And the Semis pairings guarantee that the Finals won't look like what many were likely predicting a month ago. Saleh looks like an accidental tourist at this affair, almost befuddled after his crucial goal on Tuesday
Have to think about how this affects Real Madrid's odds of winning Â
Re James Rodriguez, I caught Munich's demolition of Borussia Dortmund a couple of weeks ago and he was playing brilliant soccer. Heynckes has him playing a straight midfield position with an offensive tendency and it looks like it's resuscitated James' career. (Which is nice - seems like a worthwhile young man. Easy to root for.) I predict James is going to be a fixture in that midfield for a long, long time.
Liverpool have a legit shot at winning the entire thing. They are better than Roma and stand a much better chance scoring multiple times on the away leg than Roma do at Anfield, which could be the difference. And in a one game final they could beat Bayern or Madrid.
Either way who would have guessed last autumn that either Liverpool or Roma would be in the Champions League Final.
Don't you jinx us!!! Bayern gave us a lot of trouble last year and now they have James. It's far from a sure thing. Granted the refs did all they can to help Bayern, but with our defense no win is a guarantee.
@AdamJosephSport: Champions League QF to Final Goals, last 7 seasons:
30 - Cristiano Ronaldo.
10 - Robert Lewandowski.
9 - Thomas Müller.
8 - Neymar.
7 - Mario Mandzukic.
6 - Arjen Robben, Luis Suarez.
5 - Karim Benzema, Sergio Ramos, Antoine Griezmann, Leo Messi.
This is absolutely absurd to me. You put the top 3 together and they don't equal Ronaldo. I remember a friend arguing with me that Ronaldo is shit in big games. Don't think that's true.
@AdamJosephSport: Champions League QF to Final Goals, last 7 seasons:
30 - Cristiano Ronaldo.
10 - Robert Lewandowski.
9 - Thomas Müller.
8 - Neymar.
7 - Mario Mandzukic.
6 - Arjen Robben, Luis Suarez.
5 - Karim Benzema, Sergio Ramos, Antoine Griezmann, Leo Messi.
This is absolutely absurd to me. You put the top 3 together and they don't equal Ronaldo. I remember a friend arguing with me that Ronaldo is shit in big games. Don't think that's true.
@AdamJosephSport: Champions League QF to Final Goals, last 7 seasons:
30 - Cristiano Ronaldo.
10 - Robert Lewandowski.
9 - Thomas Müller.
8 - Neymar.
7 - Mario Mandzukic.
6 - Arjen Robben, Luis Suarez.
5 - Karim Benzema, Sergio Ramos, Antoine Griezmann, Leo Messi.
This is absolutely absurd to me. You put the top 3 together and they don't equal Ronaldo. I remember a friend arguing with me that Ronaldo is shit in big games. Don't think that's true.
That list is the essence of fake information.
Benzema has been awful this year. Dreadful.
The value of Benzema is no longer about goals. He does all the dirty work that frees up Ronaldo. He'll go to France or Germany and the goals will re-appear.
Real Madrid have played the most games of any teams in the last few season in the Champions League Knockout stages.
Ronaldo has been unstoppable is Champions League the last few seasons. Can’t take anything away from him.
Fake information? Not sure how it's fake information. It's the past 7 years. Benzema has indeed been an awful goal scorer for the last few years. Messi has been equally as terrible in big games. How he has the same amount of goals as Benzema is beyond me.
When you look how hard it is for a guy like Messi to score in the knockout stages of the UCL you have to see how incredible Ronaldo's goal scoring in the UCL is. It's just ridiculous. The guy has basically won them 3 UCL's by himself.
Messi has played in 21 quarterfinals, semifinals and finals. He's scored 5 goals.
Ronaldo has played in 31 quarterfinals, semifinals and finals. He's scored 30 goals.
This isn't a knock on Messi as I know it's extremely hard to score against teams like Bayern, Atletico, Manchester City, PSG, Juventus etc etc. So when you look at it like that it's just absurd that he's averaging almost a goal a game. Without Ronaldo we don't win the 10th, 11th or 12th Champions League trophy and we'd have been eliminated by Juventus this year so no shot at our 13th UCL trophy.
