Re: Champions League Semi Final Draw

by halamadrid2 Thu Apr 11, 2013 9:05 am

I really hope we get Dortmund. We might have failed to beat them in the Group stages but trust me Mou will plan for the game and we will beat them ala lyon. Barca is another tie that would be great but I'd rather have them in the final because in a two legged tie they wil be harder to beat besides they are the definition of clutch always delivers when it matters

I just hope we play the away leg first cuz then we can get ourselves away goals and finish it off at home.

I will commit emotional suicide if we get bayern altho we can beat them they will take advantage of our weaknesses. it would be a great game for the neutrals tho >. <

please mcmanamen do your job yh

by billy_gr Thu Apr 11, 2013 10:23 am

Anyone but Madrid.
Let us meet in the final

by S Thu Apr 11, 2013 10:53 am

Hoping for a Barca-Dortmund and Bayern-Madrid semi-final lineup with Bayern prevailing against Madrid again but this time by a comfortable margin.

by Forza Thu Apr 11, 2013 10:57 am

Dortmund to win it against all odds. :coffee:

by harhar11 Thu Apr 11, 2013 11:38 am

The Franchise wrote:
harhar11 wrote:
The Franchise wrote:That being said, I would rather face them than Madrid. They are better than Madrid, but Madrid is a harder game for us.

So you agree with me?

Well I think Dortmund are easier than both for us, I think you felt Bayern were easier for us? I dont agree with that.

The fact Dortmund are less seasoned, younger and for me less talented makes them easier for us.

I thought that Dortmund is "harder" because they have a similiar style of play as Real Madrid, even though Bayern are better..

by Casciavit Thu Apr 11, 2013 11:39 am

ExtremistEnigma wrote:Bayern enjoys more possession due to the poor quality of Bundesliga teams. In UCL, they don't enjoy as high amounts of possession as they do in Bundesliga. Barca will certainly dominate the possession when these two sides meet, which will be around 60-63% imo.

by ELO Thu Apr 11, 2013 11:47 am

Casciavit wrote:
ExtremistEnigma wrote:Barca will certainly dominate the possession when these two sides meet, which will be around 60-63% imo.

....In other unrelated news: water is still wet

by The Franchise Thu Apr 11, 2013 12:33 pm

harhar11 wrote:
The Franchise wrote:
harhar11 wrote:
The Franchise wrote:That being said, I would rather face them than Madrid. They are better than Madrid, but Madrid is a harder game for us.

So you agree with me?

Well I think Dortmund are easier than both for us, I think you felt Bayern were easier for us? I dont agree with that.

The fact Dortmund are less seasoned, younger and for me less talented makes them easier for us.

I thought that Dortmund is "harder" because they have a similiar style of play as Real Madrid, even though Bayern are better..

Well I dont think anyones style really causes us a problem, its more the details.

by Brady2Moss Thu Apr 11, 2013 1:14 pm

Of the remaining teams, Bayern will likely offer the least resistance for Barca. Sure, Bayern has proven themselves to be a dominant force in Europe esp in recent seasons, but their defense still remains a suspect to me. Like Barca, they have managed to negate that weakness by pressing as a team, and having more possession than opposition. As they say, attack is the best form of defense.

Dortmund, however, will annihilate Barca given the latter vulnerability against teams with quick counter-attacking capabilities. There is no team better in Europe in counter-attacking than Dortmund imo.

by BarcaLearning Thu Apr 11, 2013 1:39 pm

Great Leader Sprucenuce wrote:How many times did it take for Mourinho to beat Barca?

I think it will take more than 2 games for that to apply.

Really don't think that will have an effect this year at least, You can beat Bayern but i don't think you will and you can beat Dortmund and you probably will.

Plus Bayern are not exactly the same this year tactically they have changed in that regard i think they will win it personally.

How have they changed tactically, can u explain in more detail?

The Franchise wrote:If we faced Bayern, they wont suffer because we have the ball like the reverse would be true.

if Bayern had 60% of the ball, we would lose and lose badly.

If we have even 70% of the ball, there is no gaurentee that means Bayern would lose, or even struggle.

They attack the channels too well, their goalie, back 4 and two midfielders are good enough and most importantly, they press well. They are better than us in terms of pressing.

Where we can get joy is if we press, I think they would struggle with that...but we dont press anymore with consistency so banking on us doing that is pointless.

Other than that, we will have to rely on the fact Messi is the best player on the pitch and thats about it.

