They'll be sacrificing sheep in the streets of Karagandy tonight - Champions League 2013/14

Anyway the most important take away from the last 2 nights is that LFC will walk this next year.

probably the most anonymous performance i've seen from a fit messi for a few years

― pandemic, Wednesday, 9 April 2014 21:31 (Yesterday)

so much so that it didn't look like he was fit because he hardly broke into a sprint for the whole game

the bayern game was exactly typical of moyes, 22 seconds from the pressure reverting onto them and they concede

not that i would often quote him enthusiastically, but alan hansen was arguing in the telegraph last week that now it is entirely down to them, liverpool simply have to win the title else it will be a failure

similarly even though they had no sincere prospect of getting close to winning this tie two weeks ago, once evra scored they had a non-negligible chance of going through and consequently they had something to lose

nothing more typical of a moyes side than a creditable 150 minutes of dour rearguard defence when they were playing for pride and then fucking up as soon as it was for real, nor more typical of a guardiola side than continuing to apply the same praxis (minor adjustment of rafinha for goetze excepted) with renewed determination and finishing the tie in fifteen minutes

Barcelona forward, Leo Messi was completely taken out of Wednesday evening’s 1-0 Champions League quarterfinal loss to Atletico Madrid and it was later revealed that the Argentine only ran 6.8 kilometres, just 1.5 more than goalkeeper Jose Manuel Pinto.

I'm not even a United hater but LOLz United, ahead in the tie for all of 22 seconds

How on earth can a keeper run 5.3km in a match

That's almost 59m per minute

i.e. 1m per second, which isn't all that incredible for someone just milling around on their feet

Didn't realise that Courtois can't play if Atleti meet Chelsea. Sucks.

I think he can, but they would have to pay Chelsea a presumably exhorbitant fee

What would happen if Chelsea drew Vitesse Arnhem?

3m Euro per match or something ludicrous. If it's the final then almost worth stumping up the cash
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Are Arnhem owned by Chelsea? In which case I'm not sure they're allowed to play them.

Oh just a good friend of Roman

Abramovich is still in his forties, with no conceivable cashflow worries, has hitherto had no difficulties with law enforcement, and seems to be politically untouchable.

The links between Vitesse and Chelsea are kind of strange. Salva Chigrinsky, who's the real owner, has repeatedly tried to sue Abramovich for hundreds of millions of Dollars. Evidently they've made up, though.

If Abramovich was going to get bored, he'd've got bored by now.

‘I was concerned that he hadn't trained all week and that he'd taken an injection. I thought at times tonight he was having a struggle striking the ball. But he is so vital a player to us. Especially with Robin van Persie out as well.’

oh...that's alright then

'I was concerned that the broken leg might cost him half a yard of pace but i have no faith in the rest of the squad'

just terrible thinking, and then terrible stupidity to admit what you're thinking. definitely needs to be given more time.

awful isn't it - "Wayne couldn't kick the football but he's still better than a 100% fit anyone else"

one would hope that message - true or not - has filtered through to Houellebecq, the little Pee, etc

That quote is emblematic of his time here. No tactical thinking whatsoever, just cowardice and a craven reliance on some nebulous x-factor from RVP/Rooney

Moyes really has completely shat it from day one. This article is the best I've read on his time at United so far, apologies if it's been posted here before: http://www.slate.com/articles/sports/sports_nut/2014/03/david_moyes_is_manchester_united_s_new_manager_to_blame_for_the_club_s_collapse.html

Even Mourinho’s biggest fans had to admit that he was … trouble. He had never stayed at any club for longer than three years. He was a specialist in strife and conflict who made enemies wherever he went, then took malicious delight in crushing those same enemies.

I know the overall article is critical of Fergie but this is hella myopic when you consider what Sir Alex's own reign was actually like.

I think that section ('Since Alex Ferguson didn’t make mistakes' to 'David William Moyes') is the author imagining the process of rationalization required for United fans/staff etc to make sense of the appointment of Moyes, rather than his own view.

