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Post by therock67 on Apr 18, 2006 10:21:59 GMT
Should be a cracking game this evening - but I can't see anything other than a Barca win. I was at the Milan derby on Friday night and the standard was really poor. Figo gave Maldini a roasting for the first 20 minutes but then Inter stopped giving him the ball. Adriano was cutting the Milan defence to pieces as well so with Ronaldinho, Eto'o and Larsson I can see Barca giving them a torrid time.
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Post by bandage on Apr 18, 2006 10:36:15 GMT
Think Larsson got injured while you were away and is out for the season. I know there was a piece on the Barca website where he was more or less saying his farewells to the fans and how it was a pleasure to play for their team. Not sure if Messi's going to be back though? Would definitely expect Barca to come through - their pace and movement should be too much for Milan who have many veterans.
The other game is interesting. After beating Real Madrid and Juve many people think this is a gimme for Arsenal. Think it will be a very tight ecounter over both legs myself. Villareal are sticky customers and will defend stoutly and aggressively. Juve might have underestimated Arsenal at Highbury and were then unable to retrieve the situation in Turin. Villareal will be well keyed in for this though. I'm tentatively going for Arsenal in this one.
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Post by lyonsee on Apr 18, 2006 11:06:54 GMT
I'll go for Villareal. Am I right in saying Fabregas is a doubt? If so they will struggle in the middle of the park as neither Gilberto nor Diaby can really 'pick a pass'. Riquelme is a genius - looking fwd to watching Argentina in the World Cup because of him and because I've barely seen Messi play.
If Arsenal go out and don't make 4th spot in the league I expect Henry to leave for Barca. While I'd love to see him and Ronaldinho link up I'd miss seeing him week in week out in the Premiership. Think I'd have to invest in Sky Sports. Sorry for going off on a bit of a tangent (x2).
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Post by cully on Apr 18, 2006 14:48:30 GMT
can't see milan having the midfield nor the defence for barca, seeing as i hate inzaghi and his ridiculously over the top goal celebrations i'd love to see barca pish on them.
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Post by bandage on Apr 19, 2006 8:27:10 GMT
Actually thought Milan played alright overall - had the better of the first half and even though Barca stepped it up in the second had Gilardino taken that gilt edged chance they could have had a draw. I find it funny the way the commentators expect Ronaldinho to either score or create a goal every time he's on the ball. The guy on ITV was giving it 'If you were disappointed with him for the first 55 mns then you're not alone because so was I - but just look at him now' etc etc. Even against Chelsea in London he was relatively quiet and then produced 20 mins that nobody could have lived with. Similar in the return leg against them when he scored right on cue again. As the second half wore on you could see Barca growing in confidence and they were moving the ball around slickly enough. I'd expect them to just have too much possession at home and given their ability they should come through without alarm. Remember they were missing Deco, Messi, Larsson last night too so a pretty impressive result.
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Post by cully on Apr 19, 2006 9:56:15 GMT
where's the gunners on tonight. reckon that'll be a good fight. am i right in saying that villareal will be the more aggressive of the sides left, the arsenal wont really fancy that. that fella sorin is a tough nut and they've a bit of class in riquelme - how barca let him go is beyond me, he basically played one poor season for them and they offloaded him in the tackle like o'driscoll will on sunday.
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Post by lyonsee on Apr 19, 2006 9:59:37 GMT
TBQH I didn't think Ronaldinho was that impressive after the 55 minute mark. His pass to set-up Giuly was good but I think there's many a player that could have played the same pass. Thought Dida should have come and smothered it anyway.
The game as a whole was okay. Milan look like a spent force to me. If you're looking to come back into a game, bringing on two ageing full backs and replacing your defensive midfielder with another is not the answer. The only player they had on the bench that could change the game was Rui Costa and he's pretty much past it too.
Pirlo seems to be gone off the boil too.
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eamo
Ger Loughnane
Posts: 331
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Post by eamo on Apr 20, 2006 9:07:55 GMT
It is actually shocking how Milan are still in this tournament. They went one nil down on Tuesday and who did they bring on? Maldini, Cafu and Ambrosini. I saw Gilardino against Ireland and thought that he looked like a good player. But he is muck. Inzaghi is incredibly underrated and was the reason that they got past Lyon.
Barcelona aren't a great team either. Sure they have Ronaldinho but fcuk all else. Eto'o is overrated for me. Messi will probably miss the rest of the tournament and maybe the World Cup, so I have not included him. For me he is a breath of fresh air.
I said that I thought that Arsenal would be knocked out by Villareal. I cant see that happeniong now though as the Spaniards didnt get an away goal which as we all know counts double!
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Post by therock67 on Apr 20, 2006 13:33:49 GMT
It is actually shocking how Milan are still in this tournament. They went one nil down on Tuesday and who did they bring on? Maldini, Cafu and Ambrosini. I saw Gilardino against Ireland and thought that he looked like a good player. But he is muck. Inzaghi is incredibly underrated and was the reason that they got past Lyon. Barcelona aren't a great team either. Sure they have Ronaldinho but fcuk all else. Eto'o is overrated for me. Messi will probably miss the rest of the tournament and maybe the World Cup, so I have not included him. For me he is a breath of fresh air. I said that I thought that Arsenal would be knocked out by Villareal. I cant see that happeniong now though as the Spaniards didnt get an away goal which as we all know counts double! As I haven't tired of mentioning I was at the Milan derby on Friday night and Christ they were two awful teams. Inter started fairly well and Figo was destroying Maldini with Adriano running Kalhadze and Nesta all over the shop. Once Milan's midfield got on top the game ceased to be a specacle and Milan eventually ground out the win. I was shocked at the standard on show however. I agree that a one nil home win is a much better result than "common wisdom" would accept. In fact I'd be happy with nil all at home in most European two-legged games. |
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