Barcelona vs Man United

Rijkaard was an excellent defensive midfielder

I think it was him who assisted Kluivert to win the 1995 European Cup final

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Srt8Q11NWsI

Hopefully Thierry will make the game a little more interesting for the Arsenal fans and will step on Gary Neville's bollocks. Would almost make it as good being in the semi's.

The-Frank-Tavern wrote:dangerous words lrd that could come back to haunt you, they are shite tbh BUT messi looked at it last night, he could have a field day with wes

wELL Messi will be against Evra not Wes! thank goodness. Evra will never change he will still make those long runs. So really it's the job of the dm to keep an eye on Messi. This will actually be a big factor because we saw with Eboue he got far to much space on the right when Evra broke forward. But then again Barca are not as quick on the counter like Arsenal.

Messi could well have good performances. But im sure Ronaldo will do everything in these two matches. Believe me he's been saving himself for this semi final

L r d wrote:

The-Frank-Tavern wrote:dangerous words lrd that could come back to haunt you, they are shite tbh BUT messi looked at it last night, he could have a field day with wes

wELL Messi will be against Evra not Wes! thank goodness. Evra will never change he will still make those long runs. So really it's the job of the dm to keep an eye on Messi. This will actually be a big factor because we saw with Eboue he got far to much space on the right when Evra broke forward. But then again Barca are not as quick on the counter like Arsenal.

Messi could well have good performances. But im sure Ronaldo will do everything in these two matches. Believe me he's been saving himself for this semi final

knew you'd say that, IF you were rijkaard wouldn't you switch his flank cos i certainly would, if frank doesn't play messi against wes he needs locking up tbh.

Messi can give any fullback a problem. Whichever flank he's on, the key will be how well the covering DM (Carrick or Hargreaves) does in helping his fullback but also watching any midfield runners.

The-Frank-Tavern wrote:

L r d wrote:

The-Frank-Tavern wrote:dangerous words lrd that could come back to haunt you, they are shite tbh BUT messi looked at it last night, he could have a field day with wes

wELL Messi will be against Evra not Wes! thank goodness. Evra will never change he will still make those long runs. So really it's the job of the dm to keep an eye on Messi. This will actually be a big factor because we saw with Eboue he got far to much space on the right when Evra broke forward. But then again Barca are not as quick on the counter like Arsenal.

Messi could well have good performances. But im sure Ronaldo will do everything in these two matches. Believe me he's been saving himself for this semi final

knew you'd say that, IF you were rijkaard wouldn't you switch his flank cos i certainly would, if frank doesn't play messi against wes he needs locking up tbh.

So who would they play on the right then?

Bojan? Henry? Giovanni?

think Bojan is most likely to play. even if messi starts right side, i can see a lot of interchange of position between the three front players. he's actually used eto'o as one of the wide players in the past with ronnie through the middle, he could do that again with bojan through the middle. eto'o normally works v hard so he'll offer a threat going forward v evra and defend his forward runs. pretty sure they'll rightly see wes as the weak link so will try and concentrate on this and get him two on one as often as possible

Eto'o and Messi would really pin our full backs. Could be a good tactic.

I'd love to have a fit Gary Neville in a game like this.

The-Frank-Tavern wrote:think Bojan is most likely to play. even if messi starts right side, i can see a lot of interchange of position between the three front players. he's actually used eto'o as one of the wide players in the past with ronnie through the middle, he could do that again with bojan through the middle. eto'o normally works v hard so he'll offer a threat going forward v evra and defend his forward runs. pretty sure they'll rightly see wes as the weak link so will try and concentrate on this and get him two on one as often as possible

I'm not convinced by the bojan hype and eto is a better CF than him

..........toure
...xavi.........ini
messi............henry
...........eto


*assuming all these players are available

cotr re: Henry your basing that on what he did for arsenal though NOT is efforts (or lack of) for Barça. and whilst i do think Bojan still has a lot to prove, my comments are based on what the likely players are NOT what i think. it seems from what i've read and heard that Bojan is much more likely to start than any of the other options.

Bojan is Barças most consistent and dangerous performer in recent weeks Rijkaard should start him

The-Frank-Tavern wrote:cotr re: Henry your basing that on what he did for arsenal though NOT is efforts (or lack of) for Barça. and whilst i do think Bojan still has a lot to prove, my comments are based on what the likely players are NOT what i think. it seems from what i've read and heard that Bojan is much more likely to start than any of the other options.

Hardly. The CL matches I have watched barca in, henry has played well. Plus the shape will be better with the lineup I want.

It will be a big show of confidence in bojan to start him in this game

Would also like to see Etoo on the left and Bojan through the middle, but unfortunately I'm not expecting Bojan to start, unless Henry really had a "fever" on Saturday and has not yet recovered.

The other side of it is - I'd be a lot more confident bringing Bojan off the bench to get a goal, rather than bringing Henry on.

