Neymar tries Isco Busquets: La Liga 13/14

http://i.imgur.com/xscErOM.jpg?1

http://i.imgur.com/5tTSiqE.jpg?1

http://i.imgur.com/vbJtHzR.jpg?1

http://i.imgur.com/pGQuupT.jpg?1

Barca 6-0 up against Levante. It's not even half time yet...

Ronaldo hits himself in the face with an overhead kick, league is over.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7DbXQ6xc_Pg

G
25 Diego Lopez

D
3 Pepe

D
4 Sergio Ramos

D
12 Marcelo

D
17 Álvaro Arbeloa

M
7 Cristiano Ronaldo

M
10 Mesut Özil

M
19 Luka Modric

M
22 Ángel Di María

M
23 Isco

F
9 Karim Benzema

2nd leg of SuperCup right now. Messi and Neymar both start, also Cesc instead of Iniesta. Diego Costa gonna get a chance on the counter before too long.

This ref is useless.

Valdes with stupendous save from Turan.

arda and villa are their only fitba players

baptistao maybe

they're a very impressive side but not one i want to watch too often

Commentator compares Barca to the Harlem Globetrotters and then says there is no basketball player in the world who is as good at basketball as Messi is at football. Lebron James may disagree.

lebron is more like what c ronaldo would be if messi never existed

XP
Yeah they're brutal to watch but looking v comfortable in this game so far.

Is Bale Russell Westbrook?

i dunno, what would the nba equivalent of the best kicknrush player in the world be?

also would have to be good at ~clutch~ three pointers

sometimes alexis just seems like a moron

god another one

neymar and messi starting vs valencia

messi scored three, two of them excellent, in about 20 minutes, then postiga scored two including one excellent scissorkick

still 40mins left

http://i.imgur.com/SRTWP1B.jpg

The Real Madrid coach driver was revving the engine out on Calle Blasco Ibáñez when, well after midnight on Saturday, the man formerly known as the most expensive footballer in the world strode through a heaving mixed zone in El Madrigal. "All right mate," offered Cristiano Ronaldo with a comically broad Oasis lilt as he spied a familiar face from the Manchester press pack amid the huddle at the end of the line. "Don't worry, he's just coming through." And, as the Portuguese departed stage left to put the finishing touches on a new contract back at the Bernabéu, Gareth Bale duly emerged from the changing rooms to walk, head bowed and eyes fixed on the floor, through the throng and away.

neymar tello and alexis must be just about the fastest front three assembled
not the most intelligent though, on account of the latter two

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TrhM8Dfbc1E

Spanish La Liga Primera Best In Comunidad Valenciana Betting Odds

Villarreal 4/6
Valencia 11/8

Bale is not expected to play much more than an hour but Ancelotti is considering a three-man attack of Bale, Cristiano Ronaldo and Angel Di María, with Karim Benzema beginning on the bench.

01 Valdés
22 Dani Alves
21 Adriano
16 Busquets
03 Piqué
14 Mascherano
06 Xavi
08 Iniesta
04 Fábregas
10 Messi
11 Neymar

25 López
15 Carvajal
12 Marcelo
03 Pepe
02 Varane
04 Ramos
06 Khedira
19 Modric
07 Ronaldo
22 Di María
11 Bale

that looks like pepe being played in the midfield destroyed role mourinho used him in during a couple of barcelona games?
unlike then they have modric to break / conjoin the lines between the goons and the attackers
slightly surprised carvajal is being played vs neymar
ronaldo supposedly hates being played as #9
di maria has been in good form

bulking the midfield with fabregas maybe more tolerable now they have a threatening wide player in neymar
valdes has been in good form but that defence has not adjusted well to the lower possession they have this season
messi has been out with an injury but after doing nothing in half an hour vs osasuna last week, he scored vs milan

midfield destroyer, though destroyed is probably correct too

neymar 1-0 with a neat finish through the legs

bale is playing centrally

messi chasing down fullbacks in classicos is going to cause tata some problems

that was an interesting but not brilliant first half

barcelona's frontline looks more fluid with messi reduced to closer to parity wrt cesc and neymar, mostly playing rightish almost in a sort of 442 without wingers, the magic diamond in midfield and messi and neymar breaking off left and right

madrid look like the team harry redknapp would buy if the sun gave him €2bn to make his dream xi, a lot of paaar and pace, a lot of lads who will run through a brick wall for you and just a little bit of subtlety

even so they look dangerous enough in transitions just because they are so athletic, bale is erratic but at some point he will run at piqué and will manage not to shoot into the bleachers

lovely finish

whoever's commentating my stream just described Cron7 as being "like Mussolini at the balcony"

that'll be Ray Hudson

Aye, that's the chap. Waddellish.

