I feel for Juve, but as far as being the goat, it couldn't have happened to a nicer guy.Juve had a few major missed chances to get a third and Muller makes them pay. Bad clearance by a Juve player -- I think Evra. He tried to dribble out of the trouble and got dispossessed, when he could have gone for a more simple clearance.
Porque negro?I feel for Juve, but as far as being the goat, it couldn't have happened to a nicer guy.
Atletico gets the worst draw, getting paired with Barcelona. This year is the third in a row when Atletico has played a Spanish team in the quarterfinals: Barcelona two years ago, Real Madrid last year, and Barcelona this year.My rankings:
1. Barca
2. Bayern
3. PSG
4. Atletico
5. Real Madrid
6. ManCity
7. Benfica
8. Wolfsburg
There is a huge gap, of course, between 1-2 and 7-8. I imagine everyone wants to draw Benfica and Wolfsburg.
That looks right to me. I think you could argue that PSG could potentially fit behind Atleti and Real, but PSG beat Chelsea more convincingly than Atleti beat PSV. Real beat Roma handily, but their league form is not inspiring. Forced to choose, I'd go 3. Atleti, 4. PSG, 5. Real.My rankings:
1. Barca
2. Bayern
3. PSG
4. Atletico
5. Real Madrid
6. ManCity
7. Benfica
8. Wolfsburg
There is a huge gap, of course, between 1-2 and 7-8. I imagine everyone wants to draw Benfica and Wolfsburg.
If that's your interest, you'll watch the non-EPL Europa League matches. The CL is now a circle jerk for the top 6 money clubs in Europe. This competition has taken months to set up the same matchups we've seen for at least 4 years. It's not proving which league is the strongest, but which mega-club is the king.For me the fun of UCL is seeing how teams from different leagues stack up against each other
Whose coefficient is being harmed? Spain has 6 clubs still in Europe. They have such a large lead over Germany they could take a zero next season and still be the top ranked league. The four strongest leagues during my lifetime are still pretty far ahead of everyone else. The EPL was only threatened by Serie A for 4th because they don't value the Europa League at all (And Juve had a surprise run to the CL finals). Those clubs make so much money from their domestic broadcasting that it's not worth their time to compete in the Europa. Frankly, I'm waiting for the day where they start opining that competing in the Champions League isn't worth their while over finishing as high as possible in their domestic league.Moreover, I think this has to have substantial ramifications for the coefficients.
I certainly am interested in Liverpool-Dortmund and Villareal-Prague, Braga-Shahktar, not so much. If Spurs had cared about Europa, Spurs-Dortmund would've been a fun tie too. To your point about UCL, I get that the tourney is about figuring out what club is best, but there's also an entertainment factor involved and it's more fun as a neutral observer to watch international matchups as much as possible. We've seen Barca and Atleti battle plenty in the last 12 months, and if they really are both top 4 clubs right now, then they should rightfully meet in the semis. Having the QF be federation-restricted (if possible) would accomplish that.If that's your interest, you'll watch the non-EPL Europa League matches. The CL is now a circle jerk for the top 6 money clubs in Europe. This competition has taken months to set up the same matchups we've seen for at least 4 years. It's not proving which league is the strongest, but which mega-club is the king.
Whose coefficient is being harmed? Spain has 6 clubs still in Europe. They have such a large lead over Germany they could take a zero next season and still be the top ranked league. The four strongest leagues during my lifetime are still pretty far ahead of everyone else. The EPL was only threatened by Serie A for 4th because they don't value the Europa League at all (And Juve had a surprise run to the CL finals). Those clubs make so much money from their domestic broadcasting that it's not worth their time to compete in the Europa. Frankly, I'm waiting for the day where they start opining that competing in the Champions League isn't worth their while over finishing as high as possible in their domestic league.
