I mean rangers could just play keep ball for 15 minutes. Look for overlaps and 2 v 1s - it's not rocket science.
Dunno who it was but some Rangers player hit the bar from about a yard out in first half. That’s a very nuanced skill set I wouldn’t want to have. Harder not to score.Arfield misses a fuckin sitter. Jeezo get another goal and put this game to bed.
The commentator says 101 times out of 100 he scores that...that's not the kind of hyyperbole i can fuck with.
The commentator said as much. But I'm chuffed to see a Scottish team in a Euro Semi final. Not bad for a farmers league.Celtic are going to be licking their chops on Sunday. But well done Rangers .. it’s been a hell of a ride. Good for them. Seriously .
Really good 85 minutes of determined defending, even the goal took exquisite technique to pull off. Just need to survive the last 5+ min and they'll have a job to do at Ibrox, but not an impossible job.The commentator said as much. But I'm chuffed to see a Scottish team in a Euro Semi final. Not bad for a farmers league.
I was out all night so missed the game, but my dad was texting me updates. I had a feeling they'd concede. But well in the tie going back to Ibrox. It's a cliche but if you'd offered them this at the start of the tourney they'd bite yer hand off. Ibrox will be bouncing next week.Really good 85 minutes of determined defending, even the goal took exquisite technique to pull off. Just need to survive the last 5+ min and they'll have a job to do at Ibrox, but not an impossible job.
I’ve come around to respecting what Rangers have achieved this season. I thought they were being fluky in Europe. But as the rounds have progressed I’ve changed my mind. If Aribo hadn’t missed that sitter they would be sitting on a 3:0 lead at the half.I'm not a big Rangers fan but their home atmosphere is genuinely amazing and its kind of great to see them slapping around FCEnergyDrink.
The level of bitterness I’m reading from Celtic fans is something to behold.Mon the Gers.
Great to have Scottish team in a European final. It doesn't happen often. Rangers have been great in Europe. My block of flats shook when the final whistle went.
welp...I jinxed it all....Am I the only one rooting for West Ham and LCFC to sweep the lower cups?
West Ham vs City/Liverpool for Super Cup
although if today's results hold, Salah would be disappointed
feel for West Ham. They kinda sunk their premier league chances by going for this, only to see it thrown away by a red card so early in the match. Just a dumb decision by Cresswell. Even if EF score, there’s plenty of time to get two goals.West Ham is toast, 2 goals down on aggregate and playing this whole game with 10 men
They weren't going to finish high enough in the PL honestly, no depth in the squad at all. Moyes has been great, but the one exception has been that he's been happy to not only have a razor thin squad, but also to just run the same 11-12 players into the ground over 2 years. The Owners need to spend money this summer, Moyes needs to use that money to actually buy players (reportedly he had money in the Winter he didn't use), and when he gets them he needs to do real rotation. If you want to make the CL you can't treat your squad the same way you do for a relegation battle.feel for West Ham. They kinda sunk their premier league chances by going for this, only to see it thrown away by a red card so early in the match. Just a dumb decision by Cresswell. Even if EF score, there’s plenty of time to get two goals.
Right. I guess the big question for next year is what happens with Rice. He’s a fantastic player and does so much for them. I hope he stays.They weren't going to finish high enough in the PL honestly, no depth in the squad at all. Moyes has been great, but the one exception has been that he's been happy to not only have a razor thin squad, but also to just run the same 11-12 players into the ground over 2 years. The Owners need to spend money this summer, Moyes needs to use that money to actually buy players (reportedly he had money in the Winter he didn't use), and when he gets them he needs to do real rotation. If you want to make the CL you can't treat your squad the same way you do for a relegation battle.
I love RBL--they play exciting football with good players, and have a sustainable model. It's a bummer that they've done so by circumventing ownership rules in the Bundesliga, but from a pure entertainment standpoint, sign me up to watch any of their games. Not to mention Angelino is one of my favorite players, and I'd love to see him at Barca or Spurs.It kinda makes me feel icky for even thinking it, but I wouldn’t have been devastated if RB Leipzig had won and possibly opened up another CL (and possibly EL) slot in the Bundesliga.
Yeah, I don’t disagree with any of that. And I’m actually feel like they’re somewhat unfairly demonized in Germany, and had a pretty interesting debate with my Union friends about them when we were down there. And their counterargument to me, when I said essentially, “how are they worse than Bayern?” boiled down to a) it’s a German thing, you wouldn’t understand and b ) “but they broke the rules!” (And while there is no love lost for Bayern among these people, they’d probably accept 20 Bayern championships if it prevented one from RB Leipzig)I love RBL--they play exciting football with good players, and have a sustainable model. It's a bummer that they've done so by circumventing ownership rules in the Bundesliga, but from a pure entertainment standpoint, sign me up to watch any of their games. Not to mention Angelino is one of my favorite players, and I'd love to see him at Barca or Spurs.
Dayum, the bolded blows my mind.Yeah, I don’t disagree with any of that. And I’m actually feel like they’re somewhat unfairly demonized in Germany, and had a pretty interesting debate with my Union friends about them when we were down there. And their counterargument to me, when I said essentially, “how are they worse than Bayern?” boiled down to a) it’s a German thing, you wouldn’t understand and b ) “but they broke the rules!” (And while there is no love lost for Bayern among these people, they’d probably accept 20 Bayern championships if it prevented one from RB Leipzig)
I wouldn’t express that opinion out loud at alten Försterei though
I’m not hugely impressed with RB Leipzig’s fan base, though it probably exceeded my very low expectations.
