Champions League Final

[steamboatsam]

Poor game overall, ruined by Lehman's red card although it was thoroughly justified. Ref should have allowed the goal.....i think both teams and neutral fans would have preferred if the goal had stood and Lehman stayed on.

Pathetic sour grapes from Henry at the end complaining about the ref......trying to deflect attention from the fact that once again he failed to produce on the biggest stage, missing a couple of sitters. Ronaldinho poor aswell but Barca don't rely on him as much as Arsenal do on Henry, as last night proved.

Blatant dive from Eboue the little cnut.....Arsenal can have no complaints.

Larsson with a fantastic cameo.....thought Eto'o was impressive aswell......was never totally convinced about him previously but he produced last night

[eamo]

steamboatsam said:

Poor game overall, ruined by Lehman's red card although it was thoroughly justified. Ref should have allowed the goal.....i think both teams and neutral fans would have preferred if the goal had stood and Lehman stayed on.

Pathetic sour grapes from Henry at the end complaining about the ref......trying to deflect attention from the fact that once again he failed to produce on the biggest stage, missing a couple of sitters. Ronaldinho poor aswell but Barca don't rely on him as much as Arsenal do on Henry, as last night proved.

Blatant dive from Eboue the little cnut.....Arsenal can have no complaints.

Larsson with a fantastic cameo.....thought Eto'o was impressive aswell......was never totally convinced about him previously but he produced last night

You got it spot on there Steamer. Henry actually drew attention to Ronaldinho and Eto'o and asked where were they? It was almost as if he knew he hadnt performed well but try to deflect it from himself by asking where were Barca's two stars. For me Eto'o was by far the best player on the pitch over the 90 minutes. I was never totally impressed by him either but he really did produce last night.

Wenger was quite bitter as well. Surprise surprise. 'It is frustrating losing a game in the manner we lost it - the referee was very poor'. He was very poor. He was Norwegian. But he wasnt the reason they lost. He denied Barca a goal and gifted Arsenal a goal.

A word on Larsson. I think that there are some people that think I dont rate the guy or something. Larsson is a tremendous footballer. He gave a masterclass last night. His ball for Eto'o's goal was inspired. He also carries himself impeccably off the pitch.

Also a word about Sky. Sportsline interviewed Luther Blissett last night and he said that Arsenal should be very proud of their performance and that they will go all the way next year. Also Henry's interviewer listened to his rant about the ref and followed up with - 'so you are clearly annoyed about the referee's perofrmance?' Cue Henry to rant again and cover up the sitters that he missed.

Fair play to Liam Brady on RTE who is usually very biased when it comes to Arsenal. He said that Arsenal could have no complaints and that the best team in the competition overall won.

So here's to Arsenal - how dare they think that they can win the European Cup....

[therock67]

Didn't see the fecking thing live and had guessed the result from a text I got so it's hard for me to comment ont he quality of the game.

What I would say is:

- I don't generally agree with people who claim the game was ruined as a spectacle because of a sending off. If the sending off is justified (in this case unquestionably so) then the game changes as a result. That's the sport. Lehman deliberately took him down so he's to blame for the match, not the referee.

- There was an argument to be made for both sending Lehman off and allowing the goal to stand.

- Agreed on the sour grapes. Arsenal are still moaning this morning and in reality it was a case of giving Barcelona a goal start or losing a man. Barcelona would have won either way.

- Henry missed two cracking chances. As Giles said afterwards, that's what ensures he isn't the best player in the world.

- Delighted for Larsson. Superb play for both goals and really deserved the medal as a reward for his career.

- In the end the superior skill levels of the Barcelona players was enough. They just didn't give the ball away and the first touch control of the front players was a joy to watch.

- It's great to see the best team in Europe win the competition and Barcelona were clearly the best side this year.

[therock67]

eamo said:

A word on Larsson. I think that there are some people that think I dont rate the guy or something. Larsson is a tremendous footballer. He gave a masterclass last night. His ball for Eto'o's goal was inspired. He also carries himself impeccably off the pitch.

From the man who said (in the Petrov thread):
"I dont agree with any of that. Larsson was an excellent player granted, but never as good as Henry or Shearer or Fowler (my emphasis) at his peak. "

I agree with the rest of your points though particularly the one about Liam Brady who was refreshingly honest.

[eamo]

admin said:

eamo said:

A word on Larsson. I think that there are some people that think I dont rate the guy or something. Larsson is a tremendous footballer. He gave a masterclass last night. His ball for Eto'o's goal was inspired. He also carries himself impeccably off the pitch.

From the man who said (in the Petrov thread):
"I dont agree with any of that. Larsson was an excellent player granted, but never as good as Henry or Shearer or Fowler (my emphasis) at his peak. "

And your point is? I said there clearly that I think Larsson was an excellent player.

[eamo]

admin said:

Didn't see the fecking thing live and had guessed the result from a text I got so it's hard for me to comment ont he quality of the game.

