Schuster Deems Liverpool "Ugly To Play"

During an interview today, Real Madrid coach Bernd Schuster looked ahead to Real Madrid's possible Champions League opponents. The German manager deemed AC Milan a real threat, as well as "ugly" Liverpool...

In today's interview with AS, Real Madrid coach Bernd Schuster held court on Europe's top clubs, describing the Merengues' fellow-travelers in the Champions League.

He had praise for Milan, Chelsea, Manchester United, and Sevilla - but little for the likes of Inter, Barcelona and, particularly, Liverpool.

The new Bernaneu boss said, "AC Milan are the favourites. Right now they’re the only team capable of beating Sevilla, as they did in the Super Cup.

"They have been playing together two years and that is noteworthy. Milan is never tired of winning titles, like a good team they repeat and repeat.

He went on to say, "Liverpool is not so attractive in its game; it is an ugly team to play, hard and difficult. It is not necessary to remind people how tough they made it for Barcelona last season."

"If I had to combine the strengths of two great teams in the world, I would take the attack of Manchester United and the defence of Chelsea. The aggression of Sevilla also interests me," he concluded.

Of course, something may be lost in the translation, but it's not the first time that a footballing figure has criticised Liverpool's style. In this context, though, it seemed to be grudingly respectful.

Indeed, the Liverpool style pays dividends, particularly in Spain. The Reds eliminated Barcelona from Europe's premier competition last season.

http://goal.com/en/Articolo.aspx?ContenutoId=404142

Wouldn't say Milan are the only team capable of beating Sevilla, although Sevilla are now supposedly the 'best club in the world'.

Sevilla FC has been named as the best team in the world for 12 consecutive months by the Club World Ranking committee. It is a truely magnificent achievement which surpasses Roma´s standing in 1991, who held the title for 11 months. Sevilla FC maintain the lead with 303 points, 12 more than Chelsea, who is second with 21 points. Santos of Brazil is now third.

Sevilla are overrated. Puerta was a big player from them too, and a better FB than the overhyped Alvez. IMO they will do little of note in the CL. Will make the last 16, and get knocked out.

I am also on the Sevilla-have-peaked bandwagon. Just can't see them maintaining the momentum of the last 2 years, and of course now they have to cope with a much higher level in the CL rather than the UEFA.

i again agree, cant see sevilla doing as well as they have in the past couple years. as well as kanoute i dont see him being as prolific

The new Bernaneu boss said, "AC Milan are the favourites. Right now they’re the only team capable of beating Sevilla, as they did in the Super Cup




Are all germans crazy or is it just bernt, jens, otto, deisler and hitler ???

What have Sevilla done to justify this hype? They've won the UEFA cup two times in a row. Big deal. Plus, I remember watching them against Spurs last season and thinking: "they're not actually that good".

They have managed to be a top side and sell lots of their key players, year after year

Mexicanbecks wrote:They have managed to be a top side and sell lots of their key players, year after year

they couldn't win a la liga that all the top sides tried to hand them on a plate yet bernt says only milan can beat them

is he just completely lost in translation or something ??


with regards to the comments about liverpool. well ill translate ugly for him as - 'forces the other team to look $h!t' which we did to pretty much all opponents in europe last season, including the wonderful milan

Mexicanbecks wrote:They have managed to be a top side and sell lots of their key players, year after year

Well, bear in mind I am not saying they are not a good side, but they can surely not even be considered the best team in Spain at the moment.

COTR wrote:

Mexicanbecks wrote:They have managed to be a top side and sell lots of their key players, year after year

they couldn't win a la liga that all the top sides tried to hand them on a plate yet bernt says only milan can beat them

is he just completely lost in translation or something ??


with regards to the comments about liverpool. well ill translate ugly for him as - 'forces the other team to look $h!t' which we did to pretty much all opponents in europe last season, including the wonderful milan

Not really

kas wrote:

COTR wrote:

Mexicanbecks wrote:They have managed to be a top side and sell lots of their key players, year after year

they couldn't win a la liga that all the top sides tried to hand them on a plate yet bernt says only milan can beat them

is he just completely lost in translation or something ??


with regards to the comments about liverpool. well ill translate ugly for him as - 'forces the other team to look $h!t' which we did to pretty much all opponents in europe last season, including the wonderful milan

Not really

you thought milan looked good against us ???

a deflected free kick with about their only shot of the first half and a breakaway goal late in the game when we had two defenders

if anything they were the ugly team in that game

"ugly team to play" does not equal "ugly team". Even translated, that should be obvious.

And Liverpool are 'ugly' (or rather tough) to play against.

He mentions Barcelona as an example for that. How the author of the article sees that as a negative comment against both, Barça and Liverpool, is beyond me.

COTR wrote:
Are all germans crazy or is it just bernt, jens, otto, deisler and hitler ???

Hitler wasn't German. Like Klose and Podolski

S4P wrote:

COTR wrote:
Are all germans crazy or is it just bernt, jens, otto, deisler and hitler ???

Hitler wasn't German. Like Klose and Podolski

very good point

but the rest most definitely are

Schuster > *

He was an artist as a player, can't expect him to prefer mashed potatoes to haute cuisine.

How good was Schuster never seen him play , just one or two highlights on Real Madrid TV , my Father who did see him play said only good things ..

Raifael wrote:How good was Schuster never seen him play , just one or two highlights on Real Madrid TV , my Father who did see him play said only good things ..

