Champions League Final, 26/5/18 Kyiv. Real Madrid - Liverpool.

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So who's watching? And where will you watch it? Are you going to Kyiv?

This has been the longest week ever. I.CAN.NOT.WAIT!!
For me this is the biggest happening the last decade (except when my twin girls were born). :p

I'm travelling to Oslo. There's gonna be a 'Champions Square' with a capacity of a few thousand and the match will be showed on a huge screen. There's also plenty of other pubs that will have a CL final program. We haven't 100% decided where we will end up and see the game yet.
One thing is certain, if Liverpool should win it, Oslo will be RED!

Come on You Mighty Reds!! YNWA.

@paulboland @davhyl @Hewitt89
 
That was quite possibly the single most embarrassing game I’ve seen. What did they do the night before? Drinks at the pub?
I take it you are talking about Liverpool! To be honest I didn’t think they were that bad, they were always underdogs going in. As soon as Mo Salah went off it was game over. The front 3 is what makes Liverpool so dangerous. A quick look at the bench shows the difference in quality. Gareth Bales overhead kick was a stunner! The Liverpool goalie had a nightmare, what a time to make 2 mistakes like that.
 
Yeah, yesterday was sad. We started good, first 30 mins we were even the better team but after Salah had to go off all momentum and belief disappeared. From there there seemed to be no doubt who would win, even though they needed the help from our poor, poor keeper.. It’s a promising team but much more building to do, the squad is so thin and fragile when injuries happen.

We should overall just be proud for being in the final and for giving Real a fair match for the first 30 mins. After all, no one expected us to reach the final so soon. But right now it’s just emptiness.

It also hurts to see Real lift the trophy for the third time in a row. Hopefully the last in a long time now. It was a bit funny though that Ronaldo couldn’t even let a historical night like that go by without putting himself first in the spotlight. :D
 
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I take it you are talking about Liverpool! To be honest I didn’t think they were that bad, they were always underdogs going in. As soon as Mo Salah went off it was game over. The front 3 is what makes Liverpool so dangerous. A quick look at the bench shows the difference in quality. Gareth Bales overhead kick was a stunner! The Liverpool goalie had a nightmare, what a time to make 2 mistakes like that.

The mistakes that cost them the game. :facepalm:
 
We should overall just be proud for being in the final and for giving Real a fair match for the first 30 mins.
You should. Actually those first 30 min is where you had your chance (even though the goal and post came much later).
It also hurts to see Real lift the trophy for the third time in a row. Hopefully the last in a long time now.
Oh, don't say that! It doesn't hurt one bit. We'll all be back next year to give it another shot.
 
Oh, don't say that! It doesn't hurt one bit. We'll all be back next year to give it another shot.
I would never want any one team to dominate the tournament this much, of course except for my own team. ;) So even if I put aside my dislike for Real in general, I will be cheering for any team ro rip them down from the throne next year, be it Liverpool or any team. :)

Well, had Salah been able to stay on the pitch longer, the game might also have been different. Although it was always an advantage for Real the longer time went without us scoring, we had the threat and was able to control the tempo of the game so it would’ve been much more open. We lost it all there, the worst that could happen to us, would’ve much more preferred to just concede a goal.

In the end though, with how the game was, there is no doubt Real was worthy winners of the final. We were a bit too pale, a final against a team like Real came too soon for this young and thin squad. So congratulations, really. But I am looking forward to seeing Ronaldo cry and Ramos flip next year. ;)
 
The mistakes that cost them the game. :facepalm:
It was poor goalkeeping. Liverpool have needed a good goalkeeper for years. I do feel like even without the mistakes Real had another gear to go into so would have won regardless. You never know though if Salah could have stayed on the pitch. Still a good effort from Liverpool, it made a nice change to see an English team get this far. Hopefully United sort themselves out and get to the later stages next year.:)
 
No doubt Real had a gear or two more. The keeper screamers are of course the direct reason to why we lose but Real would’ve had good odds to win the game at that point anyway. After Salah went off we fell way too deep, we let them take over dictating the tempo, and the attack duo left (Lallana was terrible, he has barely played a game at all this year) became too alone. We lost the build-up play and almost only had long balls result in somewhat of a threat. That won’t do it.
 