Good breakaway goal makes it 2-1. Barca wide open, dunno wtf they are doing committing so many forward at 89 minutes and 2-0.

whoever's commentating my stream just described Cron7 as being "like Mussolini at the balcony"

― grown-arsed man (onimo), Saturday, 26 October 2013 18:38 (34 minutes ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

that'll be Ray Hudson

― Number None, Saturday, 26 October 2013 18:38 (33 minutes ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

lawl

that second half was excellent

the alexis substitution was ambitious because if tata wanted to go to a more orthodox 433, pedro is the more disciplined and reliable player

then that beatiful finish....

altogether tata can be fairly pleased with that, even if he got lucky with the ronaldo (non)penalty incident, mascherano does something like that every game

ancelotti did alright, no glaring errors except maybe arbeloa would have been better than carvajal, or better play ramos there and then let illaramendi play from the beginning

bale wasn't great but it would be fair to expect much more with his mismanaged muscular injury and lack of pre-season, the madrid press will be shitting on him

it's incredible madrid spent all that money and still they're playing fat benzema. sanchez goal was sublime. better than sturridge even.

that shot that benzema hit against the crossbar was the best technique i have seen from him in months

he has been slow and shit for so long that playing bale vs a slowish barcelona central defence wasn't the worst idea, even if it was perez' rather than ancelotti's

c-ron seemed more pissy than usual when bale scored twice, one a very confident finish on the break and the other a fluke fk deflection

then he scores a penalty after isco is tripped outside the area and does the 'commandante' salute to blatter, looking pissier than ever

sebilla just sold theit two best players, this is how the primera works

3-2 and it's still the first half

Lol, Bale scores twice so CRon gets a hat-trick.

Currently 7-3. Wish I'd watched this instead of Hibs v Hearts then second half of Newcastle v City.

that was cool

bale looking quite at home, isco running things, ancelotti replaces his entire central midfield by the end, illara isco khedira > alonso modric and.....di maria

rakitic goal was the best and he will be going for > €20m by the summer, would be more if had a longer contract

real madrid vs real sociedad 3pm, modric ronaldo bale benzema vs vela and griezmann

possibly some others playing too

if their performances in the CL are any indication Real should absolutely pummel them

this is still one of the toughest third or so of home games for madrid

sevilla scored three at the bernabeu the other week

jesus fucking christ canal+ es has a grizzled looking bawbag exactly replicating raimondo in the bet365 adverts

4-0 already, real sociedad's best player of last season a £30m subsitutue for real madrid

they urgently need to collectivize the tv deals

that was ronaldo's 23rd hatrick for real!

https://twitter.com/MrAncelotti/status/378128101999259648

Barca lose to athletic, iker muniain with a late goal.

Very strong Barca side currently 1-0 down to Cartagena in the cup.

getafe 2 barcelona 0 before 15mins

pinto still one of my least favourite players

2-2 now.

hattrick for pedro

Di María crotch-grab to be investigated by Real Madrid

http://www.ft.com/cms/s/2/7e89c58e-7e45-11e3-b409-00144feabdc0.html

gr8 interview. dude is a dude

most players don’t need to be motivated. They need to be calmed down.

i like at the end where they get some former lackey to translate carlo being a nice bloke into bitesize systematic mngmnt speak

lol i missed the end bit. Just read it now. Lol again.

https://vine.co/u/952628179821047808

betis goalie's having a nice afternoon

helluva cr7 cunting there

ESPN FC ‏@ESPNFC 5m

BREAKING: Racing Santander line up on the centre circle in the Copa del Rey game vs. Real Sociedad after not being paid for months.

