Champions League final - Juventus vs Real Madrid - Cardiff 19:45 Saturday

[twitchy]

If you only watch football occasionally I would recommend this game. Two really good teams. Only slight shame is that bale probably won't start in cardiff (should be on at some point though).

For UK people it's free to air on channel 115 freeview in HD (BT showcase).


More preview stuff here

http://www.football365.com/news/five-qu ... -to-answer

[twitchy]

Ridiculous goal from mandzukic.

[morepork]

They are such insufferable fucking pansies...

[Stom]

I'm sorry, but this referee should never ref again. They seriously need to look at the rules in football, as it's a major turnoff. I mean, this is their showpiece event, and every two seconds the same players are in the face of the ref and his assistants, and they get no punishment. It's utterly disgraceful.

There's a reason I don't watch much football nowadays, and this is it.

[morepork]

I'm sorry, but this referee should never ref again. They seriously need to look at the rules in football, as it's a major turnoff. I mean, this is their showpiece event, and every two seconds the same players are in the face of the ref and his assistants, and they get no punishment. It's utterly disgraceful.

There's a reason I don't watch much football nowadays, and this is it.

Sweet Jesus they are bad.

[rowan]

I'm listening to the neighbors cheering every time a goal is scored. I figured out what was going on because every cheer coincided with a Real Madrid goal. Meanwhile, I had to work my way through all the jubilant Besiktas fans on my way home today as they celebrated winning their 15th title. Cops had closed off half the main roads in the city and were standing around with machine guns. You will recall that Besiktas Stadium was hit by terrorists just after an important match earlier in the season, killing 38.

[twitchy]

I cursed it with my thread. It was an interesting match up on paper.

[Stom]

I cursed it with my thread. It was an interesting match up on paper.

I didn't think about it until midway through the second half, but the problem was the focus. It was all Barzagli, Bonnuci, Chiellini vs Ronaldo, Benzema and Bale/Isco. And on Sandro and Alves vs Carvajal and Marcelo. But nothing on the midfield.

And while Pjanic and Khedira are both excellent players, neither come close to the universe Kroos and Modric play in. Especially the latter. The way they move into space is impressive. They're constantly on the move and constantly finding little pockets. And when they do find those pockets, they have the passing range to slide perfect balls into someone else in a pocket, especially Modric, whose little shimmy may not move him very far, but opens him up perfectly for those little round the corner passes that make Madrid tick.

Meanwhile, Pjanic and Khedira were static. The movement was meant to come from Dybala in front (the opposite of Casemiro being the static point in Madrid's midfield. But I don't get Dybala. He's a kid, and he plays like one. Full of mistakes, absolutely full of them. He has technical ability like hell, but he doesn't play heads up football unless it's instinctive.

So, yeah. For me, that was all about Modric.

[twitchy]

Madrid used to be just a collection of galacticos but now they are legitimately the best team. Zidane deserves loads of credit for that.

Anyway