It kind of does since the winner of the Europa League gets a spot in next year's Champions League. For clubs like Athletic Bilbao and Sevilla, this perk is huge.The case against nationality restrictions is that it gives teams from very strong countries a competitive advantage in an otherwise unseeded draw. If Barca, Real, and Atleti really are 3 of the best 4-5 teams left (which I don't dispute), then it would be a real advantage for each of them to be protected from drawing the other two, and it would penalize the other non-Spanish clubs.
I'm more in favor of nationality restrictions in the Europa League, because the EL doesn't have any pretense about trying to fairly determine a champion. Unlike the CL, it has no raison d'etre beyond entertainment, and it's more fun to watch clubs from different countries play each other.
On current form, City were probably the worst team left. I'd have expected both Wolfsburg and Benfica to knock them off. PSG Is probably the ideal draw in the sense that City won't be favored and will probably show them enough respect to try to Chelsea their way through the tie. Nonetheless, I think PSG walks that tie in the end, City are really dire right now.I like the draw. It would have been best if Real played the 1st leg at home and then would have been forced to come away with a good result, like Bayern and Barca are.
The draw could help City, although i see PSG as the favourite to advance. I hope for Atletico to hold it close in the 1st leg, I fear Bayern destroys Benfica, although i don´t know much about the Portuguese to build a serious opinion about their defensive behaviour. Wolfsburg usually has a solid home/road split, so this draw could end up close, if they win their home match with two goals and score away. They have the attacking power to score away, but their defense isn´t the best, so they could also receive a bunch of goals (like the Lewandowski-flurry a few months ago).
Guesses (not what i think is most likely):
Bayern vs. Benfica 4-0, 2-1 (6-1 aggr.)
Barca vs. Atletico 1-1, 0-0 (1-1 aggr., Atletico advancing on away goals)
Wolfsburg vs. Real 2-1, 1-2 (3-3 aggr., WB advancing on penalties)
PSG vs. Manchester City 3-1, 1-2 (4-3 aggr.)
Yes. Barca wears the yellow and Atletico the dark blue one.New Not watching, but just saw a picture, are both Atleti and Barca wearing their away kits?
I'm an idiot and forgot to record the games so I haven't seen the Suarez incidents, but can you really trust the opinion of those papers (especially Marca) when either barca or a Madrid based team is involved? Is my Suarez man crush showing?Well, shit. The best I can say is that the result is not end-of-the-world bad. I think it's possible for Atletico to win 1-0 or 2-1 at home. I should say, too, that in the last two matches against Barcelona, both of which Atletico lost 2-1, Atleti looked better than Barcelona when Atletico was at full strength.
I think any rational Atletico fan will recognize that Torres made two foolish tackles/challenges that were playing-with-fire with yellow cards. Someone above wrote that maybe the first challenge gets a yellow 80% of the time, while the second gets one 50% of the time. Sure, it sucks that the calls did not go Atletico's way, but it's all on Torres that he gave the ref the opportunity to make the decision. Torres is a veteran: he should know this.
Suarez is such an amazing striker but such a shithead. The Spanish paper As thinks he should have been showed a red for his attempted hit / tackle / take-out of Juanfran (or maybe Godin) in the first half, and Marca thinks he should have been off in the second half for his whack of Filipe Luis. But the dude can score.
I think the play with Juanfruan was a no doubt straight red. Anybody who has ever played soccer has been in that position a million times of trying to block a clearance or pass with your left foot reached out and/or elevated. Proceeding to then plant that left foot and kick the guy in the leg/nuts with your right leg is completely unnatural. Its not a matter of momentum or an accidental collision- he did it purely intentionally, whether out of frustration or to hurt the opponent. He should have been sent off and if it was a different team playing in a different stadium he probably would have been.On Suarez, the commentators reviewed those incidents at halftime and after the game, and while not committing on whether he should have been sent off, did say that all good strikers "play on the edge" and that the same intensity and ferocity that makes him effective also makes him a bit of an asshole. They cited Rooney as another example, someone who goes absolutely nuts if they're not getting touches and chances in half an hour of play. And Suarez was basically blanked for the first 30 minutes yesterday.
Not an excuse, of course. If he'd been carded for either one, no Barca fan could really complain.