And there's a brief suggestion in one of the papers that Deco may even start. Not sure what that would mean for the lineup, perhaps Iniesta at LW.

surely deco would have had some playing time on saturday if he's going to play. similarly if henry has been ill he wont be 100% for this match either and its too big to be taking risks such as that on wednesday.

Could you try a bigger avatar CotR?

what's gwanon with Henry? I've barely seen him this season but when I have he hasn't been awful. Is he unfit, played out of position or just gone?

Parks lives wrote:Could you try a bigger avatar CotR?

I'm sure I can

Who do you want spank ?

Parks lives wrote:Could you try a bigger avatar CotR?

this one's bigger and better

The-Frank-Tavern wrote:surely deco would have had some playing time on saturday if he's going to play. similarly if henry has been ill he wont be 100% for this match either and its too big to be taking risks such as that on wednesday.

If it was only a fever then he could have easily recovered. I doubt anything was wrong with him though, maybe that back problem is playing up again and Rijkaard knew he could only play him once a week.

Deco not coming on is understandable because it was more crucial for Marquez to get minutes, and Iniesta/Messi just had to come on to try and win the actual game going on rather than everything being with Wed's match in mind.

Glenn Hysén wrote:what's gwanon with Henry? I've barely seen him this season but when I have he hasn't been awful. Is he unfit, played out of position or just gone?

When he's played he's mostly been fit, but the real issue is he hasn't fully adapted to the team. It's not just a "played out of position" scenario, the main thing is he isn't understanding the passing combinations and/or when to make runs, and where.

The injuries to Etoo/Messi/Ronaldinho have meant a lot of forced rotation among our forward line, so that hasn't helped him because ideally you want to give a new signing some sub appearances and low key matches, not put him straight in the starting 11 and ask him to deliver, as has happened with Henry.

Plus I think his off-pitch issues with his divorce, daughter, etc. are a big factor.

The fact that Henry has been upstaged by a 17yr old says a lot, a front line of Messi, Eto’o & Bojan is as dangerous Barça can get.

Well to be fair this isn't just any 17 year old we're talking about

Barça contra Manchester, Messi contra Cristiano Ronaldo, Balón de Bronce contra Balón de Plata, 20 años contra 23. Uno significa la esperanza, el otro es la guinda.

Así se plantea la semifinal estrella de la Champions League. Dos colosos del fútbol mundial llegarán al Camp Nou a la gran cita del miércoles en situación completamente distinta.

El Barça ha tirado ya la Liga, la Copa y se ha dejado una ristra de cracks ilusionantes por el camino. El Manchester aspira al doblete Liga-Copa de Europa con Cristiano Ronaldo de pieza de lujo en un engranaje de lujo en el que todos trabajan en una misma dirección.

No sólo es curioso, es incluso paradójico: en agosto cualquiera hubiera apostado a que esa descripción encajaba perfectamente en el perfil de un equipo con Ronaldinho, Henry, Eto'o, Deco y Messi en su plantel. A la hora de la verdad, este Barça se aferra a un único jugador, aunque sea un jugador que acaba de salir de una lesión, para soñar con la final de Moscú.

Ahora llega la auténtica batalla, no la virtual. Hay una Copa de Europa en juego y quien sabe si el próximo Balón de oro, que ya muchos anticipan para Cristiano Ronaldo. Pero incluso ante Cristiano Ronaldo, Messi es mucho Messi. ¡Cómetelo Leo!
===================

Nice duel, I think that who wins this game wins the next Golden Ball

So if Barca wins and Messi contributes nothing, he'll still win the Golden Ball?

Sounds about right.

Markus wrote:The fact that Henry has been upstaged by a 17yr old says a lot,

Crouching Tiger?

Parks lives wrote:So if Barca wins and Messi contributes nothing, he'll still win the Golden Ball?

Sounds about right.

Nahh, I dont really beleive it. Only if he set the world on fire in the second semester. He is always injured and I do think that people started to notice that. I ean did he ever finished an entire season?

Call me crazy but, I think that missing so many games helps him to be fresh and not tired at the end of the season. Ask Tevez when ws the last time he had a football break

Ronaldo comes from Portugal's equivelent of the Channel Islands. We can't have someone from Guernsey winning WPOTY ffs

Glenn Hysén wrote:Ronaldo comes from Portugal's equivelent of the Channel Islands. We can't have someone from Guernsey winning WPOTY ffs

And Messi comes from beverly hills?

I read an interview with Ronaldo in some paper this morning. Apparently he promised his father before he died that he would be the best player in the world one day.

L r d wrote:

Glenn Hysén wrote:Ronaldo comes from Portugal's equivelent of the Channel Islands. We can't have someone from Guernsey winning WPOTY ffs

And Messi comes from beverly hills?

I read an interview with Ronaldo in some paper this morning. Apparently he promised his father before he died that he would be the best player in the world one day.

Errr, British boy may I inform you, that Argentina in Football Land is quite an Elite country; they gave many stars for this sport. But of course that Gleen point has absolutely no sense whatsoever; he is just trying to take the piss out of Ronaldo