top man up front. Never paided much attention after he left city, always thought he was dangerous in the PL

Can anyone enlighten me on that transfer window as i didnt follow it yet heard he was gone the following season?

Berserker

AidoEirE wrote: »

Something i never got is why city sold dzeko, always thought he was a solid top man up front. Never paided much attention after he left city, always thought he was dangerous in the PL

Can anyone enlighten me on that transfer window as i didnt follow it yet heard he was gone the following season?

He wanted first team football and city couldn't give him that.

niallo27

My dislike for Real Madrid comes from the wankathon that occurs every time Ronaldo scores, which is quiet often. The quote "He never does it in big games" has been used sarcastically 196 times in the last 3 campaigns on this thread. We get it, he does score in the big games.

AidoEirE

Berserker wrote: »

He wanted first team football and city couldn't give him that.

Against aguero that time it would be hard. Though he was quality enough though. Good to see him still banging them in. Aleays thought he was quality from what i seen

AidoEirE

niallo27 wrote: »

My dislike for Real Madrid comes from the wankathon that occurs every time Ronaldo scores, which is quiet often. The quote "He never does it in big games" has been used sarcastically 196 times in the last 3 campaigns on this thread. We get it, he does score in the big games.

So your dislike for Real is the fact its Ronaldos scoring record but the people that over exaggerate it....sounds more like a people problemo

niallo27

AidoEirE wrote: »

So your dislike for Real is the fact its Ronaldos scoring record but the people that over exaggerate it....sounds more like a people problemo

Perhaps perhaps.

PhlegmyMoses

AidoEirE wrote: »

So your dislike for Real is the fact its Ronaldos scoring record but the people that over exaggerate it....sounds more like a people problemo

If you know Niallo, it likely stems from the fact that Ronaldo was once a United player. It's normally simple to find a root cause with him.

AidoEirE

niallo27 wrote: »

Perhaps perhaps.

His record speaks for itself and is phenomanal for CL. Just because results dont go peoples way shouldnt hold that against him. Can be a arsehole yes but on the pitch he deliverers and focuses on scoring, why you always see him pissed off when an attack or scoring oppurtunity goes aray, not because he thinks he can do better but for the fact it was an oppurtunity

This is the icon of that madrid team and takes all the heat of the fans even if the rest of the team plays garbage, he gets it.

My problem is with the Real fans, expect the best ALL the time and wont take anything less.

All the rivery we have in england espically utd vs pool,
If you somehow had a combined utd/pool 11 vs a real madrid side and had statdiun full capacity the english side would be bouncing.

English fans may give out about their club players on a platform like this but never game day, otherhand Real, they will do it game for 90 mins.

Politics amd football dont mix

irishman86

niallo27 wrote: »

My dislike for Real Madrid comes from the wankathon that occurs every time Ronaldo scores, which is quiet often. The quote "He never does it in big games" has been used sarcastically 196 times in the last 3 campaigns on this thread. We get it, he does score in the big games.

I think thats aimed more at one poster than anything else

Turtwig

I think fans of various clubs are being overly generalised here. Only a small proportion of real Madrid fans behave like twats. Same with any club really.

mightyreds

niallo27 wrote: »

My dislike for Real Madrid comes from the wankathon that occurs every time Ronaldo scores, which is quiet often. The quote "He never does it in big games" has been used sarcastically 196 times in the last 3 campaigns on this thread. We get it, he does score in the big games.

You forgot to mention the constant diving and barging into players then going down holding their face ,the pressure they put on the ref to give cards at every opportunity

irishman86

mightyreds wrote: »

You forgot to mention the constant diving and barging into players then going down holding their face ,the pressure they put on the ref to give cards at every opportunity

Have you ever watched Stevie G play cause thats who you are describing

KERSPLAT!

irishman86 wrote: »

Have you ever watched Stevie G play cause thats who you are describing

It describes about half of all professional footballers.

mightyreds

irishman86 wrote: »

Have you ever watched Stevie G play cause thats who you are describing

:D sure it is!

KERSPLAT! wrote: »

It describes about half of all professional footballers.

It is but Madrid were at it all over the field the other night it was cringy, but got them the win all the same

NIMAN

mightyreds wrote: »

:D sure it is!



It is but Madrid were at it all over the field the other night it was cringy, but got them the win all the same

Waterford were at it at the Brandywell last night !!

Every team does it too much, get over it.

fyfe79

Berserker wrote: »

Plenty of people, including the bookies, seem to think that Liverpool will win this easily but i'm not so sure. The pressure is on them for the first time in the tournament and they must win the first leg, in my opinion. Roma have been exceptional at home in the CL, keeping clean sheets against the likes of Barca, Shaktar, Chelsea & Atletico. They are well capable of turn Liverpool over at home.

I don't think this is necessarily the case - they were favourites to top their group, and recovered after a fairly poor start to do just that (under increasing pressure). They were favourites against Porto and that ended up a walkover. The only time they weren't favourites was against Man City and saw the tie through comfortably enough. Yes, they'll be favourites against Roma, and the stakes are higher obviously than previous rounds, but it's something they should be used to by now.

niallo27

irishman86 wrote: »

I think thats aimed more at one poster than anything else

No no your not the only one, there are loads of you that do it in fairness.

mightyreds

NIMAN wrote: »

Waterford were at it at the Brandywell last night !!