ESPN FC ‏@ESPNFC 4m

The referee has blown the whistle and the game has been called off... Incredible scenes. The match has been suspended.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KTLlt83xmX8

barca penalty a total cunt's call

but the second valencia goal idk idk i mean how much would you have to bribe two barcelona players to throw a match cos

http://i.imgur.com/O2V1jJg.jpg?1

http://f1.thejournal.ie/media/2014/02/messi-rugby-tackle.gif

subtle.

# Team Pl W D L F A Pts GD
1 Barcelona 23 18 3 2 63 17 57 46
2 Real Madrid 23 18 3 2 65 24 57 41
3 Atletico Madrid 23 18 3 2 56 16 57 40

How's do maria been doing in central midfield?

Ooh benzema goal

shit goal

atletico fucked up by trying to win the copa del rey when they have a small squad for cl & league challenge

di maría has been good by all accounts, keeping early season fan favourite isco out of the team

that little tattoo under ramos' ear is helping me learn to hate him all over again

not as much as diego costa though

Trying to get his new national teammate casillas back in the real team by killing lopez

very good game

SUCH a good game

notice how bale is slightly estranged from the rest of the teams during the 20 man stramashes that occur every few minutes

maybe a game where khedira would have helped

classic Pepe

https://vine.co/v/MKl0mB3arwX

had to go offline, but yeah good game until atletico shelled to try to keep the win

costa should have had 2 pens minimum

http://i.imgur.com/wd97rqd.jpg

Barca lose again.

http://www.marca.com/2014/03/05/en/football/spanish_football/1394020307.html

http://i.imgur.com/AcE9F8K.jpg

Illarramendi: "There is a disciplinary code so players avoid doing anything dangerous. It's the first time I've seen a player run with bulls. He has apologised and I don't think he'll do it again".

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=31XjJjdZb-w

messi breaks paulino alcantara's barcelona goals record and is warming up nicely for the season finale and world cup
the lightning fast but slightly dumb tello scores with an impressive finish
osasuna's flueorescent tabard-like strip enhances the training session ambience

Kinda assumed (without watching much) that La Liga was broken, but 3 teams in CL quarters and 2 teams in EL quarters ain't too shabby.

Really need Barca to win tmrw for maximum interest in the run-in. Would leave RM behind in the head-to-head vs both Barca and Atleti.

this is another ridiculous game

neymar diving again

surely the worst game to referee

yeah

ronaldo pk was outside the area so it sort of evens out the iniesta one

the weight on the pass to neymar for the first barcelona penalty was exquisite, ronaldo has been better for the last year because of messi's injuries but the disparity in talent is the same, now he is playing slightly deeper and he is a better #10 than riquelme ever was

if they play two of pedro neymar and alexis, it is a 4-3-1-2 during significant phases in the game and messi's vision, close control and weight of pass is emphasized (not that this is anything he wasn't capable of in prior seasons)

it takes a special kind of pedant and fitba illiterate to think ronaldo's physicality and directness makes him nearly as dangerous as messi

also good work to whoever at the liga bbva found mikhail kalatozov to do the tv direction

http://i.imgur.com/lOnaYI8.jpg

http://i.imgur.com/4KfBfkY.jpg

Real Madrid suffered another blow in the title race, falling to consecutive defeats as Carlos Bacca's double saw them lose 2-1 to Sevilla at Wednesday.

another one of colombia's half dozen or so talented centre forwards

valdes crocked, that's barca fucked.

significant problem in the champions league, in the league their run-in isn't that difficult apart from that final game

pinto is awful though, surely the worst second goalkeeper at a major team

kind of want atleti to win now. not quite a Montpelier situation,but the nearest to definite underdogs.

don't know what that last sentence was meant to be.nearest thing to an underdog winning la liga maybe

bilbao vs atleti 1-1 at 50 mins is worth watching

oh shi-

ah right, I thought Bilbao were in yellow. Confusing

barca betis 1-0 messi pk after alexis shows messi level close control and drops a leg

not hugely fond of 34 y/o xavi, messi and iniesta playing at home vs worst team in league before the cl qf