Leverkusen and Wolfsburg were grandfathered in and I think Hofferhiem has some sketchy ownership situation too. So Leipzig isn't alone, yet they do get singled out. I'm sure part of it is that they're the only former GDR club in the top flight, they're a club with a recent corporate rebranding, and their club is really a new club- I think they bought the license to field a team from some 4th tier German team and turned them into soulless corporate FC...
Seriously…the amount of hate for RB Leipzig in Germany (especially from Union Berlin fans - I get into it a bit in my trip report from the Pokal semifinal), is really hard to believe until you actually experience it.Dayum, the bolded blows my mind.
To actually take it even a step further, I asked them (hypothetically, since they're now in the Regionalliga, but about to be promoted to the 3rd division), who they'd prefer in a match between RBL and Dynamo Berlin (if you don't want to read the history, imagine the New York Yankees, owned by Donald Trump and supported by I dunno, a murderous Stephen Miller, who also could threaten the families of the umpires, and maybe you get an idea), and other than "can we just have the meteor instead?", it wasn't unequivocal that RBL was the preferred outcome in such a match.Fans simping for the established goliaths in world soccer to remain that way while going agro over any club that tries to break into that stratosphere is so strange to me.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1._FC_Union_BerlinLOL...my bad. Which half of Berlin?
From "Stasi" to Nazi Club
"Even before reunification, right-wing extremists held power in the BFC fan scene," says Robert Claus, author and expert on right-wing extremism in German football: "The authorities didn't really know how to deal with them because they couldn't understand how a right-wing extremist subculture could even exist in an anti-fascist socialist state like the GDR."
What may have started for some as a provocation and rebellion against the communist dictatorship became more serious with the fall of the wall. And the area surrounding the BFC became a meeting place for Berlin's right wing, neo-Nazis, hooligans and the city's criminal underground, who could feel safe at the murky bottom of the soccer pyramid.
The BFC quickly became associated with violence. In 1998, a BFC hooligan named Christopher R. was among a group found guilty of beating a police officer into a coma in Lens at the 1998 World Cup in France. Earlier this year, the same man was accused again in a court in Berlin of having bought 120 kilograms of cocaine worth three million euros with the intention of reselling it for profit.
"There is a long history of right-wing, racist attacks and other incidents surrounding BFC games," says Claus. "The club knows exactly who its fans are. And even within the club you can find people with connections to the hooligan scene. Of course there are also people at BFC who are not hooligans or Nazis, but there is an incredibly homogeneous support."
Edit: I thought from the first time I read that article, I thought there was some context for the number of "Category C" fans. I can't find the exact numbers at the moment, but Union and Hertha have a club supporter membership that is many, many times what Dynamo has. But with a fraction of the supporters, they have more than triple the number of dangerous supporters.Even if the inside view of BFC Dynamo seems rather encouraging, the outside perception hasn't changed. Of the 226 Berlin football fans classified by the local police as violent "Category C", 101 are BFC fans - almost twice as many as Union Berlin (65) and Hertha BSC (60). There are also established links between younger BFC hooligans and the Hertha hooligan/ultra group Kaliber 030 - the very group suspected of firing flares and rockets during the recent Berlin derby.
Older BFC hooligans, on the other hand, maintain relationships with like-minded people at 1. FC Magdeburg. They recently laid a wreath with both club crests at a funeral march for the late Thomas Haller, a well-known local neo-Nazi. "In memory of our friend Tommy Haller," it read. "The group is united. Fists clenched. We swore solidarity." The wreath was signed: "MD/BFC Hooligans." Magdeburg condemned the incident and distanced itself from "all forms of right-wing extremist ideology". But there was an odd silence from the BFC.
https://www.espn.com/soccer/uefa-europa-league/story/4668145/police-chiefs-warning-ahead-of-europa-league-final-too-many-peopletoo-much-alcoholSpain's chief of police warned of the potential for "serious problems" as Seville braces for an expected of 150,000 Rangers and Eintracht Frankfurt fans for Wednesday's Europa League final.
"It's too many people with too much alcohol, the majority without tickets for the game and lots of construction sites around the city, a recipe that could lead to serious problems," Juan Carlos Castro Estevez, Spain's General Commissioner for Citizen Security, said at a briefing with high-ranking National Police officers on Tuesday.
...
"We will host two fanbases that drink a lot. These citizens, who are used to drinking warm beer in their countries, when they find our fresh and cold beers, will drink even more.
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The Scottish club have not won any European silverware for 50 years while Eintracht Frankfurt are bidding to end their 42-year wait for European glory, having won the UEFA Cup in 1980.
Spanish authorities have deployed 3,100 National Police officers to Seville where three fanzones are being prepared. Almost 2,000 Guardia Civil and local police will be deployed in the city.
Castro said construction sites around the city were being "protected" so that fans cannot use rubble as weapons.
...
"There is no rivalry [between Rangers and Frankfurt], but it is concerning that the political ideology from the two fanbases are different, Eintracht being from the left and Rangers more to the right. The extremists from both sides could cause serious trouble."
The first was clearer than the second to me, but Frankfurt has a legitimate complaint about both non-calls. VAR shit the bed again.How was that not a penalty?!?!?
I didn’t see him do it. The first was a trip in the box and the Rangers player did not even come close to the ball. The second was the potential handball.Don't know that I even saw the first one. Did the ref check the monitor on either VAR review?