I'm too young to ever see Puskas, Di Stefano, Pele, Maradona, Cruyff, Ronaldo, Zizou etc etc
What a time to be a football fan. We are literally witnessing two aliens throughout the primes of their career. Their goal scoring numbers are just insane.
Ronaldo is 33 and people were saying he's having a terrible year. He's played 38 games in all competitions and has 41 goals. Messi (47 games), Salah (44 games), Ciro Immobile (42 games) are tied for 2nd with 39 goals. Pretty good for a guy having a down year.
Really wish we had a Striker who could score goals. I feel Ronaldo's numbers would be even higher. As of right now defenses only really have to worry about the threat of Ronaldo scoring.
Opponents are worrying about everything else, and Ronaldo is finishing the chances. He creates nothing. If you don't believe me, look at the heat maps. No one works less than Ronaldo in the Champions League.
Opponents have to worry about everyone but Cristiano. Look at the heat maps. I believe he's run less than every other player in the UCL.
Real Madrid has a better and deeper roster than every other team in the world. The other guys create, Ronaldo is there to finish. To his credit, he's great at finishing. But I suspect that if you replaced him with Dzeko or Costa we'd still be getting ready for a Real-Bayern semifinal. Ronaldo creates almost nothing and takes way more shots than anyone else.
If you're ranking Real players in order of importance, there are several names in front of Cristiano.
Real Madrid have played the most games of any teams in the last few season in the Champions League Knockout stages.
Ronaldo has been unstoppable is Champions League the last few seasons. Can’t take anything away from him.
I never mentioned CR7. I mentioned Benzema specifically who has indeed had a horrible campaign. I’ve watched nearly every Madrid game this year and Benzema has been a shadow of his former self. He looks like he’s been trying to kick a bowling ball into the net. His confidence has been shot, although he has shown a few signs recently...
He's been bad for a lot longer then this year. He does other things well that we need to win, but his goal scoring has been bad for a few years now. Zizou loves him, but you can't win a league when your Striker can't score.
He's been bad for a lot longer then this year. He does other things well that we need to win, but his goal scoring has been bad for a few years now. Zizou loves him, but you can't win a league when your Striker can't score.
Right - Benzema has been trending down. Yet, Zindane is very fond of him. It has to be the french connection because it's not performance.
On the other end, he doesn't appear to be fond of Isco, which is beyond irritating and confusing. I just don't get that. There are two Blancos who would always be on the pitch for me - Isco and Marcelo.
Either way who would have guessed last autumn that either Liverpool or Roma would be in the Champions League Final.
Don't you jinx us!!! Bayern gave us a lot of trouble last year and now they have James. It's far from a sure thing. Granted the refs did all they can to help Bayern, but with our defense no win is a guarantee.
30 - Cristiano Ronaldo.
10 - Robert Lewandowski.
9 - Thomas Müller.
8 - Neymar.
7 - Mario Mandzukic.
6 - Arjen Robben, Luis Suarez.
5 - Karim Benzema, Sergio Ramos, Antoine Griezmann, Leo Messi.
This is absolutely absurd to me. You put the top 3 together and they don't equal Ronaldo. I remember a friend arguing with me that Ronaldo is shit in big games. Don't think that's true.
Quote:
@AdamJosephSport: Champions League QF to Final Goals, last 7 seasons:
30 - Cristiano Ronaldo.
10 - Robert Lewandowski.
9 - Thomas Müller.
8 - Neymar.
7 - Mario Mandzukic.
6 - Arjen Robben, Luis Suarez.
5 - Karim Benzema, Sergio Ramos, Antoine Griezmann, Leo Messi.
This is absolutely absurd to me. You put the top 3 together and they don't equal Ronaldo. I remember a friend arguing with me that Ronaldo is shit in big games. Don't think that's true.
That list is the essence of fake information.
Benzema has been awful this year. Dreadful.
That list is the essence of fake information.
