This is like Madrid v Barca... there's no advantage in talent or execution. It comes down to luck and who has better execution. Hopefully, the referees stay out of it.

I am assuming both teams play up to potential. Shockingly, i see some minor weakness in Barca's midfield now. Even Busquets wasn't at his best in the last PSG game... Pastore was getting behind him regularly. If Barca's midfield is not at its best, then Bayern definitely have a small advantage.

Zealous wrote:

Collblanc wrote:

Zealous wrote:What happens if the best player in the world doesn't show up?

When did Messi not show up? Please give me a game where Messi 'choked' and I will give you every play he created space, just by standing somewhere. Offball movement is just as important as making passes/dribbles.

That's nice but just "standing somewhere" won't win the tie for Barca.

This just proves you have no tactical insight in this game whatsoever. Have you ever played the game?

Alaba is going to rape Barcas right hand side

The fact that Barca have made the semis every year since 2009 is really impressive.

Abramovich wrote:Alaba is going to rape Barcas right hand side

Yeah, but with only 2 scored against Juve in both legs I'm not sure even the mighty axis of awesome that is Ribéry-Alaba will be able to outscore the Whopper Gnome.

Zealous wrote:

Collblanc wrote:

Zealous wrote:What happens if the best player in the world doesn't show up?

When did Messi not show up? Please give me a game where Messi 'choked' and I will give you every play he created space, just by standing somewhere. Offball movement is just as important as making passes/dribbles.

That's nice but just "standing somewhere" won't win the tie for Barca.

Please, watch this viedo and learn something!

Zealous wrote:What happens if the best player in the world doesn't show up?

We all saw what happened against PSG. If Messi doesn't turn up, Barca becomes predictable..just endless passes without an end product. Messi is the one that makes Barca exciting to watch.

Collblanc wrote:

Zealous wrote:

Collblanc wrote:

When did Messi not show up? Please give me a game where Messi 'choked' and I will give you every play he created space, just by standing somewhere. Offball movement is just as important as making passes/dribbles.

That's nice but just "standing somewhere" won't win the tie for Barca.

This just proves you have no tactical insight in this game whatsoever. Have you ever played the game?

Congrats bro you found me out, I don't even watch football. I'm actually a fan of the true people's game, curling.

Collblanc wrote:

Zealous wrote:

Collblanc wrote:

When did Messi not show up? Please give me a game where Messi 'choked' and I will give you every play he created space, just by standing somewhere. Offball movement is just as important as making passes/dribbles.

That's nice but just "standing somewhere" won't win the tie for Barca.

Please, watch this viedo and learn something!

I know what a dummy run is lol

Again I ask you what if "the world's best player" doesn't show up?

^ Why do you put it in "marks you know its true

why ask a question when you already know the answer buddy?

What if xaviesta put in a master class? Are they not still capable? I think they are

iniesta is doing this occasionally, it's xavi that seems tired these days

If i'm Barca, i rest Xavi, Iniesta and Messi before this game. La Liga is all but won. Even if it cost Barca points in La Liga, who cares.

We only need to win 4 out of 8 games to win La Liga. Messi is being rested till the semi - I would suggest the same for Xavi and Iniesta, yes.

Cesc can carry Barca on his own tbh. Dat hattrick

sportsczy wrote:If i'm Barca, i rest Xavi, Iniesta and Messi before this game. La Liga is all but won. Even if it cost Barca points in La Liga, who cares.

I would too, a rested Barca could still probably win this game but unfortunately for them a rested Barca doesn't come along very often anymore.

They can't press consistently like they used to and Bayern seem to don't suffer such massive drops in the same way.

Which makes Bayern favourites in my eyes.

Barca were rested vs PSG, still didnt press.

I am tired of hearing how we are tired, its so lame.

They dont press because they cant be bothered or they dont practice it anymore, I think both.

Dem armchair coaches again. Barca doesn't press anymore? I must have dreamt then when the statistics were showing 92 vs. 86 km covered at some point in the second half.

Barca struggled against a quality team (yeah, hard to believe, but Ibra, Lavezzi, Pastore, Lucas, Thiago Silva, Verratti aren't exactly scrubs) with a backup leftback in the heart of the defense who had not played for 6 weeks prior to the game, with Pedro who just came back from injury, with David Villa who had discomfort before the game, with Fabregas whose gf was giving birth during the game, with Xavi who has played like 5 games in 2013 on painkillers and without the best player in the world. Things will dramatically change in 2 weeks.

Dont know what game you was watching, against PSG our pressing was woeful.

Bring up the distance run all you like, how about you tell us how many balls we won in their half? Messi, Xavi, Iniesta, Villa and Cesc combined for a grand total of 0.

Distance covered doesnt mean anything.

GO Bayern! Time for the germans to win the competition, they're unbelivabely well prepared to do this and it will show up, we (Juve) should follow their example! ... Bayern uber alles!

The Franchise wrote:Dont know what game you was watching, against PSG our pressing was woeful.

Bring up the distance run all you like, how about you tell us how many balls we won in their half? Messi, Xavi, Iniesta, Villa and Cesc combined for a grand total of 0.

Distance covered doesnt mean anything.

Why would they not press? The players have all publibly acknowledged that the intensity was lacking before the second Milan game. They know what went wrong. So why would they not press again? If they didn't win enough 1 on 1 battles then it was because the team wasn't fit enough, not because they didn't put in the effort.

Pedro's last game before PSG was against France on 26th March. Simply not match fit enough (and he gave away the ball which led to PSG's goal). Adriano's last game before PSG was on 17th March. Almost a whole month without match practice and then he's thrown into the game as a centerback (I rewatched the game again and most of the chances created by PSG were throughballs by Ibra inbehind Adriano who kept getting caught high up the pitch, like for PSG's goal). These things + the lack of Messi didn't exactly transmit calmness and security and PSG could smell it. Pique and Busquets started giving away cheap passes which they normally play blindfoldedly etc. This is not the game to judge Barca, fss. Let's talk in 2 weeks again.

I like the fact that Bayern are '' favorites '' . Being slightly underdogs might help the team to stick together. It's going to be hard but it's also exciting. The score will be close but the away goals are going to mkae the difference imo.

The team is also a bit more predictable in attack , but i hope the strikers would be back in form. i trust Alexis Sanchez for this game...

Mandzudic won't be there for the first game as he is suspended ...

Distance covered lol that doesn't indicate pressing at all. If I ran laps during the game I'd have great distance covered stats but that doesn't mean I'm pressing anyone.

PSG were playing rather deep in the second half so they were not covering much distance.

Zealous wrote:Distance covered lol that doesn't indicate pressing at all. If I ran laps during the game I'd have great distance covered stats but that doesn't mean I'm pressing anyone.

PSG were playing rather deep in the second half so they were not covering much distance.

I'm fairly certain the Barca players weren't making just pointless lap runs.

You're last statement is much funnier though. Playing deep doesn't mean you don't have to cover ground. Most teams that play deep against Barca start to completely tire out after a while. Why do you think this is?

Agreed with Dani. This team has abandoned a lot of Pep's tactical instructions. It's sad to watch as a neutral. The pressing is gone. Even against Milan it was nowhere near the levels of 2011.