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

Can't really begrudge this.

roll out the Bayern of lols

i'm begrudging like crazy but i can't deny it

That was astonishing. I hope they rip Chelsea wide open in the final.

I hope they dont meet Chelsea in the final

I'm just resigned to them being there.

If I were Ronaldo I might have picked a less lame looking celebration for the fifteenth.

I still resent Bayern for fucking up the Munich CL final so massively only to suffer so little for their failure by turning around and winning it and everything else the very next year. So I will savor this embarrassment.

Bayern looked off the pace against United but yknow its United. Is it fair to say theyve run out of puff in the second half of the season?

this is the best madrid side in years and it owes a lot to ancelotti playing di maría in cm

fairly safe to say replacing ozil with a winger whose main prior experience in midfield came in maradona's useless argentina side

and yet he has been so good, providing ridiculously levels of workrate and speed and close control that very few teams possess in midfield

playing on the counterattack they don't really need an elite #10 like ozil because the play is stretched, and modric and especially xabi alonso are exceptional long passers from deep

bale di maría and ronaldo are just absurdly fast and decisive players in transitions and benzema's general play (if not quite his finishing) is better than it has ever been

alonso's booking was completely stupid and if mourinho gets to the final he will exploit it just as he exploited the absence of henderson yesterday (not the same class but very important for liverpool)

That's a lovely free kick. Only works because they jumped for him 60 seconds before, mind.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ED-75BZgebI

not as neat as this one although putting the icing on a 6-0 aggregate win over bayern is pretty special

such a complete dismantling of his side that theres must be at a slight chance those impossibly hard to please bayern bossmen get rid of guardiola? considering there are a couple of obvious places he could go to that would absolve them of having to pay compensation

*5-0* obv

Bayern peaked in the win at the Etiad which happened before Pep had the chance to completely remake them.

I guess the dip in form wasnt that apparent since they won the Bundesliga with 10 games to spare

this team might be Jose's masterpiece

Back five and two DMs!

One team will kick off, leave the ball in the centre circle and retreat to the edge of their box. Meanwhile the team that didn't kick off will be stationed at the edge of their own penalty area. The ball remain untouched for 45 mins. This will be repeated 3 times. Then we will go to penalties. Chelsea will win. It will be Mourinho's finest victory ever.

shambolic bus parking there

i'm watching this ona spanish stream and holy shit they're making this game sound insanely exciting. the game is fine but the spanish is making it sound like the best game ever.
also, yay athletico equalising !

tentatively pleased with that first half but even though atleti have an excellent central defense, they would find it hard to withstand half an hour of long ball dogshit if it comes to that

etoo at rb can't work every time i guess

Did terry stamp the spot i wonder

if only it had been the header that went in

You could drive a bus through that bus.

just got home, radio on, lulz

Was delighted to be missing the game tonight, then the cunts even go and fuck that up for me.

still, lol

<3

has there ever been an all madrid final before?

or even an all-one-city final? milan & madrid seem the most obvious candidates.

thought about catching the second half in a bar after work, little peeved i felt knackered now

hoy - no, first one city final

2nd half has been beautiful from Atletico, such nice football, almost all of them so assured on the ball

the final insult, atleti fans not even bothering to pronounce mourinho's name in the portuguese fashion in their taunts

this is a ridiculous achievement by simeone and atletico, their entire starting xi cost less than fernando torres, their wage bill is about 30% that of chelsea's, and they just played a near full choice xi vs valencia away on sunday to confirm themselves as favourites in la liga

not even a close victory, they fucked chelsea over comprehesively

BBC narrative already analyzing this in terms of Chelsea errors

if they win either la liga or the champions league then this is an all-time great success, if they win both then they have a claim to the greatest single season ever given the financial disparities between themselves and the teams they have overcome

https://vine.co/v/Mrml3TbHtFM

I loved every last drop of that match. Simeone owns Mou.

And Nakh OTM about Atleti. A truly wondrous season so far. Have they lost a single CL game this season? Think they've won about 9 on the spin in La Liga and need to beat Levante away and Malaga at home to secure title. RM did flatten them in the cup this season mind you.

Courtois save the icing on a delicious cake.

So that's Spanish finalists out of 4 in European competitions this season? 2 team league.

By Chris Bascombe

11:15AM BST 28 Apr 2014

The Premier League quality has come at great expense and undoubtedly benefits from the kind of hype that would even make PT Barnum blush.

But anyone – particularly those in my own profession – who claims it is not currently the greatest football show on earth should either stop grumbling when others say how marvellous it is, or pick up their ball and take a one-way flight to one of those countries where all but a handful of fixtures are utterly predictable and the playing styles are little more than variations of a theme.

From top to bottom – and that’s the key when assessing competitiveness and quality - the Premier League is a class above everywhere else. The results over the last two weeks have proved it more than ever.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/sport/football/competitions/premier-league/10792684/Premier-League-review-talking-points-from-the-weekend.html

There’s nothing jingoistic, ill-informed or culturally impotent about proclaiming the Premier League the most competitive and cosmopolitan – and yes (broadly speaking) highest quality there is. It’s a fact.

*3 finalist out of 4

xxp

Fantastic!

Atletico Madrid coach Diego Simeone praised his players' mothers for nurturing a winning mentality after reaching the Champions League final.

The Spanish side came from behind to beat Chelsea 3-1, setting up a clash with city rivals Real Madrid on 24 May.

"I want to thank the mothers of these players because they gave birth to them with balls this big," said Simeone, gesturing as if holding a football.

patriarchal lulz

Apparently Terry was blubbin' again at the end of the match... what the fuck's up with that big jessie?