COPA DEL REY EL CLASICO FIRST LEG: Real Madrid vs FC BARCELONA

Raul was a better player, way better IMO. If he would have been in his prime in this generation Spain would have won their trophies much easier.

likeastar wrote:Raul was a better player, way better IMO. If he would have been in his prime in this generation Spain would have won their trophies much easier.

How much easier could it have been?

Besides.... NEWS FLASH: better players =/= better teams.

Madrid 2 - Barcelona 6. Easy prediction IMO.

windkick wrote:You should probably change the title to Super Copa Del Rey: First Leg

given there will be 3 Clasico's coming up soon, it would be easier to distinguish which game we are discussing

Question, what players for are either injured or red carded for Madrid?

Done.

I'm hoping for MVP upfront with Xaviniesta in the middle but we all know that Fab will be in the middle...

sportsczy wrote:he was injured and didn't play otherwise last season either. Really, he's only been effective 6 months in his almost 3 years at Barca.

It's pretty clear that there is no room for a cf next to messi unless they are unique. Benzema would be fine for example since he's really more of a 10 that can score. You need a guy that is just as effective passing as in scoring.

Neymar seems to have that profile too.

The alternative is to make Messi a SS behind the CF like Argentina does.

in any case, no doubt villa is an all time great. But he lost his chance at being goat in spain as a result of his past 3 years.

Not sure if serious about Villa hardly playing. You can't blame the guy for getting injured last year as part of him "not" playing. This year he has had his moments,but come one he just recently picked up another knock and just barely got back to playing again.

By wasted, pre-injury I do not agree with you

btw, Villa has my favorite goal celebrations. Dude looks ecstatic as shit when he scores. Pure bliss

Great Leader Sprucenuce wrote:

likeastar wrote:Raul was a better player, way better IMO. If he would have been in his prime in this generation Spain would have won their trophies much easier.

How much easier could it have been?

Besides.... NEWS FLASH: better players =/= better teams.

Mole is your name right? Must say, you are one of my favorite posters on these boards. Just wanted to tip my hat off to you. Good luck to you and the French project currently going on at Newcastle.

I predict that they score first. And that the first half will be hectic with them trying hard as shit to shove goals down our throat. Then 2nd half they tire out and we come back and score 2 or 3. Seems to be the theme in most of our tough matches this season.

Villa will not start
Pedro, and Iniesta were rested for a reason whilst Villa played the full match.
My Predicted lineup :
-----------------------Pinto--
--------Alves----Pique-----Mascherano------Alba
----------------------Buscuit--
-----------------Xavi--------Cesc--
--------Pedro----------Messi-----------Iniesta

Please god, please don't start Mascherano

I also hope we start with puyol but I have this gut feeling Tito will throw Mascherano in there for some odd reason.

sportsczy wrote:I would agree with you Dani if he was a key contributor and a regular despite not scoring as much... but it's hard to be considered a winner by getting mostly benched. Raul, for example, sacrificed his scoring when R9 and RVN came to Madrid... but remained a regular and important player.

Other than his first 6 months at Barca, Villa pretty much has been wasted imo. Not a criticism. You're never going to push Messi out of the center spot and the club has better wing players than Villa.

Here's the thing though,we don't.

Villa is better than both Pedro and especially Sanchez,even in this slightly unnatural role playing out wide.

On merit and form Villa should have been a starter since the start of the season for me,it's not Villas fault and it doesn't take away from his ability as a player that Tito is benching him for worse players.There is also the fact that Tito is trying to force Cesc into the team because there is a lot of pressure for him to play.

For me out of all the Spanish strikers,Villa is the one who has consistently performed brilliantly for both Club and Country.If hit weren't for him I doubt Spain would have won the WC.

"But he lost his chance at being goat in spain as a result of his past 3 years."

Ridiculous,in that time Villa has been a cog in a League and CL winning team.

So basically your saying because he got injured for nearly a year and has been used unfairly as a sub for 6 months he can't be a goat Spanish striker? When Raul is a player who later in his career was nowhere near as good as when he was in his early 20's? Give me Villa at 31 over Raul at 31 any day of the week.

worms wrote:"But he lost his chance at being goat in spain as a result of his past 3 years."

Ridiculous,in that time Villa has been a cog in a League and CL winning team.