Bayern have improved a lot, but I still still pressing we are the better, although probably the difference is small now. Im pretty sure its obvious our weakness is in defense wide areas and Bayern are strong in those areas, Ribery and Alaba and Robben Lahm on the other side. I think all 3 teams are good on the counter and can be a threat against us, but Real and Bayern overall high level than Dortmund.

Brady2Moss wrote:Of the remaining teams, Bayern will likely offer the least resistance for Barca. Sure, Bayern has proven themselves to be a dominant force in Europe esp in recent seasons, but their defense still remains a suspect to me. Like Barca, they have managed to negate that weakness by pressing as a team, and having more possession than opposition. As they say, attack is the best form of defense.

Dortmund, however, will annihilate Barca given the latter vulnerability against teams with quick counter-attacking capabilities. There is no team better in Europe in counter-attacking than Dortmund imo.

Dortmund I think are good, but their play seem to be more interplay and less direct than Real and Bayern, and they are less clinical, so I 'fear' Dortmund least albino

by sportsczy Thu Apr 11, 2013 2:42 pm

Dortmund are vulnerable on defense. Madrid and Bayern focus on defense while Barca and Dortmund try to outplay you so that the defense is not exposed too much.

But Bayern can also outplay you if they choose. That's what gives them the edge in terms of being favorites imo. They have a complete team.

How do Madrid and Barca win? They have CR7 and Messi... those guys can make the difference in a blink. As good as Ribery is, he's nowhere near that level.

by rwo power Thu Apr 11, 2013 3:20 pm

Dortmund's problem in the last matches was that Mats Hummels was out. He is crucial both for Dortmund's defense and build up play. With him they can play much faster and more direct.

by Great Leader Sprucenuce Thu Apr 11, 2013 3:29 pm

rwo power wrote:Dortmund's problem in the last matches was that Mats Hummels was out. He is crucial both for Dortmund's defense and build up play. With him they can play much faster and more direct.

Indeed, they are so much better with him.

In any case i see Barca struggling if they play Dortmund they won't like playing the high pressing counter attack that Dortmund pose.

by AltoZ Thu Apr 11, 2013 3:33 pm

Barcelona's record against the 3 other teams is dreadful.

Its going to be tough.

by S Thu Apr 11, 2013 3:38 pm

I dont believe Dortmund are a match for the other 3 teams especially at this stage of the competition.I honestly dont expect them to reach the final regardless of who they draw.

by Zealous Thu Apr 11, 2013 3:46 pm

I think the question that fans of the teams left in the comp is who would you want to face over two legs and who you would want to face in a one off game?

Also from a Madrid stand point I hope the first leg is at the Bernabeu. It means we can more or less play our game since we'd be confident of being able to score away goals in the second leg.

As for which team I personally would like? Well Barcelona's back line is imo in very bad shape namely because Pique, Alba and Adriano are on yellow cards, Barca without any one of them is huge, especially Pique which means the only tall guy on the team would be Busquets. However they do have players that can win games on their own, namely Iniesta and Messi so who knows?

Bayern play through the wings and our fullback situation is arguably our biggest weakness but I feel confident that we can beat Bayern if we drew them. It would require focus and lots of guts but this Madrid side has plenty of that. Bayern are a great team though, no doubt about it and probably favourites.

If we drew Dortmund it would probably be a super exciting semi final. Both teams have quick tricky players and I even think it would be an end to end game at some points. From an entertainment point of view it could be amazing. We're better on paper but Dortmund seem to have inherited the jam from Chelsea last year and I'd rather be lucky than good. I don't know it's seems destiny is with Dormund this year and I don't want a two legged tie against destiny.

by Zealous Thu Apr 11, 2013 3:49 pm

Surag wrote:I dont believe Dortmund are a match for the other 3 teams especially at this stage of the competition.I honestly dont expect them to reach the final regardless of who they draw.

You never know. They play like us in a way so that instantly gives them a shot vs Barca.

They know who Bayern are and they know they can beat Bayern so there is no fear factor if they played each other.

They played us in the groups, there they won at home and drew at the Bernabeu.

I wouldn't count them out just yet.

by Great Leader Sprucenuce Thu Apr 11, 2013 4:00 pm

Zealous wrote:
Surag wrote:I dont believe Dortmund are a match for the other 3 teams especially at this stage of the competition.I honestly dont expect them to reach the final regardless of who they draw.

You never know. They play like us in a way so that instantly gives them a shot vs Barca.