What I would say is:

- I don't generally agree with people who claim the game was ruined as a spectacle because of a sending off. If the sending off is justified (in this case unquestionably so) then the game changes as a result. That's the sport. Lehman deliberately took him down so he's to blame for the match, not the referee.

- There was an argument to be made for both sending Lehman off and allowing the goal to stand.

- Agreed on the sour grapes. Arsenal are still moaning this morning and in reality it was a case of giving Barcelona a goal start or losing a man. Barcelona would have won either way.

- Henry missed two cracking chances. As Giles said afterwards, that's what ensures he isn't the best player in the world.

- Delighted for Larsson. Superb play for both goals and really deserved the medal as a reward for his career.

- In the end the superior skill levels of the Barcelona players was enough. They just didn't give the ball away and the first touch control of the front players was a joy to watch.

- It's great to see the best team in Europe win the competition and Barcelona were clearly the best side this year.

True true true. What a legend you are!

[therock67]

eamo said:

admin said:

From the man who said (in the Petrov thread):
"I dont agree with any of that. Larsson was an excellent player granted, but never as good as Henry or Shearer or Fowler (my emphasis) at his peak. "

And your point is? I said there clearly that I think Larsson was an excellent player.

You wondered why people think you don't rate him. Well you said he was never as good as Fowler as his peak.

[eamo]

admin said:

eamo said:

And your point is? I said there clearly that I think Larsson was an excellent player.

You wondered why people think you don't rate him. Well you said he was never as good as Fowler as his peak.

Which he wasnt.... In fact there werent many as good as Fowler at his peak...

[iamthelaw]

steamboatsam said:

once again [Henry] failed to produce on the biggest stage, missing a couple of sitters.

from bbc.co.uk, report titled "Heroic Henry"; you'd think he was English from the way they praise him:

"History will record Barcelona beat Arsenal 2-1 to win the 2006 Champions League final, with Sol Campbell, Samuel Eto'o and Juliano Belletti the game's goalscorers.

There will be no mention of Thierry Henry in the record books. No mention of his remarkable contribution to a remarkable game of football. No mention of how he overshadowed the world's greatest player Ronaldinho. "

And in this article, no mention of Henry's misses.

[steamboatsam]

iamthelaw said:

steamboatsam said:

once again [Henry] failed to produce on the biggest stage, missing a couple of sitters.

from bbc.co.uk, report titled "Heroic Henry"; you'd think he was English from the way they praise him:

"History will record Barcelona beat Arsenal 2-1 to win the 2006 Champions League final, with Sol Campbell, Samuel Eto'o and Juliano Belletti the game's goalscorers.

There will be no mention of Thierry Henry in the record books. No mention of his remarkable contribution to a remarkable game of football. No mention of how he overshadowed the world's greatest player Ronaldinho. "

And in this article, no mention of Henry's misses.

typical british media bullshit.......what a joy it would be to have some honest opinions within the walls of BBC/SKY

[eamo]

iamthelaw said:

steamboatsam said:

once again [Henry] failed to produce on the biggest stage, missing a couple of sitters.

from bbc.co.uk, report titled "Heroic Henry"; you'd think he was English from the way they praise him:

"History will record Barcelona beat Arsenal 2-1 to win the 2006 Champions League final, with Sol Campbell, Samuel Eto'o and Juliano Belletti the game's goalscorers.

There will be no mention of Thierry Henry in the record books. No mention of his remarkable contribution to a remarkable game of football. No mention of how he overshadowed the world's greatest player Ronaldinho. "

And in this article, no mention of Henry's misses.

Just read the article there. In a word 'shocking'. In two words 'absolutely shocking'. Its times like this that you value RTE all the more.

[therock67]

Just read the article as well - blatantly biased. I went to the Daily Mail hoping they'd have something similarly biased to anger me but to be fair they had a very fair opinion piece on the game:

Ref justice had nothing to do with it Thierry

While on holiday with a couple of Gooner mates in Mallorca in 2003, we went to cheer on the local La Liga team against Real Zaragoza. I don't remember the final score or how many packs of constipating sunflower seeds I polished off in 90 minutes (the locals loved their parrot food). But watching the home team's towering striker terrify Zaragoza's back four all night with his head-on runs at goal is a memory that's stayed with me ever since.

Three years later my Gooner chums were reunited with Mr Samuel Eto’o in Paris last night.

The French are renowned for their wine, but Thierry Henry's sour grapes directed at the referee after the final whistle betrayed his brilliance and the true nature of this tense match that – thanks to Eto'o's equaliser – saw the best team win.

Thanks to the man in black the Londoners escaped having their keeper sent off AND going one nil down. And thanks to the man in black Thierry's team were gifted the lead from a free-kick given for a dive that would make even Drogba blush.

Losing a Champions League final is heartbreaking enough. But by choosing to take his frustration out the poor referee, Thierry made sure the night ended on a sour note both on and off the pitch.

I thought he was better than that.