So basically your saying because he got injured for nearly a year and has been used unfairly as a sub for 6 months he can't be a goat Spanish striker? When Raul is a player who later in his career was nowhere near as good as when he was in his early 20's? Give me Villa at 31 over Raul at 31 any day of the week.

Fair or unfair, you have to be a lead player to add to your rep. You can't be a part time role player. We're talking about being the all time greatest Spanish striker. Do you think if Messi were dropped to the bench he would continue to be compared to Pelle and Maradonna? No he wouldn't.

When you're talking about being at the top, it's all about performance and impact. He has to be at a WC level in terms of pitch impact and stats. Villa just hasn't been there for 3 years. The reasons are completely irrelevant.

So for now, he's an all time great that has an argument for being the best Spanish striker. If he had continued to be a WC performing player the last 3 years, then it wouldn't really be that much of a question. But since he hasn't, for whatever the reason, he's top 3 with all 3 having good arguments.

I don't see this as a criticism of Villa. Benzema is costing himself similarly by being in Madrid for example... he's sacrificing personal honors to play for a big club. The ideal would be to become a superstar at a big club. But sometimes that doesn't happen.

windkick wrote:

Great Leader Sprucenuce wrote:

likeastar wrote:Raul was a better player, way better IMO. If he would have been in his prime in this generation Spain would have won their trophies much easier.

How much easier could it have been?

Besides.... NEWS FLASH: better players =/= better teams.

Mole is your name right? Must say, you are one of my favorite posters on these boards. Just wanted to tip my hat off to you. Good luck to you and the French project currently going on at Newcastle.

I predict that they score first. And that the first half will be hectic with them trying hard as shit to shove goals down our throat. Then 2nd half they tire out and we come back and score 2 or 3. Seems to be the theme in most of our tough matches this season.

Thank you and good luck to you too

"Villa just hasn't been there for 3 years"

3 years? So you think he "weren't there" during our 10 -11 season when he was brilliant,started nearly every single game and was a essential cog in at team that won the league and the CL?

You are exaggerating by saying 3 years when it is in fact 1 and half years.In fact it is closer to 1 year than 1 and a half years because it was December 2011 when this all started.The fact that you have to exaggerate so much the amount of time he has been injured/not a regular in our starting 11 shows how weak your argument is.

worms wrote:"Villa just hasn't been there for 3 years"

3 years? So you think he "weren't there" during our 10 -11 season when he was brilliant,started nearly every single game and was a essential cog in at team that won the league and the CL?

You are exaggerating by saying 3 years when it is in fact 1 and half years.In fact it is closer to 1 year than 1 and a half years because it was December 2011 when this all started.The fact that you have to exaggerate so much the amount of time he has been injured/not a regular in our starting 11 shows how weak your argument is.

This!!!! You beat me to it. His reasoning and arguments are faulty to say the least. Just because Villa has the best player of our generation playing in the same team, it does not make him any less WC player.

And what about his NT success while he was fit? The guy is legend in Spain, and only Real fans think Raul is God.

Ah forget this crap. Villa is better than Raul in our opinion, not in yours, lets keep it at that.

Back to the game at hand.

Dont you read new guy? enough.

Called up players: Pinto, Dani Alves, Piqué, Fàbregas, Puyol, Xavi, Villa, Iniesta, Alexis, Messi, Thiago, Mascherano, Bartra, Sergio, Pedro, Jordi Alba, Adriano y Song.

No surprises

1 goalkeeper?

Valdes has also been called up, for some reason the Sport article where I got that from excluded him

No Tello Montoya eh? I'm also surprised at the 1 keeper traveling with the team. What about Oier? he should start getting the Copa matches soon to start getting experience imo

Valdes is making the trip like BC said. Tello and Montoya should both be there as well especially Tello. Supersub if needed.

Backline is sure to be Piqué and Mascherano. Vilanova is very scared of the speed of Madrid's counter attacks and is more than unlikely to play Puyol, who played 90 minutes during the weekend as well.

Remember Supercopa he played Adriano completely out of position at CB just because he was fast. Oh and didn't he pay dearly for that...

Could we take "Super" off the title and add "1st leg" to it to avoid confusion in the future?

Also agreed Puyol will be benched. I will be very surprised if the team is different than:

What I would like to see would be...

Fans these days...
BC, like your lineup but we know the first option will be probably taken...