2-1, ruben castro takes advantage of typically risible adriano defending

messi still fucking playing at 70 mins

75 mins, granada 1 barca 0

only half watched about 20 mins of this but it's grim viewing from a barca pov

and so it finishes

barcelona didn't seem to lack 'passion' or whatever, they just couldn't get past a solid defensive line, liverpool's lightning fast on loan cb tiago illori was creditable and the cameroonian rb nyom whom was brilliant, locked down the right side of defence and at 6'2 nearly outpaced jordi alba over a short sprint, which virtually never happens

everything with barcelona is as cristiano ronaldo used to say, 'polemic' and happens against the backdrop of idiot entitled fans and emotionally incontinent sports-press but i'd like to exculpate

i) tata, who landed his first european job at the last minute and has been dignified and mostly competent

he was outwitted by simeone and he will probably narrowly lose la liga, but neither of those is a disgrace

ii) messi, who for the second year running was tasked with rescuing their entire season as soon as he came back, and who has done that until the last two games -- took them past manchester city, kept their faint hopes in la liga alive with a hat-trick at the bernabeu

no idea what happened to him lately, but he took them to a position they would not otherwise have got to

the whole club has been traduced by cunts and idiots, the rossell administration

i) alienated guardiola
ii) tried to neg messi
iii) humiliated the club with the corrupt neymar payments disaster
iv) mismanaged the squad renewal by (eg) failing to give thiago the contract he deserved and thereby let a gold plated successor to xavi leave for scarcely more than they wasted on the very clearly inadequate alex song
iv) may well have given them a two year transfer ban, and even if this is eventually defeated on appeal, they will have to plan for this summer on the presumption that it stands

they urgently need to get their shit together now

two /window/ transfer ban

gr8 posts. i shall add the simplistic & plebeian notion that should results now proceed as expected, we may be faced with real madrid needing a title-excluded barcelona to get a result against atletico on the last day, and the consequent pressure on barca to not play 11 teenagers

hopefully that doesn't happen

atleti would win the title on the penultimate game if they win the rest of them, though they have valencia away and a couple of other tricky games

if not and barca are out of it then they owe it to themselves & everyone else not to be cunts about it, no youth teamers and no transparently shitty play like gerrard's assist to drogba in may 2010

Be fair, that was the purest most genuine shittines on Gerrard's part.

everything with barcelona is as cristiano ronaldo used to say, 'polemic'

:)

Furious Barcelona fans surrounded the team's bus and hurled insults when the players arrived back at the Nou Camp following the 1-0 defeat at lowly Granada in La Liga.
Full story: Marca

Yeah have at them current champions who have had a rough year and could still win the league.

should buoy them up for the copa del rey final on weds

they ranted at messi for supposedly conserving his energy to prepare for the world cup, and racially abused neymar

you can be sure that football supporter logic also holds neymar personally responsible for the irregularities of his transfer, and for not being maradona in his first season in europe

great football players must hate the fans and their inchoerent 'passion', not that they have much to do with them but if messi finds himself approached by people in barca shirts what is he likely to think? fawning sycophancy, aggressive requests for autographs or pictures, unless he has one bad game played on the right wing for the first time in half a decade, in which case he is suddenly a traitor and a disgrace

in spain the worst tendencies of the very worst fans are given license by the general febrile and political atmosphere

spain is in a state of deep sociopolitical sickness yh

there is a terrible recession but catalunya and barcelona specifically are probably the worst affected areas of the country, which has intensified the secessionist movement because catalan nationalists take umbrage at subsidizing the rest of spain

it doesn't help that from laporta onwards they have fused the pseudo-collectivist ethnic pride thing with a parallel identity as unicef branded evangelists of the one and only right way to play football, and the mourinho era worsened the tensions between the teams

football supporters don't need any of this superstructural nonsense in order to be cunts though

/least/ affected

copa de ray final between you know who and you know who else at 830, please may tata obey reason and not play messi or neymar on the right

del

looking frwd to seeing a alex song/mascerano CB pairing tonight seeing as the rest of Barca's CB's are injured. Pedro better fucking start and maybe Alexis too.

