I'm pulling for a Madrid derby- that will be massive. regardless even if Chelsea go through thats going to be a great match too- the history of the managers will overshadow it all.
I think it's safe to say that Pep's style doesn't work for these players, especially the front players. Robben is too predictable and Ribery is overrated in my opinion. He needs more dynamic players like the guys he had at Barca if it's to work, because his teams can't defend for their life, as seen again tonight. Well deserved Real. Hat's off too to Bayern's crowd, cheered all night and even built it up for Ronaldo's free kick, fair play to them.
I'm shocked. But Pep changed this team's style overnight and made them play slow short passing football against a Madrid that has improved greatly and is now faster and smarter. Ronaldo's double just shows how much of an amazing season he has had, his record in the cl, the great partnership with Bale, etc.
Congrats to Madrid for advancing, Chelsea vs. Athletico will be very interesting!
4 without reply, 5 in total! 2 clean sheets for Casillas against Bayern and 16 Champions League goals for Ronaldo, a new record! Another maybe, with La Decima?
So who's parking the bus on May 24th in Lisbon, Atlético Madrid or Chelsea?! hahaha
atletico madrid dont park buses. they squeeze you out of room in the midddle of the park. sometimes you wonder how they always manage to have 3 players crowding out any player at a given time. flippin brilliant actually.
i think the madrid derby will be a closer final than Real/Chelsea.
parking the bus is not problem for real. CR7/bale/di maria switch to plan B. blast from outside the box. top corners or take a deflection and goes in. either way a goal is a goal. thats something liverpool didnt even think about doing to chelsea and bayern only started blasting shots against the madrid bus in the 78th minute. robben had one and kroos two if im not mistaken.
this is a tough one. you cant really say pep killed the team coz bayern been using this style of play the entire season and won it in record time. i think what killed this bayern team is complacency by winning the league so early. coz week in week out since then they havent been playing with the same intensity. just look at their results of the last 5-10 matches since winning the league. now for them to suddenly switch on that drive and determination, its just not possible. then you look at a real madrid who have been playing with intensity every week and their result today. the difference shows. but dont get me wrong, madrid didnt only win coz bayern were not in their usual form, madrid played a hell of a game as well and played to their strengths. credit to them.
another thing i dont think anyone mentioned yet is the evolution (or lack of) of tiki-taka. tiki-taka football in itself hasnt evolved at all. you look at barca and bayern, both passing across the field (left to right and back again), short passes moving up slowly and in the final third speed it up and look to squeeze through gaps. now that worked from 2009 until a couple years ago where teams got thrashed. but since then, the defence against tiki-taka has evolved. mou "figured it out" with real madrid. parking the bus does contain them to an extent. but he just didnt have the right quality players to pull it off. (defence minded players that is) chelsea under di matteo took it a step further. now not only were they parking the bus but they seen long balls to the forwards catch the defenders by surprise and they cant deal with it coz they too far up. bayern perfected it when they too parked the bus and attacked through the wings instead and got center players to keep in the action. now madrid deployed the exact same tactic bayern used against barca against them.
Only that Bayern doesn't play as good tiki taka as Barca. Bayern was just playing total football last season, it was fast and intense. Barca somehow actually pulls wins against madrid playing the same ol stubborn tiki taka, probably because with the likes of Iniesta, Xavi, and Messi they make it possible, but Bayern I feel wasn't really ready to take this style to the UCL against teams that have gotten use to this style from playing with Barca.
Pep is an average manager given the best teams in the world. Once a half decent manager figures out how flat his tactics are, they counter them.
Even Manchester United had a small chance to win because it was easy to counter, they just lacked the pace on the break and the aging players didn't help.
I expect a Real vs Chelsea final, old managers of each club seeing each team from opposite ends, exciting.
Good job, Pep! You've taken a team with the most dynamic attacking style in recent ages and turned their game into a one-dimensional pointlessly passing snooze-fest. They were so good at the beginning of the season mainly cuz they still had traits of Jupp Heynckes's direct attacking style with a good mix of tiki-taka. By the start of 2014, they've turned into Barca-2 without the one-touch passing ability at the edge of the opponent's box. Real on the other hand, have reaped the benefits of having a more defensive approach against teams who are good at keeping the ball.
Wow did anyone expect this? Bayern literally imploded! What happened to the club that demolished Werder Bremen over the weekend?
Do they not have set pieces in Germany or something? Because Bayern had absolutely no idea how to defend them.
I don't watch Real much, but Jesus Christ, that counter is lethal
I think it's safe to say that Pep's style doesn't work for these players, especially the front players. Robben is too predictable and Ribery is overrated in my opinion. He needs more dynamic players like the guys he had at Barca if it's to work, because his teams can't defend for their life, as seen again tonight. Well deserved Real. Hat's off too to Bayern's crowd, cheered all night and even built it up for Ronaldo's free kick, fair play to them.
Pep killed Bayern... did he also kill the German National Team in the process?
Ouch nobody was expecting this (certainly me as i put a treble on with Bayern in it!)
Gotta love the CL!