Every team does it too much, get over it.

What are you on about, "get over it" I was just saying I didn't like Madrid doing it the other night ,you know giving my opinion what the site is for

Has zero got to do with you so don't know what your getting huffy about

gimli2112

I thought Golden Miller was unfairly criticised. If it's something from earlier fair enough but you're entitled to hate any club for any reason if you want. TBH the RM being sponsored by a bankrupt and at one time fascist government is as good a reason as any.
My brother hates Liverpool because I wouldn't let him support them when he was a kid. Yeah, I was the dick there. He supports Utd now so it worked out for him.

NIMAN

mightyreds wrote: »

What are you on about, "get over it" I was just saying I didn't like Madrid doing it the other night ,you know giving my opinion what the site is for

Has zero got to do with you so don't know what your getting huffy about

It wasn't aimed at you, but all those who think only certain teams contain diving and cheating footballers.

I just happened to quote your post cos you mentioned Madrid players diving.But it was more the point I was quoting, irrespective of the person. Apologies.

btw, you didn't like Madrid doing it, what about the antics of the Juve players? Acceptable?

The Golden Miller

NIMAN wrote: »

Thats what I alluded to earlier, that Irish people seem to feel the need to support Barca, as we are meant to be a rebellious people, left leaning, hug a Palestinian etc.

Many are and for that reason prefer Barca, thinking of them as some sort of spirit of good against the mighty Madrid club, funded by Government (I'd love to see all the proof of this by the way, I've never seen it other than the city buying Madrids old training ground from them years ago, which was prime city centre land and very valuable), Franco helped them win all their leagues and early ECs, blah, blah, blah.

Now you can of course choose to believe all this if you want. I myself have never felt the love for Barca. I do enjoy watching them play the game as they tend to do it well, but by God they know how to dive, cheat, intimidate refs, and get dodgy decisions like the best of them. A club that also seems to be able to find whatever money they need to buy the top players as well, but of course when Madrid do it, they got the money in a shady manner, Barca didn't.

Its quite obvious you have your mind made up. I try to look at foreign clubs from a neutral standpoint. I can see many, and indeed EPL clubs, that have flaws, dodgy fans, crooked pasts, corruption, cheating etc at their core. But hey, if you want to think one club has the monopoly on all this, no-one will convince you otherwise.

Enjoy the semi's.

I do believe most clubs have their bad side, but none to the same level as Madrid in certain area's. A prevalent imperialist siege mentality, which cannot be tangibly measured of course, so you can retort with the "all teams have bad fans" soundbite. I don't like clubs with a large fanbase that believe they are superior humans. The same mob out lining the streets to cheer on "the lads" (the army) who were off to crack some old ladies head apart in Catalonia. And I don't believe any other club was funded by the countries taxpayer, at least not to the same extent, as Madrid

Now you can keep saying all teams have their bad side so why criticise Madrid; I'm criticising them because they are specifically one of the last 4 teams left, so the topic directly relates to them, plus I believe they are one of the worst culprits.

The Golden Miller

gimli2112 wrote: »

I thought Golden Miller was unfairly criticised. If it's something from earlier fair enough but you're entitled to hate any club for any reason if you want. TBH the RM being sponsored by a bankrupt and at one time fascist government is as good a reason as any.
My brother hates Liverpool because I wouldn't let him support them when he was a kid. Yeah, I was the dick there. He supports Utd now so it worked out for him.

Sure look, I'm a wum according to some :rolleyes:

mightyreds

NIMAN wrote: »

It wasn't aimed at you, but all those who think only certain teams contain diving and cheating footballers.

I just happened to quote your post cos you mentioned Madrid players diving.But it was more the point I was quoting, irrespective of the person. Apologies.

btw, you didn't like Madrid doing it, what about the antics of the Juve players? Acceptable?

No problems that's fair enough , I didn't notice it now as much with juve but the end was a disgrace i thought was a stonewall penalty and the players was terrible after it

beya2009

Just can't bank on favorites lol Not so long ago City were just a pathetic 10/1 to do the quadruple and since PSG were paired with Real Madrid, Man City have been favorites for UCL. Things can change very quickly in football that's for sure lol

eagle eye

The Golden Miller wrote: »

I do believe most clubs have their bad side, but none to the same level as Madrid in certain area's. A prevalent imperialist siege mentality, which cannot be tangibly measured of course, so you can retort with the "all teams have bad fans" soundbite. I don't like clubs with a large fanbase that believe they are superior humans. The same mob out lining the streets to cheer on "the lads" (the army) who were off to crack some old ladies head apart in Catalonia. And I don't believe any other club was funded by the countries taxpayer, at least not to the same extent, as Madrid

Now you can keep saying all teams have their bad side so why criticise Madrid; I'm criticising them because they are specifically one of the last 4 teams left, so the topic directly relates to them, plus I believe they are one of the worst culprits.

So this is your new way to hate Ronaldo is it?