Ho hum it's the team that played last Weds vs Atleti I think.

nothing but scorn for whichever wastemen bought alex song play in order to play at least some of the time at cb

he played there occasionally for arsenal only because he was the only other > 6' tall outfield player they had at the time but it was obvious that his best qualities were never defensive ones, even as a defensive midfielder his most obvious assets were more to do with his playmaking ability than conventional defensive skills

Only Barca would buy a DM that didn't like playing DM and wanted to play further frwd and turn him into a CB

they underestimated how good seydou keita was, if they wanted to buy a player to do replace everything he brought to the side then they needed to spend more than £15m, and they needed to buy a dedicated centre back as well rather than attempt to buy one good but not great player to do both

not hugely enthused with the prospect of another attempt to buy david luiz in the summer

barc bought a dungeon master?

thought that was offside? shit from pinto

is modric now better than the current versions of xavi and iniesta?

pinto is a disgrace

fulham can have david stockdale as a reserve goalkeeper, west ham have jussi jaaskelainen and barcelona have that shithead

iniesta left neymar right is sort of painful to watch

1-1

excellent header from bartra

HANDBAGS

The Welshman Abroad

that goal probably establishes him as a real madrid player

it's been quite noticeable this season how reticent the rest of the players (not just the queeny 'cr7') are when bale scores a goal, he is one of only three non-latin players in the squad in addition to whatever resentments his record fee created

it wasn't really refined but good technique and sangfroid in the penalty area aligned with lightning quickness makes him a great player, maybe not a €100m player but enough to show the fee had some basis in reality

the way that neymar shot bounced off the post and into the arms of casillas was comical

kinda hate neymar now. hope he has a shite world cup tbh.

a lot more criticism of messi (and to a lesser extent neymar) from the worthless fans

anything other than robotic brilliance every single week and these wastemen congregate at airports etc and harangue him as a parasite and freeloader

there is something seriously & grotesquely sick in the mind & heart of anyone other than lionel messi who wears a barcelona shirt with 'messi' on the back. it is this sickness you describe

still think tata has fucked up but trying to avoid making a decision out of which 2 to play from the iniesta/xavi/cesc trio. Trying to shoehorn iniesta in wide left and neymar wide right clearly hasn't worked yet stil he persists. Messi central, Neymar left, pedro or alexis right. busquets at the base then pick 2 of the others. Maybe barca would still have lost the last 3 games but i'm p sure they'd have played better at least.

cesc has worked at times as a pseudo forward who bulks out the midfield but neymar on the right and iniesta on the left is an almost moyesian level of deliberate self-limiting

i never thought barca needed him, i said here years ago that modric would have been a better choice, and thiago is as good a like-for-like successor to xavi as one could hope for but the next manager needs to work on a post-xavi barcelona with cesc, iniesta and busquets together

that means they will have to adapt to something less than a pure retention style, and i can see why tata as such a belated essential caretaker appointee doesn't want to try to upset the ship

yup letting tiago go thru not giving him the required number of starts last season is 1000x more damaging than anything tata has done this season.

when you add in the neymar transfer shenanigans then you have the 2 most crippling blows to Barca's season. Kinda think they'll let tata go and try to consign this season's probable failure to his door.

thiago

tata is gone, rumours months ago that he didn't like the goldfish bowl lunacy of barcelona and would leave anyway

lot of shit about klopp in the barca press but i) did they read his comments the barcelona style (he would rather watch tennis) and ii) he doesn't seem any more likely to desert his self-made project than wenger was in the mid 2000s when he was linked constantly with madrid and barcelona

valverde is a possibility

http://www.marca.com/2014/04/17/en/football/barcelona/1397732354.html

lol

http://www.marca.com/2014/04/24/en/football/barcelona/1398371676.html

so farewell tito, a lot of dignity and a good manager who may well have become a great one
a lot of guts too, to manage barcelona in the midst of a hideous illness

i worry for atletico
away to valencia on sunday then chelsea three days later with the possibility of extra time

sevilla in 2006/07 were in an analogous situation where they tried for both the europa league and la liga and they couldn't manage it, they played a high intensity rapid sort of football and they didn't have great squad depth

i'd rather they won the league than the champions league but since it's chelsea, they have to at least reach the final

at least valencia had a game on Thurs night and may be more concerned with their 2nd leg vs Sevilla.

