Barcelona’s Penalty was soft as feck but so was Benfica’s.
That could have been a penalty to Benfica at the end.
But who cares, get in Raphinha.
That could have been a penalty to Benfica at the end.
But who cares, get in Raphinha.
Champions League 21/1/25 + 22/1/25
- Thread starter SilentWitness
- Start date
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In the latest episode of the United Hour Podcast, Nik (@Rood) and Imran (@Annihilate Now!) are here to discuss Amad saving our blushes in a win against Southampton as well as our now annual loss at home to Brighton. They discuss Amorim's post-match comments, revisit how mid-table we may or may not be, and discuss some transfer news.
They get those here all the time. Feck them.
Erm I'm hinting at Rashford
They surely won't let their rivals Dormund grab the best one available out there...
I agree it’s worth talking about, it was just never combined in that way until Messi and Ronaldo started to fade. The conspiracy theorist in me thinks it’s to make modern players compare to some of the previous greats that put up bigger goal numbers.
Benfica got Chelsea'd by Barca there. Considering how generous the ref was for Barca's penalty, the least he could have done was going to the monitor.
man you gotta love flickball if you like football...
it is always superfun to watch.
about the referee, he gave 2 extra soft penalties (one to Benfica, one to Barca), a 3rd one would be too much, especially in 97th and with a goal in the counter...
Benfica's penalty (3-1) was at the very least as generous as Yamal's one.
The only pen in the match was the 1st one (Lewa 1-1)
it is always superfun to watch.
about the referee, he gave 2 extra soft penalties (one to Benfica, one to Barca), a 3rd one would be too much, especially in 97th and with a goal in the counter...
Benfica's penalty (3-1) was at the very least as generous as Yamal's one.
The only pen in the match was the 1st one (Lewa 1-1)
both barca pens really. both very very soft. if you watch the benfica claim in normal time and angle, he just runs into the players back and its certainly more of a pen than barcas 2.
I've watched him his entire career. He was immensly talented early on but it's become clear that he isn't a top quality defender for some time. I'm not trying to say he's crap or anything, he's clearly a very good defender, but I don't think he's at the level for the biggest clubs in Europe that are looking to compete in the UCL. You could argue with what Bayern have no he's certainly not worse than them, just that Bayern should try to aim higher.
I would say compared to German defenders of the recent past, like Boateng and Hummels (before their injuries), he's a slight level below them.
Hard to believe Raphinha and Antony went in the same summer and Antony was £30m more.
Barcelona must be kicking themselves.
Barcelona must be kicking themselves.
What an insane game of football. What a game. Absolute batshit crazy. Feels like a game you'd have on the playground with one of the kids acting as a referee, too.
I haven't watched the first half but I'll take your word for it. This ref was suspect.
Diego Simeone is by far the most disgusting person in football (on-field) in the last 30 years.
There were fans on here who thought that Raphinha lost the ball too much, despite showing his quality for Leeds, and actually preferred Antony because he kept the ball more.
Morons.
Brugge got a creditable draw against Juventus, which I think was a better result for anyone hoping City will go out than a Brugge win. So they play away at City on the last game still needing a draw to prevent City overtaking them (if City don't win at PSG tonight). Whereas Brugge would've been guaranteed through had they won so wouldn't be going to City with quite the same motivation to get a result, and another City win would almost guarantee they would sneak through above one or more of poor Benfica (after last night 
), Stuttgart or (less likely) Sporting and Feyenoord.
(I think this still relies on City to lose tonight away at oil rivals PSG, as I think 2 draws would still be enough to scrape through at the expense of PSG or Stuttgart who play each other in the last game)
(Appreciate this post makes me small time but it's keeping the competition interesting for me... was rooting for a Brugge draw and Stuttgart / PSV / Benfica wins last night, alas Benfica threw it away it but at least it was entertaining)
), Stuttgart or (less likely) Sporting and Feyenoord.(I think this still relies on City to lose tonight away at oil rivals PSG, as I think 2 draws would still be enough to scrape through at the expense of PSG or Stuttgart who play each other in the last game)
(Appreciate this post makes me small time
but it's keeping the competition interesting for me... was rooting for a Brugge draw and Stuttgart / PSV / Benfica wins last night, alas Benfica threw it away it but at least it was entertaining)The group stage is 95% pointless, only 12 teams go out ? No jeopardy apart from a tiny portion of games.
