Oh the arrogance.. But let's say that for some reason Madrid didn't win the CL. What would be a bigger failure to you guys:
Not winning the CL or not winning La Liga?

Although that's probably a more appropriate question for Mou than for anyone

barca 2011 wrote:Oh the arrogance.. But let's say that for some reason Madrid didn't win the CL. What would be a bigger failure to you guys:
Not winning the CL or not winning La Liga?

Although that's probably a more appropriate question for Mou than for anyone

No one is saying we'll win it. We could get knocked out in the next round (unless we draw Barca).

Bigger failure? I'd say the league because we really dropped a lot of silly points at the start of the season.

Champions League is a tough competition that comes down to the details. There is no shame in getting knocked out of that once you reach the later stages.

barca 2011 wrote:Oh the arrogance.. But let's say that for some reason Madrid didn't win the CL. What would be a bigger failure to you guys:
Not winning the CL or not winning La Liga?

Although that's probably a more appropriate question for Mou than for anyone

Pep's last year was an absolute joke then...

Pep ran away to a one team league to make sure he could keep winning.

He knew this Barca was a sinking ship and he dropped them like a bad habit. Pep did his best Jose impression

sportsczy wrote:

barca 2011 wrote:Oh the arrogance.. But let's say that for some reason Madrid didn't win the CL. What would be a bigger failure to you guys:
Not winning the CL or not winning La Liga?

Although that's probably a more appropriate question for Mou than for anyone

Pep's last year was an absolute joke then...

Perhaps but I don't remember seeing half the arrogance from the Barca fans towards Madrid and we did make it to the CL semi, as did Madrid.

Zealous wrote:

barca 2011 wrote:Oh the arrogance.. But let's say that for some reason Madrid didn't win the CL. What would be a bigger failure to you guys:
Not winning the CL or not winning La Liga?

Although that's probably a more appropriate question for Mou than for anyone

No one is saying we'll win it. We could get knocked out in the next round (unless we draw Barca).

Bigger failure? I'd say the league because we really dropped a lot of silly points at the start of the season.

Champions League is a tough competition that comes down to the details. There is no shame in getting knocked out of that once you reach the later stages.

Agreed, there is no shame, especially this season where the competition is quite fierce.

Zealous wrote:Pep ran away to a one team league to make sure he could keep winning.

He knew this Barca was a sinking ship and he dropped them like a bad habit. Pep did his best Jose impression

The man is a genius, and if he begins to dominate with an ever-stronger Munich..

Roy Keane: "I believe the red card on Nani was the correct call."

http://futbol.as.com/futbol/2013/03/05/champions/1362521924_135842.html

Roy Keane still holds a grudge against United but that shouldn't give people an excuse to discredit his opinion.

He makes a good argument. Nani should have been more careful, when you jump up in the air with your studs showing you're forcing the ref to make a decision. If Nani didn't connect then no red for sure but he hit Arbeloa square in the ribs, if Arbeloa didn't jump it would have gone straight in his face and Alvaro would have been hospitalised.

Credit to Arbeloa for not making a meal of it. Nani looked like a pathetic scrub when he was pretending he was hurt

Here's another angle:

The more I see it the more I'm convinced that Nani is an idiot and that the outrage surrounding the decision is unjustified.

That is never a red. His eyes are fixed on the ball.

Still a dangerous tackle, according to the rules.

^^^but there is no intent. It was purely accidental. A yellow at best.

Agreed, harsh call to give out a red. A yellow would've sufficed, tough luck to Man U

RED wrote:That is never a red. His eyes are fixed on the ball.

That is completely irrelevant. Studs showing, both feet off the ground, late on the ball, contact with the opponent = red card according to the rule book.

Refs can choose to be lenient if they want to. But the fact is, the player is taking a huge risk by making this play. You're counting on the ref to bend the rulebook. Sometimes they do, sometimes they don't.

Intent adds extra games to your suspension... that's about it. Also makes the call easier for the ref.

RED wrote:That is never a red. His eyes are fixed on the ball.

Well clearly it is a red because...... well Nani was sent off.

His eyes were fixed on the ball but intent has nothing to do with dangerous play. If Nani had one foot planted on the ground then I'm 100% sure he wouldn't have been sent off but he was in the air and had no control over himself and as such was a danger to other players. If Arbeloa didn't jump he may have been seriously injured.

Look I sympathise with you guys, believe me I do. The red card changed the game but that doesn't mean the red was 100% the wrong decision. Arbeloa wasn't looking for it and he didn't play act at all so really the only person United should be angry at is Nani.

RED wrote:^^^but there is no intent. It was purely accidental. A yellow at best.

oh agree with that. Very harsh red. You would have won if it weren't for the ref. Shut down Alonso, and kept Ronaldo quiet.

Ronaldo kept himself quiet.

RED wrote:^^^but there is no intent. It was purely accidental. A yellow at best.

yeah.. purely accidental 0:47

Well that settles it. Nani knew Arbeloa was there and still tried to control it by putting his studs up like that.

Red was more than fair now that I've seen that.

Abramovich wrote:People need to realise Nani wasnt trying to tackle anyone or win the ball I've read so many times on this thread. He was trying to bring it down from the air and control itI seen that many times in every single match similar attempts to control the ball. He had no idea arbeloa was coming towards him until it was too late, hence no red IMO.

Yeah, agreed. Like Zidane does at 1:52. It's totally normal to try control the ball the way he tried to.

but zidane wasnt kicking players mid air with his studs up

Mr Nick09 wrote:but zidane wasnt kicking players mid air with his studs up

I'm not saying Zidane should of got sent off, just emphasising that Nani was indeed trying to control the ball. Anyway, the sending off argument is dead, we know how both sets of fans feel, lets just agree to disagree.

There's nobody around Zidane lol. If Zidane had done that around a player, had been late and made contact = auto red.

Nobody is saying that it's an unusual play. But if you're going to to do it in a duel situation as opposed to open space, you're just asking for it.

Remember when United fans where tripping over themselves to brand Carragher a murderer for this?

Spoiler:

But.................wait a second. He had eyes for the ball and his only intent was to try and win it, right?

For the record, I believe Carragher should have seen red for that