Well to what extent can you really argue that Fergie consistently made enemies of the establishment within united?
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http://media-3.web.britannica.com/eb-media/01/11501-004-DF66C3E9.jpg

True enough but that hardly shows a pattern.

the similarities between mourinho and ferguson are overplayed, as vindictive and petty the latter is, he's never looked so emotionally incontinent as mourinho did at madrid or at inter where he portrayed himself as a constant victim of italian nationalism in the media and football establishment

though he got more conservative in the last years, he was prepared to risk young players and play with a sort of freedom that mourinho never does, he developed assets in a way mourinho never did, who after every period of creative destruction leaves behind aging squads full of the players who have given him their best couple of years (30 year old milito bought for €30m)

his madrid tenure was mostly a failure and he left the sqaud full of acrimony and internal divisions after his eternal shitfits and in group / out group hostility, even ronaldo hates him now

so there were reasons to be doubtful of him, but ferguson's paranoia that mourinho might just upstage him by winning a champions league or two in short order probably played a part in his own recommendation; he might have been deluded about moyes' capabilities but he would have found it reassuring that even in the rosiest of outlooks, moyes was never going to better him

There was an interesting bit recently (I think maybe Sid Lowe on Second Captains?) about how Mourinho goes down badly as a public persona in Spain and Italy - when the press asks about tactical issues, they don't buy the diversionary 'little horse' crap, so his persona falls completely flat.

yeah when he went there he spoke fluent italian in his first press conference, talked about how much it meant to be playing in the homeland of the great tacticians, but then for much of his first season they were tactically a complete mess

he spent about €40m on quaresma and mancini and tried to play a lusitanic system with box to box midfielders and proper wingers quite unlike the usual narrow italian midfields, quaresma in particular was incredibly shit and they won the title vs a depleted post-calciopoli field largely through zlatan winning games on his own and some scrappy goals from stankovic

so while he wanted to hold court as some latterday sacchi or herrera, the hacks were too uppity for his liking and he got into an increasingly attritional and mutually hateful relationship with the press corps

Manchester United ‏@ManUtd 22h
David Moyes: "My focus now is on getting this team back in the competition. Hopefully it will only be one year where we have to rebuild."

Keeping his expectations in check I see.

Can this prick just say one definitive thing with at the very least a blatantly transparent affectation of confidence?

In response to media reports referring to the situation of Club Atlético de Madrid goalkeeper Thibaut Courtois, UEFA would like to reiterate its position.

The integrity of sporting competition is a fundamental principle for UEFA.

Both the UEFA Champions League and the UEFA Disciplinary Regulations contain clear provisions which strictly forbid any club to exert, or attempt to exert, any influence whatsoever over the players that another club may (or may not) field in a match.

It follows that any provision in a private contract between clubs which might function in such a way as to influence who a club fields in a match is null, void and unenforceable so far as UEFA is concerned.

Furthermore, any attempt to enforce such a provision would be a clear violation of both the UEFA Champions League and the UEFA Disciplinary Regulations and would therefore be sanctioned accordingly.

Good. Wasn't expecting anyone to grow a pair about this.

Ugh, that's the draw I didn't want.

Real-Bayern
Chelsea-Atleti

Otoh it's the second SF so the first leg's on the Wednesday, which means the Anfield game will likely be switched to the Saturday to help them out for the second leg (Tuesday).

Ugh fuck these cunts are going to win the thing again aren't they?

I'm now supporting Ronaldo for the duration

I kind of think, the way they play, that Atleti are most likely of the three to beat Chelsea; while recognising the inevitability of those cunts crushing every scintilla of romance out of everything they go near.

Betting question: Atleti are 4/1 to win the CL, Chelsea nearly 5/1. As one of them will reach the final, whereupon they'll presumably be much shorter odds, is there a way to make a guaranteed return by backing both now, and doing something clever when the final comes around?

Great spot. Get a Betfair account, back them both today (currently @ 5.1 and 6.2). Lay after the semi-finals. I'm going to throw £100 at each one straight away.

Good luck! Semis have been switched btw, Chelsea now play Tuesday-Sunday-Wednesday.

Oh I don't know if the figures add up on second thoughts. You would need to have either Chelsea or Athletico get very close to evens to make a guaranteed profit.

Was wondering about that. Reckon you'd only get about 7/10 on Bayern vs either. Maybe a bit more on Real.

Dunno if this will be legible, but here are the profits (before Betfair commission) at evens, 6/4 and 2/1. You'd need about £800 or £900 handy to do this as well.

http://i.imgur.com/yjcOP6Y.png

The Chelsea chief executive, Ron Gourlay, has confirmed the player is free to feature against his parent club, "if selected by the Atlético manager", but there is intense frustration at Stamford Bridge that Atlético chose to make the private and confidential arrangements within the loan agreement public.