The quality of Pep's football is great. However, the players are not good enough... He has atleast been honest that he wins games by buying the best squad.

Spending money doesn't equal quality though

And like I said, the quality of his football is top notch. But I admit, he is a CL flop. He flopped (IN MY OPINION THO) with Barca because he didn't win back to back with arguably the best squad in history.

So the 2 best teams left in the CL got eliminated yesterday. Could we actually win a third CL in a row? This is stupid lol.

The only team left now that I’d even be slightly worried about is Liverpool, and maaaaybe Bayern, but not really.

And of course we could still go out to Juve or whomever we play next

My only worry is CR getting injured or suspended. Either of those and we would lose to the sisters of mercy.

yeah cristiano is carrying a lot of dead weight right now, its why i wanted him rested for atleti, we understood the issues on offense but when keylor feels his goalkeeping gloves with butter, coupled with our defense.....honestly its amazing we've won back to back ucl's when one thinks of it

I don't know how he does it

We should have been manita'd today

This need bumping.

I mean, we made an average Bayern Munich look slightly better than us. What the hell was that defense, attack non existent, midfield works because of the players skills. Defending on wings have turned calamity.

True, the team was set up horribly and it was obvious they didn't have any instruction but to be fair we did enough to get by. We have 2 away goals and a 1 goal lead over Bayern Munich.

Any other team in the world takes that no questions asked. And if were honest, I bet all of us would have taken that result before hand without knowing how it played out.


That is a victory in my book. If it comes back to bite us in the second leg, then so be it, but getting to the final is the only thing that matters to me.

Relax, we not only won the away game, we have 2 goals away! No matter how the play appeared, the finale is all but guaranteed. Only problem with Zidane geeting 3 CLs in a row (and 4th in 5 years) is we’ll never hear the end of Sports’ rants about his countryman!

The "Luckiest in world football" part made me giggle. I honestly thought that notion or talking point was made up by someone on this forum, although I suppose it appropriately describes the ridiculous, unmatched fortunes we've been blessed with, both domestically and in Europe, over the past 3 seasons. Without exaggeration, I thought we were playing on a lower level than my local team, back when the likes of Morata and Ramos were making sure we avoided losses by scoring late goals. As a fan, I thought that was a an indescribably frustrating time to watch the team play, but it will be recorded in history as an unbeaten streak that lead to record-breaking success both domestically and in Europe. At the time, our only strong point was our ability to score late, clutch goals, coupled with opponent team's inability to capitalize on their obvious momentum. Fair enough. What isn't fair, though, is our disproportionate amount of luck leading up to our success under Zidane.

I know this topic is beaten to death, and I'll avoid bringing it up again, but I don't think anyone will ever be able to recreate such an exceptional ability to consistently, almost nonchalantly stroll through adversity and ultimately come out on top. I'll never forget when teams like, Villareal, Malaga and Sporting Gijon were schooling us every week, until we "reliably" snatched a late goal and won with our heads looking down. Ultimately, those performances made sure we stayed in the race and left a much better impression during the latter half of the league season. I think the bottom level of our football has improved substantially since then. The inavaluable element of fortune certainly hasn't been as present in the league this season, not even close, but I still get the sense that even if we're the inferior team on the pitch, it's not unreasonable to expect that the other team will all pass out from heat exhaustion, or something. I don't believe for a second that referees are intentionally favoring us. However, no one ever talks about the ghost on our team that works tirelessly on altering the mental state of our opposing players, causing them to do all kinds of stupid crap This really is an odd time in the history of the club, but I suppose the only sensible option is to be happy with how things are going.

futbol_bill wrote:Relax, we not only won the away game, we have 2 goals away! No matter how the play appeared, the finale is all but guaranteed. Only problem with Zidane geeting 3 CLs in a row (and 4th in 5 years) is we’ll never hear the end of Sports’ rants about his countryman!

that's not a bad thing, he would have earned the right to rant considering he has been hyping zidane up for management way back when carlo was our coach....and considering none of these so called hipster "tacticians" that folks like to brag about have made 3 ucl finals in a row

and as a madrid fan we should care more about winning that title than the banter between each other. i may not like benzema or bale, but i'd be super happy if they or anyone on our team for that matter grabbed the winning goal cos it means another ucl title......doesn't mean we won't still do transfer business in the summer; but for now its title over everything

You’re trying to tell me, a fan for over 60 years and a socio how I should react!

Honestly, does style really matter? worst fooballing side made 3 cl finals in a row. I have seen good footballing sides get knocked out simply for the fact that despite playing good football, ultimately they weren't good enough to ein or progress.

is looking good as good as getting results? I prefer the latter.
not that we don't try, but getting results should remain top priority.

you dont win titles looking good on the pitch. we aint in a beauty competition.you win by getting results.

style should be a tertiary concern.

titosantill wrote:and as a madrid fan we should care more about winning that title than the banter between each other. i may not like benzema or bale, but i'd be super happy if they or anyone on our team for that matter grabbed the winning goal cos it means another ucl title......doesn't mean we won't still do transfer business in the summer; but for now its title over everything

btw....in my history zidane's real madrid is the only real madrid side i've seen win 3 straight UCL's

thats just because you probably wasnt alive to see di stefano madrid lol.

but i do agree. All the hipsters and frauds in the world but one man has rose above such nonsense and his name is Zidane.

May Zidane rule Real madrid for years to come.

Whether one likes it or not, Zidane is definitely gonna be hear for the foreseeable future. So as much I would bitch and moan and definitely say at some point Zidane can hit the road, Zidane has definitely become one of the club's greatest managers and I honestly love nothing better.

Can't wait to lose faith in him to see him actually win in the end. Never a dull moment.

Big question... is his combined career greater than Cruyff's now (player + manager)?

To me, undoubtedly.  He's just so quiet and humble about it that you tend to underestimate him.

I also feel that he's meant as much to Madrid's history as Cruyff for Barca.

Is he going to surpass Di Stefano in Real Madrid lore?

Gonna be honest, before his managerial career at Madrid, Zidane was just one of the legends at the club. Winning 3 CL in a row definitely has made him as mythical as Miguel Muñoz, maybe even more. That being said, Old Man Johan literally changed Barcelona. Like, everything changed. How they played, how the signed players, how they coach, everything. He is as important to Barcelona's success as Messi. I don't know if I can say the same for Zidane.

I do agree Zidane probably has reached Di Stefano status after today.

i don't know about reaching di stefano status. the club is at the level it is now primarily to di stefano, and that's not a knock to zidane cristiano et al. its like i'm not going to all of a sudden say florentino is above don santiago, even if the club has made more $ with flo, and even though he's 1 ucl short of don santiago, No. the people who started this project can't be pushed to second place just like that

Well, I didn't exactly push Di Stefano to 2nd place but Zidane's reputation probably is as high as Di Stefano or the very least not too far off. I'm still of the real opinion Di Stefano is still the most important player this club ever had. Like old man Johan (the manager) for Barcelona, it changed the fortunes of the club to level we have been experiencing.

Zidane's impact in terms of stability can't be understated either.  If it was any other person, he would have been fired mid-season, had a spat with players or the media would have destroyed him....  but because it's Zidane, Real Madrid and the media have taken on his personality interestingly.  There's patience there and a sense that everyone is working truly together.

For the first time in my lifetime, Real Madrid appear calm and serene.