Apart from winning, why do you dislike Real Madrid "in general"?
Several reasons really. It starts with that I don’t like clubs that dominate everything over a long time, when I’m neutral I always favour the underdogs instead of the giants. I dislike the way the club has been driven financially with the enormous debt over many years, and the constant «Galacticos» signings despite it. I always tend to really dislike their players, in today’s squad it’s Ronaldo and Ramos which I just can’t take. Always seems like there is some kind of cynical and cheating situation in an important match, especially with Ramos. And, when it comes to Spanish football, city rival Atletico is my team! ;) I was there on an away game with Liverpool in something like 2007-2008, the Atleti supporters were just great with us, we made many friends there that night.

The same goes for Barcelona too. Dislike them both.
 
Sorry but it’s certainly impossible to like Barca as a Liverpool (or Dortmund..) fan after the Coutinho saga.

Totally forgot about that. As a Barca fan, it was a particularly awful period. The Neymar moneys excessively inflated the values of players the club went after ( Coutinho and Dembele ) only for them to be not influential at all in their first season. I was more in the camp of letting things cool down before spending those funds but understand the clubs reasons for making these moves happen as quickly as possible. But in all honesty, all big clubs do this anyway. Wasn't Van Dijk the same?
 
Totally forgot about that. As a Barca fan, it was a particularly awful period. The Neymar moneys excessively inflated the values of players the club went after ( Coutinho and Dembele ) only for them to be not influential at all in their first season. I was more in the camp of letting things cool down before spending those funds but understand the clubs reasons for making these moves happen as quickly as possible. But in all honesty, all big clubs do this anyway. Wasn't Van Dijk the same?
Yeah most clubs do push the rules but Coutinho was especially nasty in my opinion. Van Dijk was part of the same but not quite in total. Liverpool got called out, apologized publicly and stepped down, made no more contact during that window. Then worked with Southampton behind the scenes on a director and owners level to repair the relationship between the clubs. And then got the okay in the end to make a bid in the following window. It surely wasn’t good behaviour in the beginning and they were therefore forced to step down and thus missing the chance to acquire the target, hopefully they will have learned of it and play more by the book. But after the initial mistakes, they kept quiet and worked behind the scenes.

As for Coutinho, Barca made several bids even after being clearly told publicly he was not for sale for any amount. The bids were also almost insulting, as much of the already too low sum was tied up in unrealistic bonus requirements. But they did their job in unsettling Coutinho as they knew he wanted to go to Barcelona. Every bid were leaked to the press to put more pressure on, and they were in personal contact with both Coutinho and his family without being allowed. Can’t say for sure who orchestrated the «strike» (his fake back injury) but I wouldn’t be surprised if it was a plan recommended by Barcelona to further pressure Liverpool to let him go. As a supporter of the «victim» team in this case, I lost respect for Barcelona with the way everything was handled. And we saw some of the same with Dembele as well, and looks like also with Griezmann some of this behaviour repeats itself.
 
Yeah most clubs do push the rules but Coutinho was especially nasty in my opinion. Van Dijk was part of the same but not quite in total. Liverpool got called out, apologized publicly and stepped down, made no more contact during that window. Then worked with Southampton behind the scenes on a director and owners level to repair the relationship between the clubs. And then got the okay in the end to make a bid in the following window. It surely wasn’t good behaviour in the beginning and they were therefore forced to step down and thus missing the chance to acquire the target, hopefully they will have learned of it and play more by the book. But after the initial mistakes, they kept quiet and worked behind the scenes.

As for Coutinho, Barca made several bids even after being clearly told publicly he was not for sale for any amount. The bids were also almost insulting, as much of the already too low sum was tied up in unrealistic bonus requirements. But they did their job in unsettling Coutinho as they knew he wanted to go to Barcelona. Every bid were leaked to the press to put more pressure on, and they were in personal contact with both Coutinho and his family without being allowed. Can’t say for sure who orchestrated the «strike» (his fake back injury) but I wouldn’t be surprised if it was a plan recommended by Barcelona to further pressure Liverpool to let him go. As a supporter of the «victim» team in this case, I lost respect for Barcelona with the way everything was handled. And we saw some of the same with Dembele as well, and looks like also with Griezmann some of this behaviour repeats itself.