They know who Bayern are and they know they can beat Bayern so there is no fear factor if they played each other.

They played us in the groups, there they won at home and drew at the Bernabeu.

I wouldn't count them out just yet.

Agreed, their weaknesses are inexperience and lack of depth if any of Lewandowski, Kuba, Gotze, Reus, Gundogan or Hummels get injured they are gone.

But they definitely pose a threat to Barca as styles make fights.

Bayern and BVB games are always close and they already have beaten Madrid.

I think a lot of people are underestimating them because of poor performances by their standards against Malaga and because they are 6th in La Liga i think a lot of people are underestimating how good Malaga are too.

They have beaten Madrid this season and ran Barca extremely close when Barca were actually performing.

Fact is all 4 teams can win this, but i do see Bayern a level in front at this moment in time but anything can and most likely will happen.

by S Thu Apr 11, 2013 4:12 pm

Regarding the Dortmund-Barca potential semi ,It depends on who plays at home first as well,imo i believe this is an important factor to consider concerning these 2 teams.

From a Barcelona perspective i think it would be much better for them if they play the first leg at home so that they can take a positive result going into the 2nd leg.Dortmund perform better in away games but are very unconvincing in home games especially when they are under pressure to achieve the needed result.

by Babun Thu Apr 11, 2013 4:27 pm

You peeps overrate Bayern too much. I think style wise they'd struggle to beat Farca. Their defence wasn't tested by a team that imposes their style on them. I think they might fall apart if they face the other FCB.

Contrary to believes of many, BVB would be the worst matchup for Farca. They're all about counters, don't care for ball possession at all or very little and can keep the shape physically until 90th minute. They also press crazy all the time.

I think we've got the psycological edge over them. Farca is at disadvantage playing against us.

All in all, their best bet is to draw Bayern.

Dortmund could be hurt by Bayern and us the most. Farca suits them the best.
Bayern would be favourites against the rest bar Farca, although the difference between them and us isn't that big. Yeah, they'll dominate possession but we've got much better forwards.

From our point of view, we could beat any of the remaining teams, some easier ( BVB) and some harder ( Farca, Bayern). I would prefer to face Bayern in a one legged tie though ( final).

by Great Leader Sprucenuce Thu Apr 11, 2013 4:44 pm

Babun wrote:
Contrary to believes of many, BVB would be the worst matchup for Farca. They're all about counters, don't care for ball possession at all or very little and can keep the shape physically until 90th minute. They also press crazy all the time.

I believe that also.

by Onyx Thu Apr 11, 2013 6:19 pm

I don't Dortmund are all about counters. Sometimes they look to dominate the opposition with possession too. They had like 62% possession vs Malaga.

However obviously vs Barca they'll most likely play on the counter-attack.

In terms of Barca vs Bayern, I think it could be similar to AC Milan/Barca, in terms of Barca not being to get past Bayern's pressing/defense, which means they'd struggle to create chances.

by harhar11 Thu Apr 11, 2013 6:44 pm

The Franchise wrote:

Well I dont think anyones style really causes us a problem, its more the details.

I don't know. Whenever a team defend in numbers and then do some fast counter-attacks, we tend to struggle ALOT..

by Messia Thu Apr 11, 2013 6:46 pm

How is this a great semi final when Madrid is involved.

I really wish Quarter final was Juventus vs Madrid and Bayern vs Gala by now semi finals teams will be

Bayern, Barca, Juventus and Dortmund.

Those are the best teams in Europe and Madrid are not part of them, lets hope they get Bayern or Dortmund and off with their arrogance will be thy case.

by Zealous Thu Apr 11, 2013 6:52 pm

Messia wrote:How is this a great semi final when Madrid is involved.

I really wish Quarter final was Juventus vs Madrid and Bayern vs Gala by now semi finals teams will be

Bayern, Barca, Juventus and Dortmund.

Those are the best teams in Europe and Madrid are not part of them, lets hope they get Bayern or Dortmund and off with their arrogance will be thy case.

3/10

by izzy Thu Apr 11, 2013 6:53 pm

Messia wrote:How is this a great semi final when Madrid is involved.

I really wish Quarter final was Juventus vs Madrid and Bayern vs Gala by now semi finals teams will be

Bayern, Barca, Juventus and Dortmund.

Those are the best teams in Europe and Madrid are not part of them, lets hope they get Bayern or Dortmund and off with their arrogance will be thy case.

Idroizet, who do you think you're fooling?

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