They're playing in a bubble-ish setup in Lisbon. Great games so far. PSG finally coming back to beat Atalanta was an epic story, especially considering that Bergamo was Covid-central a few months ago and Atalanta has always been considered a provincial type team. But Neyman and Mbappe et al were just too much at the very end. Great game. And today RB Leipzig won thanks to a goal by an American, Tyler Adams - albeit a deflection and a bit of luck but still. There are great extended highlight YouTubes every evening thanks to CBS.
Enjoying this as a bit of a respite after a lack of sports for so long. Thanks to CBS for putting good extended highlight videos for free on YouTube every night.
Mbappe is such a talent. Everything changed when he subbed on. Atalanta’s right side collapsed dealing with his speed and power.
Marquee match up today in terms of name power. Bayern deserve the attention and likely have the best squad in the tournament. Barca is a shell of its former self and will need Messi to perform miracles to advance.
I have some friends who are pretty avid Red Bulls fans ... I'll have to check and see what they think of him ...
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He's from the Hudson Valley area (Wappingers Falls) and came up through the New York Red Bulls youth system.
I have some friends who are pretty avid Red Bulls fans ... I'll have to check and see what they think of him ...
I'm sure they are very proud of him. Adams and former manager Jesse Marsch earned "promotions" to the bigger Red Bull-owned clubs. Both were at RB Leipzig, where Marsch was an assistant coach, but he was later moved to RB Salzburg to be manager.
Hi, Tony! Yup, quite the thrashing.
I watched the game today (in Spanish) and just now put together who Alphonso Davies is - yes, he's very good. Fun to watch, too.
I predicted 3-1 Bayern and now would've loved that result. Bayern exposed the rotted roots of Barca and now the building of the post-Messi era can begin. Messi should leave this summer if he hopes to win the CL trophy once more.
Barca offered up a lower table La Liga/Segunda B side against Bayern. The positioning of players like Semedo, Roberto, Busquets, Pique, Lenglet, and Alba were amateurish. They had no answer for the pressing. Bayern understood how to cut off the passing lanes. Not only were the clearances poor, but they were directed at an attacking mid/forward with no Barca player within five yards, and Bayern made them pay.
The current board will be a lame duck for a year.
Setien and Abidal will be fired.
Rakitic, Vidal, Coutinho (brace v. Barca), Suarez, etc. will be sold pennies on the Euro.
The next coach will be a one-year lame duck coach with a new board a year away from stamping their legacy on the club.
And yet next year, the board will still try to build a squad around 33-year old Messi. Best case scenario is Messi will hand transfer papers into Barca tomorrow and enjoy a three-year window with Man City while Barca use the funds for squad rebuilding during the Xavi era in a year.
Barca deserves blame across the organization.
The board from the incompetent board shelling out hundreds of millions post-Neymar for overrated talent or ones not fitting the scheme AND failing to sack coaches after monumental CL collapses. These idiots also waged a misinformation war against their own players within the press.
Despite the hundreds of millions invested in new players, Barca could not land a manager with the tactical ability to wade the squad through two huge leads in the CL quarters and semis over the past three years.
The players...old, rich, unmotivated, and unwilling to listen to any coach not the second coming of Pep. For the past two years, reports have published of the players having too much control and not putting in the necessary practice to compete with the Bayerns of Europe or now the Madrids/Sevillas/Atleticos of Spain.
Hope this is rock bottom, and the fan base inject an enthusiasm which prompts change within the board and the players.
I miss the days of Puyol, Eto'o, Keita, Pedro, Mascherano, etc. doing the dirty work and complimenting the stars.
Lyon v. Bayern on Weds.