Benzema has been awful this year. Dreadful.
Real Madrid have played the most games of any teams in the last few season in the Champions League Knockout stages.
Ronaldo has been unstoppable is Champions League the last few seasons. Can’t take anything away from him.
Quote:
Quote:
@AdamJosephSport: Champions League QF to Final Goals, last 7 seasons:
30 - Cristiano Ronaldo.
10 - Robert Lewandowski.
9 - Thomas Müller.
8 - Neymar.
7 - Mario Mandzukic.
6 - Arjen Robben, Luis Suarez.
5 - Karim Benzema, Sergio Ramos, Antoine Griezmann, Leo Messi.
This is absolutely absurd to me. You put the top 3 together and they don't equal Ronaldo. I remember a friend arguing with me that Ronaldo is shit in big games. Don't think that's true.
That list is the essence of fake information.
Benzema has been awful this year. Dreadful.
The value of Benzema is no longer about goals. He does all the dirty work that frees up Ronaldo. He'll go to France or Germany and the goals will re-appear.
Quote:
That list is the essence of fake information.
Benzema has been awful this year. Dreadful.
Real Madrid have played the most games of any teams in the last few season in the Champions League Knockout stages.
Ronaldo has been unstoppable is Champions League the last few seasons. Can’t take anything away from him.
Fake information? Not sure how it's fake information. It's the past 7 years. Benzema has indeed been an awful goal scorer for the last few years. Messi has been equally as terrible in big games. How he has the same amount of goals as Benzema is beyond me.
When you look how hard it is for a guy like Messi to score in the knockout stages of the UCL you have to see how incredible Ronaldo's goal scoring in the UCL is. It's just ridiculous. The guy has basically won them 3 UCL's by himself.
Ronaldo has played in 31 quarterfinals, semifinals and finals. He's scored 30 goals.
This isn't a knock on Messi as I know it's extremely hard to score against teams like Bayern, Atletico, Manchester City, PSG, Juventus etc etc. So when you look at it like that it's just absurd that he's averaging almost a goal a game. Without Ronaldo we don't win the 10th, 11th or 12th Champions League trophy and we'd have been eliminated by Juventus this year so no shot at our 13th UCL trophy.
I'm too young to ever see Puskas, Di Stefano, Pele, Maradona, Cruyff, Ronaldo, Zizou etc etc
What a time to be a football fan. We are literally witnessing two aliens throughout the primes of their career. Their goal scoring numbers are just insane.
Ronaldo is 33 and people were saying he's having a terrible year. He's played 38 games in all competitions and has 41 goals. Messi (47 games), Salah (44 games), Ciro Immobile (42 games) are tied for 2nd with 39 goals. Pretty good for a guy having a down year.
Really wish we had a Striker who could score goals. I feel Ronaldo's numbers would be even higher. As of right now defenses only really have to worry about the threat of Ronaldo scoring.
Real Madrid has a better and deeper roster than every other team in the world. The other guys create, Ronaldo is there to finish. To his credit, he's great at finishing. But I suspect that if you replaced him with Dzeko or Costa we'd still be getting ready for a Real-Bayern semifinal. Ronaldo creates almost nothing and takes way more shots than anyone else.
If you're ranking Real players in order of importance, there are several names in front of Cristiano.
Real Madrid have played the most games of any teams in the last few season in the Champions League Knockout stages.
Ronaldo has been unstoppable is Champions League the last few seasons. Can’t take anything away from him.
I never mentioned CR7. I mentioned Benzema specifically who has indeed had a horrible campaign. I’ve watched nearly every Madrid game this year and Benzema has been a shadow of his former self. He looks like he’s been trying to kick a bowling ball into the net. His confidence has been shot, although he has shown a few signs recently...
Right - Benzema has been trending down. Yet, Zindane is very fond of him. It has to be the french connection because it's not performance.
On the other end, he doesn't appear to be fond of Isco, which is beyond irritating and confusing. I just don't get that. There are two Blancos who would always be on the pitch for me - Isco and Marcelo.