Think Atleti are good for a draw on Weds, hopefully a scoring one.

superb finish for raul garcia 0-1

oof costa fails to score one on one with the keeper

jesus christ

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2fV2K0b38Jc

http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_l1iLrEeeTOQ/SjdYcYKe7VI/AAAAAAAABBM/EeKW37EvVYI/s400/mendieta.jpg

"I don't know who threw the banana, but I'd want to thank him," Alves said later. "It gave me energy to give two more crosses that ended up in a goal."

Aah great they've bottled it.

Barca have the most reason to despair from this weekend. Although it leaves things tricky for them in that they probably need to win vs Atleti to overtake them while at the same time possibly handing the league to Real.

Madrid minutes away from another draw.

o my word, is atleti-barca now a championship playoff?

also, gerrinthere you fuckboys

they were playing pulis shit for the last five minutes, long throws and lofted passes into the box

if atleti and barca win their penultimate games then atleti have to draw and barcelona need to win the last game

absurd that barca could still win this after fucking up so many games recently

elche and malaga, both p pissweak. but you never know eh

atleti have to win won of these fucking things, no cups after this season would be so shit

it's no doubt happened before but it seems weird that 90pts would be enough for Atleti to win the league but 91pts might not be. Need both Barca and Atleti to win tmrw cos I'd quite like to watch a title showdown even if the last time they played was p convincingly won by Atleti.

Reading an article about Conte and had no idea that Ancelotti has 'only' won 3 championships as a manager, one with Milan, one with Chelsea, one with PSG. Don't know why that surprised me but it did.

Real Madrid losing, Barca and Atleti both drawing matches they were 1/5 on to win with ten minutes to go.

"USELESS. " --Pierre Boulez, 1952

barca-atleti is apparently kicking off at 5pm next saturday now, not sunday. anyone know any pubs in manchester that will be showing this and not the cup final?

aaaaaahahahahaha amazing, just saw the scores

woah! bullet bitten. xavi on the bench.

Pinto Colorado
22 Dani Alves
21 Adriano
16 Busquets
03 Piqué
14 Mascherano
04 Fábregas
08 Iniesta
10 Messi
09 Sánchez
07 Pedro

13 Courtois
20 Juanfran
03 Filipe Luis
14 Gabi
23 Miranda
02 Godín
10 Turan
05 Tiago
19 Diego Costa
09 Villa
06 Koke

well give or take some injured defenders it's the team I wanted to see Barca try in CL match-up.

Cesc, your time is now.

Atleti v comfortable so far

Costa has pulled his hamstring

yeah, that's rough

Jesus, Arda Turan crocked now as well! Real must be loving this.

simeone says arda can't speak spanish so idk what koke was bothering with there

possibly a few word of turkish learnt in preparation for his 2023/4 valedictory season in fenerbahce

Looks like one goal would be enough for Atleti. Barca don't look like they're capable of scoring twice tonight.

All Barca's chances in the 2nd leg in CL were headers as well iirc

Barca ragged so far

pedro looks dangerous

if the atleti defence has a weakness is probably the channel inside juanfran

nice to messi making inept tackles

FUCK!!!!!!

What a goal!!!!

Barca's front screening of corners is abysmal

Pinto is such trash

Atleti bossing this

God help me I feel like Pulis should be unleashed on this Barca team to show them how to defend set plays.

Atleti champions

✓

genuinely heartwarming stuff

lol at filipe with a turkish flag

sort of weirdly anticlimactic, as soon as that ended it's onto the next game as ever with atleti, now the chance to outdo even this

must be p great being an atleti fan in there with 98,340 cunts to flick the v's at

maybe in some objective sense la liga is an even greater accomplishment given its length and the lesser significance of chance events but to win the european cup for the first time and prevent real madrid winning their tenth would be nonpareil

goodbye, osasuna

RIP

must be p great being an atleti fan in there with 98,340 cunts to flick the v's at

― r|t|c, Saturday, 17 May 2014 19:04 (3 hours ago)

http://i.imgur.com/r2z6r5p.jpg

barca deserve to crumble to dust for pulling that shit

anyone see any of enrique's celta this season