On the other hand only 8 teams directly qualify for R16, which is what big clubs aim for. Failing to reach that can aleeady have consequences.
For example Dortmund dropped out of the top 8 yesterday and most likely will sack their manager today.
They wouldn't sack him if they were top of the Bundesliga, though. Real Madrid are currently 22nd and while Ancelotti's time at Madrid is probably coming to an end it won't be until the summer. Their measurement of CL performance will be judged in the knockout stage and not before. Luis Enrique at PSG might be under pressure if they fail to qualify for the knockout stages entirely - but should he qualify and then proceed to win it they couldn't care less if it was close in the group stages.
If they deemed that the touch on Yamal was a pen, they definitely should have given a pen for Benfica during the last action
Terrible refereeing
There’s as much jeopardy as the previous version if not more. We now have Game Week 6 with zero dead rubbers and we will go into Game Week 8 with very few (if any) dead rubbers.
Getting into the Top 8 avoids extra fixtures, which is very advantageous. Finishing 9th-16th can mean very difficult draws. Finishing top 2 leads to favourable draws in terms of playing home second.
I’m not saying people should love it, but the old format had fewer big games in group stages and saw big teams stroll through. Tonight we have PSG and Man City fighting for their place in the competition - that’s jeopardy that simply never happened before at this point.
Plus, the same number of teams go out as before. 16 go out, not 12. They just get a playoff this season.
Boateng and Hummels were both top 5 CBs in their prime, a slight level below them is still more than good enough for any club in the world, IMO. And even they were always good for a blunder here and there. Tah made his first mistake in literally 1.5 seasons. The last time he looked a bit off was against West Ham in the EL when Antonio bullied him with his strength advantage, something that Tah isn't used to. That aside, he's been our most reliant player under Alonso, even more so than Xhaka, Grimaldo and Wirtz. And it makes sense because Tah, even prior to Alonso's arrival, started taking therapy and also lost a few pounds of muscle mass to make him more agile. Last season, it made him a monster defensively and great at transitional moments but lacked a bit in the build up department but this season, he has really improved in that regard as well. He created the situation that lead to the red card against Neuer in the cup with a fantastic long ball and also created the first penalty against Freiburg with another one. And those were only the situations in which something countable came off it, he has worked on his passing. At this point, I think he finally has fulfilled his potential. Better late than never. Whoever gets him will have made a terrific value for money transfer and I honestly think it was incredibly stupid from Bayern to let the transfer fail in the summer because of a few millions. He would be their best CB, hands down.
I like this format a lot. I still think 8 matchdays might be a bit much (I think the ECL does it better with still only 6 despite using the same league format), but overall I think it's more exiting and overall there is more jeopardy.
Before you needed to be in the top half to qualify directly for R16. Now it's the top quarter.
Before only the bottom quarter exited completely, another quarter of teams was allowed to ruin the EL competition. Now the bottom third exits.
Before a surprise team only really could put pressure on one (maybe two) top team, now it puts pressure on all of them for the top 8 finish.
And on top I think it's more interesting due to more different matches, playing 8 teams instead of 3 just creates much more exciting pairings.
So far no team from outside the big 5 has secured qualification…
The way Benfica got rebbed yesterday whe understand why.
Györkeres is a cheat code.
Gyökeres, proper CF play there
Everyone watching PSG vs City? Looks like the standout tie.
I'm not looking forward to this...
Living in a house full of Arsenal fans, I’m stuck watching them vs Zagreb.
How come Zinchenko starts over Calafiori?
Nostalgic colours in the Arsenal game. Expecting a Ji Sung Park counter attack
Rice puts Arsenal ahead. 1-0.
Good thinking by our fans. Throw so many fireworks that the ref cancels the match.
On tnt the games that they don't show on the main channels are normally put on the red button. But that's not the case tonight, seems they're on discovery+ which I don't have set up (don't even know if I have it).
So if I want to watch one of the other matches do I need to get discovery+ set up?
So if I want to watch one of the other matches do I need to get discovery+ set up?
The latter seems to be a bit of a crock, so they're being careful I think.
Expect Barcola to cook the City RB
A bit foggy in Rotterdam.
Just in these first few minutes City look a million times fresher, sharper, quicker, more intense, etc than they did just a couple of weeks back.