I think as a Barca fan I have a different angle to this whole thing. Barca themselves have been a victim of this for many yrs. We have actually suffered more than most teams in this regard. Even with RM, I hold no grudges with the team for the whole Figo fiasco. For me, players have to be held accountable for their behavior and not the club pursuing them. Clubs will keep approaching players and players will push for the moves they want. What didnt help in this case if the fact that Coutinho did not have a specified release clause. This makes whatever business Barca wanted to do more difficult as there was no clear path on how to approach this hence publicizing offers to put pressure on the reds. Look at PSG approach for Neymar. Nothing they could do once the release clause was triggered. And even though I hated it, I hold no grudges against PSG ( not a fan though ) This is how clubs do business.

Ps. I think Fabinho will be good for the reds.
 
I think as a Barca fan I have a different angle to this whole thing. Barca themselves have been a victim of this for many yrs. We have actually suffered more than most teams in this regard. Even with RM, I hold no grudges with the team for the whole Figo fiasco. For me, players have to be held accountable for their behavior and not the club pursuing them. Clubs will keep approaching players and players will push for the moves they want. What didnt help in this case if the fact that Coutinho did not have a specified release clause. This makes whatever business Barca wanted to do more difficult as there was no clear path on how to approach this hence publicizing offers to put pressure on the reds. Look at PSG approach for Neymar. Nothing they could do once the release clause was triggered. And even though I hated it, I hold no grudges against PSG ( not a fan though ) This is how clubs do business.

Ps. I think Fabinho will be good for the reds.
I think with Neymar it’s different, because the release clause means it’s done and dusted. If the player wants to leave with the buying club meeting the clause, there is nothing the owning club can do. As opposed to when there is no release clause, the owning club (in theory) can decide that a sale won’t happen under any circumstance. Which is what Liverpool did, but they were heavily pressured by Barca and Coutinho to still agree to it. You are absolutely right in that this has become more or less the norm, the transfer business can be nasty, «no one» follows the rules. And the power is essentially down to the player despite a long contract, because no club wants to hold on to an unhappy player that unsettles the squad in the long run. Anyway, we might have a bit different views on it but it’s water under the bridge now and history.

Yes, I was very pleasantly surprised to suddenly see Fabinho confirmed almost out of nothing! :) Definitely a class player, and we really needed to strengthen the midfield, especially defensively so this is good news. Hopefully also Fekir in as a replacement for Coutinho.
 
I think with Neymar it’s different, because the release clause means it’s done and dusted. If the player wants to leave with the buying club meeting the clause, there is nothing the owning club can do. As opposed to when there is no release clause, the owning club (in theory) can decide that a sale won’t happen under any circumstance. Which is what Liverpool did, but they were heavily pressured by Barca and Coutinho to still agree to it. You are absolutely right in that this has become more or less the norm, the transfer business can be nasty, «no one» follows the rules. And the power is essentially down to the player despite a long contract, because no club wants to hold on to an unhappy player that unsettles the squad in the long run. Anyway, we might have a bit different views on it but it’s water under the bridge now and history.

Yes, I was very pleasantly surprised to suddenly see Fabinho confirmed almost out of nothing! :) Definitely a class player, and we really needed to strengthen the midfield, especially defensively so this is good news. Hopefully also Fekir in as a replacement for Coutinho.

Barca vehemently tried to prevent the Neymar move but were powerless as the player was forcing the move and PSG had met the hefty release clause. Btw when I said Barca has experienced this more times than most other major clubs ( Ronaldo, Figo, Neymar ) But the worst of it has been in the youth ranks. From about 2010, the drain of talent from the youth ranks has been so great because of the Guardiola era of replenishing from the B team. This has forced Barca over time to buy rather than promote as clubs come in with lucrative offers for young talent in the Barca ranks. It has been this way for quite a while. Players always have had the power to push through or quash moves.

Allison???
 
You have a fantastic youth academy, and while I don’t know enough about it myself as opposed to a Barcelona fan, I have no doubt a lot of crap has happened to you there. It’s become really nasty over the years how the really young talents all over the world are hunted.

I would love Allison, and latest trustworthy report says he is the only goal keeper Klopp wants, but as of now it looks like it can be hard to get him from Roma at a fee LFC will pay. They are still sore after letting Salah go «cheap» last year. :D