By Richard Ferrer, Assistant Editor

[therock67]

Good article from the Sunday Times by Hugh McIlvanney on Aresnal's complaints and a nice compliment to Larsson at the end

There could be no more soothing balm for Arsenal’s European disappointment than the ink on Thierry Henry’s new contract. Had the injunction not been famously corrupted by a political voice, it might be legitimate to urge the nation (or at least that part of the population interested in football) to rejoice. For anybody who takes pleasure in seeing a ball game played to its furthest reaches of skill, imagination and beauty, having Henry at work among us is a privilege to be celebrated. With his club’s toweringly gifted manager, Arsène Wenger, he forms a French alliance that has been a beacon of thrilling style and quality in the Premiership.
The two men have brought such riches to the sporting experience of this country over the past decade that it may seem unreasonable to find fault with them just when they are promising to extend our enjoyment of their talents. Yet it would be hypocrisy to avoid commenting on their repugnantly sour reactions at the end of the Champions League final in Paris on Wednesday evening. They made the average bad loser look like a magnanimity addict.



Wenger is, of course, renowned for viewing every professional setback as a raw injustice, every adverse scoreline as a betrayal of the football verities, every unhelpful refereeing decision as a heinous wrong visited upon his long-suffering team. The beguiling grace of the performances he orchestrates on the field is too often matched by the extreme gracelessness with which he responds to any thwarting of his aims. At the Stade de France in midweek, however, even his propensity for flaunting twisted perspectives was outstripped by his centre-forward’s embittered, unbridled manipulation of the facts of Arsenal’s 2-1 defeat by Barcelona. It was a mean-spirited, slanderous whinge unworthy of a man who generally impresses as a complex but appealing nature. Both Henry and Wenger concentrated their resentment on the Norwegian referee, Terje Hauge, but the player’s accusations of bias touched scandalous levels of irrationality and offensiveness.

That Hauge had a miserable match, an hour and a half blighted by errors and deviations from common sense, is undeniable. But where was the justification for reading his actions as anything other than a catalogue of incompetence? The suggestion, spilled vehemently into microphones by Henry, that the referee persistently favoured Barcelona is made laughable by an examination of his key rulings. His most crucial, obviously, was the 18th-minute dismissal of Jens Lehmann after the Arsenal goalkeeper grabbed the ankle of Samuel Eto’o when the Barcelona forward was surging round him with the goal gaping. As Eto’o went down, the ball travelled on to his teammate Ludovic Giuly and was directed by him into the net.

Hauge now acknowledges he should have applied the advantage principle, awarded a goal and settled for punishing Lehmann with the yellow card that would have permitted him to stay on the park. Instead, premature intervention resulted in the sending-off and an ultimately profitless free kick on the edge of the penalty area. The hopelessly ill-advised call irretrievably disfigured a contest that had begun excitingly enough to preserve optimism about its prospects of meeting the expectations of dazzling standards and exhilarating entertainment it had engendered.

But Hauge was an equal-opportunity blunderer and to argue that his mishandling of the Lehmann-Eto’o incident was cruelly unjust to Arsenal and excessively kind to their opponents is bizarre (especially as television replays invalidated Wenger’s suspicions that Eto’o was offside when he sprinted on to Ronaldinho’s pass). Barcelona were denied a goal they had earned, Lehmann was given a red card he had earned. Neutrals groaned because the aesthetic integrity of the final had been compromised, not because savage unfairness had been inflicted on Arsenal. Wenger and his players naturally insist they would have preferred to go behind and remain an 11-man team, stressing their belief that winning would still have been well within their capabilities. But do they think Barça wouldn’t have fancied their chances of building on an early lead in the more open, flowing exchanges a full-strength confrontation must have produced? Another of the losers’ major complaints was that Eto’o was offside when scoring Barcelona’s first goal in the 76th minute but again the camera declined to lend support, showing the attacker’s position in relation to the most relevant defender was at worst ambiguous, certainly not clearly illegal. There had been no ambiguity about the illegitimacy of the Arsenal goal shortly before the interval. Sol Campbell headed it in from a free kick conned out of Hauge by Emmanuel Eboue’s sprawling dive. Had Eboue been booked for simulation, he too would have been dismissed, since he had already been cautioned for an outrageous foul.

So, whatever basis Henry had for saying Carles Puyol and Rafael Marquez should have been penalised for harsh treatment of him, his allegation that the referee was blatantly pro-Barcelona, that he was “on their side”, had to be condemned as ugly nonsense. Arsenal fought with immense heart, and deserved sympathy, but they definitely weren’t robbed. It was the occasion that was plundered of its promise.

Amid the whirlpool of conflicting opinions and emotions afterwards, it was reassuring to find that one rock of unanimity was the recognition of Henrik Larsson as the most significant presence at the Stade de France. Summoned as a substitute with an hour gone, he shaped the outcome with the alertness of his instincts, the intelligence of his movement and the precision of his passing, setting up both Barcelona goals. What an answer the marvellous Swede gave to those who tried to tell us, throughout his years with Celtic, that he needed the comfortable context of the Scottish league to look like a great footballer.

[bandage]

Exactly what I said to an Arsenal supporting friend of mine but in less eloquent terms. Will copy, paste and email said article.