Potentially, the best German midfielder ever, no exaggeration. The best German player of his generation for sure (this includes Matthäus).

He resigned from the Mannschaft way too soon (at the age of 24), after he had won the EC in 1980 with them, the best player of the tournament at the age of 20 (he missed the 1982 WC because he was injured). His idiotic wife was to blame foremost.

He is a legend in Spain.

I always thought Matthäus was the best German player of the 80's and early 90's .. but then what do i know , Schuster left Barcelona the summer Cruyff took over , you said before that Cruyff was to blame for him leaving ?

No, I didn't say that, because I don't know for sure. But it wouldn't surprise me at least.

Matthäus is an all time great, and he was the most important German player of the 1980s and 1990s. But talent wise, Schuster was the best midfielder we had during that era, he could have reached Beckenbauer status if he had played more matches for die Mannschaft, that I'm sure of.

And with him, we probably would have won one of the WC finals, 1982 and 1986, at least. Speculation maybe, but it still hurts in retrospect not to have seen him play in a WC.

Scholl is a simlar case, albeit on a much lesser scale.

Schuster leaving had nothing to do with Cruyff. He was on uneasy terms with Venables and the club, mainly due to his model wife causing disruption at the club with rude comments and strange behaviour, and also starting to lose faith in Venables' project and his sense of importance to the team. In the '86 European Cup final, Venables was unhappy with his performance and subbed him off before the end of the game...Schuster did an "Etoo" and left the stadium.

During the summer, club president banned Schuster from entering the Camp Nou grounds for his disrespect to the team, and Schuster began legal action for unfair dismissal. That was the point of no return and he then joined Madrid.


(summarised from Jimmy Burns' book Barça - A People's Passion)

Sometimes he seems like a wise fella this guy, but at other times he says some mad things.
But his views on Liverpool indeed correct, not quite as good as the guy who came out with the $h!t on a stick stuff.

But you cannot put man utds attack with Chelsea's defence. The whole reason the Chelsea defence is as good as it is, is because the midfield is designed to protect them rather than create.

Very true.

If you put Scholes and Carrick in the Chelsea team they would create more but may concede more.

If you put Essien and Mikel in our team the opposite would probably happen.

L.r.d wrote:Sometimes he seems like a wise fella this guy, but at other times he says some mad things.
But his views on Liverpool indeed correct, not quite as good as the guy who came out with the $h!t on a stick stuff.

But you cannot put man utds attack with Chelsea's defence. The whole reason the Chelsea defence is as good as it is, is because the midfield is designed to protect them rather than create.

What he said is that liverpool are ugly to play against which like COTR said means that they make other teams look worse or are hard to play against.

It was Valdano who made those $h!t on a stick comments and he is a legend:Ale:

blutgraetsche wrote:No, I didn't say that, because I don't know for sure. But it wouldn't surprise me at least.

Matthäus is an all time great, and he was the most important German player of the 1980s and 1990s. But talent wise, Schuster was the best midfielder we had during that era, he could have reached Beckenbauer status if he had played more matches for die Mannschaft, that I'm sure of.

And with him, we probably would have won one of the WC finals, 1982 and 1986, at least. Speculation maybe, but it still hurts in retrospect not to have seen him play in a WC.

Scholl is a simlar case, albeit on a much lesser scale.

Schuster and Scholl are indeed my two favourite German players of days gone bye

Vision, creativity, talent and character....so un-German

I'm counting on Trochowski to become the next in that line

Trochowski? He was a huge talent as a kid, but unfortunately, has rather stagnated in Hamburg in the last few years. I'm not sure if he'll ever make it to the top, to be honest with you.

Hope Kroos and Marin (Ben-Hatira, Özil, you name them) will have a different fate. Especially the former are ridiculously talented, probably the greatest talents we had since Schuster / Matthäus for the midfield (not counting Deisler).

I liked Scholl a lot, at a time when German players werent very liekable. Reminded me of the great Teddy Sheringham in many ways- creative, played long into his career, under appreciated, elegan etc.

blutgraetsche wrote:Trochowski? He was a huge talent as a kid, but unfortunately, has rather stagnated in Hamburg in the last few years. I'm not sure if he'll ever make it to the top, to be honest with you.

I've said it before : either he or VDV needs to leave HSV.

It's madness to have those two gifted players at the same club

Would you want him at Werder while you have Diego ? That would be the same problem...

It's one of the (many) reasons VDV had to leave Ajax btw : he and Sneijder are like Lampard & Gerard at the same club. You can play one or the other....not both.

blutgraetsche wrote:
Hope Kroos and Marin (Ben-Hatira, Özil, you name them) will have a different fate. Especially the former are ridiculously talented, probably the greatest talents we had since Schuster / Matthäus for the midfield (not counting Deisler).

Never heard of those guys, do they play in the Bundesliga (and if so, why haven't they caught my attention) ?

COTR wrote:with regards to the comments about liverpool. well ill translate ugly for him as - 'forces the other team to look $h!t' which we did to pretty much all opponents in europe last season, including the wonderful milan

cotr = ugly to watch more interested on negating the opponents than trying to be offensive it's sh¡te to watch end of.

Ungarn Uber Alles wrote:I liked Scholl a lot, at a time when German players werent very liekable. Reminded me of the great Teddy Sheringham in many ways- creative, played long into his career, under appreciated, elegan etc.

Elegant indeed : Scholl to me is elegance, brains & vision combined with a German work ethos.

Schuster was one of the ultimate flair players, he reminds me of Cantona